The FA Cup draw, a new signing, league fixture pile up, and the infamous broken undersoil heating debacle, has supplied plenty of material for today’s blog, that’s for sure, writes Albion blogger Jarrod Hill.
In a week which has transcended into FA Cup fever, we now have to focus on our original target of achieving automatic promotion.
Hull City are no push over and have aspirations of reaching the play-offs themselves, they are on a fantastic run of form of late and are many pundits tip to gate crash the top six.
Our progression in the Cup has resulted in us now having to play catch up due to rearranged league fixtures, and we could find ourselves with at least two games in hand on our rivals.
We often hear Premiership managers drone on and on about reducing the amount of games played in our top league (right up until they are offered a trip to Dubai), but what about the Championship??
The Baggies will play a minimum of 51 games this season, with a possibility of playing 57 (cup games and play-offs).
On top of this we have a number of players who will be away on international duty, and yet I hear nothing from the national media about the amount of games Championship clubs have to play.
The squad Mowbray and Peace (wow they sound like an eighties cop drama), assembled in the summer have stood up to the test so far, the amount of games, the cup run, and a subject we seem to have glossed over, injuries.
Phillips, Miller, Bednar, Albrechsten, Morrison, Beattie, and Koren, have all missed at least five games each due to injury, and combined with suspensions (yes Paul you know who you are!!) we have suffered more than most.
It has remained a subject without concern due to the size and quality of the squad, ironically it has been in attack were we have suffered the most, with Bednar, Miller, and particularly Phillips missing many games with injury.
Yet the goals tally has continued to click round all season, I know ifs, buts, and maybes count for nothing, but I cannot help but wonder how many more points we would have now if our treatment room had been a little less busy.
I was surprised to see Luke Moore arrive this week on loan, not that we have signed an excellent young player, but the fact Villa were prepared to let him go.
To read what Villa blogger Gregg Williams thinks of the Moore deal click Sad to see Luke go
Just as I was starting to quell my excitement on Wednesday I find out we have signed (albeit on loan with a view of a permanent transfer) one of the brightest young English players around (hats off to Happy_baggie who predicted this move months ago).
Talk about being spoilt for choice upfront, this signing only serves to enforce Mowbray’s plan of scoring our way out of this division, the only disappointment is that he is cup tied. (Taxi for Beattie?!!!!).
Touch wood, we can now keep everybody fit and push on until the end of the season, starting with three points against Hull tomorrow.
The Cup run is great, and the funds generated and the excitement along the way is all welcome, but our original target must remain our focus, promotion.
Oh and a quick message for the ground staff, last one out tonight please switch on the undersoil heating, we do not want to leave ourselves wide open to public ridicule do we?
Albion fans have your say below
25 Comments
Its a great signing and even better that he is cup tied. At least his mind will be on promotion rather than dreaming of Wembley. Really hope the Hull game starts a league improvement.
Jarrod, I’m looking for abit of debate in your blog or sommat i can respond to, but i think lately we have covered most that you speak about including fixture pile up, basically I think you have knocked up an excellent summary of what West Brom is to date, ain’t life boring when we can’t moan & groan about anything.
Anyway I’ll give you a pat on the back, for not over emphasising on the possibility of a Wembley trip in the FA Cup, the league is back this weekend and we need players & supporters alike to get behind that charge.
I do realise your job can’t be that easy when everything is so rosy all of the time, just a thought maybe next week you and Nathan can swop blogs, so you can have a moan & Nathan can write up some positives.
It is a great signing, but we are a little top heavy with forwards. Come the summer the squad will be trimed and I’m sure there will be a few new additions especialy in defence.
I realy like the way that TM is looking to the future and building a team of youth and experience. I feel we have a much better forward line this time around for the premiership than we had the last times we went up.
Tonywba, your right, but when there are only positives to mention it can be difficult. My blog last week raised the discussion of the Premierships idea of a 39th game, but the response was hardly overwhelming.
Half term report: must try harder!!!
Opposition Manager:”Anybody can score against this lot, so all we have to do is stop them scoring”. Opposition Captain:” And how do we do that Boss? Have you seen their forward line?” Luke, if you like scoring goals, you’ve made the right choice. Welcome to Football Fantasia. It’s called The Hawthorns.
Great signing but if you want a moan/whine here goes—get a premiership class central defender in NOW!!!!–We need him
Glenn - I think everyone, including TM realises we need to strengthen and improve our defence, or at least have more options there.
However we have to realise that top quality defenders don’t grow on trees, and those that may be available probably won’t drop into this league for the wages we will pay.
In the close season, when we know what league we are in I am positive that you will see plenty of activity with players coming and going - and I’m sure we will see at least one great defender joining us (knowing TM the deal is probably already done).
So everybody - can we PLEASE leave the defender issue for a while - we are actually doing ok with our goals against tally and I think we are overhyping this supposed weakness at the back.
We have an excess of attackers, an excess of midfielders - we even have 3 good keepers - why does everyone think we won’t get some defenders in also ??
Great blogg Jarrod - and thanks for the mention - i feel all embarrassed now.
took the words right out of my mouth with the defence issue Happy, TM is an attacking manager and as has been said before, we can defend our way out of the championship if we want but we will have to attack to stay in the prem, we will eventually sign a defender to bolster our boys at the back but if TM signed yet another striker id trust his judgement. his making it so easy for us, all we need to do is sit back and enjoy.
also…what do you lot think about the possibility of wes brown seems though his set to leave united?
or maybe his wage cap would be a bit too extreme.
BB666 - i would worry that Wes Brown may be the type of Big time Charlie TM has worked so hard to get rid of…. big wages and demands to play every game.
I would expect either a great young prospect or possibly someone from abroad to come in - another unknown diamond. The like of Wes Brown, Sammy Hypia etc may not be the best thing to happen to our dressing room - I sooo wish we had got cahill in - but maybe liam ridgewell if the bluenoses get relegated..?
You are deluded! Like Where’s Brown is going to go to the Baggies! Durh.
Great Blog Jarrod.
I like bomber’s idea about us swapping the direction for the next blog.
Trouble is, I’d struggle to talk about any positivity at Molineux at the moment. I think it would be a slightly rose-tinted view on what is currently going on at Wolves.
I tried that earlier on in the season when I tried to stay positive even though I could see that not everything was going well, and I got shot down for it.
And then I decided to speak my mind and got shot down for that!
I suppose I could have mentioned Bully at Stafford and done a piece on that. That would have been all fluffy and mentioned his 306 goals and could he be the future Wolves boss… blah blah blah.
Truth of the matter is that Albion are having a cracking season and we are having a stinker!
Take care mate and I’ll no doubt be seeing you when the Black Country clash is back on the calendar.
“Like Where’s Brown” !!!! Durh!!!!
Bomber don’t think i was having a go mate, just emphasisng that what you do must be tough.
On the defense, picture the scenario
1:Championship football
Question: What PREMIERSHIP quality defender will want to play Championship
or next season
1: In the Premier League (possibilty)
2: In europe due to reaching the FA Cup final (possibility)
Question: What type of defender could we attract now?
For me i’d save my money and hope that the quality we have in the squad can justify their own status and clinch the promotion we all want, and then spend on this PREMIERSHIP quality defender we want.
Ian - I LOVE wolves fans like you…
lets look at all the signings we have made where dingles were posting the usual “no chance” rubbish:
Chris Brunt - all dingles sais he would go into the prem
Ishmail Miller - you all said he would NEVER sign for us full time
James Morrison - no prem player would EVER come to the Albion..
Even Tony Mowbray - when even you lot had to admit he was doing a great job, you all decided he wanted to go to middlesbrough - he has now signed till 2011 !!
Luke Moore - again, we had no chance of signing him….
So when you say we have no chance of signing Wes Brown (or anyone else) - you really should have learned by now… however, i actually don’t think he’s right for us - we want BETTER than him.
So go back to Kyle, Bothroyd, Breen and mad mick, and leave the real football stuff to people who know what they are talking about.
Good luck at Palace on saturday (snigger)…
12: Nathan
I did actually jokingly mean you write Albions & Jarrod write Wolves
to give you both a change.
Imagine how many Wolves fans would go up the wall at an Albion fan writing their Blog.
See the official website.
TM has no intention of signing any more defenders.
I agree.
We have enough - it’s the tactics/positioning of our fullbacks that needs to be sorted.
Ian
It was a mere pondering, good points put across by the Oracle(Happy) though, maybe it would be a dose of poison, Denmark always seem to produce some solid defenders, maybe TM should raid the Vikings!
Excellent idea Tonywba, i could start by interviewing their groundsman.
Apparently he suffers from a catching disease called imsureitwillworkoutin thelongrun. Not sure who first came down with this disabling disease first but it has swept throught the club like wild fire.
Then i could look at the reasons behind the footballing public perception that Wolves fans are whinging, we are too good for this division, living in the past, you have let us down again banner waving pessimists.
I could then point out that when the club is bought for a tenner by a Liverpool fan Wolves fans should have feared the worst.
Then i will be hiding where no Wolves fan would find me, either:
1) Wembley
2) The on switch for the under soil heating
3) Kevin Kyles fan club
Just a bit of fun on a Friday, all the best!!!
So anybody thought about the line up against Hull? I think TM is going to have to do a ‘mini-Raffa’.
We’ve got 20 or so ‘First Teamers’ assuming L Moore available, all fit and 4-4-2/4-5-1.
5 get (almost) automatic selection - Greening Robbo,Kiely, Hoeff, Albie. Plus probably Barnett with Pele (bench), Midfield - hard to leave out Gera, Morrison and Brunt then Texeira/Koren (Bench). Strikers IF Luke Moore plays with SuperKev, it leaves Bednar on the bench along with Danek. So you end up leaving out Beattie, Cezar and two of Ish, Koren or Kim.
Let’s face it any other Championship Manager would love a problem like that….
deebee
(PS. have n’t even mentioned Steele, MacDonald, Clem, Hodgkiss, Martis etc.)
It feels great to be a Baggie these days, and all bloggers on this site and others appear to be delighted with the way things are going under ToMo. Is this always reflected in the stands though? I must admit the atmosphere has been terrific in some games these season, but a little somewhat quiet in others. In most games at the Hawthorns it tends to take a while before the supporters get going. The team needs us all to pull together as one both at home and away from start to finish. If we can get the odd pesimistic supporter around us to get more vocally supportive and proud to shout for the team then the Hawthorns will become an even more difficult place for away teams to play. Lets get everyone in the stands to be as positive as us bloggers and the Hawthorns will be rocking and boinging all the way to the Prem.
Bomber 18 - you forgot 4) The premier league !!
`Happy_Baggie—I’d love to leave it but I love Albion too much to ignore the fact that every time a high ball goes into our area my heart goes into my mouth. Its the final piece in a puzzle that TM has put together brillantly and I don’t want it to mean we are back in the playoffs because without doubt we are the best team in this division.
Excellent posts.
Love the positiveness.
Our fans are the best just like the team. Keep it up lads
Glenn - I’m not disagreeing with your assessment - I’m just not sure we can get the right man (men) in whilst we are in this league and at this stage of the season - I’m sure we are trying all the time.
I still think we are actually not too bad at the back given our style of attacking play from midfield upwards - so I think we may have to wait till the end of season before anyone else comes in who is better than what we have.
Of course TM will probably suprise us all and get someone here on monday - I wouldn’t put it past him.
7 Happy.
At the risk of embarrassing you even more, this post is spot on, as usual. The ‘defensive problems’ are greatly exaggerated by the ‘I can’t handle having nothing to moan about brigade.’
20 Garfy.
Agree with you and I think that this is due to nerves amongst the fans and hopefully won’t transmit itself to the players.
11 Ian.
Don’t know what to suggest to you. Perhaps English classes, maybe enhanced thinking skills classes, probably best just try engaging brain before commenting.