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.

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.

Aston Villa F.C. 1-1 WBA

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as one of the oldest and most significant derbies in english football, there is always much local anticipation for this fixture. however, with both clubs having travelled quite a different trajectory over the last 30 years, it never quite achieves the intensity of either the second-city derby (villa v blues) or the black country derby (west brom v wolves), and has become more a measure of each club's respective status than anything else.


after a mutually mediocre spell of form in the late 1960s and early 1970s, that saw aston villa relegated to the 3rd division and the baggies stuck for several seasons in the 2nd tier, both sides were finishing top 5 in the league by the end of the decade. the villa, of course, won the league in 1980-81, followed by a historic EUROPEAN CUP final victory over bayern munich the following year. the baggies managed a 3rd place league finish in 1978-79 and were knocked out of the UEFA CUP on a late goal by red star belgrade in the 2nd leg of the quarter-final.

while neither side have ever reached these same dizzying heights since, the villa did manage to win a couple of LEAGUE CUP titles in the 1990s, and in becoming founding members of the PREMIER LEAGUE in 1992-93 were runners-up to manchester united in its inaugural season.

that same year, the baggies found themselves clawing their way out of the 3rd division (recently renamed FOOTBALL LEAGUE DIVISION 2) through a play-off final against port vale. this was followed, however, by a decade of struggle, avoiding relegation and consolidating mediocrity as a mid-table side in the 2nd tier.


while aston villa are one of only 7 clubs to have played in every season of the PREMIER LEAGUE, west brom did not manage to qualify for the top-flight again until 2002-03. it would take the baggies another decade before the possibility of competing in the PREMIER LEAGUE on a consistent basis would again materialize.

when the baggies defeated their closest geographical rivals at villa park in october of last year by a score of 2-1, it was three decades since the black country side had claimed a 1-0 victory in an away fixture of the LEAGUE CUP on january 19th, 1982.

the albion have actually dominated this fixture following 2008-09 when they lost both league matches by a score of 2-1 and were relegated again after a single season. but in 2110-11, following an early own goal on a scuffed clearance by albion defender, abdoulaye meite, the baggies fought back to beat the villa 2-1 at the hawthorns.

with albion's victory at villa park last year, the two other most recent occasions that these sides have met have produced draws. there was a decidedly lacklustre 0-0 result at the hawthorns towards the end of last season, and the villa avoided losing at home to the albion for a second season running through darren bent's late equalizer in this year's villa park encounter.

after going in at the break without either side having found the breakthrough, shane long put the visitors ahead in the 52nd minute after having a goal called back for off-side only a couple of minutes before. james morrison, breaking down the right flank, put in a perfect low cross that turned the villa defence inside out and left long to run onto a tap-in in the 6-yard box.



while it was honours even on the score-sheet, the baggies came away from this particular encounter more the worse for wear. club captain, chris brunt, pulled up with a hamstring injury and was replaced by graham dorrans in the 39th minute. while albion's trouble with the right-back position continued as billy jones came off with a knee injury just before the half, replaced by romanian defender, gabriel tamas.

the two sides will meet again at the hawthorns in january.

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 2-0 Everton F.C.

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of the four competitive games that the baggies have played in the new season so far, this was the one that i feared most. everton had looked very good in beating manchester united on opening day and i despaired that getting a good result - even at home - might be a fixture too far.

but then, this is starting to look like a very good baggies side. so good, in fact, that they are performing much closer to the standards of albion teams of the 1960s and 70s than at any time since. the foundations for a good long run of top-flight league football has been established and we can only hope that improvements continue and the chairman and directors do not deviate from the present course.



nobody who was at wembley on may 30, 1993 - the day that the baggies started to pull themselves out of the mire of what was the worst period in the club's history - could've imagined that with promotion back to the newly christened FOOTBALL LEAGUE division one, followed by years of mid-table struggles against relegation and generally mediocre league performances, they would ever see the baggies competing successfully in the top-flight again.

while other clubs who have seen recent (and relative) success in the PREMIER LEAGUE and/or domestic cup competitions, have all too often been unable to avoid the increasingly common peril of "double relegation" (i.e. portsmouth, norwich city, charlton athletic, sheffield united, coventry city, etc.) before making their way back up, the baggies have flip-flopped ("yo-yoed") between the CHAMPIONSHIP and PREMIER LEAGUE always able to keep their core players while making steady, incremental improvements to the side. this year's top-flight campaign marks the first time in a decade that west brom have been in the same division for more than two years running.



it was another impressive display of all-round football by the baggies at home to a top-class everton side. where under the leadership of roy hodgson, west brom depended on the quality of their defending and counter-attack, steve clarke has them playing a more complete style that can both keep clean sheets and score goals.

the new gaffer has employed very different tactics between how he has his side play at home and how he sets them up for away matches. i'm sure that this will vary when considering the opposition in any particular fixture, but it does seem that he generally wants his team to establish its defensive shape first and let the game come to them through frustrating the opposition's attackers rather than have them force the issue. this was particularly true of the away fixture at tottenham, where spurs were allowed a massive advantage of possession throughout the first half, before the albion started to press and were easily the better team and well on top going into the final stages of the contest.

while steve clarke was quick to bring in the additional strikers that he saw as being essential to the albion's progression as a top flight side, claudio yacob has been a revelation in the holding midfield role. yacob's defending and distribution has not only been solid in itself, but has also improved the play of youssouf mulumbu, who has been in what is arguably the best form of his career since coming to the hawthorns. yacob's quality as a defender was clearly illustrated as the game approached the 17 minute mark and the argentine international went into a challenge with nikica jelavic in the baggies' penalty area.



while jelavic went over in the tackle quite dramatically, and the toffees were quick to appeal for a penalty, the replay showed that yacob had clearly gotten to the ball first. the ensuing clearance allowed the baggies to break in attack. however, marc antoine fortune's effort from the edge of the everton box, on a ball played back up the inside left channel from the dead-ball line by shane long, went well over the cross-bar. it was an incisive display of west brom's ability as a counter-attacking team.

everton had plenty of the ball throughout the first half-hour of the match and certainly had the beter of the possession. but it was the albion who created the first real effort on goal. with shane long finding space in the box through some slack marking on the part of the everton defenders, his powerful header from a liam ridgewell cross came smacking back off tim howard's crossbar.

the toffee's responed on the next possession as merouane fellaini was afforded a similar opportunity at the other end. the big belgian, however, wasn't able to get sufficiently underneath the cross and the ball looped inches over the bar at the far post. the toffee's created another good opportunity less than ten minutes later, as a well worked move down the right flank ended in a tame header by nikica jelavic from a steve naismith cross which was easily gathered up by ben foster. the visitor's would not see as good a chance at goal again until well into the second half.



james morrison has flourished in the first few games - continuing the fine form that he found last season - and has been key to the attacking link up play in midfield. the scottish international came close to scoring in the 44th minute with a stinging right foot shot from only 7 or 8 yards out; but a great reflex save from tim howard saw that the score-line remained 0-0 at the half.

as in their two previous league games, the baggies began to press the ball increasingly higher up the pitch, which began to create chances where the toffees had only been frustrated. the baggies finally went ahead in the 64th minute as shane long used his pace and strength to get the better of sylvain distin and get on the end of an inch perfect cross by peter odemwinge from deep down the outside left channel.

continuing to press in the everton half, the baggies created a shot for youssouf mulumbu from about 15 yard out that required a top class save from keeper, tim howard. but there was nothing the american could do on the ensuing corner, as gareth mcauley got on the end of an excellent chris brunt delivery to put the contest beyond question.

invariably there will be tougher tests and perhaps some leaner times for the albion as the season progresses. however, a good result in one game... there's always the possibility that it's just a "one-off". two good results and people start to pay attention. three good results and there's the possibility that you've really got a good side. going into this season, it's starting to look like west brom really are a good side.

league play resumes with the baggies away to fulham on the 15th.

WBA 3-0 Liverpool F.C.

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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.

Liverpool F.C. 0-1 WBA

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we will only know with the passage of time, but this may have been the moment that heralded the return of west bromwich albion as one of the country's top football clubs. that is not to suggest that they will ever win the league title (or even challenge for a top-four finish, for that matter); and they certainly won't win the UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE. but long term survival in the PREMIER LEAGUE? an FA or LEAGUE CUP final? qualification for the EUROPA LEAGUE?!? these are all certainly possibilities and achievable goals for a club of the size and resource of west bromwich albion.

when the PREMIER LEAGUE began in the 1992-93 season, west bromwich albion was just coming out of the worst period in the club's history; as well as the lowest finish in the league ever - 7th in the old 3rd DIVISION.

that same year, the baggies - having finished 4th in the new LEAGUE DIVISION 2, won promotion through a 3-2 victory over swansea in a two-legged semi-final; and in their first wembley appearance since 1970 they beat port vale 3-0 to make their return to the second-tier.

following several years of relatively mediocre football, west bromwich albion were returned to the top-flight (now called the PREMIER LEAGUE) under the guidance of gary megson and featuring the prolific goal-scoring of lee hughes. however, this was one of the weakest teams ever to qualify for the competition and they were relegated immediately. thus began a decade of flirtation with promotion/relegation scenarios between the top-flight and what is now called the FOOTBALL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP. the baggies have not played in the same division for more than two years consecutively since.

this, of course, will change next year when the baggies will be competing in the BARCLAY'S PREMIER LEAGUE for the third season running. depending on what they actually go on to accomplish during their time in the top flight - and however long that might be - this just may be the match in which they finally arrived as a bona fide PREMIER LEAGUE side. the baggies defended like demons against a misfiring liverpool and took their late chance to win the match in opportunistic fashion and in the manner of a club instilled with a culture of "winning".

make no mistake - this match was won more by the management of roy hodgson, and his philosophy that to win in football you have to keep the other side from scoring than it was down to any individual performances. it's no coincidence that the baggies did not concede in any of their recent victories. even their loss to manchester city, with its final scoreline of 4-0, might have been worse had it not been for the form of goalie, ben foster and the play of centre-half, craig dawson, who deputized for jonas olsson on short notice, as the big swede had picked up an injury during the pre-game warm-up.

while not all west brom supporters have been supportive of the gaffer as a tactician - or appreciated his style of football - it has seen the baggies through the successful end of one season, and - as things stand at the minute - an even more successful season this year. after this win west brom is 10th in the table and on course to finish ahead of where they did last year. i'm not surprised that there are some discontented fans. since as early as the 1950s, aggressive attacking football has been the order of the day at the hawthorns, and i can see how a diet of away wins would starve a home season ticket holder, but there is no arguing with success and they learned to live with tight, disciplined football under gary megson for that very reason. eventually, everyone will have to defer to the gaffer and admit that its been a good time for the club and there's every reason to believe that it can continue.

it was in the 75th minute - and with the baggies defence having weathered relentless attack by the reds - youssouf mulumbu pressured liverpool right-back, glen johnson, into giving the ball away in dangerous area and at a crucial time in the match. the congolese midfielder then pushed the ball on for peter odemwingie and with space opening up in front of him, the nigerian took on reds' goalie, pepe reina, giving him a look at the far post but putting the ball in the net on the spaniard's near-side. there was little reina could do but stand and watch as the albion had scored their first goal at anfield in their last five visits.

it was fitting that the baggies earned this victory 45 years to the day since they had last posted a win at anfield. the winning goal that day was scored by club legend, jeff astle. at the time, west bromwich albion were in the middle of a golden period for the club, which saw them win both the LEAGUE and FA CUPs as well as appearances in two more wembley finals.

the baggies were by no means dominant going forward and luis suarez looked the best player in that respect for long periods - especially in the second half. but ben foster in the albion goal has been playing better and better as the season moves towards its climax, while jonas olsson and gareth mcauley showed, once again, why they are the best centre-half pairing to wear the navy-and-white stripes since the days of ally robertson and john wile. the duo threw themselves into a series of tackles and blocked shots that were essential to the albion's defensive performance and ultimate victory. however, the real star for the baggies was striker, shane long.

while the irish international has been in and out of the side through injury and illness for much of the season, his tireless running of the channels, winning of aerial balls and pressing play up front was a major factor in the win. his work against liverpool was first class and as good as any showing he has put in all year. long's was the standout performance in a team of standout performances.

it has been a year of dispelling long time hoodoos and putting them to rest, but this was one of the really big ones. next, the baggies will try and complete the double over aston villa (at home) and cement their place as the top team in the west midlands.

A Contrast Stark and Clear

Stoke City F.C. 1-2 WBA

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the baggies cannot seem to win at home. conversely, they are all but unbeatable on the road.

the gaffer doesn't understand it. the players are equally perplexed, and the home supporters are downright miserable. just what is going on at the hawthorns this year?

while everyone who follows english football with any regularity knows that the second year after a promotion is the most difficult, those who count themselves among some of the most intelligent and witty football supporters in the country have found the truth behind this wisdom rather hard to swallow.





since the days when vic buckingham was manager, and with players like ray barlow and ronnie allen in the side, it has always been a mandate at west bromwich albion football club that the team should play an attractive attacking game based on scoring more goals than their opponents. however, the wiser heads in charge of running the club this year have opted for a tactically defensive approach as being more pragmatic in realizing their goals of survival and continued competition in the most prestigious domestic league in the world.

roy hodgson has added real steel to what was sometimes a tentative and mistake prone defence. i don't think anyone would disagree that goalie, ben foster, is a huge improvement on previous starter, scott carson; and defenders, gareth mcauley and craig dawson - in varying partnership with the redoubtable baggies veteran, jonas olsson - are a full cut above anyone who has played at centre-half since the days of john wile. young fullback, billy jones, has shown that he's a first class defender on either side of the pitch, while veterans like stephen reid and nicky shorey have provided a steadying influence in providing cover for attacks down the flanks.





up front, the talent of new striker, shane long, has been apparent since the the outset of the season, and the full range of his game was revealed in the baggies' win over wolves back in october. the irish international has all the qualities needed for successful counter-attacking football, and has even surprised some of the hawthorns faithful with his pace, skill in the air and first-class hold-up play.

unlike the naive but beautiful passing game promoted by tony mowbray, or the raw inexperience of roberto di matteo, hodgson knows that to play in the same league with the likes of manchester united, liverpool, arsenal and chelsea, the most successful style of football will likely be found in good defending paired with quick, incisive counter-attacking. what he has found, however, is that this is of little use when playing at home against footballing contemporaries like wigan, stoke, everton and norwich city who themselves play pretty much the same way.

WBA 1-2 Norwich City F.C.

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nowhere has this been more evident than in the last two matches; a home loss to the canaries, who they beat 0-1 earlier in the season at carrow road, and last weekend's away victory at stoke, where the reverse fixture at the hawthorns produced an undeserved 0-1 win for the visitors.

unlike the free-flowing football with lots of goals that the baggies play when competing in the football league, the gaffer has set the side out to keep its shape and frustrate anyone trying to get a look at goal. in fact, ben foster has, more often than not, had very little to do in terms of spectacular saves, and the well organized defence has seen the side through even without the indispensable jonas olsson marshalling the back-line.





outside of the top five or six sides, the premier league has become a predominantly counter-attacking league. in the early 21st century, the mark of any successful side, whether it's chelsea or birmingham city, is their ability to defend and counter-attack. while the top clubs have the players and individual skill to play a more complete style of football, the second grade premiership sides are having to rely increasingly on their ability to hold out and hit back on the break.

this season, for the baggies and their manager, roy hodgson, the tactics have somewhat backfired. west bromwich albion are keeping pace with what would usually be expected of a recently promoted team, and despite the fan reaction to what has been perceived as "negative football", they look set to survive and will likely be competing in an unprecedented third consecutive premier league campaign next year. however, they have only managed 8 points from home games this year, compared to the 17 they've collected on the road.

only the two manchester clubs, chelsea and spurs have better away records than the baggies.

the inexplicable and perhaps unlucky home results have not gone over well with the home support. when wigan athletic came to the hawthorns in november, things turned ugly and the home side were booed from the field as they went down in defeat to the league's bottom club by a score of 1-2. any other year, their renowned black country wit would have seen them through the tough times, but something has happened to the atmosphere at the hawthorns and perhaps last year's 11th place finish has created unrealistic expectations.





there is no doubt that a gap in perception now exists between the hawthorns faithful and the management. where RH has been adamant that it is a matter of "unlucky results" rather than "form" that has seen the baggies without a home win since beating bolton wanderers on the 19th of november, the supporters are less forgiving and are critical of the football they have been seeing at the hawthorns this season.

"yeah, it's strange," hodgson told the BBC following the victory at stoke, "there seems to be a bit of a hoodoo on us at the hawthorns. i would be happier, to some extent, if we were playing badly or being outplayed and as a result losing matches there, but the everton game, and the wigan game, and the norwich game - three recent games... we've been a little bit unlucky to lose them because we haven't played badly at all..."

at the moment, it would be hard to get the average west brom supporter to agree and make this kind of distinction.

QPR 1-1 WBA

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while the baggies have what would regularly be thought of as three "winnable" league fixtures coming up, i was wary of travelling to loftus road and thought about what happened last time we went there.

it was a dismal performance in the championship and the baggies deservedly lost by a score of 3-1. the lone albion goal being a late consolation by chris brunt in a game they were otherwise not really in at all.

considering what a difficult place to go loftus road can be - and has been over the years - i thought that a draw would be a good result. with the next match being wigan at home, followed by a trip to blackburn away, this is probably the most difficult of the three fixtures and a single point on a visit to west london would be OK. with a potential 9 points on offer, realistically, five points from the three games would probably be a decent return for their efforts.





to be fair, the baggies were second best on the day. while the teams were fairly even in overall performance, numbers would suggest that it was albion who created the better scoring chances. however, the londoners held a much higher percentage of possession but did not make the most of their superiority in time with the football. similarly, the baggies were no better at taking advantage of their opportunities than rangers were at creating them.

the problem that west brom are facing right now is that they are going to have to figure out what to do now that zoltan gera is out for the season. gera was exactly what was missing in the team, given the way in which the season started, and his inclusion in the side was immediate and obvious. the hungarian was superb at linking the midfield and striker(s) and his going out injured has left a massive gap, which will call for roy hodgson to rethink both how the baggies need to play, as well as putting his mind to making at least one significant incoming deal during the january transfer window.

while an away draw is never a bad result, it puts pressure on the baggies to win when wigan athletic come to the hawthorns next week. nontheless, this was a tactically good game where the albion were able to dominate in a lot of statistical categories (shots on goal, corner kicks etc.) while having less of the football then their opponent. one of the hallmarks of a roy hodgson side is the quality of economy. he gets his teams to perform well through good defending and concise movement going into attack without a lot of over elaboration.





coming off the successful run at the end of last season the gaffer was very focussed on improving the albion defensively going into the season. he managed to improve the goalkeeping position by bringing in ben foster from birmingham city, and gareth mcauley has certainly been one of the few stand-out centre-halfs to play at the hawthorns in the last few years.

the secret of success for the baggies is going to be in how well their strikers do. so far, only shane long had been scoring regularly and this lack of goals has somewhat negated the improvements that have been made to the team's defence. however, the albion goal suggested that the long/odemwingie partnership might be starting to gel and how well the pair do over the next few weeks will be crucial in both the development of the team and how it will affect results on the season.

whatever else, this was a well organized performance by the baggies, and would suggest that both rangers and the albion will be among the survivors of this competition when the final whistle is blown on the 13th of may, 2012.