The Grandest of Mediocrity

Norwich City F.C. 4-0 WBA

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this was, without a doubt, the worst performance of the season by west brom. steve clarke (quite rightly) wanted to have a look at what he's got in terms of players who haven't seen much time in the squad this year - most notably markus rosenberg - and being free to experiment, he used his side's safe position in the table as an opportunity to have a look at some different attacking formations.

what had been a resounding success away to southampton a few weeks ago was an unmitigated failure on this visit to carrow road. fair enough. the gaffer could see this and made the appropriate adjustments going into the second-half. with his side still only down one-nil to kevin snodgrass' early goal, the baggies got back in the game and looked the better side for the first few minutes after the restart. that's when tragedy struck and put getting a result beyond the baggies on the day.


ben foster, coming well off his line in trying to make what would otherwise have been a routine clearance, missed the ball altogether and allowed grant holt to walk it into an open net to put city up by two goals.

in foster's defence, he may have been distracted by jonas olsson's clumsy backtracking, as his centre-half appeared to be moving into a position that threatened to close down the goalie's clearance. whoever is to blame for the amateurish mistake, it knocked the heart out of the albion. unlike the two previous matches - both good performances at the attacking end, if not the best defensively - the baggies quickly became inept in attack and their play going forward tentative. they went on to overcook every ball played into the opposition penalty area and created nothing for themselves in the way of opportunity to get back in the game.

the four-nil scoreline didn't so much reflect how good the home side had been, but rather how poor the baggies were on the day. although there is still an outside chance that the baggies will get a result when they close out the season against manchester united on the last day of the season, i wouldn't bet on it and standard logic would tend to dictate that their best opportunity for reaching the stated goal of achieving 50 points in the league table has now passed them by.

Manchester City F.C. 1-0 WBA

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with the best of intentions, steve clarke forgot that supporters generally aren't interested in evaluating resources or even being entertained by attractive football; they want results regardless of the circumstance. even if we have now been able to determine that markus rosenberg just might be a worthwhile footballer, or the gaffer learned an important lesson about when to make substitutions, nothing will make up for failing to get an expected result.


by and large, football supporters want to hear the final whistle the moment that their team has gone ahead in a match. never mind that a game of association football is supposed to be decided over a full 90 minutes of play. if their side goes ahead in the first five minutes, the average supporter would be happy if the contest ended right then and there.

if steve clarke had any doubts as to the matter, a quick listen to any of the rabid and raving critiques delivered in thick black-country dialect on tom ross' post-game radio show after the away fixture with norwich, he would have unquestionably been put right as to what is expected of himself and his team.

whether he listened in or not, the gaffer has got the point and stated to the local media in birmingham that the baggies will be going back to basics for the season finale at home to the league champions.

WBA 2-3 Wigan Athletic F.C.

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there probably wasn't a better game of football played in the PREMIER LEAGUE this week than west brom's home fixture with wigan. as per usual, the lancashire side were going for yet another one of their trademark end-of-season "great escape" routines - a situation that has inspired them to some top form football in the past - making a match with wigan athletic a perilous proposition for anyone coming up against them in the league at this time of year.


however, coming off a big win at saints, the baggies looked ready for the challenge and wigan actually played some of the most mediocre football that they have in weeks. it still didn't matter in the end. as exciting as the baggies were going forward, they were still subject to some slack defending on set-pieces (a problem all season) and even when the draw looked an inevitability, wigan found a way to get a late winner and keep their hopes for yet another top-flight survival run alive for yet another week.

the latics' best player on the day was without a doubt shaun maloney. the veteran mid-fielder was key in the creation of wigan's last two goals, and if they don't manage another "great escape" then he's someone who will probably see considerable interest from several top-flight clubs, any one of which who would do well in acquiring his considerable personal skill.

Southampton F.C. 0-3 WBA

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while for the past three seasons the baggies have suffered a loss of form that starts just around christmas and carries through until february when they go on a bit of a tear and manage to survive the PREMIER LEAGUE quite comfortably, they have stuttered a little this year. however, with an adventurous setup that included three attacking forwards, it seemed as though they had finally made the breakthrough with this trip to the south-coast.


all three of the starting forward line scored, and while this was somewhat of a sacrifice at the defensive end of the pitch, they still managed a clean sheet and we were rewarded with one of the baggies' best all-round performances of the year.

this was an extremely important result and keeps the baggies on course for the 8th place finish which the team has been building towards since just before christmas. while wins have been hard to come by for west brom since then, their contemporaries in the league haven't done any better with swansea, norwich, newcastle, fulham, west ham and stoke all having similar difficulties in producing a full three-point result in fixtures played over the last five or six weeks. of course, the top TV pundits will quote all the key statistics as evidence of the relatively poor quality of this year's almighty, bloody PREMIER LEAGUE. for the rest of us - that is, supporters of the aforementioned clubs - will be more concerned about our sides keeping pace with their contemporaries in the league and out of the relegation battles. for the moment, that'll probably be good enough.

Reading F.C. 3-2 WBA

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anyone listening to the FREEradio broadcast of this match would have heard tony brown's voice begin to crack as he fought to hold back the tears at the end of one of the most dissapointing results for the club in recent memory. likewise, steve clarke appeared bewildered, red-eyed and shaken when he spoke to the BBC following the final whistle.

in a video interview on the club website, romelu lukaku revealed that he had actually, in fact, been reduced to tears in the dressing room despite his brilliant on-field performance. besides scoring two goals, the teenage striker had hit both the post and crossbar in the course of the game.

i pride myself on being a passionate but mature football fan. i generally look on my team's losses and points dropped throughout the course of a season with a philosophical eye. i am usually able to move on from the disappointments of the day and look toward seeing my team rectify matters at the next opportunity. however, there is one - sometimes two - fixtures in the course of every season that i struggle to come to terms with.

two years ago there was the infamous match away to blackpool that was marred by the blundering performance of referee, michael oliver. last year, my frustations were shared equally between stoke's visit to the hawthorns and the new year's day fixture (also at home) against everton. but this loss to reading was particularly cruel and will be nagging at me until the baggies pick up their next three points.


when gianni zuiverloon clumsily failed to control and gave the ball away to jimmy kebe in the dying moments of their 5th round FA Cup replay with reading in 2010, the baggies were 2-1 up and looked certain to be in the draw for the quarter-finals. in a single fleeting moment that all changed, as kebe took advantage to set up brian howard for the equalizer and send the match into extra-time.

while this levelled the score 2-2, and the baggies were still theoretically in the game, the pendulum had swung and west bromwich albion's hopes for a cup run were already gone. within minutes of the kick-off in extra-time the royals were up 3-2. the baggies would not get their opportunity to make up for the semi-final loss to portsmouth two years earlier, and zuiverloon would never start for west brom again.

i remember waking up in the middle of the night, haunted by a crushingly oppressive, nightmarish feeling of emptiness and disappointment. i soon got over it though, as their push for automatic promotion started to pick up momentum and nottingham forest's challenge began to fade. important wins against blackpool, derby county, coventry, swansea and preston north end re-energized both the team and supporters alike.

again, and this time in an all important PREMIER LEAGUE fixture, jimmy kebe came back to haunt the baggies and cause me to suffer the greatest amount of grief and frustration that i have yet felt since the baggies' most recent promotion to the PREMIER LEAGUE.


after making their best start to a top-flight season in over thirty years, west brom have suffered a drastic loss of form since having to play swansea away. they have generally been slow to start and their performances in the first half of all their most recent matches have been flat and unenterprising. while they have played better football in the second-half, this has been a real problem and has all too often lead to early capitulation and an inability to come from behind. the one exception to this being the recent home victory against norwich.

however, their trip to the madjeski stadium saw the baggies return to form - in terms of a footballing display anyway. aside from the early moments of the match, which saw the royals on the front foot and winning the the first few corners, the baggies were in control and had the majority of possession with james morrison and romelu lukaku linking up brilliantly. their attacking partnership almost always looked dangerous going forward and lukaku's brace seemed like it would be enough to see the baggies get back on track.

george thorne, having been brought back from a loan spell at peterborough, has done really well in covering the holding midfield role. he made his first team debut at old trafford on 24 hours notice and has been putting in solid performances since. thorne looks like he will be a real asset to the club in the immediate future. with claudio yacob still out injured and youssouf mulumbu having departed to the AFRICA CUP OF NATIONS there was good reason to be concerned, but the 20-year-old thorne played with maturity and a very clear, uncomplicated vision of the game.


in fact, the overall defending was excellent for 82 minutes. with jonas olsson having returned from a groin injury and gareth mcauley keeping pace with the high standards that he set last year, there is still much evidence of roy hodgeson's organizational work in the side, evidenced by the disciplined shape of the back four. until the last few minutes ben foster had very little to do in goal, and when the worst happened there wasn't much he could do about it anyway.

that's why this was such an absolutley unbelievable loss. for 82 minutes the baggies were the better of the two sides by a long way, and for the first time in weeks were playing an expansive passing game and really getting on top of the other team. they played at a more contolled pace, had the majority of possession and instead of sitting back, being slavishly over reliant on the principles of counter-attacking football, they got hold of the ball and worked themselves into precise and measured attacks.

it is unbelievable just how much the baggies were in control of this game. it was their best performance in weeks and it is inconcievable that they contrived to lose it on two very late set plays following jimmy kebe's opener.

i still didn't see it coming when the first reading goal went in, and i am convinced that they would have held on for the win - perhaps even having to ride their luck a bit - if olsson hadn't blundered into kebe and/or handled the ball to concede the penalty. i mean, suddenly dropping two-points out of the blue is a big let down. especially having been so comfortably in control.


to then not even be able to see it out on a free-kick near the centre-circle... the whole thing was just beyond belief. it was even beyond analysis and there was no real technical reason for it. it was all just a bit of a fluke. of course, you can blame olsson for the idiotically clumsy challenge that gifted reading the equalizer, and it was clear that ridgewell lost concetration on the free-kick and was caught looking the wrong way when the first goal went in. however, this was still quite incredible on any and all accounts.

whatever mistakes were made (the penalty aside) none of them were really bad enough to merit giving up three goals inside 8 minutes. the most unbelievable thing is how easy a time the supporters give jonas olsson. he was directly responsible for the home loss to stoke and nobody said a thing. against the royals, he dives into a bad tackle and gives away a pointless foul that set up the equalizer and everyone is rushing to blame rosenberg, dorrans, brunt or ridgewell... ridiculous!

we all knew that when the albion was in third place - and with a chance to go top of the league - that it wasn't going to last forever. the stated goal of the club at the outset of the season was to get to 50 points and improve as a mid-table side. that goal is still achievable, and the supporters who phone in to tom ross on the GOALzone, raging and ranting in a rabid, homicidal lather that "jeremy peace has no ambition..." would do well to remember that.

we have to remind ourselves, as well, that this is traditionally the time of year when the baggies struggle with the demands of the PREMIER LEAGUE anyway. claudio yacob, yussouf mulumbu, goran popov, peter odemwingie, steven reid, marc antoine fortuné, shane long and zoltan gera are all either injured or otherwise unavailable. jonas olsson has just come back after being out for three weeks with a groin injury and the side does look a bit threadbare at the moment. all things considered, this was a good game with an unfortunate freak result, and they wouldn't generally lose too many matches on a footballing performance of this quality. it was just horribly ironic that it had to come after a run of poor games coupled with even poorer results.

we didn't play well against either fulham or arsenal and we probably still should have at least drawn both those matches!


with a run of difficult fixtures coming up, i'm hoping that they realize that with nothing to lose, it's time to throw caution to the wind and find the energy to nick a few more points.

i'm sure everyone remembers that two years ago we didn't win a game from november until february. we then went 8 games unbeaten and lost only a single match in what remained of the campaign. on the last day of the season somen tchoyi scored 3 goals in ten minutes to earn a 3-3 draw away to newcastle that propelled us into 11th place. just as with reading scoring three goals in 8 minutes, these things don't happen everyday... or even every season!

i think the albion's season will pretty much turn on the game against villa at home. as long as they put their foot on the ball and control the game early, they should be able to come up with a result against a hugely inconsistent villa side that has now fallen into the relegation places.

it's a tough time now, and something that can be hard to live with as a fan. but i'm still sure we're going to do no worse this year than we did last year, and that's at the very least.

Newcastle United F.C. 2-1 WBA

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if last week left west bromwich albion supporters dissapointed, then this must have been something more like complete and utter psychological devastation. i, myself, was left in a state of total disbelief, raging at an empty, chaotic universe devoid of god and meaning. unlike the loss to manchester city one week earlier, this was just cruel on the baggies.

as a supporter, there is generally one or two fixtures throughout the course of a season where the level of frustration is beyond what is reasonably endurable. two years ago, there was an away match to blackpool that was particularly frustrating to witness. last year, it was the home game against everton that was hard to swallow. but to have this happen two weeks running...

i'm at a loss...


due to the recent and relative fortunes of each club, west brom and newcastle have had some epic encounters during this last four seasons. both clubs (along with middlesbrough) were relegated at the end of 2008-09. while this was expected of the baggies, it took the toon by surprise; and where the albion and boro' were both expected to come straight back up again, united were tipped by some pundits for big troubles and eventual relegation to LEAGUE 1.

however, it was middesbrough who ran into problems in the second-tier, and the magpies won the division, setting new records along the way. west brom came up in the other automatic spot along with blackpool, who won promotion by virtue of the playoffs.

the two sides drew 1-1 at the hawthorns on opening day of the 2009-10 CHAMPIONSHIP season. this was a significant match for newcastle, as their current number one goalie, tim krul, made his senior debut for the club, coming on at half-time for an injured steve harper. the two sides then doubled up on the previous goal tally with a 2-2 stalemate at (as it was then) st. james' park, before the baggies knocked united out of the FA CUP at home by a score of 4-2 in the 4th round. it was in this last encounter that roberto di matteo, finding himself short on strikers, discovered the virtues of a 4-5-1 playing formation.


the next time they met, the albion won 3-1 at the hawthorns, and on the final day of the season somen tchoyi scored a famous hat-trick in the last ten minutes of the game to earn yet another draw with a final score of 3-3. this was the result which propelled the baggies to a creditable 11th place finish just ahead of the magpies in 12th.

last year, west brom went to st. james' park (now burdened with the ridiculous official name of 'SportsDirect.com@StJamesPark Stadium') and came away with a surprise 3-2 win over an in form newcastle side. united returned the favour by coming to the hawthorns and beating the baggies 3-1.

as the two sides kicked off their fifth consecutive season of facing each other in league competition, the baggies have gotten off to a flying start while the toon have struggled a little with the added pressure of waging a EUROPA LEAGUE campaign. this has seen their domestic league form drop off from the pace that produced last year's excellent, surprise 5th place finish.

not since taking over as the head man at west brom have steve clarke's tactics been so transparent. having learned a valuable lesson against the league champions the week before, the baggies were content to let the home side have the bulk of possession and look to break on the counter.

while the toon did have more of the possession, their chances were limited. the first real scoring opportunity came in the 12th minute when a ball played in by shola ameobi found demba ba free at the far post. the newcastle striker, however, couldn't find the target and headed wide.


the magpies then had a couple of chances that developed from a low, hard drive hit from 30 yards out by defender, davide santon. the shot was on target and required a smart save from ben foster to turn it round his left hand post. while the ensuing corner produced a free header for shola ameobi, the ball came straight into the arms of the albion goalie who easily gathered coming off his line.

in the 25th minute, the baggies showed how dangerous they can be on the break. with newcastle having won another corner, gareth mccauley cleared and james morrison astutely set graham dorrans on a run and into a 3-on-2 counter attack along with peter odemwingie and romelu lukaku. the scottish international played the ball in perfectly for lukaku to take what was easily the best chance of the match to that point. however, tim krul was equal to the challenge and came out sharply to make a stunning save from the young belgian international.

demba ba put newcastle ahead with a trademark bit of strength and skill in the 35th mintue. taking advantage of a miscued header by gareth mccauley on a ball played into the albion box, the senagalese striker made no mistake in muscling his way forward, turning and smashing past ben foster on the volley for the opening goal of the game.

at the other end - and in the 39th minute - lukaku had a similar opportunity to his earlier effort as youssouf mulumbu's through ball put the albion striker in behind the united defense, but was again foiled by krul's excellent anticipation and positioning in the newcastle goal.

with newcastle still leading at half-time, the game took a change of course in the second period. the toon, having played a EUROPA LEAGUE fixture at home to brugge on thursday began to look tired and the albion took control of the match and finally equalized in the 55th minute.

from a quickly played baggies free-kick, lukaku knocked the ball back for zoltan gera who made a short run to the outside at the top of the united area before looping in a perfect cross for lukaku in behind the newcastle back-line to head in at the far post, leaving krul no chance of a save.


as the match progressed, the baggies looked the more likely to push on and find a winner, but were beaten in the end by a somewhat flukey goal deep into injury time.

with time running out and newcastle given the opportunity for a final attack, the baggies made the fatal mistake of allowing hatem ben arfa to bring the ball across the half-way line, cut inside and make a 40-yard diagonal run deep into the west brom half. while a challenge eventually came in from james morrison, the ball ran for sammy ameobi to have a shot from just beyond the edge of the box. with foster moving into a covering position to see the shot wide, the ball took a deflection off papiss cissé, changed direction and with the albion goalie wrong footed and stranded, bounced into an open net.

as with the game against manchester city, west brom side played better in the second-half and deserved at least a point from each game. there was a lesson to be learned from the manchester city encounter; but not here. this was just plain old cosmic spite.

WBA 1-2 Manchester City F.C.

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i wasn't giving too much thought as to a projected result for this fixture; but then, neither i was being too hopeful of much either. of course, with the good start that the baggies have had on the season, i wasn't ruling out any possibility. after all, we held the current champions to a 0-0 draw at the hawthorns on new year's day. but if the average albion supporter was forced to think about it- and being honest with themselves - then losing this one by one or two goals would probably seem the most likely outcome.

while this match did indeed end up with a reasonable looking score-line, it happened in such a way that west brom supporters will be unlikely to feel this level of dissapointment with the result of any fixture for rest of the season.

on the up side, this game was a testament to the quality of steve clarke's tactics. knowing that the only way to get a result would be to play a defensively sound game and look for opportunity on the counter-attack, that is exactly how the gaffer set the side out to play.


to be fair, manchester city aren't always playing thier best stuff these days and can get distracted with the kind of personalities that a high level of individual talent will bring in a side where a lot of money has been spent. still, the baggies defended well, and when they got the opportunity they looked dangerous.

after a good start by both teams - and city showing that they can knock the ball about and create chances for themselves - a break by the baggies in the 22nd minute created a dramatic turning point.

with vincent kompany trying to walk the ball out of his own half, the city captain clumsily gave it away to youssouf mulumbu on the half-way line. the ball rolled free for james morrison who spotted shane long in an advanced position and found the striker with a low hard ball downfield. long had taken the pass and just gotten in behind the last defender, james milner. the sky blues midfielder brought long down in a central position about 5 yards outside of the city penalty area. there was no doubt as to an appropriate action and referee, mark clattenburg, immediately held up a red card. the champions would now have to play for well over an hour with ten men.

this was the point at which one dared to imagine that the baggies might keep their unbeaten home record intact.

still, it was hard for the baggies to deal with the individual skill present in the city line-up. in the 40th minute, city striker, mario balotelli showed off some genuine world class play. attacking with the ball and making a fine run down the left-wing, the italian striker left no less than three west brom defenders in his wake before cutting back inside from the bi-line and testing ben foster with a right footed shot from only a few yards out.

after a first half which saw few real chances created by either side, manchester city started the second period dominating the possession and looked ever threatening, even down to ten men. ben foster was forced to make a good save from carlos tevez, and yaya toure wasted their best opportunity of the match as he headed well over the bar following a tevez free-kick.


the deadlock was finally broken as shane long put the baggies ahead in the 67th minute. on a rare albion foray into the city half, peter odemwingie played a hard, low drive into the box that city failed to deal with. the ball ran through and long timed his run perfectly, getting in behind the sky blues' defenders to re-direct the ball past a rooted and helpless joe hart. what would be a magnificent victory for the baggies was beginning to look more than just a possibility at this point.

however, playing against manchester city these days is rather like playing a classic brazilian team. even down to ten men this is a side where individual talent can appear and exert itself at any given moment.

with less than 15 minutes left and time running out, roberto mancini looked to his bench for an answer. edin dzeko came on in exchange for gareth barry in the 78th minute and had an immediate impact.

zoltan gera fouled gael clichy as he made a run down the left-wing. with an excellent delivery on the ensuing free-kick, ben foster made a rare error in judgment as he came rushing off his line in an effort to punch the ball away. however, with city attackers piling into the box, the baggies keeper got nowhere near it and dzeko's header was hard and on target. the score was level with a little over 10 minutes left to play.

while a draw wouldn't be a bad result against the league champions, the baggies had it in their minds that this was still a winnable fixture and with their numerical superiority - along with their own late substitution of romelu lukaku coming on for shane long - the baggies were now inspired to go forward in search of a winner.

with the play becoming a frantic end to end struggle, the baggies broke well from a manchester city corner kick with lukaku only just unable to get to the tap-in from james morrison's cross. then in injury time, the big belgian forward came close with a spectacular bicycle kick that was turned over smartly by joe hart for a west brom corner-kick.

in like fashion, city was able to break following the albion corner and alexander kolarov picked out sergio aguero in a one-on-one situation with albion right-back, gabriel tamas. with both micha richards and dzeko breaking through the middle, aguero slotted the pass perfectly in behind the trailing baggies defenders and the bosnian striker fired home past a diving ben foster.

however, west brom weren't finished yet. with 2:30 of stoppage time still left to play the albion mounted one final attack. lukaku, showing excellent skill on the ball cut his way through three city defenders to get into the sky blues' penalty area, before playing a one-two pass with jonas olsson who cut to the bi-line, pulled the ball back for the charging lukaku whose goal-bound shot got past joe hart but was cleared off the line by gael clichy as the champions held on for an unlikely victory.


while this performance established that west bromwich albion's success in the league so far has been thoroughly deserved, it was a fixture that was lost in a moment of high-spirited naivete and should be a real lesson for baggies boss, steve clarke.

while the albion probably deserved at least a point and the dissapointment of losing all three in such dramatic fashion was hard to swallow, there were many positives to be taken from this game. after this, the baggies should have the confidence to bounce back, knowing that there are games where they won't play near this well and still get a result.

in this regard, it was strange consolation that the quality of football played in the second-half would have been unimaginable not so long ago. chairman jeremy peace - and the excellent work of dan ashworth, et al. - has taken the club back to a level not seen here since the 1970s. any success that the baggies achieve, at this point, will have been well earned and sometimes at the expense of a hard lesson.

WBA 1-0 Reading F.C

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with peter odemwingie's moment of madness in the away fixture to fulham, which saw the nigerian striker shown a red card and incurring the standard three match ban, the baggies once again showed the strength of depth in the current squad. deferring to the time honoured practice of not starting key players against their old clubs, romelu lukaku was preferred as the lone striker over the in form shane long and the remarkably improved marc-antoine fortune.



the royals have been a bit of a bogey team for the baggies over the last few seasons: knocking them out of the FA CUP two years running, as well as splitting the points with them in their league fixtures - both home and away - during the promotion season of 2009-10. despite both of their recent and respective histories of top-flight promotions (and due to their subsequent relegations) this was the first time the two sides had ever faced each other in the PREMIER LEAGUE.

while the baggies have had their best start in the top-flight in three decades, the royals have not been so lucky. despite playing some good football going forward, reading haven't been so good defensively and are yet to record their first victory in the league. they arrived at the hawthorns with only a single point - claimed in their opening day fixture, a 1-1 draw at home to stoke city - to show for their first five games.

while there was the possibility that west brom could go top of the league with a win, reading were pretty much guaranteed that a loss would leave them sitting bottom of the table.

to their credit, the royals held out for 70 minutes in a match in which they were clearly clearly second best. james morrison continued his recent fine form coming close on a couple of occasions inside the first half-hour.



in the 8th minute, reading keeper, alex mccarthy, was forced into a diving, finger-tip save as west brom's scottish international found himself with enough room to move into space and set up a shot from the edge of the penalty area. in the 28th minute, morrison again created an even better opportunity through some good inter-passing with zoltan gera in the reading box, but dragged his shot just wide of the far post.

in the dying moments of the first-half, on loan striker, romalu lukaku, saw the first of several good chances as he got in behind the reading defenders to recieve a well placed ball from morrison as he was bearing down on the reading 6-yard box. however, his first touch was heavy and was only able to win the corner. the ensuing delivery by chris brunt was headed onto the post by jonas olsson as the baggies began to turn the screw and looked the more likely of the two sides.

james morrison had yet another good opportunity to score in the 55th minute. alex pearce's clearance from a chris brunt ball looped into the area fell straight to morrison, whose first time volley forced another sharp save from the alex mccarthy. it was the midfielder's best effort of the afternoon.

to be fair, it was not a particularly great game of football and there wasn't a lot between the two sides with scoring opportunities repeatedly lost or wasted and west brom having the better of what chances there were. the one notable exception being gareth mccleary's attempt at the spectacular with a powerful and accurate bicycle kick early on in the game. fortunately it was hit straight at a sure handed ben foster and proved no troble for the baggies. the royals really only had one other obvious opportunity, when substitute, robson-kanu, headed over foster's cross-bar in the final minutes.



the winning goal was scored by romalu lukaku in the 70th minute. steve clarke made two substutions and changed the attacking formation to include two strikers. with shane long replacing james morrison and graham dorrans coming on for zoltan gera the gaffer's tactics paid immediate dividends.

from a baggies free-kick launched forward by ben foster, chris brunt initiated an albion attack on the reading penalty area. the final move came from a ball played into the box by dorrans. long won the header to knock down for lukaku, and the young belgian showed his patience and skill, pushing the ball onto his favoured left foot and slotting home from the top of the area.

in the end, though, and the simple truth of the matter is that the baggies are now in the habit of winning and getting results no matter what the circumstance. they are winning games on average performances as well as those in which they are playing their best football. and that is the hallmark of a top side.

WBA 3-0 Liverpool F.C.

match text commentary

the baggies kicked off their third consecutive PREMIER LEAGUE season by continuing their current rehabilitation as a top-flight side and breaking yet another long-time hoodoo. not having won an opening day fixture in the top division for several decades, west bromwich albion, at home and under the direction of their new head coach, steve clarke, demolished an average looking liverpool team by a deserved score of 3-0.

while the merseysiders looked dangerous and had the better of the play for the first twenty minutes - thanks to the attacking skill of luis suarez - they were otherwise shut down by clarke's new-look albion side. along with the superbly disciplined back four and a sophisticated defensive game that the team learned under roy hodgson, the new gaffer has brought a CHAMPIONS LEAGUE attacking style to the club.


with five top-flight strikers now in the first-team squad, places in the starting team are going to be hard won this year. while simon cox and somen tchoyi have moved on, the baggies have retained shane long, peter odemwingie and marc-antoine fortune with midfielder, zoltan gera, returning from a season long injury. to their attacking options they have added swedish international, markus rosenberg - who was not yet fit to play on saturday; and teenage striker, romelu lukaku, who most decidedly was.

the 19 year-old belgian international, who is on season long loan at the hawthorns from chelsea, immediately made an impression and displayed his top-flight pedigree with the third and final goal for the albion after coming on as a 68th minute substitute for shane long.

the real surprise was that steve clarke started the match with a an adventurous and flexible 4-2-1-3 formation. the forward line saw gera moved into an advanced position on the left, odemwingie on the right and long at centre-forward. james morrison sat behind them as attacking midfielder with youssouf mulumbu and claudio yacob in the defensive holding positions. stephen reid has recovered from injury and was started at right-back, while liam ridgewell has nailed down the left-back spot since his arrival from blues last year. despite much speculation, jonas olsson has returned, and the swedish international has been paired up again with gareth mcauley at centre-half. together they are as good a set of central defenders as has been at the club since the 1970s.


while i say that this formation was "adventurous", it did make me think, well how ELSE do you play football at a big club like liverpool or chelsea?!? the answer, of course, was obvious. steve clarke has a long history of being associated with top clubs and it looks, at the moment, like he is going to be a top manager. he may even be someone who would be able to acheive what the average albion supporter hasn't been able to imagine possible since the days of cyrille regis and tony brown. but then, it's probably a bit premature to project top-four finishes and CHAMPIONS LEAGUE nights returning to the hawthorns just yet.

however - and in the quest to revive the traditional spirit of west bromwich albion - this is the best balance that the baggies have had between quality and depth in the side for years, and a cup run wouldn't be beyond the realm of possibility.

what was different about this performance compared to other results acheived against the big clubs over the last two seasons, was just how dominant the baggies were in both attack and defence. last year's win over chelsea at the hawthorns, for example, was a deteremined defensive display that totally shut down the london club's top scorers, allowing centre-half gareth mcauley to nick a late winner from a chris brunt corner to give west brom a long overdue victory over the blues.

against liverpool, however, the baggies were the better team all day long and in every aspect. despite some good passing in the middle of the park, and several good chances that fell to luis suarez inside the first half-hour, it was zoltan gera who got the baggies' season started with a goal that resulted from a james morrison corner in the 42nd minute. martin skrtel's clearance fell to gera just beyond the edge of the reds' penalty area, and needing a single touch to bring it under control, the hungarian international blasted a 20-25 yard screamer past a helpless pepe reina in the liverpool goal.


the baggies led 1-0 at the half.

the albion totally dominated the second period as shane long went on to win two penalties in the space of a few minutes. through on goal in the 57th minute, and with only reina to beat, the young irish striker felt a desperate and beaten daniel agger dig an elbow into his back. he went over in the box and won the decision which also saw the liverpool defender red-carded. however, long's effort was as poor a penalty as one is likely to see at this level of football and was an easy save for the liverpool keeper. it was only moments later that long won a second penalty and a chance to make ammends for the earlier missed opportunity.

chasing down the play in the liverpool penalty area, long used his pace and skill to get in behind the reds' defenders - and coming from the blind-side - took the ball from martin skrtel. skrtel then unwittingly gave away the second spot-kick when long was tripped up as he muscled himself into position between skrtel and the ball.

despite a debate amongst the west brom forwards as to who would take the kick, the responsibility fell to peter odemwingie. this time there was no mistake as the nigerian international buried a ferocious effort in the corner of the net beyond reina's reach just inside his right-hand post.

newcomer, romelu lukaku, came on as a 68th minute substitute for shane long, made an immediate impact as an incisive baggies' counter-attack saw the teenage striker put james morrison in with a gilt-edged scoring opportunity. with only pepe reina to beat, morrison curled his effort just wide of the far post when he really should have scored.

with albion continuing to press, a scuffed clearance fell to liam ridgewell, who looped in a perfect cross for lukaku to head home into an empty net at the far post.


while there wasn't a weak performance in the albion side, it was defensive midfielder, claudio yacob, that walked away with the man-of-the-match award. the argentinian was near perfect in his distribution. not only was he winning balls in the centre of the park, but completed a stunning 98% of his passes attempted.

however, the real star of the match was new albion boss, steve clarke. he looked cool, calm, composed and every bit the PREMIER LEAGUE manager. his team selection, as well as the confident manner in which he had the baggies playing, showed him to be possessed of a top footballing brain. his assured presence in leadership was evident and he appeared more than ready for a job he has clearly been preparing for for quite some time.

if this performance was any indication of things to come, then the baggies might just have made that crucial step up to the next level and are on their way to another successful year in the almighty, bloody PREMIER LEAGUE.