Wigan Athletic F.C. 1-1 WBA

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this was probably the worst performance - beginning to end - that the baggies have delivered all season. while there was plenty of moaning over the reverse fixture played at the hawthorns back in december, this really was a mediocre performance.

the home side attacked aggresively right from the outset and didn't let up. the baggies were under pressure from the kick-off and could find no answer to a wigan side who came forward at will with an impressive display of precise passing football. in fact, it was a mystery how they weren't 3-0 up at the half!





on the part of the albion this was el stinko football of the worst kind and i can only hope it bodes nothing in regards to form for whatever fixtures are left to be played this season. while the baggies are probably already safe, realistically they still need 4 more points to call it job done.

to be fair, wigan have become a little bit of a "bogey" team for the baggies as of late. west brom have taken only two points from their four encounters with the latics over the last two seasons, and have not won this fixture since a late season victory during the ill-fated 2008-09 campaign.

since then, and their subsequent return to the PREMIER LEAGUE, there are few teams that the baggies have had such a tough time getting results from. the albion have had historic wins over the likes of arsenal, liverpool, chelsea, aston villa, newcastle, stoke city; and over the course of last season they were the only team in the league to take points at old trafford! in some cases these were fixtures in which the albion had not seen success in over 30 years.





of course, the fact that they took an away point from this encounter should be regarded as a good result. however, they were lucky that wigan couldn't make more of their chances and aren't the best at defending set plays. paul scharner, who has been the hero in several of the baggies' away wins this season, headed the equalizer from a chris brunt corner in the second half to claim a valuable point. there was little else to take as a positive from this match besides a measure of defensive grit and the continued fine form of goalie, ben foster.

anyone can have a bad day at the office, so i will be generous and happy with the away point. however, if the baggies don't show better form than this they will quickly find themselves looking over their shoulder, struggling to find the one win that they'll need to ensure top-flight football at hawthorns next year. let's just hope that this was just one of those days.

Two Big Steps Closer

Sunderland A.F.C. 2-3 WBA

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following on their current unbeaten run - and a priceless victory over liverpool which saw the baggies move up 4 places in the table and 5 points clear of the drop - they are definitely the current form team amongst the relegation battlers. pending the next couple of results, which now loom ever more ominously with each passing round of this season's BARCLAY'S PREMIER LEAGUE competition, the albion look like they're going to survive - and perhaps even ahead of schedule where there are more than one or two teams that look like it's going to go down to the last day to decide their league status for next season.





it's still early days, but for me, this was the yar that the baggies finally arrived as a top-flight outfit in the post-PREMIER LEAGUE era. for the state of the current squad and the challenges that the club now faces, they have the best and most appropriate manager possible. big wins and good performances against world famous clubs being internationally televised have now made the baggies instantly recognizable to the mainstream sports bar soccer crowds that follow manchester united, liverpool, chelsea and arsenal in big cities all over north america every saturday morning.

in short, this was the season that "west bromwich albion" became a recognizable PREMIER LEAGUE "brand" in the developing international TV markets. even the most recent of converts to the sport and freshest of fans where i live, here in toronto, who watch and support the "big four" now immediately recognize the famous navy-and-white striped jersey as well as the throstle and hawthorn branch club badge.





people i've known for years are seeing the baggies regularly on TV now comment to me on each week's game. west bromwich albion have finally returned from the footballing wilderness and have only to claim and consolidate their rightful place amongst the mid-table regulars in the premiership. whatever happens from here on out - and provided the albion survive the PREMIER LEAGUE - i think that chairman jeremy peace can feel somewhat vindicated after years of supporter criticism as to his lack of ambition for the club.

while it was a first, and the baggies have had a history of sticking with their managers through previous unsuccessful PREMIER LEAGUE campaigns, the appointment of roy hodgson as head coach was a stroke of genius and may be the most important move in the club's recent history. thinking of it as a long term proposition, the baggies could have something really great going on at the hawthorns and for some years to come. this is where the chairman's long term plans will start to become evident and we shall see the fruition of all the years of careful - and sometimes conservative - planning that has gone into the club.

WBA 2-1 Liverpool F.C.

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while i haven't said so in a long time and i'll take this opportunity to remind myself again: this is a very good baggies team. in fact, this is the best baggies side since cyrille regis was with the club.

peter odemwingie is probably as good a buy as anyone made in the PREMIER LEAGUE this year. he is set to register a new club record for premiership goals in a season, and with 11 already to his credit there's very few players who will have been as good a return for the money spent as the nigerian striker has been for the baggies.

while he didn't add to his season's total in the game against liverpool, he was effective in winning the penalties that chris brunt went on to score as the albion broke yet another long-standing hoodoo.




roy hodgson's organization of the back four is becoming evident and they look more disciplined with each passing game. nicky shorey has nailed down the starting left-back position, and the gaffer's selection of steven reid on the right has really strengthened the defensive game down the flanks. bringing back abdoulaye meite to partner jonas olsson has been a relative stroke of genius, and gianni zuiverloon's presence on the bench indicates that a general re-appraissal has gone on in regards to at least some of the members of this year's 25-man squad.

simon cox started - as i recently predicted would happen - against sunderland in a more conventional attacking role, and was made better use of than at anytime since last season in the CHAMPIONSHIP, where he established a frighteningly good goals to game ratio. the young albion striker played what will have been his best hour of football in the PREMIER LEAGUE to date. after missing a point-blank scoring opportunity on a truly great save by sunderland's belgian international, simon mignolet, the young striker put in a performance comprised of an enterprising work-rate, non-stop running and strong support play in getting into some good attacking positions around the box.





the gaffer has been responsible for the rehabilitation of scott carson after the albion goalie lost both form and confidence in a disastrous performance away to fulham back in january. his reshuffling of the first team has also strengthened his options in regards to substitutes. marek cech, for example, has played some of his most useful football as back-up for the defensive midfield duo of youssouf mulumbu and paul scharner. hodgson has even found the impact player coming off the bench that the baggies have been missing this last couple of years in carlos vela. the mexican international scored both late goals, at home to wolves and away to stoke respectivley, which earned two late draws for the albion and kick-started their present unbeaten run.

while there are two tough home games, and what would be expected a difficult away fixture with tottenham before the baggies travel to the molineaux to play a wolves side who will as likely as not be fighting for their premiership lives. the baggies will almost certainly be safe by then. the general concensus is that 3 points will do it, and on their current form, the albion should be able take all three at home to the villa... at least, that's what i'm expecting. if they can take anything from either of their games with the two london clubs, that would be a bonus.

given the PREMIER LEAGUE fixture list over the next five or six weeks, it's even quite possible that the 39 points which they already have will be enough to keep them up.





unlike what roy hodgson accomplished at fulham two years ago, he seems to have hit the ground running at the hawthorns and his fine tuning of the defensive organization without disrupting the attacking qualities of the albion has been the secret to his success so far. while they are just on the verge - and i stress again, whatever happens from this point out - this will be the year that the baggies really arrived as serious team ready to play in the PREMIER LEAGUE. they have already outperformed - and by a wide margin - any west brom team that has waged a top-flight campaign in 30 years, and the foundation for future PREMIER LEAGUE competition now seems well established.

this is a huge moment in the club's history and if the baggies can get it right in their last few matches of the season, they might be able to go on and have something fantastic at the hawthorns for years to come.

Birmingham City F.C. 1-3 WBA

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roy hodgson's first victory in charge of the albion extended the baggies current unbeaten streak to four games. while this was the all important win the albion have been looking for this last month or so - and further contributes to the baggies keeping themselves just one step ahead of dropping into the relegation places - it emphasizes that the baggies are stuck with some tough fixtures ahead and didn't take nearly enough points in their last three home games. one thing is for sure: they're going to have to take three-to-four points from their next three home games; and with those being arsenal, liverpool and chelsea, the baggies are going to have to come up with some serious heroics. however, it's been that kind of year and the albion have generally played well against top-ten opposition.

there is something more confident and consistant about the albion since roy hodgson's arrival. even the the media pundits (like the BBC's, mark lawrenson, for example) who've never generally been too positive about the possibilities of an extended stay in the top-flight for the baggies - are now picking three or four other teams as more likely to face the drop this year. the general consensus - and the among the supporters as well - seems to be that this albion team will find a way to survive.

by the same token, it is generally agreed that wigan athletic are the only side that really look like they are indeed going down from amongst the other relegation battlers . the question is: who is going down with them? at the moment, the albion seem to have a firm grip on 16th-17th spot(s). it's quite likely that blackburn, aston villa and blackpool - along with the baggies, blues, wolves and west ham - will be fighting their way out of ending up in one of the other two relegation places come the final day of the season.



this was the baggies first "double" of the season, after having beaten blues by the same score back at the hawthorns in the middle of september.

to be fair, it was going to be a difficult day for a city team which had just won the LEAGUE CUP against the arsenal, in what must have been an absolute drain both physically and emotionally. while the score was nil-nil at the half, the baggies had looked the better of the two teams with the blues supplying little in the way of match highlights. the baggies have generally done well following scoreless first periods and by the time they had kicked-off for the second-half, they were tuned up and ready to play some dominating football.

the baggies went ahead on a goal by youssouf mulumbu scored within two minutes of the restart. the congolese midfielder played a pass to peter odemwingie, who had taken up a central position on the edge of the city penalty area. the nigerian international held the ball up long enough for mulumbu to get forward into the area, and taking the return ball on an overlapping run, finished superbly to give the albion a deserved lead. the next few days will tell, but it might have been a costly goal indeed, as mulumbu was simultaneously clattered by birmingham centre-half, liam ridgewell, and appeared to have taken a hard knock on the thigh.



however, and in typical fashion, blues pulled one back less than a minute later. lee bowyer, making a run down the right flank, gambled on a short-cross to the near post. birmingham city striker and chilean international, jean beausejour had gotten in behind the baggies' defenders and glanced the ball into the net past scott carson. while it is not uncommon to switch off for a moment following a goal celebration, beausejour's goal just reminded us again that the baggies still have moments of vulnrability at the back and seem committed to doing it the hard way.

however, besides reviving the squad through bringing unused and forgotten players back into the team and tightening up the shape of the back four, roy hodgson has instilled a bit of steel and confidence throughout the entire squad, and they took the lead again on 57 minutes through a typical james morrison goal. the albion midfielder took control of a cross from the right wing at the top of blues penalty area and taking a single touch to give himself room for the shot, blasted a perfectly placed strike past blues goalie, ben foster. he certainly doesn't score tap-ins and morrison has scored several similar goals this season, including west brom's first against manchester united at the hawthorns.

from here, the baggies never looked back.

while david bentley got the opportunity of two good long-range strikes, scott carson had them both covered, and it was only on a near miss by cameron jerome, which trickled just wide of the baggies' goal that blues ever looked dangerous coming forward. even kevin phillips coming off the bench as substitute could find nothing against his former club.

the baggies clinched the full three-points - and the first victory since their home fixture with blackpool - keeping, as they have been, just ahead of the drop-zone; and sending the newly crowned LEAGUE CUP champions into the bottom three ahead of only wigan, at this point.

paul scharner effectively finished the match off in the 71st minute as he sent a james morrison cross back across the face goal at the far-post sneaking the ball past blues goalie, ben foster, from an acute angle. the final score accurately reflected the trajectory of the game and the baggies fully deserved the win.



with an unfortunatley scheduled international break in three weeks time, and the possibility of their next league fixture falling prey to postponement pending the outcome of the upcoming FA CUP games, the baggies might not play again until april 2nd. we can only hope that manchester united puts arsenal out of the competition and the gunners will be at the hawthorns - as scheduled - in two weeks time. this will not only see the albion trying to extend their current unbeaten run, but will also give the baggies a timely opportunity at posting their second double of the season, having beaten the gunners at the emirates back in the late days of september.

as i said, west brom may have to secure their place in next season's PREMIER LEAGUE by doing it the hard way and taking points from the most difficult of their fixtures. however, and with roy hodgson now beginning to exert his influence on the team, they are exhuding a feeling of confidence and are playing like a side that is setting itself out for top-flight survival. i think they might just be capable of pulling it off.

Aston Villa F.C. 2-1 WBA

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when all is said and done, after a week of intense pressure from a critical local news media over gerard houllier and aston villa's recent mediocre form - and coupled with the hype of the buildup to this match - i don't think that anyone in birmingham or the black country would have realistically expected the albion to go to villa park and come away with 3-points.

the villa are by far and away the biggest club of the four west midlands sides playing in this year's PREMIER LEAGUE and they would go into this match as decided favourites. not because this a particularly good villa side - and this certainly isn't a poor west brom team - but because necessity and playing at home can win local derbies and aston villa needed this one more than can be imagined. in short, they were left with no choice but a win!

following a truly poor performance in their 3-0 monday night loss away to a struggling liverpool side, this was more a match that the villa couldn't afford to lose and absolutely needed to win or face managing a possible crisis and dropping into the relegatoin fight. also gaffer, gerard houllier, had a whack of back-peddling, patch-work public relations to do following some poorly chosen words in regards to his old team, liverpool, and the villa's recent defeat at anfield.



truth to tell, i haven't watched the villa much this year, but from what i have seen they are not a particularly exciting team. whenever i have watched them over the last few years, one thing has been consistent: they are a counter-attacking team who play the long ball. from listening to the post match reactions from the villa supporters on BBC WM, i get the idea that the club has been in a bit of turmoil defensively of late.

most of the supporters' praise was for the full-backs and centre-halfs, especially the inclusion of carlos cuellar - who seemed like he might be a popular choice among supporters for villa's man of the match - and the effective manner in which they dealt with the baggies wingers, jerome thomas and somen tchoyi. it's fair to say that "relief" was the dominant emotion expressed by the phone-in villa supporters.

the baggies support on the other hand was, in general, mildly disappointed but not surprised. when asked by the BBC if they had felt confident of victory prior to the match, a group of albion fans leaving villa park laughed at the question.

"you never feel like that being an albion supporter," one of them answered.



roberto di matteo stuck pretty much with the team that had beaten newcastle the week before. the only conscpicuous absence was that of peter odemwingie, who was replaced in the starting line-up by marc-antoine fortune, due to a reccurring problem with his knee. graham dorrans retained his starter's position in midfield with youssouf mulumbu moved to the bench and just returning from a two-game match ban for a red-card picked up in the now famous victory at goodison park two weeks ago.

in keeping with their playing character of late, the baggies came out with all guns blazing and bossed the first 20 minutes of the match, despite an aston villa formation that forced the albion midfield and backline to play a little bit deeper than they would have liked. while the albion had the major share of possession and somen tchoyi coming dangerously close to scoring in smacking a left-footed effort off the cross-bar, the villa tactics had been disruptive enough that an ensuing counter-attack produced the game's first goal by stewart downing.

emile heskey scored the villa's second in the 79th minute through another break-down at the back allowing a deep cross by marc albrighton to make its way through west brom penalty area and bounce in at the far corner off heskeys's head. in fact, i'm not sure that he knew too much about it until it hit the back of scott carson's goal.

paul scharner continued the excellent form he has shown since moving to centre-half and pulled one back for the baggies to give the game some hope at the end. but it was - as they say - too little too late.



as has happened before, marc-antoine fortune was left isolated, and although good at running the channels and finding space in wide positions, isn't really geared toward attacking goal directly and desperately needs to be played with a strike partner in a traditional 4-4-2.

unfortunately - and while there remains no other comparison - this was the way the albion lost matches during their last PREMIER LEAGUE campaign under tony mowbray; in that, they dominate the play, control the ball well but get caught out by counter-attacking football and making mistakes on defending at the back, especially on set-pieces.

let's hope this is not a pattern that the baggies fall any further into.

WBA 3-1 Newcastle United F.C.

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roberto di matteo made a truly inspired, instructional and intelligent team selection for his starting 11 against west brom's promoted contemporaries, newcastle united.

the gaffer was really astute - and in the light of jonas olsson's continued absence through injury - to put paul scharner at centre-half. the austrian international - who has been playing as a holding midfielder in partnership with youssouf mulumbu - has been afforded a real way to relax his game, stick to the specific, technical and well-defined duties of a centre-half; as well as make better use of his natural talents as an attacking player on set pieces. in fact, it was his move to centre-half that led to his first goal for the club against everton last week. he also seems to bring the intangible quality of unifying the two central defenders, where tamas and ibanez - both excellent defenders in their own right - were struggling for the cohesion that a character like olsson - and now scharner - injects into the back-line.

likewise, the gaffer found the perfect role for graham dorrans in the holding midfield spot left open by youssouf mulumbu's two-game match suspension. the young scot looked comfortable, and with a similarly well defined set of duties in regards to his position, and like his austrian team-mate, was able to relax his game and get some much needed time with a ball at his feet in a competitive situation.



chris brunt was deployed as the central midfielder and somen tchoyi took brunt's regular place on the right wing with jerome thomas back at his usual position on the left. upon initial scrutiny, i'm sure that most people would have assumed that it would be brunt in the holding role and dorrans in his preferred attacking position. but this was real stroke of brilliance both tactically and in terms of personnel manangement.

atypcially, the baggies came straight out of the blocks, and without their usual slow start, pressed the ball from a high position with a very tight 4-5-1 formation, never allowing the toon to settle or get anything together coming forward.

peter odemwingie was excellent, tirelessly ball chasing and harrying defenders, forcing ill-concieved and desperate clearances from both the keeper and back four. his approach paid off as he later took advantage of two critical mistakes leading directly to both his goals.

however, it was actually somen tchoyi who opened the scoring on the half-hour mark. taking a short pass from chris brunt on the edge of the newcastle penalty area - and as still somewhat of an unknown quantity in the PREMIER LEAGUE - the big albion winger, holding the ball on his left foot and just long enough to see some space open up in front of him, surprisingly curled a shot inside the far post. it seemed that no one was really expecting it and being seemingly wrong-footed, he had caught both newcastle defenders and goalie alike quite unprepared.



except for a brief period in the second-half when the toon looked like they might get a goal back, the baggies were in command from the first whistle. on the heels of scott carson's excellent save from steven taylor's header, andy carrol created problems for the albion back four as he got on the end of a looping through ball that caught paul scharner desperately backpeddling and nearly responsible for an own goal. luckily marek cech, positoned well and tracking back, was able to clear the ball off the line with about a yard to spare.

other than that, newcastle were surprisingly flat and the absence of kevin nolan was more than notable.

with the score at 3-0 and the game well into stoppage time, scott carson was cruelly denied a clean sheet when peter lovenkrans scored, picking up carson's initial save from a close range shot by andy carrol. the TV replay showed carrol to have handled the ball in bringing the initial cross under control. while not intentional, it was still clearly handball and the young striker looked as surprised as anyone that the goal was allowed to stand.

this was a first-class performance and a well-timed victory helping to consolidate the baggies' return to form after five games without a win. following their first victory at goodison park since 1979, and just ahead of two important derbies - away to the villa and home to wolves - this left the albion as having the best record of last year's promoted teams as well as the being the top side amongst the four west midlands clubs.



at the beginning of the year, i had boldly picked the baggies to finish (what would be) a surprising 11th in the league. at the time it may have seemed a little optimistic, but jeremy peace, roberto di matteo, dan ashworth et al. haved worked hard and put together a better football team than i think many were aware. i knew that this team was going to be a bit of a surprise in the PREMIER LEAGUE, and a mid-table finish is beginning to look more of an eventuality than remote possibility.

their success thus far has been based on an all round excellent scouting system that has looked for competitively priced players in secondary european leagues; many of whom were completely unknown in england, as well as signing domestic top-flight cast-offs and underrated home grown talent.

in spite of this not being newcastle's day, the three promoted sides have all played beyond expectations and made a contribution towards seeing attacking football played in the top-flight in what has been the most competitive and open PREMIER LEAGUE in years. some think for the better - others, for the worse. whatever the case as to the technical state of football, it's a more entertaining competition this year, and gratifying for all the supporters of teams who've exceeded expectations and/or produced some sure-shock results.

for the moment, it's good to be an albion fan!

Everton F.C. 1-4 WBA

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following the baggies historic win at goodison park this last weekend, there should be no doubt that chris brunt is a top PREMIER LEAGUE footballer, as well as the heart and soul of roberto di matteo's west bromwich albion side.

the baggies midfielder not only delivered the corner-kick that provided paul scharner's first goal for the baggies to open the scoring, but a few minutes later scored a goal of genuine world class quality, curling a 25-yard free-kick expertly over the defensive wall and with the ball dipping perfectly into the top left-hand corner of tim howard's goal.

however, and even amongst baggies supporters themselves, i have long noticed a tendency to under-rate his talent and importance to the team. there are even those who were quick to say that it was tim howard's poor reaction time and not chris brunt's expert delivery that really allowed for his goal against everton on saturday.

while everyone and his mother was raving and drooling over graham dorrans' spectacular performance in the CHAMPIONSHIP last season, they barely seemed to notice that brunt scored nearly as many goals as dorrans and was more important as an on-field leader in inspiring the performance of the team going forward.



i heard a fellow albion supporter despairing of the northern ireland international in a conversation going on right behind me in the queue at the hawthorns station following the albion's 3-2 home win over blackpool last year.

"brunt look's like he's just about given up," i heard him moan.

he went to say that the club hadn't really had a decent centre-half since darren moore was here and that he didn't fancy the prospect of meeting blackpool in the play-offs, blah blah.

the irony was that not only had chris brunt played a good game, having delivered a perfect through-ball to ishmael miller on the baggies' first goal of the match, but nottingham forest had also lost that day leaving the baggies having all but clinched automatic promotion. but black country pessimism dies hard.

while no one denies his skill in dead-ball situations, the common wisdom concerning brunt is that he's a decent left-winger at CHAMPIONSHIP level but not possessed of enough pace or close-ball control to be a top premiership player, and can't - or doesn't - track back to defend.

while it is true that brunt plays most often as a winger, it is cutting inside towards goal and playing balls through a central position that he really excels. brunt has a direct hand in a full 50% of all west brom's goals and possesses a rare vision for what's happening on the field and spotting open channels. perhaps this was best illustrated by his goal scored away to middlesbrough last season.



people love natural, uninhibited talent. conversely, they do not fully appreciate those whose success is derived through hard work and study. i doubt, for example, that growing up in belfast, hanging out, playing five-a-sides all day with his mates, that chris brunt would have stood out as the best footballer of the lot. i imagine there were probably two or three lads, at least, who would have been more naturally skilled and better footballers than he was. however, i'm sure they all grew-up to have fine careers with the public works department or working at a job in a local factory.

chris brunt perservered, developed his basic talents, became a professional footballer, and there is no doubt that he was the baggies' man-of-the-match against everton in west brom's first win at goodison park since 1979. the northern ireland international was everywhere and had a hand in absolutely everything, evidencing that criticisms of his perceived weaknesses are either outdated or were never informed or valid in the first place.

as good as the baggies were in this one, everton were particularly poor in their finishing. jermaine beckford, coming on as a second-half substitute as the toffees made a concerted effort to get back in the game with the score still 2-1, saw himself miss several chances of equalizing before somen tchoyi and youssouf mulumbu put the issue beyond doubt with a 3rd, and then 4th goal for the albion.

while the young striker gets into good positions and has real strikers instinct, he will have to work on his first-touch control and finishing if he is to live up to his obvious ambitions, which, quite frankly, look like they might be his downfall. while his attempted bicycle kick would have been a really spectacular and exciting goal had it gone in; the fact is that he had enough time to bring the ball down and try something a little more controlled. he went for glory and screwed the ball horrifically wide of the far post.



this was a really good way to get back some form in the league after a dredful run of games for the baggies last month, and generally - whilst still awaiting the return of jonas olsson - this looks to be the core of the team that should play out the rest of the season. goalie, scott carson, has been playing some of his best football ever, dorrans will have to just play himself back into form - as will ishmael miller, and with the likes of cox and tchoyi on the bench there will be enough quality to at least survive the PREMIER LEAGUE and maybe even do a bit better than that.

the other thing about brunt - and much to his credit - is that he's very durable and only misses a few games every year through minor injuries. he is also extraordinarily consistent and poor performances are few and far between. evidence that sometimes it is better to be rooted in mental acuity, on-field vision and hard work rather than be possessed of dazzling natural and physical skills.

WBA 3-1 Birmingham City F.C.

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roberto di matteo outguessed me this week - and i have to admit, it worked!

i had given up on the 4-5-1 attacking formation; as had the gaffer to some extent, i think. at half-time against spurs he had the good sense to realize that peter odemwingie can't play on the wing. so, in starting both fortune and odemwingie (in a central position today) he had, more or less, returned to the idea of having two strikers and a formation resembling an orthodox 4-4-2.

the problem, as was evident in the first half of the match - and against a good defensive team like blues - was that this left the baggies being outplayed by a five-man midfield who were able to take their one opportunity, with cameron jerome tapping the ball into an open net on a well worked free-kick from sebastian larsson to give blues the lead through half-time.



while city dominated the first-half, it was a game of holding the ball in the midfield and the baggies still had the greater number of shots on goal. there was a decent long-range effort from chris brunt; as well as paul scharner getting on the end of a cross at the far post which he might have done better with, not realizing how much time he actually had; and a misplaced header from fortune on a cross from gonzalo jara also went narrowly wide.

unlike his predecessors, who tended to stick to principles and ideals rather than making tactical changes, roberto di matteo does take serious chances and will change tactics freely when he needs to. this tendency first became evident last season when he made the changes during a match that led to the current 4-5-1 setup to which he has since remained true.

he had found this necessary when jerome thomas was injured and he brought robert koren on to play right-wing. this moved chris brunt to the left-wing and the gaffer added a series of rotating midfield players (ben watson, steven reid, giles barnes, james morrison etc.) in place of the second striker. this remained their starting formation for the rest of the season - and to great success.



last week, against spurs, the gaffer finally realized that it was not a good idea to keep odemwingie out on the wing, since the nigerian striker has no idea how to track back and cover in this position. it was a fundamental weak-link and, in the bigger picture, was probably responsible for the loss to liverpool. with odemwingie in the centre behind fortune, the baggies dominated spurs in the second-half and really should have taken all three points.

today, with fortune not really able to get into the game and odemwingie looking the more enterprising and involved of the two strikers, di matteo returned to the full-blooded 4-5-1 with graham dorrans coming on replacing fortune for the restart. this proved a stroke of genius as the albion went about taking apart one of the best defenses in the premier league with its trademark attacking midfield.



graham dorrans, who seemed to struggle in the first few matches and was out of the side for the home match with tottenham, finally exerted his influence on the play with the baggies obviously the brighter team right from the kick-off of the second period. they equalized early through a penetrating run by thomas, who cut in from the wing and slotted a pass to odemwingie which ultimately flew into the birmingham goal off the heel of defender scott dann.

the second albion goal came through a critical mistake in defence, as lee bowyer failed to control on the edge of his own penalty area allowing odemwingie the chance to pounce and cut to the outside of blues' keeper, ben foster, turning the ball home, again off the unfortunate scott dann.

the match was put beyond question when jonas olsson headed home a chris brunt corner-kick in the 67th minute, and the baggies looked every inch a competitive premiership side.



i have long said that i believe that this is the best baggies side in many years - even perhaps the best since the early 80s. while i have to admit that up until today, my aspirations of a mid-table finish have seemed like they might realistically be nothing more than hopeful and overly optimistic. today was the first time that i really sensed there is more capability than mere survival in this team. while it may not come as easily or as regularly as it did last year, we are certainly going to see more success in the premier league than many of the pundits were predicting at the outset.

this is a very good west brom side.