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.

Barnsley 3-1 WBA

live text replay

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.

Bury F.C. 0-2 WBA

match text commentary
this was the kind of match most people wouldn't read much into, and could easily be dismissed as an expected result... and so what? but considering the circumstances - and keeping in mind the immediate problems of the differing styles between cup football and league football - this was a big win for the baggies.

first off, five players were away on international duty: koren, cech, brunt, meite, and mulumbu; and true to the prescribed tactics of cup play, the gaffer kept starters scott carson, chris wood, luke moore, and captain jonathan greening on the bench. surprisingly, dimatteo is finding some depth in the team which tony mowbray was never able to at all last season. casting my mind back to the corresponding fixture of last year where - as a premier league side - they lost 3-1 in extra time to hartlepool united, who finished 19th in league 1 last year, i can't help but feel this performance was world's away from that.


simon cox got his first competitive start for the baggies; and he looked every bit the promising prospect he's been touted, being only inches offside on a couple of occasions that saw the ball in the back of the bury net. graham dorrans is the best signing all around in the last year and could comfortably step into a starting role for the club at any level. so it was fitting that with about five minutes gone, he opened his scoring account with the baggies by calmly slotting home a ball that had fallen to him directly in front of goal from a ben futcher tackle on teixeira in the bury penalty area.

craig beattie is one of the players who has seen a real revival under dimatteo. called back from his perpetual loan duties of last year, he has started regularly throughout the pre-season and showed his skills by exchanging passes with a surprisingly effective reuben reid in a counter-attacking move by the baggies following a bury free-kick. going down the right flank and directly attacking the shakers penalty area, beattie drove in a low hard cross that took a deflection off bury midfielder mike jones for the second goal.


the move started as a cool and cleverly placed clearance by leon barnett following a shakers' free-kick, and created the counter attack opportunity for reid and beattie. indeed, this was the most solid performance i think i have ever seen by barnett; and it is in the improvement of players that mowbray seemed distinctly disinterested in that the club has found a new depth. the players who struggled under TM, seem - to a man - to be suddenly flourishing and playing with renewed skill and confidence under dimatteo.


besides another good scoring chance from open play, beattie looks to be no small talent in dead ball situations, as he proved late in the game curling in a free-kick on target, but over the cross-bar. you could see though, from the general quality of the delivery and pace that he can hit them from 20-25 yards out and is capable of scoring goals.


there are still some weaknesses in the baggies' game, though, that they shall need to get sorted out. being 2-0 up at halftime was problematic - and the shakers determined resolve to get back in the game aside, the albion, as a team were a little perplexed as to how to play when they've got a lead. i think this was also the case against newcastle on the weekend, and a big problem in the premier league last year. on the one hand, the team is at its best when in possession and on the attack; but there is also the consideration of successfully protecting a lead, and how does a an attacking team do that? i think the key to sorting this out will be in finding a balance of how to defend deep, get the ball out to the midfielders, look for the counter-attacking opportunities, or slow it down and keep the ball going forward through a tidy short passing game. if they learn to keep their natural shape and playing style when they've got a lead, they would be a good counter-attacking team that would worry other teams when going forward and trying to get a goal back.

indeed, the baggies were a little shakey for entire first half hour of the second period, and an efetobore sodje goal in the 66th minute was called back for offside; and similarly to the two tight offside decisions against simon cox: just too close for comfort.

the other key elements to this match - and in the bigger picture - is that it was the first away win for the baggies since september last year. after defeating middlesbrough away in the waning days of autumn, they even required a replay with peterborough in the FA Cup, only managing a draw in the initial away fixture. not to forget that their loss to hartlepool in the league cup was also an away match.

another bogey that was dispelled in this game was roberto dimatteo registering his first win ever as a manager in a cup game. last year his mk dons went out to bradford city 2-1 in the FA Cup, and after winning in the first round of the league cup 1-0 against norwich city under paul ince, they lost the second round 2-1 to cardiff city under dimatteo.

Roman Returns

the albion gets another boost to its currently expanding stable of strikers with the ruling being reported in today's news that roman bednar is to receive an official warning and serve a three-month retro-active suspension; which, in effect, puts him back in training monday morning after this weekend's match against nottingham forest. i won't offer any opinion about what i think about getting high and illegal drugs right here and now, but bednar is lucky that he is not an american sports personality (or he'd be screwed), and i'm looking forward to him rejoining the team and adding to this years goals total.

BBC news

WBA 1-1 Newcastle United

from the discrepancies in the local TV listings - including those aired on SETANTA SPORTS CANADA itself - i can only conclude that they haven't quite figured out here who can actually broadcast what, when, how, why and where, as of yet! while SETANTA has newly picked up the rights to 60 championship matches from the BBC, they were changing the TV listings for this one right up until the last minute. in fact, on LIVESOCCERTV.COM, which is usually pretty reliable and my first choice as a source for information on local televised football broadcasts - there was conflicting scheduling, with the baggies' home opener listed as being "live" on SETANTA in the 12.30 PM time-slot; as well as a repeat of the second-leg of celtic v dinamo moscow listed for 1.00.

this may have been on account of changing information in relation to the tri-nations tournament rugby (south africa v australia), which overlapped and ran past the start of the west brom match by half an hour. sure enough, this was followed by a repeat of the second-leg of celtic v dinamo moscow match from earlier in the week. the listing then changed to a first-run, time-delay broadcast at 8.30 pm for the west brom match. while the time listing turned out to be accurate, they had the actual first-run broadcast of the match at 5.30; which, had been the time listed in the original posting of last week, but having since been revised - and at the actual time of first broadcast wasn't listed at all!

myself - being a new subscriber, and never having heard their online audio commentary before - i went ahead and listened to the match live on the WBA website. beyond the novelty of a new experience - and the luxury of actually following the match live - i really enjoyed how the game worked as audio commentary; and later on after seeing it on TV - how different the two experiences are.

the match started off at a fairly high-tempo, and the ball-possession moved the match from end to end in a series of creditable attacking moves by both teams. this had a particularly exciting effect on the audio commentary. as the match was moving at a quicker tempo than your average match, so likewise was the commentary - and almost to the point of frenzy. i realized that being audio only this was necessarily so, just in order to deliver an accurate description of the action. whereas with TV, a higher tempo game actually causes the commentators to use a more dramatic, point-form syntax in order to speed up what is being said and let the video information do the work. it was a first hand example of how TV cools things down and radio hots them up.

live text replay


all in all, i have to say i was happy roberto dimatteo's choice of starting line-up. the one possible question mark was the selection of youngster chris woods over simon cox; but in the end, it was a fairly even-handed decision as the 17-year-old acquitted himself more than adequately over the 81 minutes he played - although his performance was somewhat diminished as he was left on too long, and should have given way to a cox substitution 10-15 minutes earlier. that in itself might have produced a winning result instead of the draw.

united surprised me. although they definitely look - and from the lofty heights from whence they came - to have all the earmarks of a club in crisis, there is a big difference between a "yo-yo" or perpetual second tier-club in crisis and a top-ten club in crisis. for this very fact - along with albion's open, skilled, controlling brand of attacking football, this never looked a second division match and these are both going to be consistently strong clubs at this level of the english game... never mind the "club in crisis" or "yo-yo team" tags! these were big clubs playing strong, fast football!

i was especially pleased with the selection of shelton martis to the first team. despite the fact that he was responsible for one of the myriad defensive giveaway goals, rather late in the season that the baggies were famous for last year; he was otherwise the best starter at his position in central defense all last year. leon barnett and ryan donk proved themselves inexperienced, and meite (who started off well) lost his nerve. i think it was fitting that he scored a goal and cemented his place in the first-team right at the outset. with jonas olsson back from injury, paul robinson (and his angry clown act) gone to bolton, and marek cech bringing some skill to the outside left - i think the backline will be greatly improved and we should see a few more clean sheets this year.

we're not going to see ishmael miller back until christmas, i would guess; but the arrival of dimatteo has obviusly good for more than a couple of the players. luke moore is slowly and surprisingly claiming his spot as the club's senior striker, and looks a completely different player under RDM than he did with mowbray. as do craig beattie, and marek cech, as well.



other than that, there was very little difference in terms of performance in this match and the performances of last year's team. save that this year's baggies feels a lot tighter and confident all around; is definitely looking more solid and skillful at the back; more sure of itself at this level of football; and developing and acquiring the necessary strikers to make a genuine run for promotion. present was the familiar poor finishing on a couple of occasions with both martis and greening missing a pair of absolute sitters, but by and large the baggies were held to a single-goal draw on the merits of newcastle's half-time replacement in goal, tim krul, who came on for the injured steven harper. indeed, a couple of poor finishes aside (and by both teams as well), the baggies were robbed of a win here by a positively electrifying second-half performance in the united goal, and damien duff's early second half equalizer.

the overwhelming percentage of matches that ended in draws on the championship's opening weekend is probably a little hint as to how competitive a division this could be this year. however, having seen the middlesbrough v sheffield united, as well as the coventry v ipswich town matches, i did feel the baggies game with newcastle had a slightly higher quality of football than either of the other two; and both these teams - along with cardiff city should be top bets to go up this year.



while i was wary of RDM taking over at the hawthorns, he has done a really good job so far of retaining the professional loyalty of both recent and long-time veterans in greening, brunt, koren, olsson, and zuiverloon; while giving renewed confidence and playing time to cech, teixeira, beattie and most especially moore. he has also understood, in having brought up chris woods - and with the acquisition of simon cox (not to mention the club's recent interest in jermaine beckford) the absolute need for strikers in order for the albion's traditional style of football to flourish and remain an overall winning proposition.

at this point, the gaffer's got me on his side and i've got every confidence that this is going to be a satisfying, fun, and above all - winning season.

Old Baggies Never Fade Away...

it seems, these days, that they just get transfered to fulham football club. much to my surprise, the man who has captained the albion - and i think probably been their most consistent player - for much of the last 5 seasons, has requested a transfer; almost invariably so that he can end his playing days in a premiership side that has acheived some measure of consolidation in the top flight. the club in question - and the only one reported to have put in a bid for him so far, has been the recent destination for 1 or 2 of his ex-teammates who've gone on and done well there too; and that's fulham f.c.

what thoroughly surprises me is that i've come to see jonathan greening as being the embodiment and individually most representative player for the albion over these past few years, and thought he had an eye to staying in football beyond his playing career. i took it for granted that west brom was where he would want to do this - much like tony brown before him, and take advantage of the opportunity to go into coaching and other areas of the game - perhaps even management - but always west bromwich albion to the end!

his request for transfer is also - and quite suddenly, i might add - out of step with his declarations within the last couple of months of his loyalty to the albion and calling for his teammates to stay and show similar commitment to the club - and in light of paul robinson now going to bolton, and marc-antoine fortune signing with tony mowbray's celtic... so this brings me to the question - and considering the time-line involved in these events: has the arrival of roberto di matteo at the hawthorns had any influence in greening's now wanting a transfer, where he seemed to want to stay before? what does this bode for the future?

again, it throws the appointment of di matteo as "head coach", and the club's switch to a european style of club management into question. what type of manager is di matteo going to be? anybody who's watched football in the last 15 years knows what a great player he was; but, he seems much less popular with the fans whom he has had to serve in the recent past. there was a post on the BBC 606 from an MK dons supporter, warning that he will ruin the constitutional structure of the albion playing style and replace it with a boring italian (read: defensive) style of football.

while some of the dons results would tend to bear this out; i would suggest that DM is at an early enough stage of his career (the baggies is only his second appointment at the helm of a club) that he may not truly have found a particular or committed style yet; and is, at this point, just concerned with producing good results with whatever situation is at hand. his record from last year as the dons' gaffer saw him manage the team to 27 wins, 11 losses, 14 draws; and was good enough to take them into the play-offs where they ultimately lost the two-legged semi-final 7-6 on penalties to scunthorpe united. while i saw both legs of the encounter, i could not make much of an estimation as to di matteo's management style - or what type of football he prefers to see his teams play. but his achievements at MK showed that he relied on good defensive performances, as the team did produce an awful lot of single goal wins in a large number of low scoring games. but then, perhaps he was clever enough to know that this was the constitutional nature of the team, and he played it to its strengths?

in the final analysis, he took a freshly promoted club from league 2 and led them to a place in the promotion playoffs for a place in the championship - and came up short only on a missed penalty by ex-teammate and super veteran tore andre flo. so in the end - i just don't know... let's hope that jonno has a different motivation for wanting to leave other than a lack of faith in the new gaffer - or perhaps he knows something that we don't?

more than likely though, i believe that it is just another example of the ever widening gap - both financially and in terms of prestige between the first and second tiers of english football, making the type of loyalty that was practiced in professional football prior to the massive money and pure pop culture of today impossible for all but a particular type of individual who we have not seen in a long time and may never encounter again. after all, fulham is a team that i think is fairly well suited to a player like jonno, and he should do well there.

in the 1976 FA CUP final, contested by perennial 1st division power-house manchester united; and (then) mid-table 2nd division club southampton; arguably the most pre-eminent international who played in that match was the saints' mike channon. in era's previous to this, famed internationals played routinely in the old 2nd division. but now - in the days of the premier league - the english national side doesn't consider anyone outside the premiership, who isn't a regular starter for his club; and - goalies aside - generally they try and keep selection for international duty to the really big clubs. this is a reflection of how much the prestige gap between the "big four"/consolidated premiership teams, the relegation/promotion battlers, and the established championship teams has grown considerably since the founding of the premier league; and in the process destroyed the possibility for an individual to choose to be loyal to a team - in a professional context anyway.

if a footballer has international aspirations, then he is forced to request transfer upon relegation of his current club. stewart downing at middlesbrough is making the news today as he has been transfered to aston villa for £12 million. here is a case where a young man had come through the academy system, and gone on to play for the local team he had grown up with and had supported as a boy. one of his quotes to the press - as reported on the BBC - was particularly poignant in addressing the situation:

"I loved the last World Cup, but I want to play a bigger part this time. I have to be with a good Premier League side if I want to do that... I hope the fans understand that I'm ambitious and want to win things and this move gives me a chance of that. But I'll always be a Boro fan."

as far as the english national side goes, it weakens the whole structure, by possibly limiting itself out of players who might become good - and useful - international footballers. as we've seen in the past, good club players and those who can shine in the forum of international play are very often made of completely different stuff. especially nowadays, when the ratio of foreign players in the premiership would make it more of a cosmopolitan league, and not necessarily where the best english players at any given position might be playing. in short, i would contend that while the premiership is the finest cosmopolitan football league in the world, and definitely the place to go and seek out one's best and brightest; just don't discount the quality of the much more overtly "english" championship league, and some of the really good young potential english internationals to languish in someone else's - or even popular opinion's - underestimation of what one might find there.

for example, with the number of english goalies who play in the premier league limited to a very few, it's very possible that the national side doesn't have the best english goalie playing for them. considering the number of internationals from the smaller footballing nations who have players currently active in the championship - i would imagine that this potential oversight is very possible.

jonno, however, is not an international and has no such interests to protect. he has, as well, declared that if the club receive no reasonable offer for him, he'll continue to don the navy the white stripes and play his hardest to get the baggies promoted again. in these days of miracle and wonder, of multi million pound transfers, of domestic league domination by a highly predictable few and choices dictated by highly prohibitive costs and standards; the concept of "loyalty" - the idea of a man dedicating himself to the improvement of a whole of which he is a committed and influential part, is a long lost quality whose capabilities to achieve... to create a victorious intangible, will never again be seen in the top-flights of professional football. let's hope that we traded it in for something of equal value.

The Day After Miller's Injury

well, now we have to deal with the aftermath and look at some hard facts. it was all just talk and speculation immediately following the match yesterday, but ishmael miller - who has looked better and better with each passing game, and was positively menacing in yesterday's unlucky draw with portsmouth - is going to be out for at least 6 weeks. for one thing, that forces the club to go looking for a striker this january (something they were probably going to do anyway) - and its going to give us a chance to have a look at luke moore. who knows? while it appears to be a devastating blow (and i for one believe it is), it could be one of those strange blessings in disguise.

i have absolute belief in tony mowbray, insofar as he is completely in tune with the club's philosophy and style; but, i have my suspicions that he might sometimes spend too much attention to his works in progress, which distracts him from giving a look to other things - and most certainly, miller is his biggest and most potentially promising project at the moment. don't get me wrong! i'm a huge miller fan and i would probably give him the same attention if i were in TM's place - and he was really playing his part in making the single striker formation, that i have heretofore been critical of, start to work really well. but i have to add, while it's miller's pace that makes this type of attack so potentially dangerous, it is the element of jonathan greening getting into a forward position on attack that makes it really work. it was so evident in the first half of the match with pompey, and i hope both manager and player realize it!

although yesterday's draw felt like a loss rather than a point gained - there were plenty of positives (as there have been with more than a few lost or drawn performances this year) to take from yesterday's encounter. so much so that it is becoming a maddening cliche to say so. i mean, even against the big teams like chelsea, where i sat for the first 20 minutes just thinking it a matter of time before albion scored the first goal, the team often dominates the play but doesn't score. i've heard too many varying opinions on the subject, and too many ridiculous ideas about what should be done.

there's been so much talk about strikers this year. but i think the scoring problem goes further than that. the problem is, that we're not scoring enough from anywhere. our total tally of goals scored isn't much bigger than our list of actual goal-scorers. with greening pressing forward into the box - they should be looking to make scoring opportunities for brunt, valero, koren, zuiverloon and morrison, as well. with greening now, this is the first new scorer to add to the list since olsson scrambled that winner against fulham the first weekend of october! that now makes 6 goal-scorers in all - and i think that 5 of them should be working harder to be regular contributors (and koren needs to pop one in now and then) when it comes to finishing - especially greening. he should be like old tony brown and right up there in the box on attack. perhaps with miller unavailable, one or two true heroes can step up and get things turned around.

i was also heartened to hear greening in the press today, saying that there is still good feeling around the club and they're pretty confident about avoiding relegation. that i think is another testament to tony mowbray's style of management. he'll be very sure to keep letting everyone kow how well they are playing despite the poor results - and the players probably know it too.

as i write, the tottenham/west ham match has just ended and i've changed my mind since yesterday. i think it's more likely that we will find ourselves in a four-way battle to avoid the drop with blackburn, sunderland and west ham. so we could still be in for some excitement yet.

WBA 1-1 Portsmouth

today's match with portsmouth showed all the team's strengths - as well as (at least in some small measure) its weaknesses too; and tells us pretty fairly where we stand. i feel vindicated - as a long time supporter of his - that greening played so well in the first half and got the goal. i can't understand any of the knocks that he's gotten from fans this year. personally, i think he's the only one on the squad, at the moment, who consistently looks a premiership player week in and week out. despite dropping back into a midfield position in the second half, where he seemed to disappear a little bit he was effective enough - as always doing his part in the series of quick, incisive breaks that the albion created in the latter part of game.

even though there were the wasted finishes that we have all become used to seeing this year, the real problem that i could see today was, that going into the second half with a 1-0 lead, the baggies just weren't quite sure on how to play it. i mean the peter crouch goal, it was really quite a spectacular, and unstoppable shot - especially with the unfortunate flick it took off meite, redirecting the ball enough to send it over the outstretched carson; but it was the evidently less decisive and controlling play on the part of the albion at the the outset of the second half that allowed crouch the opportunity. that is really what led to the pompey goal. the baggies just didn't seem to know how to carry on straight-off with the way they had played in the first half - and it took the first fifteen minutes or so to re-establish themsleves when what they needed to do was keep going straight at pompey with miller and greening pushing forward looking for the second goal to put game beyond reach.

there's been so much talk about strikers with the faithful lately, as miller is still learning his craft and bednar is having trouble adjusting to the tempo of the premiership game, but i felt after watching today, it is our defensive play that is weakest - and especially in goal. i think meite played well on the right, and there were no real dangerous mistakes by robinson - although he has been displaying some bizarre decision making, and his outbursts probably don't help - but i have real questions about carson. a goalie should be directing things at the back and being decisive about indicating who should be coming for and taking the ball. i think that with the line-up at the back as it was today, mowbray's got it just about right with meite, olsson and robinson covering the central positions, but there's just nobody running the defense and we came within inches of repeating last week's performance when he bobbled that cross on the line. he also doesn't seem to have much of an eye for starting any moves forward. he is the main reason why our best defense is to stay on the attack and control the ball in midfield.

that's not to say that we don't need to start scoring more goals, but a clean sheet today would have preserved a victory - even though it never looked to be a low-scoring game, that's the way it turned out - and successful teams know how to win in the end on the unluckiest of days. yesterday's man. united match was a perfect example. they just could not put the ball into the sunderland net when they might have had at least 2 or 3, and they only just managed to win in injury-time.

we'll have to see about miller - i havent heard anything yet about his injury (and i'm checking the BBC every few minutes at this point) but he's going to be sorely missed if he's out for any length of time, and i thought he had a great game today. he should never have gone after that ball, but i guess that's just reflects his youthful enthusiasm and really wanting to score.

there's no doubt pompey played pretty abysmal football in the first half, and the baggies looked better than the 1-0 scoreline, and i still i can't really understand why greening didn't keep pressing forward in the second half, as it was the inability to get the second goal before the pompey equaliser that cost them the win. i think that TM should encourage him to go forward, in the tradition of tony brown - whose style (which was thought revolutionary at the time) was always to play the midfield as an attacking position. koren and valero, i thought were adequately improved at winning balls in the midfield; and koren looks to be adapting to the speed of the premiership, and that should leave greening free to go forward more.

brunt and morrison provided some really good wing play throughout (on the left and right respectively). it was of course brunt's brilliant free-kick that led to the greening goal, and i was surprised that morrison was so effective playing down either side - as i noticed him more and more coming down the left wing when greening had moved back into midfield. late in the game, he played a tremendous left-footed cross-field ball for bednar in a buildup that ended with brunt missing a great opportunity for a second goal... really entertaining stuff - just not winning stuff, yet.

again, on terms of performance of passing football it was a heartening display and i can see yet further improvement today at getting the ball into the box; but the baggies are now beginning to look pretty firmly established as the bottom team in the league, and i can't see anything more than a fight with blackburn and sunderland as to the order of finish for the bottom three. but more on their long term fate later...