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

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

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




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

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





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

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

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




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

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

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

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

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

Gone Daddy Gone!!!

sky sports


birmingham mail


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

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



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

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

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

WBA 1-1 Barnsley F.C.

live text replay



this really wasn't a match worth writing about. however, as good entertainers - and wanting to show they are still taking things seriously - the baggies started a full-strength squad, even though promotion was secure several weeks ago. the albion had a clear understanding of their professional obligations to other teams in the competition to try and get results from as many of their remaining fixtures as possible. for example, they gave sheffield wednesday a crack at championship survival by holding crystal palace to a draw at selhurst park last week.





while we are getting to see the likes of graham dorrans, chris brunt, roman bednar, robert koren, simon cox and ishmael miller in the side, there has been a real sense of diminished intensity about these last two games. certainly no-one wants to get pointlessly injured, and the tactic of playing a very technical passing and control game made it all seem a little like exhibition football. it was great entertainment when it worked and they managed to get a couple of draws where most teams would've rolled over and given up. but, by and large, it wasn't the most scintillating stuff.

i've got plenty of opinions concerning the situation of the baggies going into the premiership and where i think english football is going. a year and half's worth of writing a weekly blog on football has taught me a lot about the game from top to bottom. it's been a great year all around. hopefully, i will continue to improve.

Crystal Palace 1-1 WBA

live text replay



as i have said in a previous post (and maybe even more than once): this is the best albion team in years. having already secured promotion, they seem intent on ending the season by making an emphatic claim as to their quality. this was clearly reflected not only in the swaggering, easy win over middlesbrough 8 days ago; but also - and more importantly, in the team selection since their win at doncaster assured them automatic promotion and perhaps a run for the title. however, newcastle won the division a few days later and made the baggies' second place finish in the table a foregone conclusion. but the albion, it seems, have no intention of letting up.

to evidence their commitment to keep their unbeaten streak going, roberto di matteo has stuck with his current preferred personnel: a back four of ried, tamas, olsson and cech; his five man mid-field comprising koren, cox, dorrans, mulumbu and brunt. roman bednar has been the preferred single striker, and only the absence of ishmael miller on the bench was a conspicuous non-selection.

to be fair, the only thing that prevented the albion from winning this one was julian speroni, the palace keeper. it could have been 4 or 5 had the goalie not turned in a really brilliant performance. i mean, there was a moment where he literally willed the ball over the cross-bar from point-blank range off the end of robert koren's boot.

while the baggies were slow to start, by the mid-point of the second-half they were playing very clever control football, and attacking the palace goal at will. speroni's continuous heroics were really all that kept the londoners level, and ultimately with a real chance at victory. deep into injury-time, gabriel tamas cleared a shot off the albion goal-line which would have seen palace snatch the win.



roman bednar's cleverly worked header coming back off the crossbar came at a time when the albion were having long spells of possession, and showing, in very clinical fashion, how effectively they can attack. but just as in their previous meeting earlier in the season at the hawthorns - and despite a much better performance from the baggies on this occasion - the eagles defense was resolute. only a tightly marked gabriel tamas header squeezed home from a graham dorrans corner-kick was able to break through the palace defending and level the score to provide the final outcome.

their intention is clear and to their credit, the baggies want to wrack up their largest ever points total, and the individuals in the squad are still hungry to add to their season goals tally. above all, i think that they want to go into the premier league with a feeling of being in form. the albion are taking advantage of what are essentially open opportunities to play football and get results for the fun of it. roberto di matteo knows that any further successes and ending the season on a high note will only instill confidence going into a premier league campaign.

while i was lucky enough to get actual live TV coverage of this, i still tuned into the ALBION RADIO commentary to see what dave bowler, the club's publications head and ALBION RADIO colour-man - had to say this week. the question was put to him: what division would you prefer to be competing in, the premier league or championship?

to be fair, the question was designed to provoke a response as to the general state of football in england, such as it is. mr. bowler conceded that one really wants to be in the premier league, and from the point of view of being at the outset of a season, this is especially true. we want to believe in the idea of "living the dream" and that our beloved baggies might be able to compete with the likes of manchester united, chelsea and arsenal. but in the end, and as mr. bowler rightly pointed out - and in reference specifically to this idea:

"the trouble is," the albion publications editor explained, "is that it's exactly that: a dream - instead of something that should be a possibility!!!"

the premiership is a league where there are six or seven teams that are able to play at this level in the right way. the rest of the pack stumble around with varying degrees of success and failure at either qualifying for a secondary european competition or settling in and avoiding relegation. this year in the championship, aside from newcastle and the albion, there wasn't a lot - in terms of talent, quality and organization - between the third place and twenty-third place teams. so the championship is the more exciting division to watch, but is limited in the quality of its football.



the football league, in general, is much more competitive. both swansea and leicester city came up from league 1 last year and have competed successfully for a place in the championship top six all year. only a recent slip in form has seen the swans pretty much out of it, while leicester look to have secured a play-off spot.

"and there are people who talk about this like it's a bad thing?!?!" mr. bowler exclaimed.

his point is that people have lost sight of what english football is supposed to be about! the fact that a team like wimbledon, in the 1980s, worked their way up to the top-tier from conference football fairly rapidly, and in 1988 they finished in the top ten as well as defeating liverpool in the FA Cup final. now that's living a dream!

i'm going to be optimistic about the future for the baggies in the premiership. however, i'm not looking forward to celebrating a series of 15th and 16th place finishes and calling it a big success on an ongoing basis. i can only imagine if that became a year after year, long term proposition - as it does for many teams in the premier league - it would start to get on my nerves. i would eventually welcome the prospect of an entertaining championship campaign as opposed to protracted premier league mediocrity.

and these situations are getting to be more frequent and unsustainable. of the teams relegated from the premiership this year, one is direct result of (or, at least the situation severely aggravated by) a points deduction for entering administration. while a second team is working up a plan to avoid the need to enter into a financial administration in order to clear up a £35 million debt. three or four years of spending premier league money and then being relegated is an increasingly perilous proposition.

luckily, the albion isn't run on the idea that staying in the premier league is worth damaging the club over. i think that's partly why the baggies have yet to successfully establish a relationship with the top-tier since the inception of the premier league.



however, i am very hopeful that things will be different this time. the key to the short-term will depend largely on the current central core of players. it will be in the fact that players like chris brunt, marek cech, robert koren, roman bednar, james morrison, ishmael miller, and even graham dorrans will all want to make a decent showing of this in order to keep the team together. for a player like dorrans, it's a chance to see some real success and establish himself as a premier league player. for others, it may be the best chance that their ever going to get at long-term premier league careers. this team wants to make a go of it and has the basis of personnel to do it with.

when i think of the sides coming down from the premier league, and i look at newcastle and west brom already going up, the premiership is probably going to be a bit stronger and the championship a bit weaker next year than they were this. it may even be a further widening of the gap between "first" and "second" division football in england!?!? all i can say at the moment is that i would rate this particular baggies side as being the best team in years. they will at least be competitive with the likes of wigan, wolves, west ham, bolton, blackburn, stoke etc. - and may go on to find that they are even a bit better than that!

WBA 2-0 Middlesbrough F.C.

live text replay



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

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

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

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

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



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

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

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

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



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

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

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

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



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

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

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

Notes on a Winning Streak (part 4)

WBA 1-0 Coventry City

live text replay


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

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

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

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



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

"hawthorns. return, please."

"£1.80."

"which platform is the next one leaving from?"

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

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

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

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

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



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

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

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

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



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

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

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



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

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

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

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

Doncaster Rovers 2-3 WBA

live text replay


with their ultimate fate on the season completely in their own hands for the second week running, west bromwich albion won a fourth promotion to the premier-league and the right to wage a fifth campaign in england's top-flight next season. this now sees a decade straight - starting with the promotion play-off loss to bolton wanderers in 2001 - in which the baggies have been directly involved in competing for either relegation or promotion.

last week - and prior to the baggies' 1-1 draw with watford - i woke up, as usual, just after 9.00 AM (EST) in order that i should be awake and coherent when the baggies kick-off at around 10.00. i showered, got my coffee and connected to the ALBION RADIO transmission on the club website. i was just in time to catch the regular colour-man (as well as the club's director of publications), dave bowler - and anticipating the baggies imminent return to the top-flight, delivering a lengthy diatribe about the relative pointlessness of competing in the premier league, with its ridiculous financial structure(s), horribly over-paid players, and lack of opportunity for any modest club, such as the albion, to be competitive at top-level anymore.



while making a series of fascinating points, he concluded that - and west bromwich albion aside, for the moment - that the premier league needs a major over-haul. while it has managed to establish itself as the top football competition in the world, it runs the danger of financially, and structurally destroying itself. in a year that saw the first premier league competitor enter financial administration as the direct cost of an FA Cup title and 7th place league finish two years ago - his observations are not only timely but evident.

he went on to point out that alex macliesh is a definite candidate for manager of the year for leading birmingham city to a respectable mid-table finish, illustrating that in the premier-league even genius is very often reduced and limited to nothing more than a kind of relative yet admirable mediocrity.

as a positive tonic to any negative critique of the premier-league - and for anyone who missed it on the midlands' edition of BBC's LATE KICK OFF show of two weeks ago, jeremy peace articulately and with evident intelligence outlined the structure of the club, and explained, in very general terms, what the club's goals might be going into the premier-league:


BBC interview with jeremy peace


this was not a great match, but the baggies score goals and that is what wins them football games. however, i get the impression - and having been to the hawthorns on five different occasions this year (and one away match at swansea) - that this has not been as loved, and possibly not as well respected an albion team as some other sides of the recent past. but then, maybe folklore requires time - and the onset of its psychological aspect, nostalgia - for legend to become manifest? perhaps it's just the nature of humour in the black country character? i don't know...



my visits to the hawthorns and the liberty stadium showed me - and much as i had already surmised - that west brom supporters are among the most loyal, intelligent, knowledgeable and passionate fans in the country. they are also some of the most negative, apprehensive, pessimistic and critical supporters you'll find anywhere. they look back to their various golden eras and revere the names of astle, brown, cunningham, kevan, glidden, richardson, pennington, robson (bryan and bobby), regis, taylor and phillips with a fanatical pride; and although the occasion sometimes few and far between, they know how to celebrate their success's in style. they can also be painfully negative:

"well that was a terrible game of football, wasn't it?"

this might be a typical hawthorns' reaction at the final whistle to one of the best games played in the country that day.

"i think brunt looks like he's just about given up!"

this said about a man who scores every three games and delivered a stunning perfect through-ball for ishmael miller that set up the first goal in the game about which the remark was made.

and nothing makes a west brom supporter more nervous and edgy than the baggies entertaining a one-goal lead.

"i don't like the look of this!" is a quiet and constant utterance heard around the hawthorns when the baggies do have a single-goal lead.



with west brom now unbeaten in 9 games running and automatic promotion to the premier league assured, it's time to put talking comic, black-country misery on hold for a moment and assess the season and speculate about next year.

i actually believe that this is the best west brom side in years. it's the best albion side since i've been following the team, anyway. it's one thing to be a good championship side relying on kevin phillips ability to score 25 goals a season in order to assure success, but this year was a true team effort and the overall quality of the club is at a whole new level altogether.

there is no doubt that chris brunt, robert koren, roman bednar, ishmael miller, scott carson, graham dorrans, abdoulaye meite and perhaps a few others are all better players than the last time that west brom was in the premier league. they have also strengthened the centre-half positions with the addition of gabriel tamas, and have a better defensive foundation than during their last top-flight campaign, as well.



roberto di matteo has proved himself a young, astute, forward-looking, current and up-to-date coach and manager. he inherited a side which, while having intelligently retained a core group of players, saw the new gaffer starting the season at the same disadvantage tony mowbray had ended last campaign with: that is, the long-term injuries to james morrison and ishmael miller; as well as the unresolved suspension of roman bednar which left the baggies playing without either of their top strikers at the outset of the season.

the most notable thing about di matteo, though, and right from the first match, was that he had re-invigorated a number of individual players who had become unhappy or went under-used by tony mowbray. he coaxed a couple of goals - as well as several good games - out of luke moore. robert koren, marek cech, and chris brunt all became integral and important players in the team after each had been linked to moves away from the club. and when the other strikers struggled for scoring form, simon cox came into the first team and scored 5 times in as many matches.

while it was unusual for the albion, di matteo introduced a very successful 4-5-1 playing formation that supplied a very entertaining and successful attack element. it was a very astute adjustment for the gaffer to have made given where the team's all around talent lies.

where tony mowbray had tried the same type of thing with ishmael miller, he abandoned the formation for a standard 4-4-2 with a rotating selection of utility forwards after the young striker was injured and out for the rest of the season. the new gaffer, however, used any striker he had on hand, including luke moore sometimes, in a purely positional role, realizing that the scoring strength he had on the team was - and in a team rich in mid-field talent - going to be as much with the mid-fielders as anywhere.



i think this demonstrated that di matteo seems to know where football and management tactics are going; where tony mowbray was a prisoner of his beliefs and ran the team too much on ideals, form in training, and a commitment to faith in a pure passing game which was sometimes a little one-dimensional and single-minded. this was most clearly illustrated in a league match at home to chelsea last year in which the albion thoroughly controlled the match for the first 20 minutes. with the baggies unable to make anything from their superior possession, however, chelsea scored on their first opportunity to counter and the match ended in a 3 or 4 goal drubbing.

i believe that this albion side will make more out of a full complement of strikers and a good passing game in next year's top-flight competition than it has in the past. what is most desperately needed for them to be a competitive side in the premiership is improved tactics and positioning of the defensive setup. if they can tighten things up, buy at least one more top central defender and a second goalie (in light of dean keily's move into coaching), cut out a significant percentage of mistakes at the back and capitalize on their scoring opportunities, the baggies will find survival in the top-flight at least possible.