Great Expectations and Grand Delusions

QPR 1-1 WBA

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despite a recent drop in form that has seen the baggies take only seven points from their last eight fixtures, their blistering start to the season has assured that they begin the new year still in the top 7, as well as now having a third-round replay at home to QPR in the FA CUP.


while this still represents what is so far the best campaign that west brom has contested in thirty-some-odd years - and any albion supporter would have happily taken their current standing in the table at the outset of the season - the reaction to their recent home loss to fulham gives some small insight into the decidedly unhealthy attitude that the modern football fan now brings with them to the park each and every saturday afternoon.

thankfully, matches are no longer plagued by the large-scale hooliganism that sometimes made attending football in england a terrifying experience in the 1970s and 80s; but something has changed in the mindset of the average, shirt-wearing, scarf waving, anthem singing fan in these early years of the 21st century.

WBA 1-2 Fulham F.C.

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with the whole side being booed off the pitch at half-time against fulham - and club captain, chris brunt, singled out for individual abuse when substituted following a sub-par peformance - the level of psychological anger that has replaced the old feelings of disappointment at a poor result was fully exposed for all to see.

even modest success now seems to create a sense of entitlement in the modern supporter and the right to harbour unrealistic expectations that necessarily require a scape-goat when not properly met.


last year it was james morrison who was singled out for supporter animosity.

to illustrate this tendency at its most dramatic, and after a long run of poor results up the road at wolves, manager stale solbakken's car was vandalized outside his staffordshire apartment back in november. the disturbing fact about this incident is that it wouldn't be the work of "hooligan" elements looking to create social disorder. this type of activity would hold little, if any, interest for them. rather more likely, is that it was disgruntled season-ticket holders, emboldened by some small intake of liquor and beer, and angry at seeing their team's drastic drop in form with the ever impending prospect of a relegation scrap at the bottom end of the CHAMPIONSHIP looming.

Manchester Utd. F.C. 2-0 WBA

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i have always been an admirer of chris brunt's. he's the best dead ball man at the club by some distance. from open play he is capable of cutting apart a defence with a singularly acute and accurate through-ball or scoring with a 25-yard screamer to the top corner. he is a real professional who has strived to continue and improve; and whether you believe that he is an adequate top-flight footballer or not, replacing him would be much more difficult and costly than some might think. so i don't understand why some of the home support turned on him as they recently did.


i wouldn't suggest that things have gotten too far out of hand just yet, but the PREMIER LEAGUE can do terrible damage to the soul of a football club.

while it was not a particularly distinguished performance (especially the first-half) against fulham, it is a mistake on the part of the average west bromwich albion fan to take it for granted that the baggies should necessarily and routinely be beating this level of competition. especially when you consider that the cottagers have been in the PREMIER LEAGUE for the last ten years running, they almost won the EUROPA LEAGUE two years ago, and in dimitar berbatov they have a top international who costs 5 times what albion's most expensive player does. you can't sniff at that.

QPR 1-2 WBA

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the baggies have recently developed the habit of starting slowly, and this has lead to poor performances in the first half of their most recent matches. whatever it is, they are definitely reserving their better football for after the break. my suspician is that this is a by-product of single-minded adherance to the principles of counter attacking football. nowhere was this more evident than their recent trip to old trafford.

to be fair, they looked a little stunned at the occassion and consequently their play throughout the first-half could only be described as "timid". however, they came into the game in the second-half and dominated the play for long periods.

in fact, with the baggies threatening to equalize, and coming more and more onto the front foot in the final stages of the game, united were ultimately forced to bring on their £22.5 million substitute, robin van persie, to ensure the victory.

while disappointed with the result, especially after the baggies looked like they might repeat their achievement of two years ago, i was happy with the performance in the second-half. if they had shown anything at all in the first-half, they just might have gotten something from this game.

WBA 2-1 Norwich City F.C.

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this tendency of playing poorly in the first-half of a match was understandable at old trafford. i can imagine going to play there can be quite overwhelming, even if you've been there before. but this issue has been something that has concerned me since the swansea game.

i think it's a big problem at the moment, and the side needs to go out and start matches much more aggressively, try and get on the ball and not rely so heavily on the counter attack. especially at the hawthorns, and particularly with claudio yacob out at the moment and chris brunt playing in central midfield.

WBA 0-0 West Ham Utd.

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the home fixture with norwich was a solid home win and marked the first time this season that the baggies have taken all three points after having gone behind in a match. it was also significant that after three losses on the bounce, the albion were able to then go three games unbeaten, starting with a draw against a visiting west ham side, followed by a home win over norwich and an away win at QPR. confidence still seems high at the club, and shrugging off a poor run of results like this is another testament to the quality of steve clarke's leadership and a newly found resilience in the team's character.


against west ham, the baggies played well in the second-half after the hammers dominated their visit to the hawthorns in the early going. while the east london side had the better chances from open play, the baggies looked the more dangerous from dead ball situations. it was, however, the usual problem with a scoreless game. where a 1-0 victory snatched at the death can transform 90 minutes of otherwise mediocre football into a supremely exciting spectacle, the 0-0 draw that is at its foundation - regardless of the quality of football - is almost always a disappointment for the supporters on both sides.

Arsenal F.C. 2-0 WBA

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one of the defining characteristics of the average albion supporter is their supreme pessimism and how, over the years, they have come to expect the worst. only a few weeks ago, baggies' fans everywhere were entertaining notions of european qualification and the outside possibility of challenging for a top-five finish in the league. now they are bracing themselves for a relegation scrap. the truth of the matter is probably somewhat less dramatic than either of these possibilities.

it's time to just cool it down a bit and have a little faith.

Never at Old Trafford

Manchester United F.C. 2-0 WBA

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long gone are the days when a west bromwich albion side could travel to old trafford with every potential of a victory, and for a particularly competitive fixture that would regularly produce some of the best football played in the country at the time.

while the baggies have most certainly been one of the league's form teams over the last month, there isn't anyone on the planet who will find this final score-line as any kind of surprise.



wayne rooney scored from a javier hernandez cross in the 35th minute, and then again with 20 minutes left in the match on a penalty to give the scoreline its proper gloss. it was everything that you'd expect in 2012 AD.

the baggies, however, gave a good account of themselves overall and were quite obviously the better team in the early going.

keith andrews should have opened the scoring in the 5th minute when the baggies, pressing the ball deep in the manchester united half, created the opportunity for liam ridgewell to put in a cross that looked like it should have been a tap-in for the veteran mid-fielder, but was put just wide of david de gea's goal.

andrews came close again from a free-kick about 25 yards out, but his effort was this time put just wide of the inside post by a diving de gea who got down low to make the finger-tip save.

the turning point of the afternoon came early in the second-half, and with score still 1-0 to the home team, when peter odemwingie was denied what should have been a penalty. this might very well have given the baggies the impetus to go on and get some kind of result from their visit, but never materialized.





patrice evra clearly tripped the albion winger as he took the ball into the man. u. penalty area. along with anyone who saw it live and in replay on TV around the world, odemwingie had a pretty clear-cut case for being awarded a spot-kick and was instead left prostrate in the 18-yard box, wringing his head with his hands in disbelief at the lack of any decision and the signal from the ref to "play on". then again, unless it's an absolutely nailed-on red-card offence - and as the visiting team - you're never going to get a penalty decision like that going your way at old trafford. never. they don't call it the "theatre of dreams" for nothing.

typically, united took clinical advantage of the situation and immediately broke on the baggies, only to see javier hernandez' long range effort smack off the west brom goal-post.

in the final bit of play that ultimately lost the match for the baggies, keith andrews, having already forced ashley young deep to the bi-line, inexplicably bundled the united mid-fielder to the ground and conceded the penalty that would make the final score 2-0.





however, the ultimate dissapointment of the afternoon for west brom came in the 64th minute, when jonas olsson was dismissed for a second yellow card and will now sit out next week's game at wigan. the swedish defender was clearly upset with himself and was reported to have been somewhat moody with various members of the local press during the post game interviews.

this was otherwise a good performance by the baggies and the fact of the loss shouldn't affect their current form in the coming weeks.

Manchester Utd. F.C. 2-2 WBA

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it's hard to tell whether the larger changes have already taken place, or if this is just the first signs of things to come. but make no mistake about it: something's up with this season's PREMIER LEAGUE!!!

in some ways, this result was even more important for west brom than the win at arsenal, as it proves conclusively that the baggies' success thus far has been no mistake or fluke, and is the product of excellent management and player performance. there is also a terrific confidence and sense of purpose in the side, and roberto di matteo is the league's manager of the moment.

it's been long hard road whose travel has required years of patient building and organization, but the baggies may finally have arrived.




the baggies typically conceded early with javier hernandez scoring within the first five minutes through a free-kick to united just outside the baggies' penalty area. scott carson got down low to make the initial save from nani's direct effort, but could only manage to parry the ball into the path of the onrushing mexican forward who had no trouble with the easy finish.

this looked as though it might become another typical afternoon at old trafford, making display of the disparity between a large, community-based side like the albion and one of world football's acknowledged super-teams. just on 25 minutes, united increased their lead as nicky shorey lost his footing and nani was left with the opportunity to run in on goal to score united's second and quite predictably they went in at half-time 2-0 up.

the baggies had not played well in the first half and the difference was probably deserved.

however - and in trademark style - the baggies came out for the second half and started decidedly the better team. they continued their recent practice of doing what all winning teams do, which is to put the ball into dangerous areas in the box and force scruffy goals as well as creating well-crafted gems.

with less than five minutes of the second-half played, chris brunt smashed a free-kick low and hard into a melee of players around the united goal, and it crossed the line from a deflection off the leg of united full-back, nani.



a little less than five minutes after that - and with albion creating a good long period of possession and keeping up their attacking pressure on the red devils' goal - chris brunt, again, sent in a looping, spinning cross that veteran dutch international, edwin van der saar, was unable to hold onto as the ball bobbled over his shoulder and was tapped into an open net by albion winger, somen tchoyi.

after that it was down to the excellent defensive play of jonas olsson and gabrial tamas, flanked by gonzalo jara and nicky shorey that kept the baggies in this one to hold on for a quite unbelievable draw. all the more impressive is that they did this without peter odemwingie, and with starting striker marc-antoine fortune isolated and left largely ineffectual by the united midfield.

so, with important players still to come back from injuries, others yet to find form, a really tough set of opening fixtures out of the way, and a current standing of 6th in the league table, there is precious little to be critical of at the moment.



nobody, and probably the team itself, could have imagined that west brom would have been able to take so many points at the front end of the season, given that their first four away fixtures were chelsea, liverpool, arsenal and manchester united respectively.

roberto di matteo has brought back a feeling of excitement and anticipation to following the baggies that was present around the hawthorns in the late 70's. as a supporter, i can't wait for saturdays to roll around and spend friday night thinking about who'll be in the starting team the next day.

yes, it's a very exciting time to be watching the albion!