Reading F.C. 1-0 WBA

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although i noticed it a while back, i have yet to write about roberto di matteo's team selections - and especially his seeming reluctance to play certain members of the 2008-09 squad which was relegated from the PREMIER LEAGUE under tony mowbray.

the gaffer was happy enough with the midfield that he inherited from mowbray's time at the hawthorns, but it seems that there is a real reticence to play certain long-time players (particularly defenders and strikers) in the medium of top-flight football.

i'm not sure that he's got it quite right. ishmael miller, roman bednar, abdoulaye meite and gianni zuiverloon remained with the club, making the final 25-man squad for the 2010-2011 season. gonzalo jara, gabriel tamas, pablo ibanez, peter odemwingie and marc-antoine fortune have all been brought in since mowbray's departure for celtic (and now middlesbrough) and are all preferred starters for the positions where miller, bednar, meite and zuiverloon had previously been first-team selections.

the general rationale is that none of these are PREMIER LEAGUE quality players, where their replacements are decidedly - and in di matteo's mind, anyway - more fit for the job.

at the same time, more than a few of mowbray's defenders and strikers have gone to other clubs. west brom have now sold both luke moore and craig beattie to swansea city; as well as shelton martis, who went to doncaster rovers, while leon barnett and reuben reid have gone out on season long loans to norwich city and walsall respectively.

i'm not outrightly critisizing any or all of these moves, but i've never been sure that the gaffer has got it right with miller, bednar, meite and zuiverloon.



miller has taken a long time to come back from a cruciate ligament injury that was incurred about two years ago. it's easy to forget that he scored on his debut with the club, going on to score 7 goals in the league that season as well as a hat-trick in the FA CUP quarter-final. in 2008-09, and after a slow start in the PREMIER LEAGUE, he scored 3 goals in the 4 matches leading up to his injury. last season, he scored on his first start in 14 months against blackpool, as well as the decisive goal coming on as a substitute 3 days later at the liberty stadium to give the baggies a 2-0 away win that just about clinched automatic promotion for them. if he can get back the form (and provided he gets the opportunity) he was starting to show in the baggies' last top-flight campaign, then i believe he is, in fact, a capable first choice striker in the PREMIER LEAGUE.

i think pretty much the same about roman bednar. he has surprisingly returned to the club after a brief loan spell at leicester city and it had looked like we weren't going to see him back at the hawthorns again. obviously the club's need for strikers was greater than whatever regard (or dis-regard) that RDM currently holds for roman bednar. the supporters love bednar no matter what division we're in and, at his best, he brings a top class spirit to the attack, you never know what might happen when he's on the field and he is technically good at the hold-up play needed for a 4-5-1 playing formation.

gianni zuiverloon fell out of favour after his two mistakes against reading in the FA CUP last year. as we all remember well, it was zuiverloon's careless control which saw 2 goals given up to jimmy kebe that helped put the baggies out of the cup. the young dutch defender had lost both his confidence and a place as a starter in any subsequent matches for the rest of the year. this was a bit of a rough break, as zuiverloon is an above average player in terms of pace and ball skills, and is a rarity in that he is probably more suited to PREMIER LEAGUE football than he is to the more physical grind of playing in the FOOTBALL LEAGUE.



abdoulaye meite was a different story. his downfall came after coming to the club, making a good start, but being part of what was ultimately a poor defensive team. eventually , he too completely lost his confidence and fell out of favour as a first choice centre-half. meite's loss of confidence during the 2008-09 top-flight campaign was painful to see in regards to how plain, obvious and evident it was to anyone watching. the arrival of gabriel tamas - and then pablo ibanez went a long way towards exiling meite to the reserves and subs' bench.

it gets overlooked, however, that he put in a good series of performances following the baggies' loss to barnsley last year, and was instrumental in the recovery of the club's defensive form after a particularly poor showing and a calamitous own goal by shelton martis, who was soon on his way to doncaster rovers. whatever problems he encountered two years ago, meite was still a veteran of top-flight football. however, he is certainly a flawed and uneven talent whose career has been hindered by injury and marred by controversy. i can understand why he would not be rated a "premier-league player". whatever his deficiencies, though, he's still a trained professional and you'd think he might just be useful in a situation where injuries and/or suspensions had limited team selection as far as centre-halfs go.

with this in mind, i was surprised that miller was given a start, even in an FA CUP game. the albion striker has been out of regular football so long that it is hard for anyone not actually going to the baggies' training sessions to know what kind of fitness a player like miller is in.

while he almost certinaly doesn't have a full 90 minutes in him, and he predictably pulled a hamstring just past the hour mark, for the first 20 minutes miller was getting into some good positions and causing problems for the royals at the back. his finishing was beyond rusty, though, as he probably should have had a goal and almost certainly had a legitimate shout for a penalty which was ignored by the referee.

besides james morrison's chip which clipped off the royals cross-bar, there was very little else to recommend this performance by the baggies. in fact, it bordered on disastrous and only the result of saturday's upcoming league fixture with blackpool will tell the tale.



jonas olsson came on after half-time in an effort to give the swedish defender 45 minutes worth of football before league play resumes and he makes his full return to the first-team. the albion centre-half has been out injured since the baggies loss to blackpool at bloomfield road in the beginning of november. however, the strategy badly backfired when olsson's aggressive streak - which we all know well - got him into trouble all too quickly. an over zealous tackle saw him booked within a minute of taking the field and in less than 15 minutes he had picked up a second yellow and was dismissed. the enusing automatic red-card will keep him out of the side when blackpool visit the hawthorns on saturday - a match the baggies desperately need to win.

boaz myhill did well enough in the albion goal that he'll almost certainly start in the next league match, and help take the pressure off squad captain, scott carson, whose recent run of poor form has seen him being blasted by the local press and supporters alike. after last week's loss to fulham, the england international looked to have completely lost his confidence and in dire need of some time out of the side - if only to get him out of the public line of fire and see that he gets a chance to put his head straight.

in fact, the whole team needs to get its head straight. you have to admire the baggies for not letting their heads drop during this last 5 (now 6) straight defeats. they have continued to show character and play some good football with a positive attitude throughout.

it's hard to judge from a cup game - which is why the upcoming home match with blackpool looms so large for the baggies. aside from miller's early efforts, the albion never looked in this one and team confidence looks like it might be finally ebbing away. the loss to fulham was devastating and this cup fixture was pedestrian and spiritless at best.

this coming saturday at the hawthorns is the biggest test of character the baggies will have had to face all season. let's hope they're up to it.

Going Where and for How Long?!?!?

in my blog after saturday's loss to stoke city i called for roman bednar to start this weekend against everton. from what i was seeing in the birmingham press, the BBC, and online fan forums, i more than half knew he was on his way out on a loan deal to leicester. however, until it happens he's still part of the team. truthfully, i think the baggies need to change things up a bit and he'd be worth a start for this saturday's match at goodison park, however unlikely it seems at this point.

in fact, bednar was not the subject of initial interests in the idea to loan out one of the first-team strikers to leicester city. originally, the foxes were going to take ishmael miller on loan, and there seemed no question that it was a move designed to give the baggies' long-time injured striker an opportunity to find some match fitness after nearly a two-year lay-off. however, miller again picked up a minor abdominal injury in training prior to the move, and this prompted sven-goran eriksson, in his apparent need for a striker, to switch his attentions to bednar, who - according to all the regular media sources - looked set to go on loan to hull city.

from all reports bednar is unhappy with life at the hawthorns. apparently, he does not want to leave the club but is frustrated at the lack of playing time he's gotten this year. as for west brom's intentions in regard to their two veteran strikers, it's pretty clear that the gaffer wants to keep miller in the sqaud and needs to place him in a medium that will help him to regain his form and fitness. i'm pretty sure we'll still see ishmael miller start for the baggies sometime in the future.



however, i have an unhappy feeling about roman bednar. unless you're actually hanging around the hawthorns all day, watching the training sessions and keeping an eye on movement around the gaffer's office, it's hard to tell what's really going on. but my instincts tell me that bednar, like robert koren before him, has fallen out with di matteo and west brom will be looking to a permanent move for the czech striker in the new year.

i sincerely hope i'm wrong.

i've never been a fan of marc-antoine fortune, and i feel that he was brought to the club under pressure from both within and without the west brom organization. for me, his return always smacked of optimistic desperation, and his re-signing with the club was more the lack of confidence in bednar and miller, fuelled by football pundits in the mainstream media and the increasing influence of internet fan forums, than anything else.

for a newly promoted club, there is always much discussion, opinion and speculation about whether certain members of that team will be good enough to play at the next level up. signing fortune was just a reaction to popular perceptions of west bromwich albion and general assumptions about the level of quality and ability in their players.

both bednar and miller were part of the baggies side which was relegated from the PREMIER LEAGUE in the 2008-09 season. there is no doubt that this colours the public perception of their worth as players. it's fair to say that to say that miller and bednar are all too often patronizingly characterized as "good CHAMPIONSHIP players" but not good enough for the PREMIER LEAGUE.

however, i believe this overlooks the challenges that each of them had to deal with during the last top-flight campaign. miller was the preferred striker in the introduction of a 4-5-1 formation. this was most unusual as under tony mowbray west brom had always played a very orthodox system featuring two strikers. however, he seemed to put a great deal of time and energy into making his new system work and making miller the focus of their attack. i believe that it was something to which miller was not naturally suited save for his obvious talents as a counter-attacking forward. he was having to learn a whole new way to play and it took some time.



the other key factor in all this, due to player departures from the club, was that it was not nearly as good a footballing side as it had been when they won the CHAMPIONSHIP the year before, and they went into the the season pretty thin at some crucial positions. there's no doubt in my mind that they both would have been better players had they been on a better team.

unfortunately for ishmael miller, after having a scored a goal at newcastle and looking like he was coming into form, the baggies' striker was injured in a collision with portsmouth's david james that saw him out of the team for most of the next two years and without a league start for 14-months. he never really got a chance to prove he could play successfully in the premiership.

bednar did ok and scored a fair number of goals given the playing time he got. in the short term following the injury to miller, the gaffer implemented a relatively successful system of rotating utility strikers which included bednar, craig beattie and luke moore.

i have never understood this, as bednar's style would have been much more suited to a 4-5-1 attacking formation, but mowbray just would not play that particular system without ishmael miller and the baggies - to be fair to the gaffer - targeted and fashioned two important wins against tottenham and manchester city with bednar, moore and beattie all scoring important goals.

fortune came into the side and was the focus of much optimism and excitement. his pre-requisite physical attributes and european pedigree created expectations almost immediately. he scored 5 goals in 18 games and eventually left to play for tony mowbray when he took the manager's job at celtic. i believe he scored 12 goals in the SPL and it remained a common wisdom that fortune was a PREMIER LEAGUE striker where bednar and miller decidedly weren't.



with the former belief widely held, ishmael miller still picking up training injuries and the club in need of strikers for the upcoming PREMIER LEAGUE campaign, west brom brought fortune back to the club from celtic, together with peter odemwingie, a nigerian international from lokomotiv moscow.

odemwingie surprisingly started upon arrival at the hawthorns and was an immediate sensation, scoring the winning goal in the baggies' first win of the season, a 1-0 victory over sunderland at home.

since then, odemwingie has become the first choice striker, missing only a couple of matches through minor injury. with fortune as the apparent second-choice, bednar has recently been limited to two short appearances as a late substitution in league matches, where he has looked more like a snarling pit-bull who has just gotten a frustrating sniff of raw meat before being put back in the cage than a centre-forward.

meanwhile, it looks like they're going to keep miller at the club and figure out some way of getting the 24-year old fit again after a continuous string of injuries which continues to interrupt his career.

i'm sure that the baggies will make a move for a quality striker (there are rumours of interest in sanli tuncay of stoke city) in january and get by on being a little thin in that department until then. however things turn out - and barring his recall to the team much as craig beattie was brought back from sheffield united last year - we may very well have seen the last of roman bednar in the navy-and-white stripes.

i shall always remember his time at the hawthorns fondly and will continue to follow his career and cheer for his success wherever he goes.

Uncle Cyrille Says...

The Black Hole of the Premier League

west brom - as with almost all the other teams who've been identified as potential "strugglers" in the premier league - are having more trouble than usual making their pre-season signing targets.

while the baggies have cleverly kept together an all important core group of players, consolidated their targeted loan signings from last year, and have made some important new acquisitions in specific and identifiable defensive positions - including a second goalie, they have been unable to get any interest from suitable strikers at premiership level; and - if i'm to take the current postings in various online discussion forums as any indication - the supporters are beyond impatient. take a look at the shattering negativity of some of the more recent posts and subsequent discussions on BBC 606, for example.

there is a wide-held belief that it's all down to chairman, jeremy peace, not making an adequate amount of money available for transfers and player wages. i don't think it's quite that simple. for sure, JP has requisites, hard-line precedents, and a measured limit on what can be spent. but much of mr. peace's caution derives from the fact that the baggies simply don't have a rich owner, benefactor, corporate interest, or any other source of benevolent, interested, and ambitious money with which to strengthen the squad. therefore, it's got to be done in a measured and careful manner, with managable goals, that will ensure that the club is always at least competitive for a place in the top-flight, and does not go the way of leeds, sheffield wedneday, sheffield united, charlton, norwich, southampton, portsmouth and hull (to name just a few) who have all run afoul of what can happen to a club when it spends premier league money and doesn't live up to top-flight competitive requirements.

hull city, for example, played two seasons in the premiership before being relegated, but spent something more like three seasons worth of money in doing so. while the parachute payments will help with the club's debt, they will lose much of their squad and may eventually end up in a relegation battle at the wrong end of the championship. no matter what other criticisms you may have - and with JP as chairman - you will never see this at west bromwich albion.

as always, teams like manchester united, liverpool, arsenal, tottenham, manchester city and chelsea have a definite edge in attracting players. while this has long been true, it hasn't always been about the money! in the past, and for young footballers looking to get into their national sides or just expand their professional opportunities, these were traditionally clubs where one went to fulfill their aspirations.

but with the focus now shifting ever towards the financial considerations as the bottom line, sportsmanship and its attendant aspirations have been banished to an antiquated afterthought. coupled with the structure of the premier league, both financially and in terms of the number of player personnel that a team can now employ - the gap in between the top-half of the premiership and that of the bottom-half is finally and glaringly evident in a way it never quite has been before. the dream is more than over. it has been trashed and forgotten. even everton, the team that holds the record for the number of consecutive years in the english top flight - and a club that has always held its own with the other top sides, both on and off the pitch, - is now a second grade team with apparently limited resource; while the likes of wigan, west brom, and bolton are now treated as decidedly undesirable destinations to look for a career move.

nobody, it seems, is signing anybody.

indeed, the situation is so bad that roberto di matteo has now stated in an interview with BBC WM that he doubts there will be anymore signings between now and the beginning of the season. personally, i found it to be a bit out of character for di matteo, who usually does not discuss internal football politics with the press, and took it as a statement to the supporters demonstrating that this is the way things are at the moment and that he's as frustrated as they are. the all important required striker is just not there, and there's probably not much point in worrying about it until september or the right opportunity presents itself.

i think the baggies can take heart at the recent resurgence of midlands football in the premier league. with the relative and recent successes of wolves, birmingham, stoke city, and a squad that includes ishmael miller, roman bednar, simon cox, graham dorrans, chris brunt and a series of new defensive signings, i feel that things could be starting out a whole lot worse for the albion than they are.

In Search of Reason!

looking at the posts to BBC 606 (and various other online football forums), there is a lot of complaining going on amongst the supporters about lack of transfer activity. i suppose that that's going to be a universal anxiety for the fans of a club coming up from the league and going into the premiership for the fifth time in a decade. the signings will get done, but not until the market begins to close and the serious considerations begin to present themselves.

what i really can't believe is how badly the fans are under-rating the team "as is", and over-rating the prospect of premiership football! it is very negative stuff indeed. especially on the issue of strikers.

nobody seems to be giving ishmael miller much of a chance, for example; despite the fact that he's only 23 and has yet to complete a full season with the club. he was pretty sensational when he came to west brom on loan from manchester city. scoring in his debut, he was called up to the england under-21 squad, nominated for championship player of the month and he netted a hat-trick in the FA CUP quarter-final that year; as well, as forming an impressive partnership with veteran striker, kevin phillips.

in the premier league, however, he was cast by manager, tony mowbray, in a much tougher role of lone striker playing a 4-5-1 attacking formation. while he was hardly prolific, and slow to start, he had recently scored a good goal away at newcastle, and looked to be just coming into form, before a collision with portsmouth goalie, david james, took him out of the game for well over a year.

again - and 14 months later - miller scored on his come-back start for the first team against blackpool, at a crucial juncture in the team's promotion battle. on the subsequent tuesday evening, he scored late-on as a substitute, giving the a baggies an all important 2-0 win away to swansea, and a virtual strangle-hold on automatic promotion. at his best, he is a fast, strong and deceptively skillful goal-scorer.




still, he is a bit of un-known quantity, as he is painfully one-footed (left), seems to be sucseptible to niggly, little injuries that keep him from getting a decent run in the first team; and we don't really know if he's a good premiership player with the ability to improve, or a just a very talented football league player, who would no doubt be able to attain the status of "folk-hero" with a long career at one of the bigger clubs in the championship or league 1?

you would think the faithful might display a little more faith in the former.

the fans are a little more generous with roman bednar. he scored six goals in his last premier league campaign, and even his worst critics are expecting him to go at least one or two better this term. i mean we started last year's campaign with luke moore as the main striker. things would seem a lot better this year, even by the more demanding standards of the premiership.

with bednar and miller as our main strikers - and the impact potential of simon cox - there is still plenty of attacking football to be explored on this team, and i think the supporters are being absolutely ridiculous in their expectations in this regard. certainly, the club needs another big striker to accomadate RDM's apparent tactical formations; but, that's only because we sold craig beattie last year and didn't replace him; whereas, i think the punters are expecting the club to bring in a "proven" 15-20 goal-scorer at premier league level! well it ain't gonna happen!

the premier league can do terrible things to a supporter's level of expectation.

variously there are cries and criticisms in regards to just about everyone except graham dorrans and gonzalo jara. i just can't believe that it isn't so much more obvious to everyone that this is the best baggies side since sometime between 1982 and 1986. by this, i mean, that it might not be as good as the team that lost an FA CUP semi-final to QPR in 82, but is certainly better - and relative to the post premier-league era - than the one that was relegated a few years later.

as usual, the most critical of the punters are pointing back to the issue of jeremy peace not making enough transfer money available. there have even been rumours of JP getting ready to sell the club, which - by the way - i can find no reports of in the mainstream press. however, he is indeed trying to strengthen his financial control and expand his ownership of the club. but after all, he is also a business-man. through a televised BBC interview for the "late kick-off" show last year, i listened at some length to JP speak of his ambitions for the baggies, and i believe he is authentic, and committed to finding a realistic niche for west bromwich albion in england's top-flight - and perhaps, eventually, even beyond.

beside the percieved need of another big striker, there seems an essential and widespread lack of faith among the supporters in the core group of players; and it seems that there is a surprising number of supporters who have never really warmed to roberto di matteo, despite the success, confidence and winning attitude he has brought to the club.




i will concede that while an italian manager who appears to be building a decidedly continental-style side, playing a 4-5-1 formation (or "4-2-3-1" if you like) and featuring two defensive midfielders is decidedly out of character for a club that has been committed to "attacking football" (for better, or worse) for the last half century; but di matteo saw what he had in terms of talent when coming to the club, did the best with what he had, has now quite obviously begun to implement his own vision of football at the hawthorns, and he's probably got some idea of how to go about making it happen.

if you actually read the top writers who follow league football in england, they were all pretty much in agreement when assessing the baggies' premier league prospects, that they were going to need to strengthen their defence significantly if they were to compete. i have even seen criticisms saying that the task may be beyond them, and will be their downfall in surviving the top-flight. no writer i've read, however, was too concerned that the baggies would have any trouble controlling the ball, getting forward or even scoring goals.

we have made some good signings since RDM took over. gabriel tamas, gonzalo jara, steven reid, giles barnes and pablo ibanez. this will strengthen the defending a great deal and the issue of a new goalie is academic. dean keily is moving into full-time coaching and dropping to third choice keeper. so whether it is a definite backup for carson or someone who might challenge for the starter's position, that is yet to be seen, but there will be new goalie at the hawthorns either this year or next. as for this season, the club will eventually find another target man, however humble an acquisition it may be.

i think the baggies will surprise this season. i'm expecting them to finish ahead of blackpool, bolton, blackburn, wigan, and wolves, as definite; and they should be competetive with west ham, birmingham city, newcastle, sunderland, stoke and fulham, depending on these particular clubs' form. even if we aren't, it won't simply be down to the albion's lack of an imaginary £20m centre-forward.

Centre-Halfs, Strikers and the Strange Case of Borja-Valero

the baggies are buying defenders! this last week and a half has seen the permanent signing of gabriel tamas from auxerre, as well as the arrival at the hawthorns of pablo ibanez from atletico madrid. in simple evidence as to my argument that this is the best baggies squad in years, the last time we went into the premier league our best centre-half was jonas olsson - and that was by a very long way! i don't know much about ibanez, other than his age and credentials; but certainly, tamas is a much better player than olsson was in the last top-flight campaign. happily, there is every indication that both olsson, himself, and abdoulaye meite are both going to be much improved players to two years ago; and now there looks to be a solid premier-league signing in ibanez.

as heartening as it is to see that we've now got a decent complement of centre-halfs - and the imminent signing of a second goalie is academic, as dean keily begins his move into coaching - what the club really needs is full-backs - and more importantly, a better defensive system.




as the albion are primarily an attacking team whose game depends on having superior ball possession, they are too often caught out coming forward and are susceptible to the counter-attack. the most memorable example was the 2008-09 premier-league home fixture with chelsea. i don't think the super-stars from stamford bridge had five minutes on the ball in the first twenty. however, with the baggies unable to score and pressing further and further forward, they were caught out at the back and conceded at the first chelsea counter-attack. from that point on, they were chasing the game and ultimately got completely shredded in a 3 or 4 goal rout.

i'm probably more optimistic than most, but i believe that the baggies are going to be much more than competitive with teams in the bottom half of the division than in 2008-09, and i don't see any reason why di matteo should have to radically change his approach when playing wigan, bolton, blackburn, wolves or west ham. however, in fixtures with the likes of man. united, chelsea, arsenal, man. city and even the villa, i would change the system to feature two defensive midfielders. while this is a common tactic in italy and france, it is not used much in england and i have a suspicion that it would take premiership sides quite by surprise. especially in light of the baggies' exceptional attacking midfield. with brunt, dorrans, morrison, cox or thomas coming forward behind bednar or miller, and mulumbu already playing the deep midfield, an extra defender playing next to him won't be in anybody's way. this would allow cover for overlapping runs from the full-backs going forward down the flank, and also cover for the centre-halfs in the middle of the park on set-plays. here is another reason that i believe acquiring one or two top-notch full-backs should be the club's primary concern at the moment.





as to the question of strikers - and in retrospect, i can't help thinking that selling craig beattie was not such a good idea - we still haven't seen a full season from ishmael miller but have some idea as to his potential, and we know that bednar is fairly well suited to a single striker game. cox and moore could only be used in a 4-4-2 system or as deep attackers in a strikerless formation, so a third big man who can play a 4-5-1 system would seem requisite. stoke city's james beattie is reported to be the club's current signing target.

this all brings us to the strange case of borja-vallero, west brom's all-time record transfer fee who's been out on loan with mallorca in la liga since last year. borja-vallero was brought to the club by tony mowbray and is a mid-fielder very much in the preferred mould of the TM style of player: better than average ball skills, possessed of a measured and tidy passing game, moving well into space and taking on defenders with wit and guile rather than power and pace. in fact, he was completely interchangable with both robert koren and jonathan greening and could fill in for james morrison or chris brunt as well. tony mowbray's pronouncement was that he was the best technical footballer in the side and predicted a big future for him in english football.

instead, he saw about ten minutes playing time at the hawthorns before being sent out on loan at TM's departure for celtic. by all accounts he has made quite a name for himself in the spanish game. the reports from the hawthorns, however, would indicate that he will be returning to spain permanently. as to why this apparently talented footballer never made it at west brom may always be a mystery.




i'm still unsure about where jonathan greening fits in all this. the veteran midfielder went out on loan to fulham, with the possibility of a permanent move to craven cottage pending the completion of the season. i don't kow if that means he's already gone, but with koren and borja-valero out of the picture i would imagine that the option of bringing him back for a premier league campaign would have had to have crossed someone's mind.

whatever the case, this is still the best albion squad in years, and di matteo's ability to coax results out of mediocre performances is a quality that the team has difinitely lacked over the last few years.

i wouldn't be surprised to see some unusual tactical formations and ruthlessly calculated substutions next year. for example, it's quite possible that RDM would field a 4-6-0 formation against superior opposition with the intention of holding down a 0-0 scoreline and then bring on miller or bednar for the last fifteen minutes or so, looking to snatch the winner through playing the long-ball and counter-attacking.

di matteo used this very tactic to great success in a crucial win away to swansea late last season. although it seemed a bit perplexing at the time (luke moore as a lone "striker"?!?!), it worked. the baggies won and maintained a clean-sheet in one of the few games where they were absolutely outplayed in the midfield, scott carson looked shaky, and there wasn't a goal in sight at either end... not for the first 80 minutes, anyway.

we have now made a couple of good defensive signings, and everyone who matters probably knows that another target man would seem essential. let's hope they don't forget the importance of good full-backs in the modern game.

WBA 2-0 Middlesbrough F.C.

live text replay



well, there is very little that could please me more than the baggies still giving it a proper go when it is now all but a forgone conclusion that they will end the season as championship runner-ups; and, more importantly, have already achieved automatic promotion. but for simon cox to add to his season's total and get his goals tally on the year into double figures is something special again.

while the young striker has been at a distinct disadvantage in terms of team selection after the albion committed to 4-5-1 playing formation in the second half of the season, he scored what are arguably some of the club's most important goals this campaign. when the club's other strikers couldn't find any form, the young cox stepped into the starting team and scored 5 goals in as many games; and certainly, the last minute equalizer in the home fixture with QPR was a real turning point when the baggies looked as if they might be on the verge of a really perilous slip in form. however, the single-striker formation is a style that is particularly unsuited to a smaller player like cox, and this was really a bit unfortunate for him. he could have scored twenty and he really deserved a goal today.

once again, and having to listen to the match live through the ALBION RADIO transmission before getting a chance to see the TV broadcast in repeat much later in the evening, dave bowler, in the pre-game show re-iterated many of the points he had made about the state of the premiership and went on to elaborate on the trickle down effect that is accompanying increased television broadcast of football league matches and the recently announced increase in "parachute" payments made to teams relegated from the premiership.

also, as there is only a small percentage of participating teams in the premier league "competition" that are actually able to "compete". for the teams that occupy the bottom half of the table, this means that there are only perhaps 10-15 important matches a year and then 20 or 25 games that amount to nothing more than high-profile "friendlies".

i personally will miss the schedule and extra games of league football. i certainly won't have the opportunity to see 4 or 5 baggies' games in the space of two weeks with a premier league schedule, and i'd sooner visit griffin park or the county ground at swindon as travel to old trafford!



if we finish a premier league campaign in 15th place, it will be considered both a fantastic season and a major success. the problem is - and with this as an expectation, what is there really to look forward to? as one fan pointed out through the text messages, it means that west brom's season in the premiership is pretty much reduced to the black country derby and 36 exhibition games! if we're (un)lucky then the albion might be involved in battling against relegation which would give some meaning and perhaps a measure of excitement to the last few matches of the schedule...

i mean, "the great escape" was fun. but that was only four or five games, and the celebrations on the last day at the end of an otherwise miserable season.

in england - and when i was a boy - we used to feel feel quite superior and scratch our heads at the ridiculous monopoly held by rangers and celtic over the rest of scottish football. this was always taken as a major indicator of the overall weakness of the scottish game and considered a bit of a joke. unfortunately, the same thing has now happened in england with the development of the so-called "big four" and we are no longer in a position to be critical and laugh.

the english premier-league is not the competitive institution that the old first-division was. in 1976, west bromwich albion edged out bolton wanderers on the last day of the season for third place - and the final promotion spot - in the second-division. they then went on - and with pretty much the same squad - finished seventh in the first-division the following year. within two years, and following the acquisition of players like cyrille regis and laurie cunningham, the baggies went on to make a serious challenge for the title, ultimately finishing the 78-79 season coming up a goal short on the runner-up spot, which went to nottingham forest and the title going to liverpool.



a seventh place finish nowadays means qualification for the europa league and is a measure of success that will take a team like west bromwich albion many years, management that transcends genius, and a lot of cash to achieve. it is also about the most we can ever expect given the current structure of top-flight english football.

i'm not a fan of the "living the dream" ideal that the premier league promotes. this does nothing save provoke the supporters of its less prestigious clubs to harbour unreal expectations and creates animosity towards the club's management and directors. i know, for example, that jeremy peace always comes under, what can be, some pretty nasty supporter attacks for his good sense, business acumen and financial prudence when the baggies are involved in a premiership campaign.

i'm sure he looks forward to the day to day affairs of running the club in the premiership as much as he does getting a quick, unexpected and violent kick in the teeth.

what i think we all might be overlooking about next year's premiership, is that this is a much better baggies team than has ever gone into the premier league before. the trick to survival will lie in the ability of the management team to use its resources and adjust to what waging a "successful" campaign might mean and how it might be possible.



while they did well enough in all regards to win a great number of games in the championship this year, and with the talent that they have going forward, there won't be a problem in that regard. but, they shipped more than a few goals this year where the defending - while being adequate in the championship - just wouldn't cut it at top-level. i think, however, that with a change in tactics, the addition of one good centre-half, and the development of a more sophisticated defensive game they would do well enough to survive.

which brings me back to the quality of the albion attack. i thought, after seeing the TV repeat, that both simon cox' and roman bednar's goals (and certainly a lot of albion goals that i've seen this year) would make it in any league. the touch that simon cox showed on the first goal would've beaten a premier league defender of the first order just as it did gary o'neil and jonathan grounds.

roman bednar has already shown that he can score in the premier league, he just needs to improve on his last top-flight season. he was as good yesterday as i've seen him, and his lay-off from gabriel tamas long ball that set up the simon cox goal was brilliant. chesting the ball into the youngster's path was simple, effective centre-forward play at its best.

Notes on a Winning Streak (part 4)

WBA 1-0 Coventry City

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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 2-3 Reading F.C.

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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

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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.

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.