Health Warning: Watching the Albion can be seriously bad for your health, writes Albion blogger Jarrod Hill.
Saturday enforced our reputation as the great entertainers of the Championship, and Cardiff certainly played their part as well.
Even at 3-1 down many Baggies fans still believed we could win the game, and I think that says everything about the way we are playing at the moment.
I was surprised to see Mowbray had chosen Barnett and Pele as our central partnership; we have had seven different central partnerships so far this season and personally, I view this one as the least effective.
We witnessed their frailty against Charlton and I was surprised that they both kept their places against Cardiff, I understand that Albrechsten filled in at left back, but that still left Cesar as an option.
Dean Kiely had another indifferent game, he will be particularly unhappy with their second goal which was scored from a very tight angle.
His kicking is also playing us into a bit of trouble, and you can feel the tension in the crowd every time there is a back pass.
Maybe Saturday has helped push Mowbray and Peace into pursing another keeper with more vigour, and possibly reviewing whether to sign Bednar on a permanent deal.
Bednar has already stated he wants a permanent move to the Hawthorns and his goals and work rate have certainly made him a crowd favourite.
Again results went our way on Saturday and we find ourselves three points clear at the top of the table, and with our goal difference acting as an extra point we now have an opportunity to cement our position for automatic promotion.
For the sake of my nerves I wish we could open more of a gap, but maybe I am being a bit greedy (this is the Albion after all and we never do things the easy way).
I am hoping our recent indifferent performances are this seasons blip and we now return to the same form that saw us sweep Scunthorpe and Bristol City aside.
I watch with interest that Stoke and Crystal Palace are on a real run of form and will probably prove to be a stronger challenge in the long run than Bristol City.
This weekend gives us a chance to forget about the league and focus on the Cup, and I am looking forward to it. Peterborough are having a good season and like us are scoring a few goals, so sods law it will be a 0-0 or 1-0, but I doubt it!!!
With no midweek game I am now itching to get on the train to Peterborough Saturday, all aboard the blue and white entertainment express!!!!!
Albion fans have your say below
25 Comments
Some of our players, particulary Greening seemed very lethargic against Cardiff. Would expect this after 120 minutes in mid week. As we have a decent squad, I hope that we rest some of our key players on Saturday so they are fresh for the more important games against Preston and Burnley.
Bad for your health? That was Robson era. This season will go down in WBA folklore. When most of us are older we will reminisce with our family and friends, telling our grand kids about this great season, when football was played as it should be.
agree with comments so far. I dont want this season to end!
Apparantly Cesar was sick but I do hope we have seen the last of the Pele- Barnett combination for a while.We’re doing well but we need to put our foot on the gas now and show we mean business.
we will be ok if tm keeps a settled side with just a touch of fine tuning.
we missed robinson the last 2 games,quite clear that its out of cesar,pele and albrechsten for centre half,to with robbo and the hoff making up the full backs, deano is worrying me at the mo as well!
jesus and koren in the middle, gera and morrison(however brunt is a very very close second to him, great balance)
bednar and king kev upfront.
miller is slowly but surely turning into the new ellington which is a shame,new goalie and we will be fine.
for the burnley game can we be patient with the lads and let them play our football as there have been a few restless souls lately if we arnt 3 up after ten min theres no need!!
Yep as usual your blog talks a lot of sense but BUT which of our present back 5 would get into any prem team? Yes we are playing beautiful footie yes we are 3 points clear but please TM get some quality into our back 5—-please don’t misunderstand this plea—I am so happy to be a Baggie watching us going forward but my heart is in my mouth every time a ball is crossed into our box. Deano never comes for a cross and we dither around trying to clear the ball so we need a commanding presence in the centre of our defence– a leader a shouter —Get him in!!!
4.
miller is slowly but surely turning into the new ellington
I’d really hope not, but there is tiny feeling of history wanting to repeat itself. I can’t put my finger on it but all of our pacey strikers have become prima-dona’s.
I’m looking forward to seeing if we can snap up Bednar however. What a signing! I remember my Villa fan mate telling me about him when we signed him and I’ve gotta say his living up to what I was told about him.
glenn,
I can see your point about our defensive players, but i think a lot of our problems defensively stem from the style we play. If any of these players went to a different club who play a more conservative game you would see different displays.
Hoefkens was so eager to sign for us because he knew he would be allowed to play in a certain way, and for many of our potential signings it must be a bit of a pull.
On the subject of Miller, he sometimes seems just plain lazy, but a mate of mine seems to think it is because he conserves energy due to not being fully fit or scared of injury.
Miller will wear better when he learns to release the ball to better-placed colleagues. He is exciting when he attacks defences but they know he never lets go so they can put three into a tackle if needs be. We’ve probably all played with similar characters in our school/works teams, no point running with these types, a pass never materialises. I’m with No.2 about the football, although I shall soon be telling my great-grandson about this season. I think that Newcastle feel as we do, they’d rather have Keegan and the excitement than the dour, battling displays. Back in 1953 we beat them 7-3 at their place and THEY APPLAUDED US OFF THE PITCH. I was lying in my Army Chariot that late evening listening to the scores come in. When he said ‘Newcastle 3′ the Geordies roared. Then he said ‘West Bromwich Albion 7′ and the silence was deafening for a few seconds. Then the barrack block erupted!
Cyril Randle
HaHa! What a quality moment
I had a similiar experience a good few years ago when I was younger, I was in a car park with my Dad after a game of footie in the park when we stuck the results on, we heard:
Norwich 3
….we looked at each other glum…
West Bromwich Albion 5
…..the car nearly rolled with the arm waving, shouting and cheering.
I’ll never forget that!
wbabluestripes 2 - totally agree… as someone who watched the 78/79 side every week I have been waiting (and waiting and waiting…) for another crop of players to follow in their footsteps.
Are these lads as good ? Only time in the top league will tell - but the style of football is the best I have seen since those happy times.
Even our young fans know of Bomber Brown, Big Cyrille, Laurie, Decca John Wile - the list goes on - how fantastic if players like Robbo, Gera, Jonno, Super Kev etc etc are being rememberered as favourably in 20 odd years time.
Glenn is absolutely right - the defence always seems panicky and chaotic - head it up in the air, three yards to an opponent, or miss it completely!
The defence choices are not Premiership quality(Robbo included!)and again I despair about what will happen in the Premier against possibly the top 10/12 clubs.
You can’t hope to win every time 5-4, 6-5 in that league, no matter how exciting and flowing the football is going forward. TM, no more forwards, get 2/3 v.good defenders please, my blood pressure can’t take much more!
5 squad baggie
I’d go Brunt ahead of Morrison personally - I think he is starting to show his worth - he was the best midfielder/ (left back!) on Saturday (altho Greening gave the ball away more times on sat than he has done all season, Tex was awful and Koren very poor). For me the Brunt cross to the back stick with Gera on the full back is too good a goal scoring option to not use. Don’t get me wrong Morrison has worked his way in this season and has impressed. Great just to have the quality in numbers but for me the first choice midfield at present would be Gera, Koren, Jesus and Brunt.
I thought Albrechtsen looked better at centre half and I hope that we return to the Cesar/ Albrechtsen partnership soon. For me Pele is not a centre half and Barnett worries me with the ball - he really does struggle to pick out an Albion player/ keep the ball on the pitch when under any sort of pressure.
I don’t want second spot – We will win this league.
Having supported WBA for over 30 years I have seen many players
who promise a lot and Miller is one in that category… he is lazy
and plays when he feels like it ( definitely another Ellington in the making)
Bednar seems more our sort of player - quite quick , knows where the goal is and probably quite cheap !!
I was at the Cardiff Game and my take on the current team is that we are lucky to be Top and only Phillips , Koren and Gera are in my view good enough for the Top flight…. Greening goes round in circles , Texiera is lightweight ,Robinson is a joke ( as a defender) and the centre halves are crap . Massive investment will be needed to stay up and I just hope Mowbray as a defender himself can get someone like Darren Moore / De Zouew etc.. to shore up the defence between now and May
ps Great to see Wolves win a game it reminds me of the eighties when they were getting crowds of under 5000
Any news from the head groundsman about what he is going to do about the state of the pitch ? Its costing you points at the moment, with all that sand everywhere and players not being able to keep the ball. I dont think it will be good enough, when you move up to the higher level next season, one local reporter was even heard to say “and wba return to the FIELD of play”.
Beevower,
Spot on, i know we have the distraction of the FA Cup at the moment but i would like to see Mowbray choose the strongest eleven for every league game now until promotion is assured, personally i think it is:
Deano
Robbo, Hoof, Alby, Cesar
Brunt, Jonno, Koren, Gera
Bednar, Phillips
13 - are you sure you were at the game ?
I only ask cos Robinson didn’t play as he was suspended.
Its all about opinions - but your suggestion that Robbo is “a joke” baffles me… he has been consistant nearly all season. Yes he was sent off recently - but evidence shows the 2nd yellow was incorrect - he scores, he leads, he tackles and goes in where it hurts - I’m not sure how you come to your conclusion.
Tex is lightweight ?? Were you saying that when he outfought Stoke or was leading the attack week after week ?
You say Jonno goes round in circles - yet every fan knows he is our player of the year.
Maybe thats the point - every ALBION fan knows these things - you come across as one of our “friends” from down the road stirring things again (raythe wolf).
If I’ve got that wrong then i apologise - but its the only explanation for your somewhat bizzare comments.
Bomber 15 - good team selection. There is a lot of talk on here about us needing more players - but where would they play - and who from your 11 could we drop.. not forgetting the quality of our bench already.
Albre or Barnett seem ok as long as Cesar is with them (our priority signing IMO - he has been key to our climb up the table) even Pele has shown he CAN do the job - so do we really need another CB to back up at this stage ??
I know we will need to buy if/when we go up - but surely this squad is good enough for promotion - with maybe just a new keeper for back-up.
I would not drop Hoof, Robbo or Cesar - so that leaves one CB position for either Albre, barnett or pele - that seems good enough to me - especially when we can out score most teams in this league.
13.paulwarringtonbaggie
Are you having a laugh? If you are an Albion fan (and I’m not sure you are) then you’ve not been to many games this season.
Greening goes round in circles - now I admit Saturday was probably Greening’s worst performance of the season (but his only below par performance) - he has been immense and makes us tick, there is no doubt of that. He is premiership quality for sure.
As for your comments re: Robinson - I agree that at times he lets himself down (Red card against Coventry at home cost us 1point maybe 3) but these occurrences are few and far between and are certainly outweighed by his massive character, passion and ability. He loves this club and we love him - premiership quality.
As for the recent views on Deano - I know his kicking is average at the best of times and hasn’t been great of late but has he really let us down that much lately that people want him out? He’s been at the Albion a year now and he has won us 3 or 4 times the points he has dropped. He is Mr Consistent for me - I know you can question the 2nd goal on Saturday and he shouldn’t be beaten on his near post but lets look at Tex giving the ball away and Pele being skinned (twice) first. Did no one see Kiely’s performance against Charlton at the Valley? We’re still in the cup because of him! I rate Deano and think half the problems he has come across of late is due to the shaky centre back selections not him.
Rant over!
wbabomber - you pick the same side as me.
We win this league
Happy
Like you my friend, i am somewhat
sceptical about the claim of Albion
allegiance from comment 13.
Greening is the orchestrator of everything good we do.
Tiexeria is very skillful and tenacious.
Robinson is a joke!!!
that comment is not even worthy of
response.
Our centre halves are crap,
all of them would shine in a more defensively minded team,
and Cesar has the potential to be a colossus.
If indeed this contributor IS an
Albion fan,
then he must be Leighton.
Its great that we can spot an infiltrator so easily - it shows that we are united as a club and we know that our management and team are taking us forward.
Actually, you can spot the albion infiltarators on the wolves pages too - they are the ones still backing Mick mccarthy !
Much has been said about the ability
or lack of it, from our defence.
Does everyone agree, the squad is capable of securing promotion this term ?
I suspect the majority will answer in the affirmative.
That being the case……why are
fans clamouring for the club to put together a squad that could cope admirably with life in the prem………..all this in the dangerous waters of a four week transfer window.
One thing i am convinced of,
there are more of the current crop of players ABLE to make the step up,
than we had in the two previous
promotions.
Those who are not deemed to be quite good enough…………..well
do you not think TM already knows
that, and will have his wish list
should we go up.
wbaforever - i was beginning to think I was the only one (plus bomber and a few others) who feel like that…
What people need to remember is that NO signing is a guarantee - and then they have to settle in the team and learn our style - all in the last few months of the season. We could spend money now for no reason - and still not improve the defence.
Whilst we know we will need to strengthen IF we go up - whats the point of rockng what is a very happy and settled boat now ?
We can get promoted this season and then look at quality players… but even then we will need very little tinkering.
Barnett and Pele are not good enough defenders to win the baggies the chapionship.Sort the defence out before we start dropping down the league, spend a few of the millions we have in the bank JP before it is to late to spend it. the end of January is closing in fast
keep on the attack attack attack. Its the best football we have played for years.
But get a new goalie for god sake. Kiely is just not good enough.
I’m sure that I’m not the only one wondering why we’re not moving heaven and earth to get Bednar signed up. I’ve seen us shoot ourselves in the foot too many times to take it for granted, still the present management seem very professional in these things.
Wish people would get off Miller’s back, he’s a young lad learning the game.
Wolves booboy. Sorry to see that you’ve finally cracked up, we’ll miss your witty, constructive comments.