Striker, Striker Burning Bright...

we all pretty much knew it was going to happen, but the wait is finally over. reading striker, shane long, has finally signed with the baggies for what is almost as much as the club have ever paid for anyone, anywhere at anytime: £4.5million. iglesias borja-valero is still the club's most expensive signing at £4.7million.

while borja-valero came highly touted by then-baggies manager, tony mowbray, the spanish international produced only 3 assists in his 31 starts for the albion, and never generally worked out. in fact, he has spent most of time at the albion out on loan with several different top clubs in his native spain.





shane long comes to the hawthorns as the most highly touted player since roy hodgson took over and the gaffer is expecting big things from his young signing. last year in the championship the 24-year-old striker scored 25 times in 51 starts. that's an impressive record in any league and hodgson believes that long has what it takes to be competitive in the top-flight and become a bona fide baggies' legend, along with names like clark, regis, taylor, and phillips.

at the same time, it looked like ishmael miller was going to nottingham forest, and was scheduled for the routine medical on monday. however, forest have since reported that they are close to signing matt derbyshire from blackburn rovers leaving us all wondering where that puts the miller transfer. news stories from yesterday, including a statement from forest manager, steve maclaren, suggest that miller is perhaps a second choice to another target signing.

this has revived speculation that miller might be set for a transfer to middlesbrough, and a reunion with ex-baggies manager, tony mowbray, who has always been one of miller's greatest proponents.





whatever else is happening - and with reports that peter odemwingie is going to be out of the side that will be opening the season at home to league champions, manchester united on sunday - long is probably going to find himself thrown in at the deep end with an opportunity to make his mark in a big premier league fixture almost immediately.

it was long who scored the solitary goal in a 1-0 win for the royals that put west brom out of the FA cup last year.

despite being a near record signing, this was the only significant money the baggies have had to spend on what looks to have been a really successful transfer market. billy jones, gareth macauley, martin fulop and zoltan gera all signed on free transfers; while high-profile goalkeeper, ben foster, came on a loan deal from cash-strapped local rivals, birmingham city. long is the sixth deal of the transfer window and there is still a single loan spot left should west brom need to use it.





so, while there is still room and time to make one or two more deals, the baggies do not feel pressured on the issue, and with shane long's signing, both roy hodgson and dan ashworth feel they've got a complete side and are ready to begin the new top-flight campaign.

as well, there are also three or four top academy players at the hawthorns - in the likes of sam mantom, george thorne and craig dawson - which will not impact on the 25-man team roster that the gaffer will soon have to decide on. the albion have made it clear that there is still room for another defensive player should the right opportunity present itself.

WBA 1-1 Parma F.C.

it's hard to write about pre-season friendlies. especially involving teams with which you are completely unfamiliar. the prime difficulty being that there is no text commentary available. none of the regular sources - like the BBC or the club website - report any of statistics, and you usually can't even find a team-sheet until after the match. what can you talk about with no statistics and not even knowing the oppositions names and numbers?

it is, however, the time of year that fringe players, and players just coming into the club, get some time on the pitch in competitive fixtures and one can begin to make evaluations and read into the manager's intentions somewhat. it's the time of year for speculation and hope. although, and especially with a club like the baggies, who buy carefully and very often don't make their most important signings until the end of the transfer window, things aren't always clear until opening day and sometimes beyond.

for example, peter odemwingie came into the side on the friday before the second match of the season last year. the nigerian striker scored a late winner against sunderland at the hawthorns without even having had enough time at the club to get his name in the match-day programme.

one thing that was clear from this year's pre-season, which included a 3-game tour of the western US, was that the baggies have done things right and will be taking an even stronger team into this season's premier league than last year's squad which managed to achieve a creditable 11th place in the league.





while we may not be able to repeat the same thing next year, we're looking less and less like a team that will struggle, and there is a phenomenal amount of confidence and belief within the environment of the playing squad at the moment.

while there are always the regular grumblings from premier league "purists" who insist the jeremy peace doesn't do enough in terms of "splashing the cash" to ensure continued and future success in the top-flight, but the baggies major coup over the summer was managing to hang on to their best and most important players. despite concerns that a hungry club with money would come calling for odemwingie, or rumours that have persisted for almost a year now linking chris brunt with a move to liverpool, everyone has pretty much stayed, while both brunt and youssouf mulumbu having signed improved contracts recently.

with peter odemwingie staying on as well, and ben foster coming to the club from a troubled birmingham city side, the albion have been able to keep to their long term schedule for building a successful side in a way that jeremy peace has always envisioned for the baggies: constant and incremental improvement from year to year. it may not be the most exciting or flamboyant management style, but last season's mid-table finish should have gone a long way in vindication of the chairman's conservative approach to spending.





as of yesterday, martin fulop signed with west brom, filling the vacant goalkeeper spot left by the departure of boaz myhill to blues and the search for regular football. so the baggies are now left with only the singular problem of finding a striker.

they are also left with the prospect of needing to sell one or two of the veteran squad members. ishmael miller looks like he'll be going to nottingham forest and is scheduled for a medical there within a few hours. hodgson has said that the deal will be a permanent move for the baggies' striker.

i feel badly for miller. i was very hopeful for him as youngster having to meet the challenges of playing a single-striker set-up in the premier league. but just as he was beginning to show his potential and look like a top-flight player, and on the back of several really good goals, he was injured in a collision with then-pompey goalkeeper, david james, and the albion were ultimately relegated. miller came back to score in his first start in 14 months against blackpool, and then got another important goal three days later in a vital win at swansea.

it was a comeback that was never to be, though, as niggling injuries and increasing difficulty getting into the side under roberto di matteo saw him go out on a loan spell at QPR where he really never featured and only scored once - coming on as a substitute - in his half-season at loftus road.





the sad fact is that the club has evolved, and a player like miller needs to be in the first team somewhere and getting regular starts. the albion can no longer really offer him this, as he would be taking his place in the queue behind peter odemwingie, marc-antoine fortuné, somen tchoyi, simon cox and probably even roman bednar. the club has moved on and developed without him.

another face that was conspicuous through absence on the bench for this one was marek cech. while he was a useful player last term in a utility role - playing for nicky shorey and paul scharner when injured - but like miller is a player who probably needs to be in the starting XI and might do well for his career to move on rather than remain at the hawthorns.

with this coming weekend's opener at home to league champions, manchester united, the baggies are just a striker short of where they aim to be. last year - and on the eve of an opening day thrashing at the hands of chelsea - the albion had yet to sign peter odemwingie, paul scharner and somen tchoyi.

with striker shane long from championship side, reading f.c., as their identified target, west brom are miles ahead of where they were this time last year. i can't help feeling that this all bodes well for the coming season.

Reading F.C. 1-0 WBA

live text replay


although i noticed it a while back, i have yet to write about roberto di matteo's team selections - and especially his seeming reluctance to play certain members of the 2008-09 squad which was relegated from the PREMIER LEAGUE under tony mowbray.

the gaffer was happy enough with the midfield that he inherited from mowbray's time at the hawthorns, but it seems that there is a real reticence to play certain long-time players (particularly defenders and strikers) in the medium of top-flight football.

i'm not sure that he's got it quite right. ishmael miller, roman bednar, abdoulaye meite and gianni zuiverloon remained with the club, making the final 25-man squad for the 2010-2011 season. gonzalo jara, gabriel tamas, pablo ibanez, peter odemwingie and marc-antoine fortune have all been brought in since mowbray's departure for celtic (and now middlesbrough) and are all preferred starters for the positions where miller, bednar, meite and zuiverloon had previously been first-team selections.

the general rationale is that none of these are PREMIER LEAGUE quality players, where their replacements are decidedly - and in di matteo's mind, anyway - more fit for the job.

at the same time, more than a few of mowbray's defenders and strikers have gone to other clubs. west brom have now sold both luke moore and craig beattie to swansea city; as well as shelton martis, who went to doncaster rovers, while leon barnett and reuben reid have gone out on season long loans to norwich city and walsall respectively.

i'm not outrightly critisizing any or all of these moves, but i've never been sure that the gaffer has got it right with miller, bednar, meite and zuiverloon.



miller has taken a long time to come back from a cruciate ligament injury that was incurred about two years ago. it's easy to forget that he scored on his debut with the club, going on to score 7 goals in the league that season as well as a hat-trick in the FA CUP quarter-final. in 2008-09, and after a slow start in the PREMIER LEAGUE, he scored 3 goals in the 4 matches leading up to his injury. last season, he scored on his first start in 14 months against blackpool, as well as the decisive goal coming on as a substitute 3 days later at the liberty stadium to give the baggies a 2-0 away win that just about clinched automatic promotion for them. if he can get back the form (and provided he gets the opportunity) he was starting to show in the baggies' last top-flight campaign, then i believe he is, in fact, a capable first choice striker in the PREMIER LEAGUE.

i think pretty much the same about roman bednar. he has surprisingly returned to the club after a brief loan spell at leicester city and it had looked like we weren't going to see him back at the hawthorns again. obviously the club's need for strikers was greater than whatever regard (or dis-regard) that RDM currently holds for roman bednar. the supporters love bednar no matter what division we're in and, at his best, he brings a top class spirit to the attack, you never know what might happen when he's on the field and he is technically good at the hold-up play needed for a 4-5-1 playing formation.

gianni zuiverloon fell out of favour after his two mistakes against reading in the FA CUP last year. as we all remember well, it was zuiverloon's careless control which saw 2 goals given up to jimmy kebe that helped put the baggies out of the cup. the young dutch defender had lost both his confidence and a place as a starter in any subsequent matches for the rest of the year. this was a bit of a rough break, as zuiverloon is an above average player in terms of pace and ball skills, and is a rarity in that he is probably more suited to PREMIER LEAGUE football than he is to the more physical grind of playing in the FOOTBALL LEAGUE.



abdoulaye meite was a different story. his downfall came after coming to the club, making a good start, but being part of what was ultimately a poor defensive team. eventually , he too completely lost his confidence and fell out of favour as a first choice centre-half. meite's loss of confidence during the 2008-09 top-flight campaign was painful to see in regards to how plain, obvious and evident it was to anyone watching. the arrival of gabriel tamas - and then pablo ibanez went a long way towards exiling meite to the reserves and subs' bench.

it gets overlooked, however, that he put in a good series of performances following the baggies' loss to barnsley last year, and was instrumental in the recovery of the club's defensive form after a particularly poor showing and a calamitous own goal by shelton martis, who was soon on his way to doncaster rovers. whatever problems he encountered two years ago, meite was still a veteran of top-flight football. however, he is certainly a flawed and uneven talent whose career has been hindered by injury and marred by controversy. i can understand why he would not be rated a "premier-league player". whatever his deficiencies, though, he's still a trained professional and you'd think he might just be useful in a situation where injuries and/or suspensions had limited team selection as far as centre-halfs go.

with this in mind, i was surprised that miller was given a start, even in an FA CUP game. the albion striker has been out of regular football so long that it is hard for anyone not actually going to the baggies' training sessions to know what kind of fitness a player like miller is in.

while he almost certinaly doesn't have a full 90 minutes in him, and he predictably pulled a hamstring just past the hour mark, for the first 20 minutes miller was getting into some good positions and causing problems for the royals at the back. his finishing was beyond rusty, though, as he probably should have had a goal and almost certainly had a legitimate shout for a penalty which was ignored by the referee.

besides james morrison's chip which clipped off the royals cross-bar, there was very little else to recommend this performance by the baggies. in fact, it bordered on disastrous and only the result of saturday's upcoming league fixture with blackpool will tell the tale.



jonas olsson came on after half-time in an effort to give the swedish defender 45 minutes worth of football before league play resumes and he makes his full return to the first-team. the albion centre-half has been out injured since the baggies loss to blackpool at bloomfield road in the beginning of november. however, the strategy badly backfired when olsson's aggressive streak - which we all know well - got him into trouble all too quickly. an over zealous tackle saw him booked within a minute of taking the field and in less than 15 minutes he had picked up a second yellow and was dismissed. the enusing automatic red-card will keep him out of the side when blackpool visit the hawthorns on saturday - a match the baggies desperately need to win.

boaz myhill did well enough in the albion goal that he'll almost certainly start in the next league match, and help take the pressure off squad captain, scott carson, whose recent run of poor form has seen him being blasted by the local press and supporters alike. after last week's loss to fulham, the england international looked to have completely lost his confidence and in dire need of some time out of the side - if only to get him out of the public line of fire and see that he gets a chance to put his head straight.

in fact, the whole team needs to get its head straight. you have to admire the baggies for not letting their heads drop during this last 5 (now 6) straight defeats. they have continued to show character and play some good football with a positive attitude throughout.

it's hard to judge from a cup game - which is why the upcoming home match with blackpool looms so large for the baggies. aside from miller's early efforts, the albion never looked in this one and team confidence looks like it might be finally ebbing away. the loss to fulham was devastating and this cup fixture was pedestrian and spiritless at best.

this coming saturday at the hawthorns is the biggest test of character the baggies will have had to face all season. let's hope they're up to it.

Going Where and for How Long?!?!?

in my blog after saturday's loss to stoke city i called for roman bednar to start this weekend against everton. from what i was seeing in the birmingham press, the BBC, and online fan forums, i more than half knew he was on his way out on a loan deal to leicester. however, until it happens he's still part of the team. truthfully, i think the baggies need to change things up a bit and he'd be worth a start for this saturday's match at goodison park, however unlikely it seems at this point.

in fact, bednar was not the subject of initial interests in the idea to loan out one of the first-team strikers to leicester city. originally, the foxes were going to take ishmael miller on loan, and there seemed no question that it was a move designed to give the baggies' long-time injured striker an opportunity to find some match fitness after nearly a two-year lay-off. however, miller again picked up a minor abdominal injury in training prior to the move, and this prompted sven-goran eriksson, in his apparent need for a striker, to switch his attentions to bednar, who - according to all the regular media sources - looked set to go on loan to hull city.

from all reports bednar is unhappy with life at the hawthorns. apparently, he does not want to leave the club but is frustrated at the lack of playing time he's gotten this year. as for west brom's intentions in regard to their two veteran strikers, it's pretty clear that the gaffer wants to keep miller in the sqaud and needs to place him in a medium that will help him to regain his form and fitness. i'm pretty sure we'll still see ishmael miller start for the baggies sometime in the future.



however, i have an unhappy feeling about roman bednar. unless you're actually hanging around the hawthorns all day, watching the training sessions and keeping an eye on movement around the gaffer's office, it's hard to tell what's really going on. but my instincts tell me that bednar, like robert koren before him, has fallen out with di matteo and west brom will be looking to a permanent move for the czech striker in the new year.

i sincerely hope i'm wrong.

i've never been a fan of marc-antoine fortune, and i feel that he was brought to the club under pressure from both within and without the west brom organization. for me, his return always smacked of optimistic desperation, and his re-signing with the club was more the lack of confidence in bednar and miller, fuelled by football pundits in the mainstream media and the increasing influence of internet fan forums, than anything else.

for a newly promoted club, there is always much discussion, opinion and speculation about whether certain members of that team will be good enough to play at the next level up. signing fortune was just a reaction to popular perceptions of west bromwich albion and general assumptions about the level of quality and ability in their players.

both bednar and miller were part of the baggies side which was relegated from the PREMIER LEAGUE in the 2008-09 season. there is no doubt that this colours the public perception of their worth as players. it's fair to say that to say that miller and bednar are all too often patronizingly characterized as "good CHAMPIONSHIP players" but not good enough for the PREMIER LEAGUE.

however, i believe this overlooks the challenges that each of them had to deal with during the last top-flight campaign. miller was the preferred striker in the introduction of a 4-5-1 formation. this was most unusual as under tony mowbray west brom had always played a very orthodox system featuring two strikers. however, he seemed to put a great deal of time and energy into making his new system work and making miller the focus of their attack. i believe that it was something to which miller was not naturally suited save for his obvious talents as a counter-attacking forward. he was having to learn a whole new way to play and it took some time.



the other key factor in all this, due to player departures from the club, was that it was not nearly as good a footballing side as it had been when they won the CHAMPIONSHIP the year before, and they went into the the season pretty thin at some crucial positions. there's no doubt in my mind that they both would have been better players had they been on a better team.

unfortunately for ishmael miller, after having a scored a goal at newcastle and looking like he was coming into form, the baggies' striker was injured in a collision with portsmouth's david james that saw him out of the team for most of the next two years and without a league start for 14-months. he never really got a chance to prove he could play successfully in the premiership.

bednar did ok and scored a fair number of goals given the playing time he got. in the short term following the injury to miller, the gaffer implemented a relatively successful system of rotating utility strikers which included bednar, craig beattie and luke moore.

i have never understood this, as bednar's style would have been much more suited to a 4-5-1 attacking formation, but mowbray just would not play that particular system without ishmael miller and the baggies - to be fair to the gaffer - targeted and fashioned two important wins against tottenham and manchester city with bednar, moore and beattie all scoring important goals.

fortune came into the side and was the focus of much optimism and excitement. his pre-requisite physical attributes and european pedigree created expectations almost immediately. he scored 5 goals in 18 games and eventually left to play for tony mowbray when he took the manager's job at celtic. i believe he scored 12 goals in the SPL and it remained a common wisdom that fortune was a PREMIER LEAGUE striker where bednar and miller decidedly weren't.



with the former belief widely held, ishmael miller still picking up training injuries and the club in need of strikers for the upcoming PREMIER LEAGUE campaign, west brom brought fortune back to the club from celtic, together with peter odemwingie, a nigerian international from lokomotiv moscow.

odemwingie surprisingly started upon arrival at the hawthorns and was an immediate sensation, scoring the winning goal in the baggies' first win of the season, a 1-0 victory over sunderland at home.

since then, odemwingie has become the first choice striker, missing only a couple of matches through minor injury. with fortune as the apparent second-choice, bednar has recently been limited to two short appearances as a late substitution in league matches, where he has looked more like a snarling pit-bull who has just gotten a frustrating sniff of raw meat before being put back in the cage than a centre-forward.

meanwhile, it looks like they're going to keep miller at the club and figure out some way of getting the 24-year old fit again after a continuous string of injuries which continues to interrupt his career.

i'm sure that the baggies will make a move for a quality striker (there are rumours of interest in sanli tuncay of stoke city) in january and get by on being a little thin in that department until then. however things turn out - and barring his recall to the team much as craig beattie was brought back from sheffield united last year - we may very well have seen the last of roman bednar in the navy-and-white stripes.

i shall always remember his time at the hawthorns fondly and will continue to follow his career and cheer for his success wherever he goes.

The Premier League Upon Us...

as one of the few - and perhaps the only - non-UK bloggers who writes extensively about the baggies, i am reminded by the pre-season of my relative isolation from my subject material.

there are fans who post to online forums, as well as professional journalists of all kinds - and including bloggers - who live in the birmingham area, attend the training sessions and reserve matches, as well as keep an eye on the comings and goings at the hawthorns' parking lot. chris lepkowski - whose blogging, journalism and audio/visual work can be found in the birmingham mail, is probably the most pre-eminent west brom journalist, and his name comes up quite often as a source of accurate news amongst the baggies' online community.

my main source of information - as well as my primary access to most baggies matches this last year - has been the ALBION RADIO transmissions, through the club's website; and featuring dave bowler, west brom's head publications editor, with either duncan jones or chris hall doing the match commentary. i write about west bromwich albion and their coverage through live digital-audio commentaries, overseas television broadcasts and wide ranging, diverse online media resources.





in short, i am the first person i know of to report on west bromwich albion football club through a daily analysis of online digital media - and from an overseas perspective. while the myriad disadvantages to reporting on the baggies from 3000 miles away should be evident enough, there are several advantages that might be easy to overlook. while the quality of "objectivity" is not necessarily a virtue, in and of itself, being removed from the pessimistic humour of the black country - which often converts to an unnatural, painful despair over the subject of football - there is a negativity that never colours my writing. i consider myself the quintessesntial, naive optimist as far as my support for the albion goes - a stance that is much easier to maintain from a distance.

my devotion to the albion aside, there is absolutely nothing black country about me, and i look on my visits to the hawthorns as a day-trip to a strange and exotic corner of the world where one goes for no other reason than football. it is a singularly spiritual experience in a suburban industrial wasteland.

while i do always hope for the best, i don't start every premier league campaign projecting a comfortable mid-table finish. for example, when kevin phillips left and the next signing the club made was gianni zuiverloon, i wasn't particularly filled with confidence as i knew that the club had lost a player that they weren't going to be able to replace, and this wasn't going to be as good a team going into the premiership as the side that had won the championship title the previous season. things just didn't feel right. i still hoped for a mid-table finish, but by late october - and after a good start to the season - it was clear that the club was in trouble. i still remained positive on the issue of survival right up until the loss to liverpool saw them dropped back down to the championship for the following season.





while i have been a bit worried by the lack of goals in this past pre-season - and i have to keep reminding myself that defensive organization was probably the gaffer's main concern. i mean, why else would di matteo play chris brunt as a defensive mid-fielder?!?! ishmael miller knocked in a couple of goals, but more crucially the baggies didn't concede more than one goal per match in any of their pre-season friendlies, so in that sense, it has probably been a fair success for the head-coach and his team.

most educated pundits haven't foreseen the baggies having any trouble with their attacking game at premieship level anyway, and are generally more positive about the albion's ability to find goals - and from a wide ranging source of players - than many of their most die-hard supporters. west brom boasted 19 different scorers last year, 4 with 10 goals or more. the defence, on the other hand, has been a different matter althogether. it has been evident, however, that RDM has focused quite specifically on this long time problem and addressed it with a group of successful summer signings that will go a long way to making the baggies more solid at the back.

it's expected that a large number of teams will be playing a variation of the continental 4-5-1 attacking formation this season, and it's become pretty evident from the recent signing that west bromwich albion will be one of them. football seems to be moving into a new era as teams playing the standard 4-4-2 formation become fewer and far between. indeed, variations of the 4-5-1 were decidedly predominant among teams at this year's world cup; and the success of these tactics in recent UEFA competitions suggests it will soon be the preferred formation of most top professional clubs. the albion had already started playing this system under tony mowbray, who abandoned the idea after ishmael miller's injury. it was, however, revived by roberto di matteo after last year's defeat to nottingham forest. with a free-scoring mid-field, it was something that worked well and was still an enterprising and entertaining prospect when going forward.

there have been more popular teams at the hawthorns over the years than the club as it is now. and i've never really felt like the supporters were behind roberto di matteo the same way they were with either gary megson or tony mowbray at the heighth of their successes with the club. it is a wide held belief, for example, that there hasn't been a really solid all-around team since bob taylor and darren moore were with the club and the baggies began their long-time flirtation with the premier league. while more recently, many supporters have yet to come to terms with kevin phillips' departure for blues, which came about largely due to the chairman sticking to his guns on club policy towards terms of contracts offered to older players.





this year, however, i am expecting a mid-table finish, and i believe this to be the best albion team yet to be going into the premiership. by virtue of the process of elimination this probably makes the current squad the best west brom side since some time in the early 80s before the baggies were relegated from the old 1st division, not to return to the top-flight again for 16 years.

enough of the current team has seen life in the premier league before, and no doubt it will be much less daunting than the last campaign. expecially when everyone involved realizes the quality and potentials of this particular albion side compared to that of previous premiership campaigns.

while the management has made a number of excellent signings that will make the baggies a decidedly more defensive team, they still need another striker who can play the 4-5-1 formation. ishmael miller is still a bit of an unknown quantity at premiership level, and if simon cox can get into position he's capable of finishing with the best of them. players like gianni zuiverloon might even have an easier time with the decidedly less physical game of the premier league than that played in the championship. and there are many new faces in the squad that we have yet to see how the whole thing gels. it could all be a bit of a surprise!

Uncle Cyrille Says...

The Black Hole of the Premier League

west brom - as with almost all the other teams who've been identified as potential "strugglers" in the premier league - are having more trouble than usual making their pre-season signing targets.

while the baggies have cleverly kept together an all important core group of players, consolidated their targeted loan signings from last year, and have made some important new acquisitions in specific and identifiable defensive positions - including a second goalie, they have been unable to get any interest from suitable strikers at premiership level; and - if i'm to take the current postings in various online discussion forums as any indication - the supporters are beyond impatient. take a look at the shattering negativity of some of the more recent posts and subsequent discussions on BBC 606, for example.

there is a wide-held belief that it's all down to chairman, jeremy peace, not making an adequate amount of money available for transfers and player wages. i don't think it's quite that simple. for sure, JP has requisites, hard-line precedents, and a measured limit on what can be spent. but much of mr. peace's caution derives from the fact that the baggies simply don't have a rich owner, benefactor, corporate interest, or any other source of benevolent, interested, and ambitious money with which to strengthen the squad. therefore, it's got to be done in a measured and careful manner, with managable goals, that will ensure that the club is always at least competitive for a place in the top-flight, and does not go the way of leeds, sheffield wedneday, sheffield united, charlton, norwich, southampton, portsmouth and hull (to name just a few) who have all run afoul of what can happen to a club when it spends premier league money and doesn't live up to top-flight competitive requirements.

hull city, for example, played two seasons in the premiership before being relegated, but spent something more like three seasons worth of money in doing so. while the parachute payments will help with the club's debt, they will lose much of their squad and may eventually end up in a relegation battle at the wrong end of the championship. no matter what other criticisms you may have - and with JP as chairman - you will never see this at west bromwich albion.

as always, teams like manchester united, liverpool, arsenal, tottenham, manchester city and chelsea have a definite edge in attracting players. while this has long been true, it hasn't always been about the money! in the past, and for young footballers looking to get into their national sides or just expand their professional opportunities, these were traditionally clubs where one went to fulfill their aspirations.

but with the focus now shifting ever towards the financial considerations as the bottom line, sportsmanship and its attendant aspirations have been banished to an antiquated afterthought. coupled with the structure of the premier league, both financially and in terms of the number of player personnel that a team can now employ - the gap in between the top-half of the premiership and that of the bottom-half is finally and glaringly evident in a way it never quite has been before. the dream is more than over. it has been trashed and forgotten. even everton, the team that holds the record for the number of consecutive years in the english top flight - and a club that has always held its own with the other top sides, both on and off the pitch, - is now a second grade team with apparently limited resource; while the likes of wigan, west brom, and bolton are now treated as decidedly undesirable destinations to look for a career move.

nobody, it seems, is signing anybody.

indeed, the situation is so bad that roberto di matteo has now stated in an interview with BBC WM that he doubts there will be anymore signings between now and the beginning of the season. personally, i found it to be a bit out of character for di matteo, who usually does not discuss internal football politics with the press, and took it as a statement to the supporters demonstrating that this is the way things are at the moment and that he's as frustrated as they are. the all important required striker is just not there, and there's probably not much point in worrying about it until september or the right opportunity presents itself.

i think the baggies can take heart at the recent resurgence of midlands football in the premier league. with the relative and recent successes of wolves, birmingham, stoke city, and a squad that includes ishmael miller, roman bednar, simon cox, graham dorrans, chris brunt and a series of new defensive signings, i feel that things could be starting out a whole lot worse for the albion than they are.

In Search of Reason!

looking at the posts to BBC 606 (and various other online football forums), there is a lot of complaining going on amongst the supporters about lack of transfer activity. i suppose that that's going to be a universal anxiety for the fans of a club coming up from the league and going into the premiership for the fifth time in a decade. the signings will get done, but not until the market begins to close and the serious considerations begin to present themselves.

what i really can't believe is how badly the fans are under-rating the team "as is", and over-rating the prospect of premiership football! it is very negative stuff indeed. especially on the issue of strikers.

nobody seems to be giving ishmael miller much of a chance, for example; despite the fact that he's only 23 and has yet to complete a full season with the club. he was pretty sensational when he came to west brom on loan from manchester city. scoring in his debut, he was called up to the england under-21 squad, nominated for championship player of the month and he netted a hat-trick in the FA CUP quarter-final that year; as well, as forming an impressive partnership with veteran striker, kevin phillips.

in the premier league, however, he was cast by manager, tony mowbray, in a much tougher role of lone striker playing a 4-5-1 attacking formation. while he was hardly prolific, and slow to start, he had recently scored a good goal away at newcastle, and looked to be just coming into form, before a collision with portsmouth goalie, david james, took him out of the game for well over a year.

again - and 14 months later - miller scored on his come-back start for the first team against blackpool, at a crucial juncture in the team's promotion battle. on the subsequent tuesday evening, he scored late-on as a substitute, giving the a baggies an all important 2-0 win away to swansea, and a virtual strangle-hold on automatic promotion. at his best, he is a fast, strong and deceptively skillful goal-scorer.




still, he is a bit of un-known quantity, as he is painfully one-footed (left), seems to be sucseptible to niggly, little injuries that keep him from getting a decent run in the first team; and we don't really know if he's a good premiership player with the ability to improve, or a just a very talented football league player, who would no doubt be able to attain the status of "folk-hero" with a long career at one of the bigger clubs in the championship or league 1?

you would think the faithful might display a little more faith in the former.

the fans are a little more generous with roman bednar. he scored six goals in his last premier league campaign, and even his worst critics are expecting him to go at least one or two better this term. i mean we started last year's campaign with luke moore as the main striker. things would seem a lot better this year, even by the more demanding standards of the premiership.

with bednar and miller as our main strikers - and the impact potential of simon cox - there is still plenty of attacking football to be explored on this team, and i think the supporters are being absolutely ridiculous in their expectations in this regard. certainly, the club needs another big striker to accomadate RDM's apparent tactical formations; but, that's only because we sold craig beattie last year and didn't replace him; whereas, i think the punters are expecting the club to bring in a "proven" 15-20 goal-scorer at premier league level! well it ain't gonna happen!

the premier league can do terrible things to a supporter's level of expectation.

variously there are cries and criticisms in regards to just about everyone except graham dorrans and gonzalo jara. i just can't believe that it isn't so much more obvious to everyone that this is the best baggies side since sometime between 1982 and 1986. by this, i mean, that it might not be as good as the team that lost an FA CUP semi-final to QPR in 82, but is certainly better - and relative to the post premier-league era - than the one that was relegated a few years later.

as usual, the most critical of the punters are pointing back to the issue of jeremy peace not making enough transfer money available. there have even been rumours of JP getting ready to sell the club, which - by the way - i can find no reports of in the mainstream press. however, he is indeed trying to strengthen his financial control and expand his ownership of the club. but after all, he is also a business-man. through a televised BBC interview for the "late kick-off" show last year, i listened at some length to JP speak of his ambitions for the baggies, and i believe he is authentic, and committed to finding a realistic niche for west bromwich albion in england's top-flight - and perhaps, eventually, even beyond.

beside the percieved need of another big striker, there seems an essential and widespread lack of faith among the supporters in the core group of players; and it seems that there is a surprising number of supporters who have never really warmed to roberto di matteo, despite the success, confidence and winning attitude he has brought to the club.




i will concede that while an italian manager who appears to be building a decidedly continental-style side, playing a 4-5-1 formation (or "4-2-3-1" if you like) and featuring two defensive midfielders is decidedly out of character for a club that has been committed to "attacking football" (for better, or worse) for the last half century; but di matteo saw what he had in terms of talent when coming to the club, did the best with what he had, has now quite obviously begun to implement his own vision of football at the hawthorns, and he's probably got some idea of how to go about making it happen.

if you actually read the top writers who follow league football in england, they were all pretty much in agreement when assessing the baggies' premier league prospects, that they were going to need to strengthen their defence significantly if they were to compete. i have even seen criticisms saying that the task may be beyond them, and will be their downfall in surviving the top-flight. no writer i've read, however, was too concerned that the baggies would have any trouble controlling the ball, getting forward or even scoring goals.

we have made some good signings since RDM took over. gabriel tamas, gonzalo jara, steven reid, giles barnes and pablo ibanez. this will strengthen the defending a great deal and the issue of a new goalie is academic. dean keily is moving into full-time coaching and dropping to third choice keeper. so whether it is a definite backup for carson or someone who might challenge for the starter's position, that is yet to be seen, but there will be new goalie at the hawthorns either this year or next. as for this season, the club will eventually find another target man, however humble an acquisition it may be.

i think the baggies will surprise this season. i'm expecting them to finish ahead of blackpool, bolton, blackburn, wigan, and wolves, as definite; and they should be competetive with west ham, birmingham city, newcastle, sunderland, stoke and fulham, depending on these particular clubs' form. even if we aren't, it won't simply be down to the albion's lack of an imaginary £20m centre-forward.

Centre-Halfs, Strikers and the Strange Case of Borja-Valero

the baggies are buying defenders! this last week and a half has seen the permanent signing of gabriel tamas from auxerre, as well as the arrival at the hawthorns of pablo ibanez from atletico madrid. in simple evidence as to my argument that this is the best baggies squad in years, the last time we went into the premier league our best centre-half was jonas olsson - and that was by a very long way! i don't know much about ibanez, other than his age and credentials; but certainly, tamas is a much better player than olsson was in the last top-flight campaign. happily, there is every indication that both olsson, himself, and abdoulaye meite are both going to be much improved players to two years ago; and now there looks to be a solid premier-league signing in ibanez.

as heartening as it is to see that we've now got a decent complement of centre-halfs - and the imminent signing of a second goalie is academic, as dean keily begins his move into coaching - what the club really needs is full-backs - and more importantly, a better defensive system.




as the albion are primarily an attacking team whose game depends on having superior ball possession, they are too often caught out coming forward and are susceptible to the counter-attack. the most memorable example was the 2008-09 premier-league home fixture with chelsea. i don't think the super-stars from stamford bridge had five minutes on the ball in the first twenty. however, with the baggies unable to score and pressing further and further forward, they were caught out at the back and conceded at the first chelsea counter-attack. from that point on, they were chasing the game and ultimately got completely shredded in a 3 or 4 goal rout.

i'm probably more optimistic than most, but i believe that the baggies are going to be much more than competitive with teams in the bottom half of the division than in 2008-09, and i don't see any reason why di matteo should have to radically change his approach when playing wigan, bolton, blackburn, wolves or west ham. however, in fixtures with the likes of man. united, chelsea, arsenal, man. city and even the villa, i would change the system to feature two defensive midfielders. while this is a common tactic in italy and france, it is not used much in england and i have a suspicion that it would take premiership sides quite by surprise. especially in light of the baggies' exceptional attacking midfield. with brunt, dorrans, morrison, cox or thomas coming forward behind bednar or miller, and mulumbu already playing the deep midfield, an extra defender playing next to him won't be in anybody's way. this would allow cover for overlapping runs from the full-backs going forward down the flank, and also cover for the centre-halfs in the middle of the park on set-plays. here is another reason that i believe acquiring one or two top-notch full-backs should be the club's primary concern at the moment.





as to the question of strikers - and in retrospect, i can't help thinking that selling craig beattie was not such a good idea - we still haven't seen a full season from ishmael miller but have some idea as to his potential, and we know that bednar is fairly well suited to a single striker game. cox and moore could only be used in a 4-4-2 system or as deep attackers in a strikerless formation, so a third big man who can play a 4-5-1 system would seem requisite. stoke city's james beattie is reported to be the club's current signing target.

this all brings us to the strange case of borja-vallero, west brom's all-time record transfer fee who's been out on loan with mallorca in la liga since last year. borja-vallero was brought to the club by tony mowbray and is a mid-fielder very much in the preferred mould of the TM style of player: better than average ball skills, possessed of a measured and tidy passing game, moving well into space and taking on defenders with wit and guile rather than power and pace. in fact, he was completely interchangable with both robert koren and jonathan greening and could fill in for james morrison or chris brunt as well. tony mowbray's pronouncement was that he was the best technical footballer in the side and predicted a big future for him in english football.

instead, he saw about ten minutes playing time at the hawthorns before being sent out on loan at TM's departure for celtic. by all accounts he has made quite a name for himself in the spanish game. the reports from the hawthorns, however, would indicate that he will be returning to spain permanently. as to why this apparently talented footballer never made it at west brom may always be a mystery.




i'm still unsure about where jonathan greening fits in all this. the veteran midfielder went out on loan to fulham, with the possibility of a permanent move to craven cottage pending the completion of the season. i don't kow if that means he's already gone, but with koren and borja-valero out of the picture i would imagine that the option of bringing him back for a premier league campaign would have had to have crossed someone's mind.

whatever the case, this is still the best albion squad in years, and di matteo's ability to coax results out of mediocre performances is a quality that the team has difinitely lacked over the last few years.

i wouldn't be surprised to see some unusual tactical formations and ruthlessly calculated substutions next year. for example, it's quite possible that RDM would field a 4-6-0 formation against superior opposition with the intention of holding down a 0-0 scoreline and then bring on miller or bednar for the last fifteen minutes or so, looking to snatch the winner through playing the long-ball and counter-attacking.

di matteo used this very tactic to great success in a crucial win away to swansea late last season. although it seemed a bit perplexing at the time (luke moore as a lone "striker"?!?!), it worked. the baggies won and maintained a clean-sheet in one of the few games where they were absolutely outplayed in the midfield, scott carson looked shaky, and there wasn't a goal in sight at either end... not for the first 80 minutes, anyway.

we have now made a couple of good defensive signings, and everyone who matters probably knows that another target man would seem essential. let's hope they don't forget the importance of good full-backs in the modern game.

Notes on a Winning Streak (part 4)

WBA 1-0 Coventry City

live text replay


while i was a little sad that this would be my last trip to see live football in england this year, i was completely and utterly unconcerned about the result of this one. i knew the baggies were going to win. i had seen west bromwich albion at home four times and once away since i came over on my first trip in september, and had never seen them held to a draw or beaten. i was secure in the knowledge that providence would play me no trick and i would leave the country boasting about my great fortune at having seen west brom victorious on every occasion at which i had attended.

as night games are just an hour or two beyond being able to get back to me mum's place in chilcompton - and after having mistakenly booked late on my last trip and ended up staying at the premier inn in dudley, i had the foresight to book a room at the holiday inn just behind new street station well in advance, and in order that i could make a quick getaway in the morning.

i had less than 48 hours left in the country and my heart was heavy with an inevitable feeling of let-down. this had been a special year and something i had been waiting for all my life - and in more ways than one. this was a season of english football, such as it is, that i will never forget.

i had seen coventry city on TV in their away match to leicester city on sunday. while i had been cheering their heroic comeback victory over the foxes, i certainly did not want them coming to the hawthorns in form, on a high and frustrating the baggies the way they had in the reverse fixture back in october which had ended in a disappointing goalless draw.



i checked in to the hotel at around 3.00 PM. i don't know where the time went, but i puttered around online for a while, prepared and uploaded my last two match reports before it was time to put on the colours and venture out accross the city centre for snow hill station and the short trip to the hawthorns with which i was becoming more and more familiar.

"hawthorns. return, please."

"£1.80."

"which platform is the next one leaving from?"

it was a drizzly night in the west-midlands, and as i came down halford's lane, repeating once again another step of the ritual that was now becoming routine, i rifled through the coins in my pocket readying my £3 change for the programme vendor at the smethwick gate. i entered the ground, had one last wistful look around the club-shop, a last pre-match cigarette outside the east stand and headed inside.

as i got to my seat, i realized that the two older gentlemen who had been sitting next to me for the last two home matches were not there. nor was the fellow who had been sitting directly to my left. when the attendance was announced at 20,000 some-odd, i realized that significantly less people attend week-night matches than the saturday afternoon games.

a peculiar waste of season's tickets, i thought at first.

but then what horrors, miseries, disappointments and mediocrity had these obvious veterans had to endure in a lifetime of supporting the albion?

being a dedicated football supporter requires both a physical and emotional stamina that those who are not fans would never suspect.



this was a big improvement on the previous week's performance away to swansea city, and was a game dominated by defensive play, good goalkeeping, set pieces and missed opportunities. scott carson (who i must admit, has never been my favourite) showed, over these last couple of matches, that he is a much improved player from the man who was humiliated and hung out to dry by john terry in his last international appearance for england, and endured the unendurable in what must have been a true nightmare of a season as albion's starting goalie in the premier league.

while he had been shaky, nervous and painfully tentative about coming off his line to clear against swansea city, back at the hawthorns he was controlling his area, making assured clearances and exhibiting his primary talent as an athletic shot-stopper with terrific reaction time. after a good game against preston north end on saturday, this was a well deserved clean-sheet for the baggies' captain.

an early attack down the left-wing by chris brunt produced an acutely angled cross that appeared, for a split-second, as if it were going to dip into the top left-hand corner of the city goal, but only managed to curl away just inches wide and no albion players in the box. the baggies looked again as if they were going to dominate the match through going forward.

the key to this match was the way in which the good defensive midfield of coventry city pretty handily negated the baggies' predominantly attacking midfield; and the difference on the night - and not surprisingly - came from a set play. albion newcomer, steven reid, playing in the right full-back position, scrambled a loose ball into the coventry goal when the city defenders' marking failed badly on a chris brunt corner kick just past the 16 minute mark.



the only really contentious moment of the first half was on robert koren's effort which was bobbled by coventry goalie, keiren westwood, and for all the world looked like it went over the line before he really got a firm grip on it. some good passing also produced a quality opportunity for ishmael miller who, turning on the coventry defenders, shot wide.

in the second period, city were much more effective, especially from set pieces and throw-ins. right to the end the baggies were forced to scramble away some dangerous opportunities created by several coventry city free-kicks.

with somebody behind me constantly moaning that the albion were in trouble and that leon barnett would come off the subs' bench and snatch the equalizer, the coventry finishing just wasn't there, and the albion defenders good positional play forced several key misses allowing the baggies to hang on for an unusual 1-0 victory.



i returned to the hotel sadly resigned to the fact that i would not be back this season. i had, however, the good fortune to have been present for the end of one winning streak and the outset of another. i had never seen the baggies lose or draw - which is something, i'm sure, that few albion supporters anywhere can boast.

i also knew, at this point, that promotion to the premier-league was all but sewn up, and - with the shorter schedule and the lack of night games in the premiership - i wouldn't have the same opportunities to attend the number of live matches that i had had this year. i certainly wouldn't have a block of five games in 2 weeks to schedule my trips to england around!

however, i will renew my club membership and i will be back. but whatever comes to pass for the baggies in next year's premier league, i will never forget this year. there is nothing in my entire life, outside of work, that has turned out so well, not let me down and been as much of a joy as going "up the albion" has this year.

the lord is my shepherd,
i'll not want,
he makes me down to lie,
in pastures green,
he leadeth me,
the quiet waters by.

Note on a Winng Streak (part 3)

WBA 3-2 PNE

live text replay



another day-trip to birmingham... a match involving two of the football leagues original founding members, and - as far as the first-half goes - probably the best 45 minutes of football i have yet seen at the hawthorns.

the match started off as a high-spirited affair that temporarily took on a kind of carnival atmosphere as the baggies went up 2-0 within the first ten minutes. fast, flowing football saw both sides creating good attacking opportunities early on asking serious questions of both goalies and their respective back lines. however, it was the albion who made the initial breakthrough.




ben watson scored his first goal in west brom colours through a build-up of long-range inter-passing between robert koren and ishmael miller. the return ball from koren deflected off a north end defender, sean st. ledger, and broke opportunely for the on-loan wigan mid-fielder to pounce and blast home from about 5 yards out, just on the 6 minute mark.

a few minutes later, and with the hawthorns beginning to buzz, graham dorrans, taking the ball just inside his own half and leisurely advancing, spotted chris brunt open and in space upfield. he delivered a brilliant and casually placed ball forward into space, and brunt, timing his run to perfection, caught out the lily-whites' off-side trap and easily beat andy lonergan for the second time in 5 minutes. it was beginning to feel as if we were going to be treated to a vintage baggies' goal-scoring clinic.

the first half would eventually provide the five-goals that made up the final score-line, and within minutes we were all brought back down to earth with a thump as the lily-whites mounted an effective attack requiring scott carson - playing well and back on home turf after his ironically poor performance in earning a clean-sheet against swansea - to make an athletic diving save on an open header following a dangerous cross from ross wallace to palm the ball away to safety. on the ensuing corner-kick, however, preston full-back, sean st. ledger, shook off his marker to head home wallace's in-swinging delivery from point blank range. 2-1 to the baggies...



just past the half-hour mark, and the team's playing good stuff at both ends of the pitch, graham dorrans restored the albion's two goal lead scoring one of the goals-of-the-season on a spectacular free-kick from 35 yards out that flew into the top right-hand corner of the net, leaving andy lonergan again with no chance whatsoever. the carnival atmosphere and prospect of a high-scoring win for the baggies was back on.

this was re-enforced as dorrans - making the finest individual move of the match - weaved his way to the bi-line down the left wing and delivered a cross that ishmael miller really looked like he might have done better with, ultimately heading the ball wide of the preston goal. the baggies looked to be just buzzing with attacking menace at this point.

however, just before the end of the first half - and similar to chris brunt's goal at the other end - preston striker, neil mellor, found himself in space and on the end of a through ball that split the baggies' defense and beat the off-side trap. finding himself one-on-one with albion goalie, scott carson, the preston striker pushed the ball to the outside, past the sprawling keeper and shot home from a sharp angle to restore the lily-whites single goal deficit.



despite conceding two-goals in the first half, scott carson, had a much improved performance from the mid-week match at swansea, and was responsible for several fine saves as well as being quick and decisive about coming off his line to clear - something which had given him definite problems at the liberty stadium on the previous tuesday.

while goals and attack were the theme of the first-half, defense and good goalkeeping were served up as second-half fare. while the baggies have never been famous for holding on to single-goal leads, scott carson and company did an admirable job at doing just that for the last 45 minutes. with a good deal of fine football played in the middle of the park, neither team was really able to penetrate deep enough in attack to cause any real danger in the final third, and the sure hands of both scott carson and andy lonergan picked out anything that came their way.



as i made my way back down halford's lane to the hawthorns station and the trains back to west birmingham, i was feeling an exaltation at my team's performance since i had been in the country and attending matches. i couldn't remember anything in my life having gone so well. i had come hoping to see at least two victories and perhaps a draw. i had no worries about the next fixture, which would be my last live match - and my last visit to the hawthorns - of the season. i had been to the hawthorns four times now and attended one away match. i could boast that i had never seen the baggies beaten or played to a draw. in looking forward to the coming match with coventry city i knew - and with a sense of absolute assurance - that providence would not betray me now.

Notes on a Winning Streak (part 1)

again, i haven't been able to blog while in england. when it comes down to it - and as much as i love me mum - i absolutely hate using her WINDOWS computer. i've bought her a modem router so we can share her broadband service over a couple of computers. so perhaps the next time i'm here, i'll be able to write about the baggies as i see them live in the same manner that i do with the internet audio transmissions and TV back at home.

WBA 3-2 Blackpool F.C.

live text replay


i had - and quite philosophically - gone to england with four west brom matches to attend - with the expectation that 7 points from 12 would be a success. the baggies exceeded any of my hopes by taking all 12 points, as well as producing two highly uncharacteristic clean-sheets against both swansea and coventry city respectively.

i had landed at heathrow on thursday, spent the better part of two days in london seeking out (amongst other things) the best meat thali plate in paddington, before making my way to birmingham on a saturday morning for the baggies' home match with blackpool.

unlike my previous two trips to the hawthorns i got there completely by rail. this was a new experience and another small but significant step in my development as a baggies supporter. on my first visit, i came out completely on the wrong side of the pallasades complex to be able to negotiate my way by local rail to the hawthorns and ended up taking a taxi. this time, however, i found my way quite easily from birmingham new street to birmingham snow hill where a return fare to the hawthorns cost a modest £1.80.

as i exited the hawthorns station - which is about 300 yards south of the stadium itself - i saw the structure of the hawthorns looming in the distance under the cold, grey west midland sky. it was an impressive sight and i decided to take a photo. i was, however, unable to capture the true feeling of the moment.



as i continued down halford's lane with the early arriving baggies faithful - as well as a few small groups of blackpool supporters who'd come in by train - i quickly rifled through my pockets to get 3 quid in exact change ready for the programme vendor that i knew would be at the smethwick end gates. jerome thomas was on the cover of the day's issue.

i proceeded directly to the ticket office pick-up window. i found that the staff in the tickets department had already seen to it that the ticket to that day's match - which had become lost in mail - had already been replaced and was waiting for me in my home-tickets envelope. a second envelope for away matches contained my ticket for the game at swansea on the coming tuesday night. i thanked the guy at the window, purposefully slipped my members card back into my wallet and tucked my documents safely in the inside breast pocket of my coat.

then, and with due urgency, i headed for the club-shop where i had promised myself that the first thing i was going to do was buy a long-sleeve away shirt. the end of the season clear-out was on; the time of year when the current team jerseys/kit go on half-price sale, or end up as incentive giveaways as part of membership or subscription renewals. in view of the circumstance i bought a long sleeve home shirt as well. i then stocked up on a fair bit of small and sundry swag including a coffee mug, a double pack of baggies underwear, a dvd, scarf and a hat. i checked out, and with all immediate and pressing concerns seen to i had time for a smoke before going inside.

once inside the stadium, everybody was standing around or waiting in the various queues, having their pies and pints, making bets, chatting bullshit and football, as well as watching the last 10 minutes of the tottenham hotspur/blackburn rovers match on the overhead TVs before making a last dash for the toilets prior to kick-off.

i was both delighted and surprised when it was announced that ishmael miller would be given his first start since coming back from long-term injury and only having seen a couple of months worth of recuperative, first-team appearances as a post half-time substitute. this was a particularly exciting prospect and i hoped that the occasion might prove auspicious.

typically - and as in both my previous visits to the hawthorns - the baggies conceded first just on 6 minutes through an unstoppable shot by charlie adams from outside the box that bounced in off the left-hand post. i could see it coming and it was quite a good goal really. perhaps the albion back four could have closed down the move earlier; non-the-less, it was a well-placed effort and deserving of the goal. i heaved a hard, disappointed sigh in a moment that i realized i had lived before.

the mood completely changed when miller equalized. the young striker marked the occasion of his return as a first-team starter in style by scoring on 13 minutes from a perfectly placed through-ball from chris brunt. turning on the gas he completely outstripped the last blackpool defender before slotting the ball neatly through the legs of goalie, matthew gilks.



as they might be heard to say on occasion in the west midlands: "it's deja vu all over again!!"

the baggies typically controlled the game and robert koren finally put them ahead with a tremendous individual effort in the 52nd minute. the slovenian international delivered an absolutely perfect left-footed shot from outside the box, burying it in the top left-hand corner of matthew gilks' goal.

while the baggies probably deserved the lead, they did, however, always looked susceptible to the seasiders' counter-attack; and, at 2-1, all the goals had been the result of exceptional individual and team effort rather than defensive mistake. this all changed in the 72nd minute when the albion back-four allowed an incisive blackpool attack to penetrate down the left flank and provide an opportunity for a cross which brett ormerod headed home from point-blank range past an irate and flailing scott carson.

the baggies don't do anything the easy way and were lucky to get the benefit of a very close-call in the 77th minute as giles barnes was brought down on the edge of the area and was awarded a controversial penalty. graham dorrans scored from the spot and the albion hung on for what was a difficult - and perhaps unfair - but thoroughly deserved victory.

i'm not sure that i gained any huge insight into the comic black country pessimism that surrounds one in the environment of the hawthorns, but i certainly got a full dose and saw it at its most extreme today.

"well, that was a terrible game of football," i heard one older gentleman suggest to his mate at the sound of the final whistle.

back in london, and watching the football league show later that night, i saw the highlights and duly observed that it was reported as one of the better games played in the country that day.

"i think brunt looks like e's just about given up!" i heard another fellow saying later on behind me whilst standing in the queue for the trains back to west birmingham.

"they're going to be difficult to beat in the playoffs," he shook his head, continuing his assessment of the day's opposition.

brunt given up!?!?! playoffs!?!?! i thought to myself, did you miss the fact that brunty had a hand in creating both of our first two goals - one of them an absolutely perfect pass? and what the fuck are you talking about playoffs!?!?! PLAYOFFS - 'ey!!! nottingham forest lost again!!! what are you talking about???

"it's the centre-'alfs really... haven't had a decent centre-'alf since darren moore was 'ere."

it is something unfathomable that obviously runs deep and from the roots.