Notes on a Winning Streak (part 2)

Swansea City 0-2 WBA

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there is a kind of sameness to football stadiums nowadays. where highbury, loftus road, upton park and stamford bridge of the 1970s were distinctly different places, each with its own character and every stadium around the country had its own unique qualities, the liberty stadium reminded me of a three-quarter size, claustrophobic hawthorns with a surprisingly small washroom facility. the colours may vary, as well as some of the smaller details, but it seemed to me that the modern football ground is now just a variation on an architectural theme.

the security - and in special regards to tickets and match admission - was much tighter and strictly run than at the hawthorns. where match-day admission is available to away supporters for west brom home games, you can only gain entrance to the liberty stadium through purchasing tickets from your club of origin - and visiting supporters are limited to one ticket per membership. there are no match-day ticket sales for the visitors end either.

also - and unlike at the hawthorns - the entire north stand is designated as the visitors end, and is accessed only by the most remote and isolated of all the park's entrances. passing through two seperate gates in the space of about 50 yards under the watchful eye of several swansea stewards, who are required to ask if you are indeed a supporter of the visiting club - the segregation of home and away supporters is much more rigorous than at the hawthorns.

this was my first away match as a baggies supporter and i felt as if i had been thrown into the cauldron of seething football lunacy.



when i go to the hawthorns i sit in the upper tier of the east stand. it's generally more laid back, family-oriented and probably the best place to actually watch football from in the whole place. here in south wales - and much as i had expected - the atmosphere among the traveling albion faithful was much closer to that of the smethwick end home supporters corner than anything else.

while it is an indispensable and necessary component in regards to the atmosphere of live football, i'm not much one for continuous singing and chanting, and i think it can actually be a terrible distraction to watching the match. for example, there was a fellow sitting a few rows in front of me whose continuous efforts to get a chant or song going required a constant, long-distance conversation with one of his mates sitting about fifteen rows back and in the next block of seats over. he was so engaged in this activity that i'm sure he actually only saw about half the match. still and all, i appreciate that someone's got to do it.

"get on the bawl, moore, y'lazy fookin' bastid'!!!" a guy in front of me yelled in vain frustration at the albion's starting striker.

"that's it," the guy next to me reacted sarcastically, "let's get behind the club!!!"

having drawn an ugly glare in response to his comment he waved his hands in front of him to diffuse any escalation of hostility.

"just kiddin', mate," he quickly explained, "just kiddin'!"

swansea, while having no ability to finish, are the only team that i've seen this year to really badly outplay the baggies in terms of extensive possession, and only their lack of a goal scorer had kept the teams level at half-time. the swansea mid-field was excellent and held the ball for long periods of time during a first-half where both youssouf mulumbu and graham dorrans were struggling badly with their first touch and the most rudimentary ball control seemed to elude them. scott carson looked more than a bit shaky through being dangerously indecisive about coming off his line for the ball on a couple of potentially critical occasions, and he was lucky enough when a swansea cross into the box came directly back off his near post and fell safely for the baggies to clear.



the best player for the albion on the night was probably ben watson. while far from having an exceptional game, the on-loan wigan midfielder was much less tentative both on and off the ball than any of the the rest of the visiting team, and was the only albion player who was consistently able to control the ball and get any kind of move started for the baggies.

the second half was better stuff from the albion, but it was a match which was like one of those long nights in europe when both teams are forced into shutting up shop early and hoping for the one bit of chance needed to snatch a single goal, and then play to hang on for the final whistle. almost the entire game was played in the middle of the park with neither team exhibiting any incisive build-up in the final third.

i really couldn't see a goal coming in this one, and i doubt that anyone else present at the liberty stadium could imagine a winner emerging here either. however, and in much the same fashion as on the previous saturday, giles barnes, who had come on as substitute for chris brunt, made a direct run at the swans penalty area, then cutting in from the left flank, the midfielder went down and a penalty was subsequently awarded.

the west brom supporters, all seated behind the swansea goal instinctively went mad with delight. unlike the penalty on saturday, where i think everybody knew it had been a case of winner's luck, this was a stonewall penalty. although the TV replay was less convincing, when viewed from the perspective behind the goal in the liberty stadium's north stand, there was no doubt that angel rangel had clipped barnes with his right knee and at very least given the albion midfielder an opportunity to go down and win the spot kick.



graham dorrans summarily put the baggies ahead from the spot and with only 12 minutes remaining it wasn't long before the swans fans started making for the exits. i spread my arms wide and sang psalm 23 along with the other several odd-thousand albion supporters who'd made their way down from the midlands to south wales that evening.

for the baggies, however, there was one more turn to redeem what had otherwise been a most unmemorable and uninspired game of football.

as swansea went forward in an attempt to find an equalizer, the albion were left an opportunity to counter-attack, and in the 89th minute ishmael miller found himself with enough space deep down the right-wing with a chance to run the ball straight at goal from an acute angle. with everyone anticipating and getting ready to defend on the goal-line, miller pushed the ball to the outside and around the sprawling swans keeper, maintained possession and composure before ultimately burying it in the back of the net for a goal that exhibited a cool, mature sense of patience and wonderful individual skills.

happy enough with the victory - and without a taxi in sight - i walked back to the hotel confidently musing at how the baggies were now going to beat preston north end on saturday.

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.

Huddersfield Town 0-2 WBA

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this was perhaps the most unique media coverage of a football match i have ever seen or heard.

usually, the transmission of a match on ALBION RADIO through the PLAYER service on the club website begins about an hour before the match. there is some music played, sometimes it's just the sounds of the stadium PA system; i've even heard the crew doing their setup and mic checks before the game. but today there was nothing. i connected to the albion stream and it was dead. the embedded flashplayer was also indicating that the transmission was OFF-AIR. going back to the website homepage there was a news post about temporary difficulties with match commentary transmission at the galpharm stadium.

i switched to the huddersfield town stream - which transmits commentary from BBC Leeds - and that too cut out briefly at around the 15 minute mark. switching back to the albion stream i found that they had managed to get the transmission started, but were using a cell-phone passed back and forth between the two commentators to call the match on. as you can imagine, the sound was tinny and distorted and you could clearly hear them plugging in the recharger when needed during what was clearly a highly improvised effort. they obviously couldn't find a way to make their usual setup run and were forced to make use of a comically low-tech solution.



as for the match itself, the gaffer gave roman bednar a start with simon cox and put luke moore on the bench for this one. it was obvious, however, the present albion attacking formation with its deliberate lack of width, takes the big czech striker completely out of the game. he didn't really get much of the ball going forward and for the most part made little impact. roberto di matteo will have to put some thought into how he's going to use bednar for the rest of the season.

as usual, the baggies were slow out of the box and scott carson - back from a three game suspension - took command of his penalty area early on with the huddersfield attack looking to set up some good chances in their initial possessions.

the match was more or less what i had hoped for against the only unbeaten home side in the country. i knew this wasn't going to be easy, as the town carry a very big squad and are a fairly large club as far as their current division is concerned. it certainly wouldn't have been a huge upset if they'd scrapped a victory out of this one.

chris brunt looks to be back in form making a couple of good chances for himself, and graham dorrans once again took control of the central mid-field, scoring the first goal of the match to bring his season total to a club-leading 8.

the baggies went two goals up and clinched the match after chris wood came on as substitute. taking a well placed through ball from youssouf mulumbu, the teenage new zealand international used his considerable pace to move to the outside and past the last huddersfield defender, getting the ball on to his right foot and putting a well placed shot past the the town keeper with a great deal of poise and composure for his second score of the season.



the virtue of this baggies team is that it is no way reliant on a single player. while the tactics and play might suffer through chris brunt, jerome thomas, or graham dorrans being injured or not playing well, there is any number of players who are capable of spear-heading the albion attack. along with the three aforementioned players, marek cech, simon cox, luke moore, roman bednar and jonas olsson have all also variously taken turns in leading the team in attack and on at least one occasion each have produced a brace of goals. while graham dorrans came close against scunthorpe, no one at the club has yet scored a hat-trick on the season. in fact, with 48 goals scored in 23 league matches and a further 7 scored over 4 games in cup competitions, there are no less than 15 players who have contributed to the total offensive output.

after several disappointing results (including a 0-2 home loss to cardiff city) the baggies form seems to be on the up again just in time for two truly huge matches against 3rd place nottingham forest at home this friday, and away to league-leaders newcastle on monday night of the following week. they will then resume their FA Cup campaign against either newcastle or plymouth pending the 3rd round replay of that match.

the albion are certainly facing their biggest challenges of the season this next two weeks and will have to be in top form in order to gain maximum points and continue to make something of a cup run.

Scunthorpe United 1-3 WBA

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this was a little better stuff from the baggies - and especially from luke moore, who is looking increasingly a threat to come out of the slump that has plagued him most of the season. chris brunt, while still not looking the dangerous scorer he has for most of the season, put in an intelligent performance; and gianni zuiverloon showed again that he can be a real threat going forward.

however, the old habit of winning was greatly aided by the iron going on a self-destructive run of bookings that saw the team ultimately reduced to 9-men and conceding two penalties after having drawn level only 50 seconds into what looked might become a competitive second-half.

this was also the match where i realized that earlier decisions by roberto di matteo as to the starting team were much more measured, and his intentions as a tactician were more firmly established than i had first thought. while i think i probably should have realized it against cardiff or QPR, that in continually starting luke moore in a forward pairing with simon cox the gaffer was making plain display of what kind of attack he is trying to establish. he has deliberately taken a more direct approach, and must be planning a kind of utility role for roman bednar when a change of tactics is needed.

indeed, di matteo has favoured young chris wood as his primary substitute and is looking for the kind of midfield attack that will narrow the width at the front and try to play balls in behind the opposing back four. this is a style that suits both moore and cox and doesn't allow for a player like bednar to really get involved in the match. however, being capable of everything from the ridiculous to the sublime, bednar would be a good gamble late in the day and desperately needing something out of the ordinary.

the albion spark-plug in this match was undoubtedly graham dorrans, who seems to find his scoring touch away from the hawthorns. the young scottish international took advantage of a clear scoring opportunity in the 19th minute to put the baggies ahead.

after equalizing through a deflected then flicked on ball in the first minute of the second-half united's discipline disintegrated totally on a pair of penalties. dorrans was brought down by scunnie defender, rob jones, making a direct run into the box down the right flack. joe murphy the goalkeeper was booked for mockingly applauding the penalty decision, and dorrans - now the albion penalty taker since chris brunt's injury of last month - skillfully put the ball out of reach to the keeper's left for his second of the game.



already down to ten men through the acquisition of a second yellow-card by andrew wright in the 61st minute, scunthorpe gave up a second penalty, as well as having midfielder grant mccann sent off for his immediate, angry and animated dissent. while it wasn't a bad effort this time by dorrans, murphy rose to the occasion and anticipated the shot correctly.

finally, gianni zuiverloon scored through the intelligent play of chris brunt down the right-wing, with the northern ireland international spotting the dutchman's run and open space to set up the shot for zuiverloon's second goal of the season.

the baggies look set to follow a pattern on the season and their performance has been consistent and at times ruthless. while this is true, i don't think that we've really seen this team play at its absolute best; and that may not have been necessary until now with the next two league games coming up representing the most important challenges yet this season. if the baggies can rise to the occasion and take maximum points from forest and newcastle they will be ideally poised to challenge for the championship title. indeed, if they manage this, i have no doubt that they will actually win the title. the collective results of these next two league matches will determine just about everything else as far as the final table positions go. i hope they've been saving their best stuff for this pair of games.

also, as a fan of the FA Cup i'm hoping that we can get a strong enough team on the pitch to beat huddersfield and can get something going this year. i would dearly love to see a good cup run. ironically, i think it's probably good for confidence in a situation like this, and not worth ignoring to make the league your sole concern, obsession and irritation. it can keep a team - and certain players - playing and winning games in a prestigious competition without the pressure of the league to contend with. the 07-08 team that won the division and made the semi-final was a model albion team and it's just been too long since a club from england's penultimate division - whatever it happens to be called at the time - has won the competition. although, i know that's a bigger ask these days than it once was. but still, there should always be the dream.

WBA 2-0 Peterborough United

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luke moore has started scoring again. while the red-hot simon cox seems to have cooled in the last couple of matches, moore has finally broken his scoring drought with a coolly placed strike taking a deflection into the net against peterborough united. he has also seen more than a few of his finishes in the last three games called back for offside. this would tend to indicate that the striker has started to have some success at getting into the kind of position he needs to score.

one of my main assertions this season has been: as goes chris brunt so go the albion. while i believe this to still be true, the baggies have started to learn how to deal a little better with their main problem - and this is merely reflected in brunt's play.

the albion have lacked a mental toughness which makes it hard for them to win when not playing well. when the play is flowing and the ideas coalescing with the actual skills and high imagination becomes manifest, you get the idea that the baggies could take on brazil. this is evidenced by the number of extremely one-sided, high-scoring defeats that they have inflicted on the likes of middlesbrough (0-5), watford (5-0) and sheffield wednesday (0-4).



conversely, when nothing is really going right and the team are finding their touch heavy and passing inaccurate, the football awkward and unnattractive, the baggies just seem at a real loss for what to do?!? when chris brunt is lacking in imagination and play just not working for him they run into real problems going forward. what's worse, is that brunty is in a bit of a slump at the moment.

fortunately, i think this baggies team knows what it's got to do, and even if we end up with another nail-biting season as to whether the outcome is automatic promotion or facing the perils of the playoffs, i have faith that this lot has come to understand what is needed and will scrap for points when they have to from here on out.

the baggies played well against a struggling QPR side and came away on the short end of an undeserved draw for which they had to work to achieve. this one was won on two of the scruffiest goals scored back to back by an albion side in a long time. in a case like this, however, i'll take the scruffy little win over beautiful, flowing, expansive football.

WBA 2-2 QPR

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while the albion have hit another little patch of poor results (2 points from a possible 9), simon cox rolls on with 6 goals in 7 games now - including the equalizer deep into injury time to help the baggies avoid a second home defeat in the space of a week.


the thing that was different about this was that it was the first time this year where the team played generally well - they kept up the pressure on rangers for most of the game - and didn't get full points. i've seen the baggies play badly and win. i've seen them play badly and lose. i've even seen them play badly and earn a draw. but i haven't seen them play this well and not get the result that they absolutely deserved. of course, it was common in the premier league but heretofore unseen in the championship this year.

to be fair, it was really just a bit of good luck that fell for QPR after what has been a horrendous month for them - and after starting the season as one of the form teams in the division, as well. truthfully, the play that saw jonas olsson head in an own goal from an incoming corner-kick could just as easily have been called back for a foul, as the big swede was obviously pushed in the back during the scramble for position in front of goal.



as for the albion - and as good as some of the football has been - i still don't think we've seen this team firing on all cylinders yet. while simon cox has found a really hot hand and may be a better striker than we may have at first suspected, none of the other forwards have found consistent form and made for the kind of season that the baggies had in winning the championship title two years ago.

it was obvious that we've been missing jerome thomas who scored his 6th goal of the season and has been - along with chris brunt - the best player on the team this year. we should have probably won this one 3 or 4-2, but that isn't going to happen until another one of the strikers also finds some form.

of course, luke moore is playing ok, but not doing so well. he's a bit dozy and slow to react to unexpected opportunity, but if he gets the right ball in behind the back four he's a good striker... just nothing falling for him at the moment. i still think they should give chris wood a start paired with simon cox. especially since they can now bring bednar on as substitute.

i've heard it said that when things are going well, that's the time to buy. this being true, the baggies are going to have to look at acquiring a top left-back, a good central defender and another striker during the transfer activities in january if they want to challenge for the division title this year.

WBA 5-0 Watford F.C.

i was really worried about this one after seeing watford absolutely demolish sheffield wednesday by a score of 4-1 on TV last friday. it was really good football. but if you want to come to the hawthorns and try to play football at this level against the albion you're going to get beat 9 times out of 10.

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as crystal palace and - to a lesser extent - swansea city showed, the only way to really beat this baggies team in the championship is by employing the most negative tactics... 10 men behind the ball and a single striker looking for counter-attack opportunities. but playing football? you probably aren't going to win.

so it was as the baggies pasted watford 5-0 at the hawthorns last saturday.


i don't think too many albion fans would have much to criticize from this performance. it was another clean-sheet for scott carson, five goals all coming by different sources, and a victory achieved largely without chris brunt, who came on for only the last 25 minutes and was relatively inconsequential to the outcome of the match.




there were several factors about this match which will make it seem a like a crucial turning point in the season if the baggies do well in the next few games, and ultimately, gain promotion on the year. first off, this was a tight and well executed performance throughout. i had to listen to the match on the ALBION RADIO, and the infrequency with which the fullbacks were mentioned in the commentary is one indication of very solid work at the back. i only remember meite's name coming up twice in the whole broadcast, for example, and that's always a good sign for a defender.

while not improving his overall performance - and still looking kind of out of it - luke moore returned to doing a strikers' job, scoring in the 48th minute to end a drought for the team's forwards that has lasted since september 19th. gianni zuiverloon netted his first goal for the club, and simon cox scored perhaps the best of the goal of the game to open his league goals account for the albion and looks to have earned a place in the starting team.



i hope the baggies have learned their lessons over the first third of the season, as the upcoming away match at leicester city is possibly the toughest prospect that the club have had to face all season. i saw city play QPR on TV last week and on their day they are probably the most all-around solid side in the division. leicester are excellent at the back - having the second best defensive record in the league - and although they play with less possession than other teams might, they know how to take advantage of their opportunities when they come.

the last time that west brom had a big win, they followed up with a string of poor performances which started at home in a 0-1 loss to crystal palace. they can't afford another run of poor results at this point of the season. if the albion can continue with last week's form, then they can beat leicester city at home. it's as simple as that. but, this is a definite case where the defensive game is going to have to be solid, as i can't see this leicester side allowing the baggies' forwards as much space, time or opportunity as they had last saturday.

Coventry City 0-0 WBA

at the beginning of this year's season i found myself waiting eagerly for saturday to roll around. three out of the first four or five albion matches were televised; and by the time i went to england in early september they were on a five-game unbeaten streak. i attended both of the next two games at the hawthorns, which saw them extend the run further, by virtue of two 3-1 victories over plymouth and doncaster respectively; and the day before i came home the baggies thrashed middlesbrough at the riverside 0-5. i listened to that match live on the internet through ALBION RADIO, and returning home i was able to see it as a repeat broadcast on SETANTA SPORTS CANADA. there was every reason to feel positive and continue to look forward to saturdays with the gleeful anticipation that a winning side breeds in its supporters.

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since my return to canada, however, west brom have been knocked out of the league cup 2-0 by a young arsenal side, dropped two home matches 0-1 to both crystal palace and swansea city, lost away to barnsley by a score of 3-1, and produced two 0-0 results away to preston north end and coventry city - their only win in the last six league matches being a 3-1 home victory against a decidedly poor reading side.

i now wait for match-day with a desperate hope that the albion can find their early season form again, and dread the prospect of more losses and goalless draws. what is going on here?!?!

the truth is, even during their unbeaten run, the team has not yet lived up to its potential. but instead of the break-out that i was expecting that would see at least one of the strikers finding a hot hand, and the baggies taking a clear-cut control of the division, i now find myself waiting desperately for another win, anticipating a struggle for a play-off spot, and listening to everyone talk about bloody kevin phillips again!

when tony mowbray left the club to go and manage celtic, west brom did well in finding roberto di matteo. while i had my doubts about him at first, he was able to instantly revitalize many of the players who had either struggled or gone unused under mowbray, and i don't think there is a single albion supporter who didn't eventually welcome what seemed at the time a real breath of fresh air.



i have found that there are generally two schools of thought as to what the baggies need at the moment. one group is concerned about the albion's ability to keep clean-sheets and improve defensively, while the other believes that they must find goals up front, with only 2 of the last 15 coming by way of the strikers. i am of the latter opinion.

the fact is that an albion striker has not scored a goal since september 19th, and all the clean-sheets in the world will do nothing but produce goalless draws without a decent offensive output; and you can't expect the midfield and fullbacks to produce the goals with the frequency needed at the moment - especially with chris brunt, the club's leading scorer, out of the side due to injury.

what is confusing me most is the gaffer's reluctance to play simon cox, who in league 1 and playing for swindon town, was joint top-scorer in the country last year. while his start against rotherham in the league cup was not a particularly distinguished performance, he did score the winning goal. as well, he redeemed himself further by playing well in the subsequent cup fixture with arsenal, but has not been able to break in as a starter in the league matches; and his appearances as a substitute have not given him enough time to settle in.

with both the january transfer window and the return of ishmael miller still a couple of months away, i cannot understand why he has been given only one start (v plymouth) in the league this year, with di matteo preferring to play luke moore, roman bednar and even young chris wood over the ex-swindon town sharp-shooter?



i would suggest that it's time to make a change and take some chances. i was surprised today, for example, that di matteo did not start cox. bednar was out of today's match - having been injured in the first few minutes against reading - and with luke moore having lost his early season form, i didn't think the gaffer had much of a choice. instead, he once again started moore, and had midfielder robert koren playing in an advanced position, similarly to how mowbray would use jonathan greening in the "ishmael miller project" formation of last year.

personally, i would have started wood and cox in a regular 4-4-2 formation today and see how they got on. despite only one goal on the season, wood has shown some skill and proved useful at using his size and strength to hold the ball up, but we still don't know anything as to how simon cox plays at this level in the league.

i think the gaffer was after victory through keeping a clean sheet today, and assuming that one of the midfielders could score at least one goal, this might have been the case. but i just don't think that a defensive approach is the way an albion team should be playing. especially if none of the strikers are scoring. while the albion have had a couple of excellent defensive teams over the years (the 92-93 team, for example, had 27 clean-sheets whilst recording 17 1-0 victories), they still needed the likes of cyrille regis, laurie cunningham, bob taylor and andy hunt to knock in goals up front.

there are no mid-week matches this week, and it is very likely that bednar will be back in the side next saturday against watford. still, i will be disappointed and perplexed if simon cox does not start next week.

PNE 0-0 WBA

i woke up at 7.00 AM last saturday morning to watch this one live on SETANTA SPORTS CANADA. it was a little better than the last two albion performances, and considering that this is a fixture that the baggies have not won in 50 years, seems a poor result only by virtue of their recent back to back losses, home to crystal palace and away to barnsley.

graham dorrans was the best of the baggies' players on the day and seems to have gotten over the idea that he is the next paul scholes. this was illustrated most clearly in the fact that the young mid-fielder had the only real clear-cut scoring chances on the day, and a quick reaction by lillywhites' keeper, andy lonergan on a late header by dorrans in front of goal was all that was needed for both sides to maintain a clean-sheet.

live text replay

i haven't really got any complaints; although, i still don't think we've seen the best of this year's baggies yet and can only hope that they get the timing right in terms of form over the course of the year. when the baggies last won promotion from this division they spent most of the season in 2nd place behind watford and later stoke city. both watford (in the long-term) and the potters (in the short-term) were prime example of what happens when you peak too early in this division. watford fell away the last 15-20 games of the season and finished sixth; good enough for a play-off spot, and stoke - who rather looked like running away with the division after taking over 1st place in march - similarly ended on a run of poor results and the baggies won the championship trophy.

the problem right now is solely the lack of offensive output on the part of the forwards. it's all very well to imagine the outcome of what in themselves must be highly speculative talks - with sol campbell and thinking about getting the team playing higher quality stuff at the back; but, more importantly, the strikers have to start scoring goals before the albion start winning consistently again.



maybe it's a good thing that they've had a sudden poor run of form so early in what certainly looked more than a promising season at the outset? there are certainly lessons to be learned and this was another rough reminder of life in the champonship.

i'm sure that one of the strikers will emerge fairly soon, and who knows, with ishmael miller expected back within weeks after christmas break it could be a high-scoring season yet?

in the meantime - and let's hope that luke moore finds his early season form again after a month of injuries, and that bednar, cox and wood find their form soon. at this rate, i think di matteo could even afford to give cox and wood more starts and see how they get on over a full 80-90 minutes of league football.

Sheffield United 2-2 WBA

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when is someone on the albion staff going to read my blog and address the club's biggest problem?!? it's not the lack of goals (this year), or quality defenders (though, that would help), or that the club has lost any of its important players on account of relegation (although, the loss of jonathan greening is now debatable) - it is that they do not know what to do when they've gone in front on the score-line!


against newcastle, they had 1-0 lead going in at half-time, but damien duff scored an equalizer 5 minutes into the second half. if it weren't for a missed penalty in the nottingham forest match, that might have ended in a draw, as well. they managed to hang on against ipswich and bury, in the league and league cup respectively; but, it wasn't for the other teams' lack of endeavour following the albion goals as much as it was sturdy defending by olsson, carson and keilly (who played well in goal against bury). luckily, in both matches the baggies went on to find a second goal and keep the clean sheet. di matteo fielded a team lacking some really important players in the cup game against rotherham, and west brom could not hold any lead for a significant amount of time past the first goal. at 2-1 they had the lead for about 2 minutes - and if it weren't for the millers sharing the same weak defensive proclivities - the baggies could very well have lost this one 3-2 instead of the 4-3 win that they managed in the end.

what i think i'm talking about is a break-down in the intellectual aspect of what they are doing, and it's as if the goal they've just scored distracts them. it was no different against the blades today. the baggies go 1-0 up, and within 2 minutes they've conceded and it's 1-1! again, they seemed to be able to meet the challenge and pull the lead back within 5 more minutes, and early in the second-half they have a 2-1 lead. while they eventually only split the points on this one by virtue of a penalty, it was still a sloppy mental break-down at the back with united playing for the penalty, and knowing that the ref was just dying to give one and get himself a round of applause from the home crowd.

i usually don't go after referees as i know that it is a difficult job and bad calls are as much a part of the game as any other aspect of it - but the distribution of cards in this match was not in line at all with what was really going on. he even called a dive in the box correctly against the blades, but neglected to issue the mandatory, automatic yellow card that accompanies this particular foul. he had, however, booked robert koren just minutes earlier for the same infraction.



be that as it may, the albion have to stop giving up these cheap and lazy goals on the back of a good score. as i've always said: they need to keep the ball and - without being reckless - continue going forward, pressing for more goals. the trouble is, i'm not sure that there is anyone on the team who really understands that they need to exert this type of control over the game to be effective; other than perhaps chris brunt, who really dragged the baggies out of their tentative defensive positioning and drove the attack forward against ipswich, finally producing the second goal. it also may just be that idea of attacking when you have a lead is an archaic idea belonging to some care-free, romantic past, and just isn't the way these kids are taught to play football anymore. in today's game it seems that the acquisition of any lead means you pack your penalty area with the 9 back and mid-field players, let the other team come at you and look for counter-attack opportunities. the thing is, the albion have never played this way. moreover, they've never successfully played this way; and it is therefore contrary to any of the club's playing traditions going back 50 years and more.

it's a world that believes only the "big four" can afford to play beautiful football; everyone else is taught to play like stoke city. again - and going back to the early 1950s - west bromwich albion have never done well playing the "long ball" game - never! it has always been a disastrous gambit, and i guess that traditions and their accompanying aesthetics sometimes go beyond that which is explicable and these qualities can transcend time, space and even logic... and so it is with the baggies: they must always play like a proper albion style team. anything less - or even too much of a variation, will just not work. just as manchester united have to play a certain style in order to be manchester united, so do the baggies have a similar mandate in order to be the west bromwich albion. i just hope that they come to understand this.



don howe found this out in the early 70s, when - after coaching the arsenal to the double in 1971 and bringing his successful formula to the club as manager - found only failure, hard times and relegation for the trouble of bringing what he thought was the modern way of playing football to the hawthorns.

despite my initial concerns, i'm increasingly happy with di matteo as the gaffer. whatever else he may have done, he has rejuvenated the play of numerous individual players on the team and has the club on an undefeated run that can't be anything but good for team confidence; and, we haven't really seen this team play up to its potential yet - not by a long way. as i've said before, i think the RDM is a winner.

the real star of the day was roman bednar... two goals scored in only his second game back and with the general consensus being that he'd only be good for about an hour or so. di matteo even has bednar playing at a level higher than he was playing before; and this was a really brilliant performance. i don't think that tony mowbray knew how to use bednar this well, as he always limited him to playing only in certain formations. for example, TM would never have used him as a single striker in a 4-5-1 set up; although di matteo did against the blades, and to great effect. if mowbray had perhaps expanded his strategies and played bednar a little more freely after miller was hurt, he might have got some better results.

at the end of the day - and given the immediate task at hand - this is good group of players. west bromwich albion is a well organized club, and there is plenty of room for development within the present group of individuals - including those, like miller and morrison, who'll be back in the team this year and ready to add to the mix. once the team starts to show more of its potential and gets the couple of more players it needs in, i'm sure they'll accomplish what is hoped for and expected of them.

in the mean time, it would be a good idea if they went over their history and watched some old videos of west brom teams from the past, and remind themselves of the intangibles that they are dealing with here. they can then all have a little think about what it actually means to be west bromwich albion.

WBA 2-0 Ipswich Town

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today's media was "cool", as the match was broadcast live on SETANTA and was a throughly entertaining bit of football. so much so that it made the earlier premier league matches look dull in comparison. SportsNet had manchester city riding out a 1-0 win against wolves on an early goal by adebayor in a match that they really should have made more out of. wolverhampton themselves were unlucky to have withstood the multi-million pound barrage of adebayor, tevez, robinho, ireland and company, only to see a late effort by keogh come back off the crossbar. meanwhile, SETANTA featured manchester united performing one of their trademark drubbings of mid-table opposition in a 5-0 away win against wigan. i settled for the man. city/wolves match on TV while i listened to brentford nick a late away draw against southampton... not a great game, all in all, but gratifying that the team i watch when i'm in west london are doing well on the back of last year's promotion.

west brom returned to their 4-4-2 setup; and thankfully, roberto di matteo had luke moore paired up front with the young and ever improving chris wood. marek cech moved up into midfield to help cover positions left vacant by graham dorrans' suspension for a red card incident against peterborough on tuesday night, and jonathan greening having finally left the hawthorns for craven cottage. shaun cummings stepped in for gianni zuiverloon who was injured against posh, and proved a good acquisition with some useful play in attack down the right side. joe mattock started again at outside left back, and - as with the other new-comers to the team - showed that he is adapting, improving and fitting most usefully into the squad.



as they had against peterborough earlier in the week, the albion came out dominating the match through their attacking game, and mulumbu scored after a goal-line clearance on a joe mattock header in the 10th minute as the baggies laid absolute siege to the ipswich penalty area. after that, it took them a few minutes to regain their composure and get sorted out mentally - which i think still may be an issue with this team. as a result, they had to absorb a burst of pressure from the tractor-boys coming forward before they adjusted, realizing that their strength is in possession and that they need to keep the ball and continue attacking in order to be effective. i felt that this was a significant development in tactical improvement, as one of their big problems last year is that west brom haven't seemed to know what to do when they've got a lead.

taking their cue from chris brunt the baggies then started to come forward, forcing ipswich keeper richard wright into making a series of saves and ultimately producing a virtuoso performance that could have otherwise seen the albion winning this one by 5 or 6 goals. the ipswich keeper's heroics were rewarded with the "man of the match" award and he was by far and away the the town's best player on the day. his form was evident from early on, making a great save from a chris brunt rocket, then a robert koren header; and then a spectacular double-save as koren ripped through the center of the ipswich defense, making a deft pass that produced a shot from luke moore with the save breaking for the on-rushing koren, who delivered an open header that wright got a hand to and pushed away while still sprawled helplessly in front of his goal.



with the baggies committed to possession and attack, moore, wood, and koren combined for a series of passes deep in the ipswich end that ended with the slovenian international shredding the town defense - much as he had done earlier - and slotting the ball home past the diving wright in the 38th minute. before the break, the ipswich keeper was also called on to make a diving save, pushing a strike from chris wood wide of the post; as well as, a high-curler towards the top right-hand corner from marek cech that needed to be palmed away at full stretch. thus did the baggies see out an impressive half of football that really should have seen them 3 or 4 goals up.

inspired by their goalkeeper's performance the town returned for the second-half with a renewed purpose, and on a several occasions, scott carson - the new albion captain - was called upon to make a couple of top-notch saves of his own, in order to earn his second clean-sheet of the season, and the third overall for the baggies in all competitions.

despite richard wright's outstanding performance in the ipswich goal, the baggies should have had a 3rd score when cummings made an enterprising run down the right flank, attacking the town's penalty area and was brought down, tripped by defender tommy smith and producing an albion penalty. luke moore stepped up to take and drove the ball straight and hard down the middle. despite having committed and gone to his right, the ipswich keeper managed to keep the ball out of the net as it luckily struck his boot and was scrambled away for a west brom corner. on the day, richard wright could really do no wrong, and the 2 albion goals did not reflect their true dominance in this game as it literally could have been 5 or 6 goals the difference.

in the end though - and facing a truly spectacular performance in goal - the albion did well in this game: the tactics improved all around when compared to the previous match against peterborough. di matteo did not make the mistake of leaving luke moore alone up front, and he remained a threat throughout the match; scott carson looks to have a confidence that he didn't have for one second last year; joe mattock, shelton martis, and leon barnett - in turn - have greatly improved the quality of the fullback play; and we've got enough quality midfielders that we're never really going to miss jonathan greening.



so far, the baggies under di matteo look to be the real thing; and as the gaffer gets to know his job better, and the injured players like morrison, miller and neil clement come back into the squad, some time this year, the albion will at least get a playoff spot - and that's the worst scenario i can see! at this rate, i'm expecting one of the automatic promotion places!

no doubt there will be some strange losses this year; after all, this is the championship, a naturally more competetive level of football than the premier league; and it's going to be a long season. but right now, there is no reason not to be optimistic and imagine that the baggies can keep it up and that this is going to be a fun, entertaining and winning year in the championship and something to be enjoyed for what it is.

Peterborough United 2-3 WBA

live text replay

there was no TV broadcast of this match whatsoever; so i was again treated to the experience of following the match on ALBION PLAYER - which i really appreciate now that its become available to me - and the usual BBC live text commentary. this is really the first time i have had the chance to listen to football as extensively as i have watching it throughout the course of my life; and i'm still getting used to the evident contrasts of the "hot" and "cool" media experiences.

this match was a lot more difficult than it ever should have been and ended with graham dorrans picking up a most unfortunate red card that might see him out for the next three games. beyond that, the first strange aspect to this match was jonathan greening being left on the bench, but otherwise match-fit, leading to renewed speculation that the captain might still be leaving for fulham; and it was reported on the club website after the match today, that the two teams are in negotiations.

di matteo started luke moore and chris wood up front in a more traditional 4-4-2, which was a world of difference compared to saturday's poor performance against nottingham forest. again, the gaffer had joe mattock at outside left back, and marek cech in central midfield; as well as new signing shaun cummings who walked straight into the team to start in wide midfield.

from the opening whistle the baggies were absolutely on fire and could have seen the match off after about 10 minutes, save for 2 crucial misses by chris brunt and luke moore. moore opened the scoring at 2:18 from a speculative shot on a ball won from gabriel zakuani on the edge of the peterborough penalty area. both he and chris brunt were then afforded really good scoring opportunities in the next few minutes and the baggies really should have had at least one more goal for their efforts.



at just the point where it was beginning to look like a premier league side against league 1 opposition, the baggies were seriously rocked by the ability and endeavor of peterborough united's attacking game and this opened up the match considerably, with only the defending of jonas olsson and the goalkeeping of scott carson keeping the albion lead intact. again, it was the familiar case of the baggies not knowing what to do when they get in front on the scoreboard.

having regathered themselves and weathered the posh storm, luke moore put in the second goal just after the half hour mark on cross from chis wood, followed by a chris brunt goal on 40 minutes and the albion looked to be sorted out and on their way to an imposing win, showing why they are favourites for promotion in this division. luke moore's play in the first-half showed how crucial it is that he be paired with another striker in order to be effective, and with the help of chris wood up front and brunt in the midfield he stamped his presence all over this match in the first half.



posh got one back just before half-time through craig mackail-smith and this took a little of the wind out of albion's sails in a match that looked like west brom might have gone on to win 4 or 5-0.

from the outset of the second half, however, the albion's defensive weaknesses were on full display. they were back on their heels, and had given up another goal within 8 minutes of the restart. again, it was olsson and carson that were the heroes as the baggies had to weather 20 minutes worth of intense posh pressure. as with the game on the weekend, it was these two who really won the match for the baggies.


after the second peterborough goal, the gaffer pulled wood in favour of robert koren; once again, leaving luke moore up front on his own and essentially ineffective. although the baggies started to see more of the ball, they seemingly couldn't work it out of their own half and it was only through their ability to play their familiar passing game that they were able to dominate possession through the midfield. with the excellent defending of olsson and carson - as well as mulumbu making some key tackles late on in the match - the albion were able to protect their lead and eventually posh just ran out of steam and the baggies notched their third consecutive victory (as well as third consecutive away win) and remain unbeaten in all competitions so far this season.

with luke moore unable to get anything going up front, di matteo brought craig beattie on to replace him; and after already having substituted jerome thomas for marek cech. both substitutions improved things, but it was too little, too late for another baggies' goal, and the team was forced to defend throughout the last ten minutes, finding their most effective strategy in defending through the midfield with olsson providing an imposing presence in the middle of the albion's final third. depsite producing a few tense moments that could have seen the match go 3-3, scott carson's goalkeeping provided the final bit of skill and confidence needed to see this one through to another win.



i still don't know what di matteo's game is (and i'm not even sure that i'm spelling his name right... di matteo? dimatteo?) but i was again perplexed by the team selection - and jonathan greening's absence aside - i have wondered why we haven't seen a pairing of luke moore and craig beattie up front; or - and knowing that it might lack a bit of physicality and muscle - why not moore playing alongside simon cox? i like to think that the gaffer is experimenting somewhat, at this point, and just having a good look at who's really capable of what; perhaps even pushing the boundaries of individual capability? i hope that he's finally realized from the comparative performances between the first half and second half today that luke moore should not be playing in a lone striker position. his real strength as a forward is moving into space and getting behind the defenders, and he needs good close support and incisive delivery in order to be effective. when he has had the chance to play his natural game, moore - and in stark contrast to last year - has been nothing short of brilliant. today he firmly established himself as the team's senior striker, and the club will start to look to him to lead the attack.

this very much underlines the fact that the oldest striker at the club is craig beattie at 25; and having just brought up a 17 year old to the first team and given him his first two starts, the gaffer has certainly widened the club's focus in this area, and would seem to be in a developmental stage of something long-term that will eventually be able meet the challenges of the premier league - and maybe even beyond! roman bednar will be back in shape to take a place in the first team in about three weeks, and we all await the return of ishmael miller and defender neil clement, who've both been out for the last couple of years with major injuries. so we've really got nothing to worry about in terms of personel; RDM just needs to get his team selection sorted out.

today was an uneven performance, and i come back to the point of selection - but it is still really important that the baggies can win like this in the championship, where the premier league often left them gutted, late in the match, with a series of draws and 1 goal losses in games that they probably should have won.



we still probably need another central defender and the outside left back position has to be sorted out beyond joe mattock. perhaps the new signing of chilean full-back gonzalo jara (also announced today) will bring some quality to the back line.

the coming days will tell, and i've stated my own personal doubts about roberto di matteo. but as i said when he first took the position, i think he's probably a winner; and one of the marks of a winner is being able to win the games that you should, even when you're playing poorly or just less than your best. so far, and his questionable selections aside - the man is a winner!

Nottingham Forest 0-1 WBA

live text replay


with half an eye on the arsenal v everton game on TV, i had to take this match in online through the audio-commentary (still called ALBION WORLD although the service itself has changed and been renamed ALBION PLAYER) on the baggies' website, so i've only got "hot-stuff" to write about on this one.

from the outset, things were just wrong. i don't know who dimatteo thought he was playing against today, but his tactical setup was more like something you'd expect in a cup game against lower league opposition: a 4-5-1 formation with luke moore as the lone striker!?! tony mowbray worked up a 4-5-1 game last year, but that was based around ishmael miller and the all important element of jonathan greening in the role of supporting attacker. despite some early success with this tactic - in the form of back to back wins against fulham and middlesbrough last year - still, it took almost three months for the pundits and supporters in general to understand and for this tactic to become evident as a recognizable, legitimate strategy.

there is no shortage of good midfielders at the club, so one can't really go wrong in selection, with RDM's five man midfield consisting of greening, dorrans, mulumbu, koren, and brunt. beside the inept decision to leave luke moore up front on his own, the gaffer also started joe mattock at outside left-back where he surely should have played marek cech - coming back from international duty or not!

the match started off well with chris brunt unlucky not to score from a free-kick after about 4 minutes, as forest keeper lee camp leaped heroically to finger-tip the shot onto the goal-post, keeping the ball out of the top-right hand corner of the net. the rest of the first-half was rather lack-luster with neither side really making any real headway in attack, and the usual skillful, controlled west brom passing game was nowhere to be evidenced. both sides missed opportunities and were lucky to be going in at half-time with a 0-0 score-line.



this is one of the few matches - and including last year against premier league opposition - where i thought the baggies were properly outplayed, and certainly forest had a better time hanging onto the ball and going forward than the baggies. but jonas olsson and scott carson both had good games, and the match was really won by the albion defense; as well as by virtue of a dismal penalty attempt in the 76th minute by forest substitute, and ex-baggie, robert earnshaw that sent scott carson the wrong way but was wide of the albion goal.

the baggies took the lead in the 52nd minute on a jonathan greening cross intended for luke moore. instead the ball found its way into the net off forest defender chris cohen's knee, and the albion, uncharacteristically had taken the lead against the run of play.

brunt and koren were substituted at half-time by cech and beattie respectively. despite bringing on the second striker dimatteo still had the team playing their initial 4-5-1 formation, continuing with luke moore as the lone striker and beattie playing wide in the midfield. this did improve the albion's play with the odd display of good individual skills - most notably dorrans going forward and both olsson and carson at the back. despite this the baggies still appeared rather shapeless with one or two players confused as to where they should be playing, most especially marek cech.

gianni zuiverloon limped off in the 71st minute to be replaced by the much improved leon barnett. the baggies came to life towards the end of the game and probably played their best football of the match in the last five minutes of normal time, and a quite inexplicable five minutes worth of injury time. other than this, it was the worst baggies' performance since their away loss to fulham last year where, quite honestly, the team didn't really show up to play at all.



in the bigger picture, it was heartening to see that the baggies know how to win at this level of football - and on the strength of a decidedly poor performance at that. this in itself could portend success. as well, and while being the second away win in one week - this was also the baggies first away win in league competition since last september; and one can't help but feel it's going to be important to know how to win these type of games in order to see the club through to automatic promotion. so no matter how dire things might have looked today, roberto dimatteo is off to a good start and has started to turn the club around in regards to their more negative tendencies. he's certainly got the team's defensive game up from what we've seen it before; and he has revived scott carson to a level of confidence where last year he had really seemed burnt out. i'll have to look it up, but i know that the two consecutive clean sheets this week were the first in a long time that didn't feature a 0-0.

all in all, i rather enjoyed just seeing the team win, even though they played poorly. it was a peculiarly welcome change to the state of things last year: that is, playing well and losing or coming up with an undeserved draw. still, and fully appreciative of the defensive improvement and the introduction of more "direct" tactics, i hope that the new gaffer gets his offensive selections better sorted out; and that shouldn't be too hard with the number of good strikers already in the squad and roman bednar coming back from his ban and returning to training on monday morning.

as far as i'm concerned the albion tradition requires that you play a 4-4-2 or even in more adventurous situations 4-3-3; but, if you're really determined to play 4-5-1 with this team (and you ain't got ishmael miller available) craig beattie would seem much more suited to the role than luke moore. i'm still baffled by this selection and i hope RDM at very least learned something today, or figured out what it was he wanted to know!

of course, we'll hope for a better and more entertaining performance on tuesday when west brom are away to peterborough! otherwise, so far so good...