Hard Times at the Hawthorns

WBA 4-2 Cardiff City F.C.

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i have to admit that i have found it hard to keep up with my blogging since the baggies' home loss to wigan athletic. it seems that we have gone from being some of the best home supporters in the top division of english football to some of the worst.

this has no doubt been brought about by the club's woeful home form in the league. so, and on the tail of yet another home defeat, perhaps the FA Cup would be a welcome distraction to the concerns of the league, and an all too rare chance for simon cox to get a start at his natural striker's position in partnership with peter odemwingie.





the young striker, now in his third season with the albion, took the opportunity to show his quality as a goal-scorer by putting a hat-trick past a cardiff side who themselves are chasing promotion from the championship.

while this was more like a classic albion performance with plenty of goals and a 4-2 score-line, the domestic cup competitions have become so devalued in these days of ridiculous money, that cox' performance still did little to satisfy the home faithful. even scoring three goals against a side with whom the baggies are probably more truly competitive with than any of the top six clubs in their own division, relatively few supporters, or so it would seem, appear convinced that simon cox can play premier league football.





with the focus of the professional game now concentrated almost exclusively on a club's league form - and with the rise of season-ticket culture - the domestic cups are of hugely diminished interest at the higher levels of both the premier and football leagues. in fact, for a competition that used to set attendance records for domestic football in england, some of the bigger clubs attract cup-game crowds only half the size of those for a regular league fixture.

while i hope that his goal-scoring performance is enough to impress the gaffer and get simon cox a place in the starting eleven - for a few games at least - the more vocal of the baggies' support will still judge a cup hat-trick as being of little consequence and will continue to assert that cox still "ay' good enough" to play in the almighty, bloody premier league.

Tottenham Hotspur F.C. 1-0 WBA

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this has to be hailed as a brave effort from the albion, and to echo the sentiments of RH following a well disciplined defensive display by the baggies, this was indeed "an honourable defeat".

with the injury list piling up and a wretched home form to deal with, the most recent results are beginning to erode whatever cushion the albion had, coming into the new year, between them and the relegation places. this may very well have been a draw had the baggies not been on the wrong end of a series of recent penalty decisions.





when the ball was played into jermain defoe on the edge of the 6-yard box by a rampaging gareth bale with just over an hour gone, it appeared that this was in the back of everyone's mind. despite having craig dawson and gareth mcauley providing adequate marking for the diminutive striker, the baggies' defenders were momentarily tentative and not giving away a penalty was clearly in dawson's mind. their hesitation allowed defoe just enough time and space to turn and find the corner of the net, just beyond the reach of goalie, ben foster.

in context, it was another loss when at least a point seemed on offer, but the the team's overall defensive display and disciplined shape was definitely something positive to cling to, and indicates how difficult it will continue to be to beat the baggies away from the hawthorns.

WBA 0-1 Everton F.C.

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i'm sure that i'm not the only football fan who felt like he had been used after this dismal new year's display.

who could possibly have benefited from a noon kick-off on new year's day?

this was just a bad idea all around. i'm sure that anyone who was unfortunate enough to have paid the £40 ticket price would've been happier with a late kick-off rather than having to be at the hawthorns three hours earlier than usual - and most certainly on the day after new year's eve!

nor was it of any convenience for me having to wake up at 6.30 AM for a 7 AM kick-off.

the truth is that the premier league - and to a lesser extent football in general - will ever increasingly have to do the bidding of skySPORTS and its insatiable appetite for turning football into TV money.





not only are we at the time of year when fixtures traditionally come thick and fast, but with upcoming FA Cup games to be played on the weekend, the premier league obviously feels that it has to squeeze in this extra set of matches to make up for what it perceives as upcoming lost TV revenues.

i have to admit at the excitement i first felt when, 20 seasons ago, english football went live on TV here in north america. it was one of those things i could only have dreamed about as a kid. however, i'm beginning to feel like the dream is over, and that life in the premier league is more like having to live with a miserable psychological condition than watching a football competition.






for the baggies, this was a total disaster. to an already depleted side with at least two long-term injuries, we can now count club captain, chris brunt, who somehow managed to fracture his ankle in stoppage time and will be out for 8-10 weeks.

to add insult to injury, the baggies gave up an 87th minute goal to toffees' substitute, victor anichebe.

this was just terrible football all around and an insult to everyone who made the effort... a real disgrace!

Two Wins and a Draw...

WBA 0-0 Manchester City F.C.

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if one could accurately judge the performance of a football team based on what that club's supporters have to say, a quick glance at the posts in any online forum, or casual listening to post-match radio phone-ins dealing with west bromwich albion football club would suggest a wild inconsistency in quality of play over the past 6 weeks.

nothing could be further from the truth.





while results may have been erratic, and perhaps a bit unlucky, roy hodgson's west brom side has been consistently delivering good on-field performances since their win at home against bolton. even the subsequent home loss to spurs could be counted as a good footballing performance and the 3-1 scoreline certainly flattered the visitors on the day. the difficulty is in getting the average supporter (or at least, the average online poster) to believe in anything but results, and the derision aimed at the manager, chairman and certain individual players is all too often quite unbelievable.

Newcastle United F.C. 2-3 WBA

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after having listened to the baggies' home loss to wigan, i could hardly believe it when roy hodgson appeared on TV saying that he had no complaints about the team's performance and if they continue to play to this level they will certainly start to get results. it turned out over the next few weeks to be true. roy hodgson's baggies have started to get results.

however, at the time this sounded quite incredible and was completely at odds with what i had just heard online through the ALBION RADIO transmission on the club's website. it had portrayed the baggies' home fixture against premier league strugglers, wigan athletic, as tragic and a terrible game of football on all counts. indeed, it was made to sound so bad that both chris hall and dave bowler spent much of the match decrying the quality of the football rather than offering a description of the action.





"as you can tell," mr. bowler addressed the listening audience following a lengthy digression in the commentary, "there ay' much going on 'ere!"

however, when viewed as a TV broadcast later on that evening, it was a thoroughly engaging match with both teams playing well through the midfield and exhibiting fine displays of individual defending. most notable was the work of wigan defender, gary caldwell, and the goalkeeping of ali al-habsi.

what is apparent from reading posts made in online fan forums is how easy it is to forcefully state a harsh, critical and judgmental opinion. positive and measured speculation as to how the side might improve its play or what the team might be missing in terms of tactics, team selection and/or transfer goals is much more difficult. when result and form aren't meeting supporter expectation, finding a scapegoat is always the first order of business.

Blackburn Rovers F.C. 1-2 WBA

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i don't really know what the baggies' supporters expect realistically, but with most of the albion's points coming away from home, i get the idea that the atmosphere at the hawthorns can get unpleasant pretty quickly these days. the worst example being the aforementioned match against a visiting wigan athletic side.

whatever the case, the baggies have ended 2011 with three excellent results that leave them at 9th in the table and with a mid-season haul of 22 points. in a year that 36-38 points will probably be enough to secure survival - and barring a protracted run of completely disastrous results - the albion will almost certainly be playing top-flight football again next year. i can't understand what all the fuss is about!!!

the truth is, that the style of football that the baggies are playing at the moment is based on the two solid lines of four defenders and mid-fielders holding their shape, and two pacey forwards to produce the counter attack. this will cause the attacking team to have to play the ball wide as their only option coming forward, and any move to play through the middle or put in a cross is quickly cut out. the effectiveness of this style of play was best illustrated in the last match against newcastle, where the winning goal seemed to appear out of absolutely nothing and completely against the run of play.





likewise, the baggies' first half display of single-minded and resolute defending against a frighteningly good manchester city team was nothing short of brilliant, and left west brom with the very real possibility of nicking a win late on rather than sharing the points as they eventually did.

this is fine for away games and has a general use against superior opposition (like manchester city), but they are going to run into trouble playing this way at home against their contemporaries in the bottom-half of the table; and that's exactly what has happened. the gaffer probably needs to rethink how the albion play at the hawthorns. i think it's the most pressing issue for hodgson and his management staff to sort out going into 2012.

like anyone, i'd love to see an improvement on the current home form and would readily welcome some new players to come in and strengthen the squad during the january transfer window. i do have faith that roy hodgson knows what he's doing in that respect and can only hope he's given the resource and leeway to follow through.

WBA 1-2 Wigan Athletic F.C.

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"what are we doing in the same division as manchester city? that's what i'd like to know."

so said dave bowler, the club's head of publication as he rhetorically posed the all important question that, for him, expressed his personal frustration with the state of the albion and results just at the minute.

there was a generalized and ugly booing of the team, both at the introduction of two late albion substitutions; and, as the team came off the field, having suffered yet another hard-fought and unlucky home loss. a bad buzz pervaded the atmosphere at the hawthorns from before the kick-off and was palpable from as far as three-thousand miles away. i know. i could feel it!

even chris hall and dave bowler, who do the audio commentary for the club's ALBION RADIO transmission were negatively affected. the two commentators spent much of the game talking up what a poor match it was and amateurishly allowed their description of the action to drift and ramble. the situation at the hawthorns sounded nothing less than dire, and they gave the impression that we were listening to some really poor football.





"the smethwick is just about empty," bowler noted rather drearily, towards the end of transmission, "and large of sections of the east stand have already gone..."

it truly sounded abject and desperate. from the general reaction one might have assumed that the visitors were well in front and leading by two or three goals. that's how hopeless it was made to sound.

the truth of the matter is that is was a single goal's difference and the baggies did just about everything that was in their power to make it up. in the second-half of the match, and barring the wigan penalty, the baggies controlled the ball and dictated the play quite comprehensively. they laid absolute siege to the wigan goal and just kept coming. it was only the brilliance of the latics goalie, ali al-habsi, and the determined defending of gary caldwell that ultimately kept the albion attack at bay.

yet again, the albion didn't get any important calls go their way, as graham dorrans was booked for diving in the 87th minutes. truly, it was hard to tell if it really was a penalty, because while the contact was clearly much less than dorrans fall would have merited, any contact in this situation would have been a legitimate penalty call and the baggies probably deserved it.

this was one of the most upsetting days in the entire time i have been a west brom supporter. for sure, there have been some heartbreaking disappointments on the trail of being an albion fan this last ten years. but there have been some great and heroic moments of success too. some supporters seem to have forgotten that we were the league's unquestionable form team into october last year. then we hit the blackpool away fixture and went 13 matches (if i remember correctly) without a win.





i remember how some poor idiots were walking out on wolves at home last year. with the baggies one-nil down since the first half, and with 4 minutes injury time still to play, some were long gone and halfway back to dudley when carlos vela scored the injury time goal that earned a draw and kicked-off an eight game undefeated run of form that saw the baggies take points in ten out of eleven matches to end their season.

have these supporters really forgotten how exciting that was? do they remember how, on the last day, when - and 3-0 down to newcastle - we were just getting ready to pat ourselves on the back for a 14th or 15th place finish, somen tchoyi scored a stunning ten-minute hat-trick at st. james park that saw us finish 11th in the table?

and the voices of dissent have returned... singing the nostalgic praise of ex-managers while saying that roy hodgson has "lost the plot" and eternally levelling critical assertions as to jeremy peace's lack of ambition.

for my money, the doom-sayers are missing the bigger picture and don't see that every year for the past decade, the baggies have either been involved in battles for promotion to the premier league or relegation to the championship (formerly called the "second division" and, after that, "league 1") with unquestionable - albeit incremental - improvement to squad and management team every year.

but albion fans are impatient at the moment and they want the success that they perceive other clubs as achieving while we lag behind again, possibly battling relegation. would you really like to be hull city now? they came up from the championship with us for the 08-09 season and were in the premier league for two years... trouble is, they spent three years worth of top-flight wages and transfer fees in doing it. going back down again was not easy, and they had to settle for a mediocre mid-table finish in english football's second-tier last year.





would one really classify the thuggery they serve up at the britannia stadium that gets passed off as football as "success"?

you can keep it, mate!

just a few miles across town and with a team that's still probably going to finish solidly mid-table, aston villa fans are having the most miserable time this season. they are so upset with the club that they say they are actually hoping for bad results so that they might get rid of an unpopular manager. even on days when the villa win, there are endless callers on the BBC WM football phone-in saying they are villa supporters and expressing how angry they are at not being in the top six, not playing the kind of football that they want to see, and being managed by someone who is simply not welcome.

judging by the reactions from west brom supporters, there was something like a mass hallucination at the hawthorns last saturday. where many baggies fans seem to have seen an unspeakably horrible performance by their team, a number of us (including the gaffer) saw a good performance in an absorbing, competitive game of football with a disappointing result.

the premier league can do terrible things to the soul of a football club.

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.

WBA 1-3 Tottenham Hotspur F.C.

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this match represented the extent to which the barclay's premier league can be cruel for those who have yet to establish themselves as regulars in the competition. while the final scoreline was testament to the individual skills in the tottenham side, it was flattering to the londoners and left me feeling much like i did after last season's early 1-0 loss at anfield. how can a team play this well and still get beaten?

so far this season, the baggies have made a habit of scoring goals before the game has had any chance to settle, and this encounter with spurs was no different. on pretty much the first attack of the match, youssouf mulumbu opened his account for the season with a goal just on 9 minutes. finding space between two tottenham central defenders - and directly in front of goal - the congolese midfielder rose to meet stephen reid's brilliantly placed cross from deep on the right wing and headed the albion into the lead with spurs keeper, brad friedel, left with no chance.





with 21 minutes of the match gone, disaster struck for the albion as zoltan gera, who had been instrumental in the first goal, turned awkwardly while chasing a ball deep in spurs' half and badly injured his knee. subsequent tests showed that it was serious enough an injury that the hungarian international won't be back this season, to the huge disappointment of baggies supporters everywhere. over the three games he had played since returning to the hawthorns, he has formed the best partnership of anyone yet with striker shane long, and will have to be considered a catastrophic miss to the team.

despite being the better side right through the first half there were at least two game changing decisions that went against the baggies in the first half hour. the first, and perhaps most important of these decisions, was a penalty call that helped put spurs on even terms at 1-1.





i'm not sure how much there was in the challenge, but nicky shorey was adjudged to have brought down aaron lennon in the box. emmanuel adabayor stepped up and delivered what was a really poor spot-kick which was initially saved by ben foster. however, the albion goalie wasn't able to get up quickly enough, nor get quite enough of the ball, to keep out adabayor's follow up.

it was harsh not only on the baggies, but i found it hard to tell if the foul was for a high arm or for an incidental trip. in fact, after having viewed the replay, it was hard to tell whether shorey had committed a foul at all. in addition, there was precious little difference between this incident and jerome thomas going down in the spurs' penalty area on a run that had tottenham defender, kyle walker, similarly turned and beaten ten minutes later, but which wasn't called.

perhaps the most contentious moment of the match, for me, was when brad friedel, after having pulled down a high looping ball coming in at goal - appeared to have turned in and walked the ball over the line. the referee signalled that it was a goal and a slow buzz started to mount around the hawthorns, as it was pretty obvious that the spurs' keeper, while trying to avoid the challenge of gareth mcauley, had indeed taken the ball over the line. for a moment everyone thought that the baggies had gone back into the lead. but the score was chalked off and the breaking cheers died down quickly when the ref deferred to the linesman who had signalled for a foul by mcauley on friedel. however, it wasn't apparent that the american keeper had been fouled, and the linesman's call seemed late in coming.

what i found interesting was how this passage of play - and its obvious controversy - was left out of any highlights that i encountered both on TV and online. nor was it mentioned on any of the radio news i listened to or any of the text reports i read.





while the baggies were the better team over the first 50 minutes, and simon cox probably should have scored in around the 51st minute from a free header in front of goal, tottenham responded immediately and dominated the attacking play from then on out.

jermain defoe made the first of a pair of dazzling solo runs from the middle of the park to cause havoc for the albion backline. despite having to take the ball to the bi-line after being driven wide and away from goal by the albion defenders, the diminutive striker's pace and skill pulled ben foster completely out of position, and if he'd been able to pull the ball back for a team-mate inside the box, tottenham would've almost certainly scored.

to their credit, the baggies defended well and with 9 minutes left to go, it was distinctly beginning to feel like a draw.

however, in the 81st minute jermain defoe made a second solo run out of midfield and with jonas olsson backing off, trying not to give the tottenham striker any room to shoot, defoe found the extra yard he needed by cutting a step to the inside just at the top of the box. the pacey striker finished with a low and accurate long-range strike which went just beyond the reach of ben foster to score what would ultimately be the winning goal.

emmanuel adabayor scored a somewhat scruffy late goal on the counter-attack to give the scoreline its gloss.

one of the troubles with playing in the premier league is that the albion can play as well as this and still not get a result. this is the third match of the season against top 5 opposition where it could be said that the baggies will probably play worse than this in a few matches this season and still manage to take all 3 points. it's all too common a feature of life in the top-flight for west bromwich albion.

i am anxious to see how roy hadgson manages the situation with zoltan gera gone - and especially with a critical run of three matches coming up, starting with a visit to loftus road on saturday. once again, the veteran manager has both need and opportunity to show that he knows how to earn his money.

WBA 2-1 Bolton Wanderers F.C.

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i am going to have no trouble this week writing about how well the baggies played last saturday; nor will i find it difficult to credit the character and skill of shane long either. the young republic of ireland international made a heroic return to the albion first team a full two weeks ahead of the expected time frame, as well as scoring the winning goal.

in truth, there were any number of players in the side which played against bolton who could have been given the man of the match award. while long was truly heroic in coming back from what is generally a six week injury in just four weeks, nicky shorey played what was by far and away his best game since coming to the club and both centre-halfs were brilliant. youssouf mulumbu and jerome thomas were both back in form. chris brunt has evolved into the most cultured of players, now being the team's most senior member and club captain. stephen reid played an extremely solid game at right back and one can only hail the return of zoltan gera as a revelation.





the baggies haven't played anything like this since the opening games against manchester united and chelsea, and this was even better football than either of those two performances. especially the second-half, where we finally saw the possession and passing of a roberto di matteo or tony mowbray team infused with the economy, steel, defending and counter-attack of a roy hodgson side.

only time will tell, but this may have been a real turning point in the season. it might just have determined whether the baggies spend the rest of the campaign moving steadily, and in workman-like fashion, towards a mid-table finish, or whether they end up desperately battling against falling into the bottom three. the quality of this performance would suggest a scenario more in line with the former than the latter.

since the opening couple of matches against two genuine premier league giants, the baggies have been uneven and have played a very one dimensional style of football. that is, they have allowed teams to have possession, defended from midfield and increasingly pushed up from the back to force counter-attack opportunities. this tactic was practiced to great success against wolves and the villa, but was of little use against the likes of liverpool and arsenal.

the first order of business going into the season was to improve the side defensively. roy hodgson is known for producing very solid teams who are difficult to break down. after all, if your opponents don't score they're going to have a hard time winning games against you, aren't they?





under roy hodgson, a team has to learn how to defend and counter-attack efficiently.

the trouble has been that in adapting to the gaffer's style of football the baggies seemed to have committed to working on this pressing defence/counter-attacking system to the exclusion of anything else. this meant almost nothing but long balls cleared from the back that depend on shane long's ability at running the channels, holding the ball up or (with no other option) looking for a crack at goal. gone was the pretty and precise passing game that the baggies have been known for since the days of ronnie allen, ray barlow, don howe and bobby robson. albion supporters have come to have certain basic expectations, and win, lose or draw, hard tackling "long-ball" has never gone over well at the hawthorns.

the trotters started out brightly enough, signalling their intention to take the game to the albion by going straight into attack. but with just 15 minutes of the match gone, and the baggies meeting the lancashire clubs enterprise with resolute defending, zoltan gera beat the off-side trap putting jerome thomas through on goal. the albion left-winger went wide forcing the bolton keeper, jussi jaaskelainen, out of position and finished the move by putting the ball into an empty net.

however, inside of five minutes and in a near carbon-copy of what became a questionable and contentious call in their home game with liverpool, thomas was adjudged to have taken down fabrice muamba just inside the baggies' penalty area, giving ivan klasnic the opportunity to level the score at 1-1.





with west brom having a slight edge in terms of possession at the half and the game poised for a competitive second period, the baggies came back to take complete control of the match from here on out. in fact, the final 2-1 scoreline was in no way indicative of how one-sided the second-half really was.

the quality of the bolton defenders was evident from early on. in one of the first really dangerous attacking opportunities of the game jerome thomas sent shane long through on goal. the albion striker looked almost certain to get a proper crack on target but was thwarted by a perfectly time last ditch tackle made by a desperately back-tracking gary cahill. in truth, the baggies could've won this one by two or three goals save for the excellent work of jaaskelainen and the bolton defence.

the baggies finally made the breakthrough that put them on top 10 minutes into the second half. with bolton increasingly on the back foot, chris brunt spread the play with a cross-field pass to thomas, who held the ball up on the edge of the bolton penalty area just long enough for nicky shorey to find space in behind him. the albion left-back, returning to the starting eleven after several weeks out of the side, delivered a perfect cross for the athletic long to beat his marker in the air and head albion into the lead.

the next half hour saw the baggies playing football of the highest order, keeping the ball and always threatening. the trotters didn't see much of the play nor any real opportunity to threaten ben foster in the albion goal.





what roy hodgson has done is very simple. he's got everybody on the team performing fundamental defensive duties that they did not attend to under the last two managers. he has got both james morrison and chris brunt moving into deep defensive positions, winning and playing more balls out of the back. he's taught youssouf mulumbu where to set himself up and how to defend on set-plays - always a weakness for the congolese midfielder in the past; and in gareth mcauley he's found the centre-half that the albion have needed to play alongside jonas olsson.

the only problem is that the whole thing has required shane long leading the line to make it work. peter odemwingie has not found anything like the form of which he's capable; simon cox hasn't been given enough opportunity to play; and neither marc-antoine fortune nor roman bednar seem to be in the gaffer's plans. this leaves the enigmatic somen tchoyi as the only candidate to lead the line in the case of long being injured, and it is unlikely that there'll be any action during the january transfer window.

now that we've seen what kind of football the baggies should be playing, we can only hope that they continue to do so. this was an excellent performance all around.

The Big Teams...

Arsenal F.C. 3-0 WBA

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with this away match to the now high-flying arsenal - and the currently unstoppable robin van persie - the baggies completed their first set of matches against the traditional "big-four" clubs of english football. while this was a source for west brom picking up important points last year, it has become apparent that this year's challenge is to get results from sides with whom they will be in more direct competition in battling for top-flight survival.

while the baggies were poor at home to liverpool, they were only a little better playing away to the north londoners. however, it was all of small consequence and only certain individual performances gave them any reason to take heart from this encounter. arsenal are absolutely rampant at the moment, and nothing reflects this better than the fact that robin van persie has scored 28 times in the last 27 matches.





again, the baggies showed how bereft of ideas they are without shane long, and perhaps just how dependent they are, at the moment, on the injured striker. i could see from being at the wolves game just how much of the way that roy hodgson has them playing is reliant on long leading the line. without him, it's all defending and playing the ball out from the back. without long in the side, no one is making the ball stick up front and the forwards are getting isolated from the play. it is the young irish international's running of the channels and ability to hold up the ball that creates opportunity for the baggies' counter-attack.

while most of us could probably see it early on, it has become evident since even the away fixture to norwich city, that the baggies need to find another way to play.

this is all the more true with shane long out for another two or three weeks.

WBA 0-2 Liverpool F.C.

match text commentary

not a big surprise, but after their two excellent derby wins against wolves and aston villa, the albion really had nothing to offer and save for one - mayber two - good passages of play, all the good work and momentum of the derby weekends came completely undone against the world famous merseysiders.

the albion weren't expected to win, or even draw this game, but it was pretty dismal and uninspired football and not worhy of a roy hodgson team, regardless of the circumstances. there were, however, more than a few questionable calls from referee, lee mason, not the least of which was a controversial penalty against jerome thomas early in the match which allowed charlie adam to put the merseysiders one-nil up and set the tone for the rest of the game.





while it was generally acknowledged a soft penalty by one and all, it was by no means the worst call (or non-call) of the match. liverpool were allowed to handle the ball perhaps eight or ten times in the second-half without being called for a foul.

be that as it may, there is no point dwelling on these games. we can only hope tht roy hodgson has got something figured out for the upcoming home fixture with bolton.

so far, we still haven't seen a lot of the good passing football for which the albion has always been known - and has been the cornerstone of their success these past few seasons. with the squad that he's got right at the moment, the gaffer would probably be well advised to get the team more focussed on possession, playing the ball through the midfield, looking to stretch the play and getting players like james morrison, graham dorrans, youssouf mulumbu and zoltan gera more involved in attack.

other than that, all we can hope for is shane long's quick return to the team.