WBA 3-1 Derby County

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given what i was seeing from baggies' fans posting to the BBC 606 following the FA cup loss to reading, i have to say, i can't believe the level of negativity of what i was reading. for one thing, we're supposed to be west bromwich albion supporters and that means that you're certainly not here to celebrate the ritual of perpetual victory. if that's what you're looking for there's always manchester united - and they're much easier to follow than the baggies, choose any medium you will. however, there is no doubt the FA cup loss had further drained the team - both physically through the fact of the replay, and emotionally from the manner of the loss. while i found the online reaction to be generally alarmist and overly negative, the 606 posters are not completely without a reason to be concerned.

i read posts that had already written the baggies off as far as automatic promotion goes, and others that couldn't see the baggies being good enough to even wage a successful playoff campaign. as we have dropped to third in the table for the second time this season and haven't won in four starts, it seemed like good deal of baggies supporters were hitting the panic button or had already given up completely on the albion for the year. you've got to remember that two of the four games without a victory haven't counted in the league. and there's plenty of historical precedent for this kind of loss. this isn't the first time ever that an albion defender has lost their nerve or made a poor decision that caused a shocking and unexpected loss in injury time.



what is true - and should be a point of concern for any supporter - is that the albion are not playing terribly well at the moment. but, there is just enough individual inspiration in the side that they can get through a rough patch like this, still get results and keep pace with their promotion expectations. if you look at the cycle of league fixtures over the course of the season, you'd probably see a definite pattern and what's going on right now isn't something that we haven't experienced before. i still believe that the baggies will be challenging for the league title with newcastle throughout the remainder of the season, and i saw nothing in today's home victory over derby to shake my faith in that belief.

while graham dorrans seems to have gotten all the attention this year, it is chris brunt who drags the baggies forward and pushes the team into attack at the most critical moments. he's a real leader on the pitch and makes a lot happen going forward. there's no doubt that graham dorrans came into the side under much more dramatic circumstances than did chris brunt, but i still believe that brunt is the heart of this year's albion side and his performance has been a decisive factor in regards to our relative success this year.



my view was somewhat vindicated in today's win over derby county. the northern ireland international, controlling a low, sharp pass from simon cox on the wing, single-handedly created and scored the equalizer when the baggies looked as if they were going nowhere, and heading for a truly disastrous loss. he then put the albion ahead minutes later by picking up on some scrappy play in the derby box following an albion corner and took full advantage when the chance fell to him.

the other factor which made the difference and saw the baggies turn this one around was simon cox' inclusion as a substitute for moore - going against the conventional wisdom that the baggies' young striker is unsuited to the team's current 4-5-1 formation. luckily, cox is a tireless runner and his work-rate is good on his worst days. today it really paid off. cox netted the albion's third goal on a through-ball from fellow substitute, james morrison, and clinched an absolutely vital win for the baggies. the three-points - coupled with leicester city's 3-0 win over nottingham forest - puts the albion back into second-place with extra points and a game in hand. with a run of home fixtures coming up and a fair number of players coming back from short-term injuries, the baggies are back in the driver's seat and should be able to challenge for the league title - if not win it outright!

the other thing about BBC 606 that i noticed was the posters quick and easy dismissal of the FA cup in favour of concentrating entirely on promotion. these folks have forgotten how good it feels to win an FA cup. they fail to recognize - even with the current state of english football - that a cup final win, especially the FA cup, is a thing that is remembered and celebrated for years and years after the fact; and a win by a team from the second-tier would be a memory that would last its supporters a lifetime.



roberto di matteo showed a great deal of creativity in his team selection and his use of substitutes in getting today's win. making a full five changes to the starting squad from wednesday night's game, he managed to coax a deceptive 3-1 scoreline from a match that was really sub-par and lacking in any real initiative until the last twenty minutes. the gaffer surprised everybody by taking out both joe mattock and gianni zuiverloon. while marek cech is healthy and it was expected that he'd be given a start today ahead of mattock, it was widely thought that di matteo would still play zuiverloon simply by virtue of the fact that he has no other right-backs in the squad. however, the gaffer moved recent signing gabriel tamas to the right-back position and played abdoulaye meite in the centre.

while di matteo's defensive gambit worked well enough to see to it that they only conceded a single goal, it was once again the baggies' ability to score quickly and make goals out of nothing that won the day.

make no mistake about it, as uninspired as this match was, the last twenty minutes were the most critical football that the albion have had to play this year, and they showed they are a team of no small character - especially in light of the potential lack of confidence that might have haunted them after the crushing manner in which they were knocked out of the FA cup only days ago. today was a huge step towards fulfilling the most demanding of this year's expectations.

Bristol City 2-1 WBA

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i was not born an albion supporter. in fact, if i had adopted any of the teams to which the respective sides of my family have traditionally shown allegiance, i would have been either a portsmouth, ipswich town or wolves fan.

how i came to be an albion supporter - while being beyond my control, for one thing - is a long story and spans almost forty years of football and colours many of my attitudes about the current state of english football.

this match depressed me terribly. not because the baggies fell into third place, or just how plainly visible it was that fatigue, injury and suspensions are taking their toll; nor that the albion played poorly. but because it made me wonder what i really want as a supporter, and the depressing fact of what one can inevitably expect from english football as it is in the year 2010.



this was pretty average fare for the baggies, and not inconsistent with their form of late. the albion have been on a nine game unbeaten run that has come - for the most part - from scrapping out victories and draws in a slew of mediocre performances against what has largely been mediocre opposition. but it hasn't come cheaply, and the injuries - especially that to gonzalo jara - have at least, temporarily, piled up.

west brom's nine game unbeaten run came to an end with a tired and listless performance in the second-half that saw the the baggies give up two goals in the space of four minutes. while this was only the second away defeat of the season it comes at a particularly difficult time for a club that should now be concerned with cementing their hold on second place and looking towards challenging for the title. but then, the albion never do anything the easy way.

i had to take this match in live via the ALBION RADIO transmission, but i was afforded the opportunity to see the match replayed the next day on TV. truth to tell, the baggies weren't that bad in the first half and deserved more than a one goal lead at the break with striker, roman bednar, unable to finish a couple of really good opportunities.

the one disgrace was recent loan signing frank nouble. considering the reports and big-league estimation as to his potential it must have just been a horrible day for the young mid-fielder. he looked a gangly, dozy muddle in a position that has been covered by the excellent performance of jerome thomas most of the season. i doubt this display was anything like what he's capable of and will just have to be written off as one of those days where even the most basic skills are lost.



the other real weak link in the albion team was joe mattock. while he is a really pretty good left back and knows the various jobs of his position in ways that bely his age, he is not quick enough to be involved in the attacking game as much as he wants to be, and overlapping runs with the left-winger should be discouraged in favour of developing his defensive talents. in short, as long as he stays home and does his job watching the back door he's a good left back. in fact, i think his best game of the season may have been against middlesbrough, where a small injury forced him to hold his place in the back-line and kept him from racing upfield and getting caught out of position.

while the loss is definitely a setback and a missed opportunity towards stamping their name on an automatic promotion place, we have to keep things in perspective. it is only the second loss away from the hawthorns all season, and there's no necessary indication that a poor run of form is going to follow. it has rather looked all year as though second-place has had the baggies name written on it and there's no reason to believe that anything has changed.

what made me depressed about this loss, was that it reminded that i am a baggies supporter and would follow them all the way down to depths of league 2 and beyond if that's what was required. but watching this game, i got an uneasy feeling that this might be the last year of yo-yoing the club has got in them. i mean, this is a completely unique situation in english football that a team should have been involved in relegation and promotion struggles between the first and second tiers for ten years running. it's just got to resolve at some point!

so assuming we attain promotion again, what can we expect from the premier league? while i know the £30 million TV money is a big incentive just to be included in the competition - but really - what can west bromwich albion ever hope to achieve in the premier league under today's conditions? last year, we were the only team in the premier league that made a profit. all the other clubs operated by committing to huge debts in order to buy "premier league" players. we've seen in the past how this business model ultimately fails when a club adopts and carries premier league financing for a number of years and is then relegated.



charlton athletic, held up by football pundits and professionals as the model example of a "consolidated premier-league" club for most of the last decade, find themselves now - and in the space of a few short years - in the third tier of english football after a double-relegation which was the direct cost of carrying premier league financing at the time of relegation to the second tier. similar things have happened at leicester city, southampton, reading, watford and both swindon town and norwich city were likewise punished for even flirting with the premier league.

if west brom goes up, then all we can ever hope for is "consolidation" and perhaps a top-ten finish somewhere down the road - and that would be considered a miracle. it might even be worth a "manager-of-the-year" award! i mean, just look at the rave-reviews that alex mcleish is getting at birmingham city this year! genius is reduced to a state of mediocrity and glory is strictly reserved for those who can afford it.

i know that it is complete heresy to proclaim it, but i would rather see the albion win the FA cup than anything else this year. the fact is that true glory, a day of authentic heroics and the possibility of transcendence at the highest level is only possible through the cup competitions for mid-size clubs like the albion anymore.

i wasn't born an albion supporter but i shall probably die as one, and a lifetime of watching english football will have coloured my attitudes towards it.

Reading F.C. 2-2 WBA

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i saw this one live on TV through SETANTA SPORTS CANADA. thank god that the FA cup still takes precedence over the premier league somewhere!!! i also had the opportunity to see the day's early kick-off with chelsea dispatching cardiff city by a sizable score-line of 4-1, making sure that the so-called "BIG FOUR" will be represented in the quarter-finals.

i had speculated about the fitness of both graham dorrans and chris brunt, imagining that one or the other (and perhaps dorrans more than brunt) might need to sit out a game for the sake of rest and recuperation. however, it seems that as long as both are injury-free, they will probably always be starting. as i noted when i made this speculation: dorrans and brunt on half-steam are still capable of making things happen and create situations that will lead to goals.

i was unsure about this match, and being a lover of the FA cup, hoped desperately that the baggies got through. i guess because i hadn't seen the albion since simon cox scored deep into injury time at the hawthorns to earn a scrappy little home draw with QPR, i was much more anxious about this match than i would have been for a regular league match, and kebe's goal on 9 seconds was not a good sign.



it didn't really worry me though. i mean, how many times have we seen west brom win a match in which they have trailed 1-0 at some point? myself, i saw it two games in the space of four days at the hawthorns back in september where the albion trailed 0-1 on early goals (both eventually won by a 3-1 score-line), so i wasn't about to sweat it. i was, of course, vindicated when chris brunt's superbly placed cross landed squarely at robert koren's feet and the slovenian mid-fielder walked the ball home for the baggies' opener in the 17th minute.

after that, i couldn't see the baggies losing. to make it even better the royals were down to ten men in the second-half through the sending off of forward brian howard for a particularly bad tackle on abdoulaye meite. but the albion often find a way of not making life easy for themselves, and a second yellow card issued against youssouf mulumbu saw the congolese midfielder sent off to bring things level again.

while the baggies have a tendency towards late goals and one learns never to worry until the final whistle (witness last year's victory over manchester city at the hawthorns), but i was positively despondent when simon church, coming off the bench for the royals, beat the baggies' offside trap in the 72nd minute. scott carson made the initial save but was ultimately beaten as the ball skipped over and behind him for church to finish with a tap-in into the open goal.



while the match was refereed by a senior official who is generally considered a "premiership" referee, it was not officiated terribly well. it occurred to me that he was letting some pretty hard tackles go early on, and then there were some pretty harsh and unnecessary calls later in the game. i wondered, for example, if mulumbu's second yellow-card - while a definite and flagrant foul - was really warranted?

if the measure of good officiating is consistency then this guy was way off the mark. in fact, he ran this match rather like a gym-master overseeing a school-boy game where he had different standards set for different players, in order to compensate for varying levels of skill and with the particular intention of teaching whatever lessons are needed by the various individuals involved.

when a referee considers his own performance, judgments and prestige above that of the players, the teams and the game that he is officiating, then you are in real trouble and are going to get some bad calls. it was even suggested by the TV commentary that so-called "premier league" referees often do not take matches involving league teams seriously.



true to form, the baggies added a new name to their list of goal-scorers on the season as joe mattock scored his first for the albion. throwing everybody forward the baggies launched a late assault on the royals' penalty area. about 12 yards out and in possession of the ball, simon cox, seeing that mattock was in space behind him over his right shoulder, turned and delivered the ball for the teenage full-back to drill home the equalizer.

the albion will now have to replay this one at the hawthorns a week from wednesday with the winner set for a home quarter-final draw against either crystal palace or the villa. assuming that the baggies win the replay, i have every reason to believe i can start to dream just a little about the possibility of a wembley appearance for the albion this year.

the downside of all this is that roberto di matteo has now got some real selection headaches to deal with over the next three or four matches. jerome thomas is on a four-game suspension. likewise, youssouf mulumbu will be starting a short suspension with missing tomorrow's match; and both meite and jara are out with injuries - the chilean international gone for the season with a broken metatarsal. that leaves gianni zuiverloon as the only real choice at right-back, for example.

the next three of four games will be a real test of depth and character of the players that roberto di matteo has available to him. he's been astute enough to make a couple of important loan deals and has managed his forwards superbly in keeping roman bednar healthy and productive and making good use of simon cox as a utility player, who has made important contributions in crucial situations this year.

if the baggies can manage to keep their unbeaten run going at cardiff tomorrow, it will go a long way to maintaining the goal of automatic promotion.

Barnsley 3-1 WBA

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well, things seem to have have gone from bad to worse... the rough return has finally really arrived.

the only positive from this one was chris brunt's goal near the match's end, showing that he is really the true leader going forward, sometimes having to take matters into his own hands - as i first detected in the match with ipswich town. after the albion scored in that one, the left-footed, northern-ireland international had to single-handedly drag the baggies back into attack, as they seemed at a lack for tactics. he had such a good game against middlesbrough - and scoring one of the really spectacular goals of the season - that it was kind of relentless.



but in this one, save for 4 or 5 occasions of individual initiative, the baggies were pretty poor. dorrans and mulumbu both appear to believe the hype they've created at the outset of the season in thinking that they're the next paul scholes and nani; and while this is a really good club, they haven't quite adjusted to the full range of experience that this division holds for them. the fact that they can go into a big stadium like the riverside, in a match replete with full TV coverage, big media attention, and produce a really good 5-0 win against top competition in high-flying style, and then massively underestimate both a home visit from mediocre crystal palace and a somewhat less than glamourous evening in south yorkshire is surely indicative of this.

today, the team was really missing jonathan greening for the first time; and probably (and though i hate to admit it) paul robinson too, as young joe mattock was consistently caught out coming up too high in attack. all three barnsley goals were the result of working the ball down the right wing and taking full advantage of the young full-back's poor positional play.

the club needs both another outside left and central defender before it has anything like depth throughout the whole squad; and, at least one of the strikers has to go on bit of a run before they can start to think about wins coming a little more easily. since luke moore's minor injury of a couple weeks ago, no striker has stepped forward to really lead the way back to playing all-out albion style football.



with cech out for a few weeks, and the long-term injured trio of miller, morrison, and clement still a long way from coming back, jerome thomas did a lot more damage than he could've imagined when he slapped young wilshere at the emirates stadium last week. moore has another minor injury, so i imagine that it will be another start for bednar paired with wood, and simon cox to come on as sub against preston on saturday. however the gaffer plays it, one of these guys has to start hitting. ironically, the midfield and full-backs are doing their part - putting goals in, anyway - and if the strikers don't start scoring at a rate of 1-2 goals a game - and enhance the present offensive output, this is going to be a long season with a lot of complaining about the defensive play and lack of clean-sheets. funny how that works, but that seems to be life at the albion.