Gone Daddy Gone!!!

sky sports


birmingham mail


well, it's that time of year: the post-season. and first word from the hawthorns is that robert koren is being let go. i don't know enough about football business to evaluate what the worth of renewing his contract in order that we might sell him and make a couple of quid might be; but i do know that the club is freely releasing a skilled and popular player, and - judging from a couple of posts on the BBC 606 - the supporters aren't generally thrilled about it.

i, myself was sad to wake up yesterday morning to the unexpected news, and so apparently was roko. i can't help but feel this is partly a result of the animosity that existed between himself and the gaffer back in january, when koren was consistently out of the team and there was talk of him joining tony mowbray at celtic. however, after jerome thomas got injured and roberto di matteo had implemented a 4-5-1 attacking formation, the slovenian international found himself in the regular starting eleven playing on the right-wing. while not his favoured position, he was an important part of the team going into that second-half of the season, and his contribution to the baggies' promotion campaign was substantial.



the trouble is that under tony mowbray the club picked up a lot of players who had similar skills and played similar styles. even the full-backs, with the likes of gianni zuiverloon, marek cech and gonzalo jara, are skilled footballers who play as well (if not better) at midfield-wing positions as they do their respective wide positions in the back-four.

with mowbray's legacy still evident at the hawthorns, it's safe to say that there is no lack of quality midfielders at the club: dorrans, mulumbu, brunt, thomas, morrison, as well as the out-on-loan jonathan greening and borja-valero are - to a man - comparably skilled all around footballers. striker, simon cox has even been used in central midfield, ahead of koren, to accommodate di matteo's 4-5-1 attacking formation. all things considered, though, i still think koren - by virtue of his intelligent and imaginative play - will be missed; and the club will have to bring back either greening or borja-valero to make up the difference.

i can understand why the club did this, but i don't doubt that it was a difficult decision.

Notes on a Winning Streak (part 4)

WBA 1-0 Coventry City

live text replay


while i was a little sad that this would be my last trip to see live football in england this year, i was completely and utterly unconcerned about the result of this one. i knew the baggies were going to win. i had seen west bromwich albion at home four times and once away since i came over on my first trip in september, and had never seen them held to a draw or beaten. i was secure in the knowledge that providence would play me no trick and i would leave the country boasting about my great fortune at having seen west brom victorious on every occasion at which i had attended.

as night games are just an hour or two beyond being able to get back to me mum's place in chilcompton - and after having mistakenly booked late on my last trip and ended up staying at the premier inn in dudley, i had the foresight to book a room at the holiday inn just behind new street station well in advance, and in order that i could make a quick getaway in the morning.

i had less than 48 hours left in the country and my heart was heavy with an inevitable feeling of let-down. this had been a special year and something i had been waiting for all my life - and in more ways than one. this was a season of english football, such as it is, that i will never forget.

i had seen coventry city on TV in their away match to leicester city on sunday. while i had been cheering their heroic comeback victory over the foxes, i certainly did not want them coming to the hawthorns in form, on a high and frustrating the baggies the way they had in the reverse fixture back in october which had ended in a disappointing goalless draw.



i checked in to the hotel at around 3.00 PM. i don't know where the time went, but i puttered around online for a while, prepared and uploaded my last two match reports before it was time to put on the colours and venture out accross the city centre for snow hill station and the short trip to the hawthorns with which i was becoming more and more familiar.

"hawthorns. return, please."

"£1.80."

"which platform is the next one leaving from?"

it was a drizzly night in the west-midlands, and as i came down halford's lane, repeating once again another step of the ritual that was now becoming routine, i rifled through the coins in my pocket readying my £3 change for the programme vendor at the smethwick gate. i entered the ground, had one last wistful look around the club-shop, a last pre-match cigarette outside the east stand and headed inside.

as i got to my seat, i realized that the two older gentlemen who had been sitting next to me for the last two home matches were not there. nor was the fellow who had been sitting directly to my left. when the attendance was announced at 20,000 some-odd, i realized that significantly less people attend week-night matches than the saturday afternoon games.

a peculiar waste of season's tickets, i thought at first.

but then what horrors, miseries, disappointments and mediocrity had these obvious veterans had to endure in a lifetime of supporting the albion?

being a dedicated football supporter requires both a physical and emotional stamina that those who are not fans would never suspect.



this was a big improvement on the previous week's performance away to swansea city, and was a game dominated by defensive play, good goalkeeping, set pieces and missed opportunities. scott carson (who i must admit, has never been my favourite) showed, over these last couple of matches, that he is a much improved player from the man who was humiliated and hung out to dry by john terry in his last international appearance for england, and endured the unendurable in what must have been a true nightmare of a season as albion's starting goalie in the premier league.

while he had been shaky, nervous and painfully tentative about coming off his line to clear against swansea city, back at the hawthorns he was controlling his area, making assured clearances and exhibiting his primary talent as an athletic shot-stopper with terrific reaction time. after a good game against preston north end on saturday, this was a well deserved clean-sheet for the baggies' captain.

an early attack down the left-wing by chris brunt produced an acutely angled cross that appeared, for a split-second, as if it were going to dip into the top left-hand corner of the city goal, but only managed to curl away just inches wide and no albion players in the box. the baggies looked again as if they were going to dominate the match through going forward.

the key to this match was the way in which the good defensive midfield of coventry city pretty handily negated the baggies' predominantly attacking midfield; and the difference on the night - and not surprisingly - came from a set play. albion newcomer, steven reid, playing in the right full-back position, scrambled a loose ball into the coventry goal when the city defenders' marking failed badly on a chris brunt corner kick just past the 16 minute mark.



the only really contentious moment of the first half was on robert koren's effort which was bobbled by coventry goalie, keiren westwood, and for all the world looked like it went over the line before he really got a firm grip on it. some good passing also produced a quality opportunity for ishmael miller who, turning on the coventry defenders, shot wide.

in the second period, city were much more effective, especially from set pieces and throw-ins. right to the end the baggies were forced to scramble away some dangerous opportunities created by several coventry city free-kicks.

with somebody behind me constantly moaning that the albion were in trouble and that leon barnett would come off the subs' bench and snatch the equalizer, the coventry finishing just wasn't there, and the albion defenders good positional play forced several key misses allowing the baggies to hang on for an unusual 1-0 victory.



i returned to the hotel sadly resigned to the fact that i would not be back this season. i had, however, the good fortune to have been present for the end of one winning streak and the outset of another. i had never seen the baggies lose or draw - which is something, i'm sure, that few albion supporters anywhere can boast.

i also knew, at this point, that promotion to the premier-league was all but sewn up, and - with the shorter schedule and the lack of night games in the premiership - i wouldn't have the same opportunities to attend the number of live matches that i had had this year. i certainly wouldn't have a block of five games in 2 weeks to schedule my trips to england around!

however, i will renew my club membership and i will be back. but whatever comes to pass for the baggies in next year's premier league, i will never forget this year. there is nothing in my entire life, outside of work, that has turned out so well, not let me down and been as much of a joy as going "up the albion" has this year.

the lord is my shepherd,
i'll not want,
he makes me down to lie,
in pastures green,
he leadeth me,
the quiet waters by.

WBA 3-0 Leicester City F.C.

live text replay


when these two teams met in the reverse fixture back in the early months of the season, newly promoted leicester city were a surprise form team and - along with newcastle united - were the best footballing side that the baggies had had to play up until that point. west brom won that encounter by a score of 2-1. it was one of their rare single goal victories and one of the toughest matches won.

as the two met this last week at the hawthorns, the albion were now the form team of the division, who may still challenge the mighty toon for the division title, and leicester city are a club that have surprised the critics, over-achieved on the season, and are now desperately clinging onto a place in the playoffs despite a recent run of poor form.

whatever happens, both teams can be proud of their accomplishments this season, and both have been a real credit to english league football. leicester city for bouncing back from the curse of having tried to compete in the premier-league then suffering the increasingly frequent double-relegation that follows; and the albion for being the only real "second-division" club left in england - and thus, for both better or worse - a team in a class all their own.



while the 3-0 score-line - provided by the returning james morrison with a contribution of two goals from baggies' stalwart, robert koren - was certainly flattering to the albion, and unfairly diminishes any good football city played on the day, the baggies probably deserved this - but more for the good fortune that becomes part of a winning team's habit and character than anything else.

it is quite normal for football fans (and albion supporters more than most, it's probably fair to say) to hit the panic button at two games lost in succession, or a three or four game winless streak. they tend to imagine the worst and faith in their team is always at its lowest when entertaining a 1-0 lead; but the baggies did, in this match, transcend the usual pressure and pessimism that comes with the possibility of imminent success in professional football.

a month or so back, when west brom lost to bristol city and QPR, then were knocked out of the FA Cup by reading, the online albion message-boards started filling up with negative posts about both the team and gaffer, pointing out how roberto di matteo's MK DONs had suffered a late season loss of form, which cost them missing out on automatic promotion and ultimate loss on penalty kicks in a first-round promotion playoff to swansea city. i even saw posts on the BBC 606 which were direly predicting that that the baggies wouldn't even make the playoffs at this rate, and that they just weren't good enough!



my fellow supporters confound me sometimes, as i have never doubted for a moment that the albion were going to finish second if not win the division outright! you can be as negative as you like, but roberto di matteo has done a brilliant job at managing the resources available to him this season. for the most part - and with rare exception - his team selection, attacking formation, and real-time match tactics - although occasionally baffling to the average punter - have been a superb example of economy and intelligent management. he's developed a good system, has inspired both the team in learning how to win in style, and re-invigorated the spirit of many of its individual constituent components, as well.

i hope, at very least, with the baggies now looking more likely challengers for the division title than playoff candidates, that the supporters can relax their customary pessimism and really enjoy the last few games of the season, looking expectantly to the day - which is soon to come - when the baggies clinch automatic promotion back to the premier league. because i seriously have my doubts as to how enjoyable that's actually going to be!

WBA 1-0 Sheffield Wednesday

live text commentary


well, this is definitely my last blog before i head off tomorrow night for england, and ultimately, on saturday, i'll be at the hawthorns. today's match was not only a good omen, but it left me in a good mood for the trip and in high expectation that i'll see the baggies register no less than 7 of the possible 12 points that will be available from the matches that i'll be attending.

while the first forty-five minutes was arguably the worst half of football yet played by the baggies this season, it ended up being yet another crucial test of character and collective defining moment in the albion's campaign for automatic promotion.

the first half was so bad that it couldn't hold my attention long enough to keep me from folding some socks and underwear, doing some early packing and organizing for my trip. the only bright spots were luke moore's work-rate while having to struggle with the unsuited role of lone-striker, but still capable of threatening defenses in fits and flashes; and steven reid at right back, who was easily the albion's best player in the first period.



expecting several changes at half-time, i was surprised that roberto di matteo's only switch was robert koren for jerome thomas when the teams returned. this forced a change onto the albion formation that saw chris brunt move to left wing as koren slotted in on the right. it was clear from the first whistle that the baggies were a changed team. they came straight at wednesday, set the tone and dictated the pace as they edged closer to a goal with each attack.

the game really lit up for the baggies when moore was replaced by the recovering ishmael miller, who had an immediate impact with a spirited attack on goal (as well one or two of the sheffield wednesday centre-halfs). from this point on - and barring a couple of poor finishes by the owls when they were afforded a rare sight of goal - the baggies totally dominated. at one point i was just laughing at how long the albion kept a late passing move going. in analyzing and comparing the first and second halfs it was really a performance by two completely different teams.



robert koren was ultimately the hero on the day, and deservedly so. it is rare that someone is awarded "man-of-the-match" for only 45 minutes of football, but the first half was so bad - and by both teams, really - that it couldn't have really gone any other way. youssouff mulumbu's game was one of the most schizophrenic performances of the year... an absolute shambles of a first-half, but in the second period he regained the basic skills and confidence that had eluded him in the initial forty-five minutes.

i haven't really got time to finish this, as i've now taken too long and have to get packed and get out of here. let's just say that this was an example of the baggies once again finding another important win thanks to another exceptional individual effort and performance.

see you at the hawthorns on saturday!!!

WBA 2-3 Reading F.C.

live text replay



so ends this year's adventure in the last romantic dream of heroics still available to a club like the albion. it was dramatic, heartbreaking, and completely unnecessary. with a 2-1 lead and only seconds left the albion should have held on to this one. in a moment echoing the first nine seconds of this fixture's reverse encounter, gianni zuiverloon failed to control and clear a routine ball that allowed jimmy kebe to once again roast the young dutch fullback, setting up the equalizer for brian howard with about a minute of injury time left to play.

barring the possibility that the baggies might still win the day by taking this one to penalties, the momentum had, in a moment, swung to reading and their superior late-going tactics proved the albion's undoing. the royals - knowing that they now had to hit early and protect the lead against a tired baggies attack, did just that. within three minutes of the kick-off in extra-time, reading jumped on abdoulaye meite's failure to clear the ball and gylfi sigurdsson fired a shot from about 25 yards out that completely beat the baggies' defense, caught scott carson off his line and curled into the back of the net.

in watching the post-game interview with baggies' head-coach, roberto di matteo, you could see the puffiness and swelling around his eyes from where he had been fighting back the tears. it was evident that he was distraught, and possibly suggests the deeper implications as to what difficulties the gaffer has to face in managing a thin squad over the next few weeks and still maintaining progress in the league.



while good old tony mowbray had a cool detachment and a technical analysis of the situation that always made me feel better about being an albion supporter on the worst of days; roberto di matteo is much more of an emotional character, and with his understanding of just how english football works at its best, he gets my sympathies for having to bear how utterly frustrating and upsetting it can be at its worst.

di matteo was truly pained by this, and i could feel his pain like it was my own. in the modern game of english football, a young, talented side like the baggies has so little time to accomplish anything before the big clubs start sniffing around and players begin looking towards furthering their own careers. in some cases it might be a move to help with their international aspirations and in others simply for the better money and big-club prestige.

one could see in the gaffer's face the frustration of working under conditions where the high level of expectations that must be met within the space of a single season is absolutely over-whelming. while kevin phillips is lauded as a modern day hero at this club, we've got to remember, he was only here for two years. tony brown was here for 17 years - and stuck with the baggies through relegation and three years in the second-division without whining how he deserved better and asking for a transfer to fulham or bolton. in 1976 he scored the famous goal at boundary park that took the albion back to the top-flight. they don't make players like tony brown anymore.

to their credit - and inside the framework of the 90-minutes - the albion were the better team. they carried almost a 2-1 margin of superiority in all aspects of play. this, of course was reflected in the score (2-1) and how it appeared the game was going to end. the albion were set to win on a brace of goals by robert koren against the single first-half equalizer of jimmy kebe, as these two continued their personal goal scoring duel which they had established in the initial fixture.



this wasn't the first time this year where i was really hurt by a result, but this one runs deeper than most. i continually woke up throughout the course of the night depressed and still in disbelief that things had unraveled so quickly. to be so close and then see it all evaporate in the space of a few minutes was devastating.

as the half-filled hawthorns would testify, the FA cup has become so devalued and winning promotion to the premier league takes such a much greater precedence that only a team like reading - who really have nothing to lose - can realistically focus on a cup competition anymore.

the only good news of the day was the return of james morrison after more than a year out through injury. however, roman bednar picked up a groin-pull which might see him unable to start this saturday against derby.

today i feel as if my faith has been destroyed by the state of english football as it is in the year 2010. with the baggies now winless in four games, a victory against derby this weekend is desperately needed just to cheer us up - forget the FA cup, forget the league table, forget promotion, forget the premier-league... let's just get a win and enjoy the day!

Cardiff City 1-1 WBA

live text replay



well, this was a real hard day's night... and another draw for the baggies as they managed to further their unbeaten streak (9 games now) and (at least for the next 24 hours) are again tied with league-leaders newcastle on points, but find themselves in first place by virtue of superior goal difference. the toon have a game in hand and will be home to coventry tomorrow. perhaps the sky-blues and their improved form of late can give the baggies a small helping hand in their push for automatic promotion?

at the outset of the match it was revealed that roman bednar had a back injury and would be sitting this game out. injuries couldn't come much heavier after what the baggies have sustained this last two weeks. funnily enough though, bednar was named as an non-playing substitute, since di matteo now finds himself without enough healthy players to even field a full first team. bednar did no warm-ups, his presence entirely symbolic, and was there only to see that there were enough bums sat on the bench that it might make up a whole squad.



as expected, both new arrivals to the albion, andy slory and frank nouble, got starting spots on the wing and midfield respectively, with albion sticking to the 4-5-1 formation that has been so successful during the baggies' recent run of form. unfortunately, i can never understand why di matteo leaves luke moore as the lone striker, as it is a game most unsuited to the ex-villa striker's style and ability?!?!

back in the "hot media" environment of ALBION RADIO once again, there was a controversial and questionable penalty called on jonas olsson. although, i have a suspicion that any good cardiff-biased commentary would have reported a stonewall penalty rather than a questionable decision. however, i wasn't able to catch up with cardiff city transmission before they signed off as i usually would. peter whittingham promptly dispatched the spot-kick to make it 1-0 to bluebirds. the mainstream press reported no controversy as to the awarding of the penalty.



the baggies were probably the better side on the day and wouldn't have deserved to lose this one. luckily, gianni zuiverloon again provided the heroics by scoring in stoppage-time just before the end of the first half. graham dorrans made the final pass on a move that had started with a scott carson free kick and ended with the young dutch full-back burying the ball in the bottom left hand corner of the cardiff city goal.

i've been contending all year that i don't think we've seen this particular baggies team play up to their real potential - even with the big victories over middlesbrough, watford and sheffield wedneday - and now, i'm not sure that we're really going to get to see a team featuring the likes of roman bednar, ishmael miller, chris brunt, robert koren, simon cox or graham dorrans at their best until next year. although, there is still the possibility of something in the way of cup glory that might produce itself at some point, for the time being, the primary goal is to finish out this season (and all its competitions) on the same note that we started. this is the part of the season where management needs to be at its sharpest and deal with the job at its most desperate.



this was a good point won. cardiff are always a tough side at home and the albion's many draws with blue-birds over the years will attest to this.

in all likelihood - and once these next two or three matches are behind them - the albion will start to find things a little easier, and might even have a full team out by then.

it sounded as if the baggies should have won this one and were superior in all statistical areas. more importantly, the albion had three chances - the best falling for chris wood in the second-half - where they could (and probably should) have scored the winner.

Reading F.C. 2-2 WBA

live text replay



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

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

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



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

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

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



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

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

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



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

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

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

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

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

WBA 2-0 Scunthorpe United

live text replay



who would have imagined, while perusing the fixtures list at the beginning of this year's league competition, that what may be west brom's three or four most vital wins of the season would come against sheffield united, blackpool, plymouth argyle and scunthorpe?

with derby county surprising newcastle united 3-0 on the night, the albion have gone back into first place, are on a seven game unbeaten run and are poised to advance to the quarter-finals of the FA cup. but none of this has come cheaply.

the baggies came into this one needing a largely overhauled starting line-up due to a couple of key short-term injuries, as well as jerome thomas' beginning a four-match suspension which came by virtue of his second straight red-card of the season issued in injury-time against plymouth.

the incident has since escalated as the FA have charged both the albion and argyle with not adequately controlling their players, and thomas may face an extended suspension on a seperate charge of "violent conduct", also brought against him personally by the FA. that's the story as best as i can glean from the mainstream news at the moment.

scunnie have a recent history of having players sent off themselves in this fixture. the corresponding match in december - which saw the iron playing well and having equalized early in the second-half, only to see their discipline implode and finish the match with 9-men and on the wrong end of a 3-1 scoreline.

while they only had one player sent off in this one, it wasn't the turning point that it served in the previous encounter and - as with the last two matches for the albion - this was a scrappy little game with few chances made and fewer taken.



roman bednar is back at his absolute best and scored just on 13 minutes to give the match what would be a long-standing 1-0 scoreline. truth to tell, when the baggies get themselves one goal up in a low-scoring game it's always a nervy affair. for a team that have won 17 matches to date there are a surprisingly low number of 1-0 wins. in fact, there are just two of them: the first against nottingham forest back in august and last weekend's win at plymouth. so you can see why defending a one-goal lead over 77 minutes might seem an anxious proposition for any baggies supporter?!?

di matteo wasted no time in giving the latest addition to the team a start in the likes of teenage striker, frank nouble, who has just come on loan from west ham, and is probably - given his level of talent - a short term deal that the gaffer has made to fill some essential gaps at a critical time of the season. having acquitted himself adequately over the course of the match, he in turn came off for the other new boy, andy slory.

with the gaffer's tactical substitutions in the blackpool match having unluckily backfired on him and ishmael miller picking up an ankle injury which will push his recovery back two or three weeks, di matteo had little choice but to look out a couple of loan deals in order to soldier on.



one thing that has to be credited to roberto di matteo this year is the belief he has instilled in the entire squad, and the ability to get players to perform and make functional, practical contributions at critical moments. today it was gianni zuiverloon who kicked in with a goal that sealed the victory when the match looked like it might be in danger of ending with everyone on level-terms. zuiverloon - and not for the first time this season - showed why he one day might be a truly great name in english football.

i am somewhat perplexed by a player like zuiverloon. like his team-mate, marek cech, he possesses skills more associated with a winger or mid-fielder than that of a fullback. however, the albion have - and since the days of bobby robson and don howe - always had a tradition of adventurous and offensively minded fullbacks capable of chipping in goals when needed. while cech has been used out of position and is a very adaptable player in that sense, zuiverloon has (save for a few minutes as a sub in the blackpool match) thus far exclusively played from the right-back position. with recent injuries and jerome thomas' suspension to deal with, di matteo might finally find a different starting role for the young dutch fullback.

as the albion now prepare to kick on and play away to reading this weekend for a place in the quarter-finals of the FA cup, the gaffer is going to have to show off his management skills to maximum effect. besides the immediate injury issues, it has been clear that graham dorrans and chris brunt are beginning to show signs of wear and at least one of them is going to have sit out a game - and sooner rather than later! while the loss of either of these key players is a serious adjustment - and even on half steam both dorrans and brunt are capable of making things happen and producing goals. they have also been the two penalty takers this year.

i'd hope to see brunt start with an eye to making a tactical substitution (and depending on the score-line) in the second-half to give him a rest. i would start robert koren in place of dorrans, and simon cox as the attacking mid-fielder or deep striker. and in the event of a penalty just hope that a taker emerges. still, it's quite possible that both dorrans and brunt will be rested for this match - they both certainly need it; and i can never quite guess when the gaffer is going to use simon cox.

Two Scrappy Little Wins

Plymouth Argyle 0-1 WBA

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with the baggies coming out of their trip to blackpool rather like the walking wounded, the gaffer gave simon cox his first start in over a month. i like simon cox and hope that he sees cultivation of his talents and potentials; and along with it creates a long and successful career at the hawthorns.

to vindicate my belief in the young striker, his form held up from where he had left off by scoring the winner in this one on the 66th minute. while he's still many seasons from developing the relative class of skill, there are shades of kevin phillips both in form and function about young cox.

this was a starting line-up that i have wanted to see, and the combination of bednar and cox in a forward pairing had yet to really be used by di matteo. the significant result of this being that the baggies now find themselves with two strikers who are in form, and are fulfilling the requirements of the current roles within the gaffer's tactical planning and line-up selection. that is, the big starting striker scoring consistently and prolifically and the utility striker supplying goals when desperately needed.



while this wasn't a particularly good match, it was a rare clean-sheet and an unusual single goal game for the baggies. true to form, it felt like a draw for most of the match. even after the goal, the albion's proclivity for not protecting single-goal leads well gave this one its only real tension, and the team have to be commended for just grinding it out and winning another match in less than attractive fashion.

the one controversial moment that has added to roberto di matteo's present managerial challenges was the dismissal of jerome thomas on his second straight red-card of the season which will see the winger gone for a full four matches.

as with their performance against blackpool this was not beautiful football and was another example of how good teams win even when playing poorly. as routine as these wins might seem when considering things in context to the season's fixtures list, neither came easily; and with the temporary loss of thomas, miller and marek cech, it's lucky that the gaffer has had the foresight to start making the loan deals to see through what is a truly critical time with both a promotion push and FA cup competition still to contend with. the albion are now once again poised to challenge for first-place in the league and have created the very real possibility of a title battle with newcastle.

in spite of everything else the cost of these two scrappy little wins has probably been worth it.

Blackpool F.C. 2-3 WBA

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while the albion took advantage of nottingham forest's first defeat in months to leapfrog back into second place - and are now in the driver's seat as far the automatic promotion places go - they did so in questionable style and only by virtue of the good fortune that winning teams make for themselves which will see through a poor performance to gain a full 3-points. this is what is known in some schools as "winning ugly".

to be fair - and despite the recent addition of gabriel tamas playing in the first team - roberto di matteo had literally worn out his back line by starting the same 11 over a very congested period of fixtures which included five league games and an FA cup draw. in fact, both jonas olsson and marek cech seemed so bruised and beaten for the last 25 minutes of the match and it sounded as if the big swedish defender was lead-footed, lethargic and unable to get to the ball; while a spontaneous hamstring pull eventually pushed left-back cech forward into a hobbled front line alongside ishmael miller, who himself had sustained an ankle injury in winning the game saving penalty converted by graham dorrans. this whole unfortunate situation was ultimately forced due to roberto dimatteo's early - and ultimately unlucky - tactical substitutions and it seemed like half the team finished the match hobbled, exhausted and within no more than 30 seconds short of a blackpool equalizer.

while it was not reported as controversial in the mainstream press, the points of view as to whether the tackle on miller that led to the winning penalty were debated hotly and reported very differently by the media representatives of both clubs. if you were listening to the blackpool transmission it was reported that the penalty decision was unfair. the albion commentary declared it a stonewall penalty. in fact, ian holloway - one of my favourite talkers on the subject of football, by the way - refused to speak to the albion commentary staff after the match having asked them if they really thought it was a penalty or not and receiving an affirmative response did something like call them a couple of rude names, make a disparaging remark about honesty and partisan journalism and slammed a dressing room door on them.

having watched the replay myself, i have to come down on the side where my biases lay: it was indeed a penalty! while the blackpool defender may have got the ball on the initial slide to make the tackle (and i'm not even sure about that) there is no question that as ishmael miller continued his run in on goal, he was tripped by the full-back's outstretched leg. it was a penalty and should have been a red card - and probably would have been had the defender not made the initial tackle successfully.

while di matteo's substitutions seemed like a good idea at the time, beginning with the baggies' latest acquisition, andy slory coming on for an obviously fatigued jerome thomas. this didn't seem a a bad move at all given the recent schedule and no change to the line-up in six matches. slory actually saw a good effort saved by the blackpool keeper on his first real touch of the ball.



this was followed by the early introduction of ishmael miller. usually the big striker has been coming on for the last 20-15 minutes of the match in a measured regimen designed to ease him back into 90 minutes of football after a lay-off through injury which lasted over a year. he replaced bednar with about 25 minutes of regular time left, and then a similar like-for like swap had simon cox on for robert koren. both of these substitutions were nothing but tactical and meant to save his strikers and wingers from exhaustion and the subsequent danger of injury.

at the point of substitution, none of the west brom midfield were able to track back and give cover to their corresponding player in the back-line. while dorrans and koren were more unclear about whose role it was to get back and help mulumbu tidy-up; chris brunt and jerome thomas were equally unable to work back and give their corresponding full-backs cover after a loss of possession.

it was a real case of blessing or curse? as things started to unravel after the penalty decision. while it was significant in that it produced the winning goal, ishmael miller suffered a knock on the angle that left him unable to run and he had to limp out the rest of the match with di matteo having made his last substitution in bringing cox on for koren. moments later, marek cech collapsed both spontaneously and well away from the play with what was later revealed to be a pulled hamstring. he pushed forward into the strikers positions - obviously to minimize on the potential harm that a hobbled full-back might cause.

while dorrans converted the penalty that saw the baggies to victory, any injury to miller at this point is a move backward and we can all be thankful it was unrelated and isolated from his larger injury. it was evident from his inability to shake it off and run towards the end of the match that he'll probably be nursing a nasty bruise for the next couple of weeks and will have to continue with plans of rehabilitation through late substitutions after that.

it's evident that - and will be interesting to see - di matteo will have to make a bunch of changes for the away match to plymouth on saturday.

WBA 3-1 Sheffield United

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the only thing you wish after a match like this is that the baggies might register one or two more clean-sheets on the year. other than that it was a typical baggies win where the skillful, control and pass approach to football beat another uninspired exercise in negative footballing that the blades have become known for in recent years and are all too quick to adopt when things aren't working for them.

the real point of note in this match was the fact that roman bednar is definitely back at his best and proved it on the day by scoring on the half-hour to bring the score to 2-0, after graham dorrans had successfully converted a penalty in the 18th minute.

the blades never looked to be in this one and di matteo's 4-5-1 attacking formation that he has been using the last four games is chugging along and doing its job just fine. my only point of concern being that ishmael miller didn't seem as fit as he had appeared in the previous two or three outings, where similarly, he was brought on towards the end of the match in a measured move to get him back into playing nick.



the other thing that concerns me is the choice to play both koren and dorrans in orthodox attacking midfield roles. i'd like to see koren move into an more traditional striker's position in support of bednar as the target man. i can't help think that it would not only help with the game going forward, but it would be clearer as to who should be working back and mopping up with mulumbu and who should be focused on counter-attack opportunity. i still can't see why we haven't seen a 4-4-2 featuring bednar and cox. it's the only combination of strikers that the gaffer hasn't tried this year and it seems so painfully obvious.

this is the most important 3-points that the baggies have earned in weeks and puts the club within touching distance of reclaiming second place from nottingham forest in the table; and if the baggies can beat blackpool in the re-scheduled match to be played this coming wednesday that's exactly what they'll do.

Newcastle United - League and Cup

WBA 4-2 Newcastle Utd.

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one fact was clear about this match straight off the bat: the albion were making a run for the cup and newcastle (for whatever reason?!?!) were not. as far as the albion is concerned, this is always a good move and a cup run enhances the club's success in league play as well.

the baggies have always been a cup team, and in any category you look they are still one of the top-ten clubs in this particular competition: 20 FA CUP semi-finals, 10 finals appearances, and five cups won. this is still a better record overall than chelsea, for example. with this being the 90th anniversary of our only ever league championship, it's also worth remembering that the albion's fame has always been based on cup success and respectable league standings.

the FA CUP win of 1954 was followed by three straight top-five finishes in the 1st division. this is the spirit of west bromwich albion.



while the world's oldest football competition has lost much of its glamour and popularity due to the season-ticket culture that dominates match attendance amongst the country's bigger clubs, and fully televised premiership and UEFA schedules have taken interest and precedence from the cup, it is still the competition for which west bromwich albion is most famous and i think that ignoring the cup is a serious mistake for any baggies team.

i have to admire roberto di matteo for starting a full-strength line-up. it is an absolute credit to the gaffer's understanding of english football, and - more importantly - the spirit and history of west bromwich albion. he knows that for the baggies, a cup run is fine and fair accompaniment to a successful showing in the league.

despite not scoring as he had in the last two matches this was actually roman bednar's best performance on the year, and he knew it. ishmael miller continued his return to football with another late inclusion as a substitute. i imagine that this will go on for the next month or so until the big striker is fit enough to start and possibly play through an entire 90 minutes.

as to the team selection - and the seemingly unusual 4-5-1 attacking formation - it is very similar to how tony mowbray was setting up during what i always refer to as the "ishmael miller project" of last year. while it looked like a 4-5-1, the ex-gaffer was really playing jonathan greening in an advanced attacking position alongside miller. di matteo's setup is a little more conventional as he has both graham dorrans and robert koren in position to go forward as attacking midfielders. my thought on this is that it might see more success with koren pushed forward into an orthodox striker's position, playing in support of either bednar or miller as the target-man.

with the next round an away draw to reading, the albion are already looking a good bet for the quarter-finals and with so many of the big clubs gone from the competition, we might be able to start dreaming just a little about the possibility of becoming the first championship side to win a wembley cup final.

Newcastle Utd. 2-2 WBA

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well, this was roman bednar's - and perhaps the team's - best game of the season so far. there is no doubt that with 2 goals in as many games, the big czech striker is looking like he's finally rediscovering his past form.

after having been part of an all-round terrible performance against nottingham forest, gabriel tamas showed that he is a tough, resolute and sometimes dirty defender who has a definite contribution to make in a side that is generally short on tough, and sometimes dirty players. as well, ishmael miller's return looks more of an immediate threat than one might have expected, with the big striker hitting the post and unlucky not to score what would have been the winning goal in the last few minutes against newcastle.



as good a game as this was - and a draw being the fairest of all outcomes - it didn't do much for the baggies in terms of the table. the 2-points that they took from newcastle seem far more important than the single-point registered, and the albion are going to need a five or six game run of wins at some point if they really want to secure automatic promotion. however, this is the championship and judging by historical precedent, nottingham forest may just have peaked too early in the season and will, in all likelihood, end this term in playoff position.

i still have confidence - and even if it's just on goal difference - that the baggies will just edge it as far as automatic promotion places go.

WBA 1-3 Nottingham Forest

albion had everything to lose and forest everything to gain. the baggies were at a distinct psychological disadvantage and a complete loss as to how to deal with the challenge. their tentative, nervous and completely disjointed performance even set a new low for standard of play on the season. this was a worse display than either of the matches against barnsley or cardiff, both of which were absolutely terrible.

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i got to see this one on TV and it was as grand a disappointment as i have had to endure from the baggies all season. i hope i get something distinctly better than this when i make my next set of trips to the hawthorns - starting with the match against blackpool on the 13th of march.

there were even some unusually poor choices made on the part of the gaffer as to the starting line-up. di matteo should never have started gabriel tamas. not that the romanian defender had a particularly bad game; on the contrary, he was much better than jara, who had a terrible game. it's just that only being at the club for two days he's not settled at all and i think that the more familiar presence of shelton martis might have lent a little more collective steel to the back four.

there was absolutely nothing to recommend in this match except for striker roman bednar breaking his long standing scoring drought, the return of ishmael miller - and to a lesser extent - that of robert koren as well.



in fact, with bednar coming on at half-time and miller coming on in the 77th minute, one realizes how well roberto di matteo has done with the squad that he inherited from tony mowbray - injuries and all. the forward play between miller and bednar was a full cut above that which moore and cox had had to offer, that i couldn't help but think that what the new gaffer has achieved so far is truly exceptional. i mean, if the baggies can hold on to second-place for as much of the season as they have with the current squad, how will they do with the undoubtedly stronger line-up that they'll be finishing the season with?

ishmael miller's return was a reminder of something i'd almost forgotten. sadly, we'll never see neil clement play again, but james morrison may also eventually return.

i'm not usually a superstitious person, but i think that it is a mistake for the baggies to sell shirt sponsorships. on the most irrational level, i think that the gods of football favour the sponsor-less jersey. as evidence, the baggies have a decidedly poorer record when sporting sponsor logos on their uniform than not.

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.