Another derby, another high stakes game, with both clubs looking to enhance their chances of promotion the derby tension is higher than normal, writes Albion blogger Jarrod Hill.
Saturday’s game was just typical of the Baggies this season; we keep giving teams a goal head start, and then dominating the rest of the game. Even the manner in which we conceded was stereotypically Albion, set piece, poor marking, a goal down.
Our bad luck with official’s decisions is hurting us at the moment; Bednar was ruled off side when the linesman believed Phillips had flicked the ball onto him, however, the TV replays clearly showed the goal should have stood. A point was enough to take us into second spot and we still have a game in hand on Stoke who are now top, I said last week that I would happily have taken two points from our games with Watford and Wolves and I have not changed my mind.
Wolves are in good form and pushing for a play off spot, and I can see it being another high tension game. The wide pitch should suit our style of play and with Brunt and Gera providing balls into the box our strikers should get chances. At the other end our defence needs to be on their collective toes as Ebanks-Blake continues his impressive form; his goal against Charlton was one of the best I have seen this season.
Recently voted the best derby game in the country, I am simply staggered the TV companies continue to ignore it. With so many drab and boring games covered, you would have thought the Black Country derby would be a game of interest to many fans, both neutrals and our promotion rivals.
A popular subject of conversation among both sets of fans currently is the prospects of Championship teams promoted to the Premier League. We have all witnessed Derby’s disastrous season and for many it has raised fears for own clubs if we were lucky enough to get promoted.
I believe the key to staying up is having the ability to score enough goals to win games, obviously when promotion comes your way it is also coupled with extra funding for playing staff, and it is how you invest that money which is imperative. If we look at the teams promoted last season only Sunderland look safe from relegation, they spent £30million+ on new players to join a squad that cruised to Promotion from the Championship. So is it simply about how much money you have to spend?
If it is then most Championship sides are going to struggle, we have seen clubs gamble with the clubs future by placing heavy financial demands on success, and when that success fails to materialise the debts quickly snowball out of control.
I do not want to see that happen to my club, but on the other hand fans want to see success. Albion are run on a strict but stable financial footing, we are never going to compete money wise with many of the established Premiership clubs, and so we have to rely on the Manager and his scouting team to provide success within our budget.
Tony Mowbray has so far proved he has a good eye for unearthing unknown players, (with the odd exception, Beattie!!) and hopefully his scouting team are prepared for which ever division we find ourselves in next season.
Anyway back to the game tonight, I love the derby games, and hope that the next one is in the Premiership, the TV companies would not be able to ignore our wonderful Black Country roar then!!!! Or would they??
I hope everyone enjoys the game and gets home safely.
27 Comments
hi jarrod.
good blog mate and for once i actually agree with what your saying. great game in prospect tonight, yes should have been televised also.
as for the chances of either side surviving in the premier, who knows mate. got to get there to find out. some teams go up and look to have a chance of survival, only to fail and come straight back down (yourselves a good examle). yet teams who appear to have little chance do stay up (wigan for example).
money is a big factor obviously, but as sir jack proved in his reign at molineux, it’s no guarentee of sucsess but can be wasted quite quickly. with moxey in charge we won’t see the free spending of years ago, we to are run on a strict budget now. but as we’ve proven with kightly and keogh you don’t need mega bucks to find good talent.
oh well enough from me, have a good one tonight lads, and let’s hope next season this game will be a premier league fixture.
Nice one Jarrod !! I think tonight’s game has goals written all over it but now I’ve said that it’ll probably be nil nil !! You’re right, this Black Country derby is probably the most keenly contested in the entire football league and it seems ridiculous that it is ignored again by Sky.
As to staying in the Premier once you’re there it’s as Ive said before - you have to spend money in the Summer, not in January, and you have to spend a lot these days. What clubs have to be wary of though is the premier player coming towards the end of his career looking for a final big pay day. It’s going to be difficult to attract players who will benefit the club when in all reality you are going to be relegation favourites for the next season.
Anyway, enough of my ramblings, lets hope it’s a cracking game tonight !!
a national poll of 2000 football fans voted the wwfc v wba derby as the number 1 in the country, even ahead of celtic/rangers, and sky cant even televise it !!! Great blog, and its also good that both teams have something to play for on the game (as if any is needed!!!!) It should be a goal fest tonight as neither of us have the best defence, so yes, the law of sod says nil nil!!!!!!
was the poll in Dudley - game could go either way both defences are sus - my prediction 2-1 to wolves.
3-2 baggies
Nice to see some constructive posts above, I do hope this last’s but I doubt it.
Anyway as always Jarrod another blog that gets us thinking and talking.
It goes without saying the importance of the match tonight is once again immense and would we want it any other way in my opinion NO WAY.
Should be a game that keeps us all on edge whether you are there or tuned into Tom Ross (which unfortunatley I will be). I am finding this game harder to call than the one’s last season especially with Wolves recent results, although like ourselves they seem a tad nervy at home, which may play in our favour if we can take an early lead and negativity spreads from the stands onto the pitch.
Many people are saying that EBanks Blake is the man to watch, yes he is but I think our defense can deal with that, he don’t worry me too much, what worries me is the same scenario week in week out set-pieces, if we have got soldiers out there tonight and deal with the crossed ball that will hold us in good stead we are not opened up very often from open play.
Anyway hope everyone enjoys the game (more so baggie fans lol) and hope as others say everyone gets home okay.
Nice to see constructive posts. I think it will be very close but if we can defend set plays we have a good chance of taking all three points. The result is of massive importance to both teams and tension will definately play its part. I think the team that keeps their cool will come out on top.
Come on Jarrod, why would Sky show our game when they can show the world the classic that is Barnsley v Hull!!!!!!
Well my Baggie friends, the day is finally here. To all those of you coming over I wish you a safe journey to and from the game, that is the most important thing. I can’t wish you much more than that but after tonight I will wish you well in every game so we can continue this next season in the promised Land.
I believe we can both do it this season and I do think we will do it tonight. It should be one of the great Molineux nights and thank goodness it is not Sunday lunchtime. The atmosphere will be out of this world and I can not wait. Come on the Wolves!
Hi Jarrod—always interesting and I want to start with your comments ref money and Prem. I think TM has had some very mixed success in his buying of players. Tex, Bednar, Hoef Koren Kiely Miller Brunt have been good to very good but Barnett,Cesar Slusarski Pele Moore are iffy and I would say Beattie MacDonald Martis Tininho are poor and should go.As for our new goalie to sign him and not play him at all is a very weird decision.
Having said all that I would like to think that he will take us to the promised land and keep us there because I share his love of good footie.
Good luck tonight lads —its going to be one hell of a game
Defend set pieces and we win the game.
2-0 to the Blue & White Army
well said all nice to see albion and wolves in a positive blog as for sky SHAME ON YOU.i shall be comming up from milton keyns to see my beloved wolves take 3pts i hope na realy i can see a 1-1 draw. have a good game all and BE SAFE.
Totally agree about the TV coverage. How unbeliveable is that. Barnsley V Hull or Wolve V Albion.
Whoever runs the TV schedule has to be on the beer.
As Phil Collins once said, “i can feel it coming in the air tonight”.
Looking at the table a draw would not be a bad result for both sides, so why dont we shake hands now on a draw, open the pubs, and celebrate the fact both clubs have a great chance of promotion??
No!!!
OK, seriously the atmosphere is always better when the game is played at night, but it does make it easier for trouble to go off.
The fact pubs are closed in my opinion makes it worse, if the pubs were open the fans disperse relatively quickly because they want a beer, many towns give away fans designated pubs and then police the crowd to and from the ground. If police truly believe that reducing access to alcohol will help then they are naive, fans will drink outside of town or buy booze from supermarkets. If they want to cause trouble they will, and yes, i am referring to both sets of fans. I was surprised the police did not impose a restricted travel plan, were fans had to arrive by club coach, (with exceptions being made in certain circumstances). As i have mentioned i work in Wolverhampton, but if it meant everyone being able to enjoy the game, and no negative press for either of our clubs relating to hooliganism, i would have agree to it. Oh well lets see what happens, i think our chances in this game depend on what team Mowbray selects, and how well we start the game. We seem to have developed a sluggish start, and Wolves will come straight out of the traps for a derby.
Hope everyone enjoys the game!!!
3-2 to the albion
phillips scoring twice and bednar or miller scoring the other one
SEB and keogh will score the goals for you
Good blog Jarrod. Should be a great game and I’m looking forward to it. Hopefully I won’t be as nervous as I was for the last five minutes at the first leg of the play-offs last year; my heart won’t take that punishment again!! Obviously I’m hoping fo an Albion win, but I would take a point if you offered it to me now as that would put us top on goal difference. If Hull win tonight as well, the there will be 1 point seperating the top four with three games to go - much more interesting than the prem. I’m going for 1-1 with SEB opening the scoring (from a set piece!!!) and Bednar getting the equaliser midway throught he second half.
Here’s a question for both sets of fans. If you were offered defeat in the derby but guaranteed promotion to the Prem, would you take it?
Excellent blog, it just goes to show that the TV people probably don’t even know where the “BLACK COUNTRY” is as the BBC used to do is show the Albion / Wolves games on match of the day just as the closing credits were going on the screen.
What would they show if the baggies, wolves and stoke were to go up this year, match of the day would only last fifteen minutes.
Anyway hope it’s a good game tonight, we’ll all probably have no finger nails left by the end and i think the baggies will sneak it 2-1 with super kev coming off his zimmer frame to pinch the winner.
Morning Jarrod
I’d wish you luck, but I wouldn’t mean it!
Lets hope for a cracking game tonight. We need the points more than you do, so you don’t just fancy rolling over do you?
Hopefully it will go peacefully tonight outside the ground. I remember the night time game at the Hawthorns a few years back. My brother had travelled up 100 miles for the game and because of the fighting outside, the turnstiles were closed early. We ended up watching the game on a TV a few miles from the ground.
Lets hope the headlines are just about the football and not about the neanderthals.
Anyway, I hope the loss won’t be too hard for to take tonight and I’ll give you a wave from the Steve Bull upper as I’m leaving!
Cheers, Nath.
14 A massive yes to think anyone would not take a derby defeat for promotion should be sent to the VILLA.
come on you baggies
At last some constuctive posts, a good game needed to show shy what they are missing, best derby in the country bar none good luck to the tesco bags and dingles.
Come on you Baggies. Boing Boing.
14.. sure would take a defeat if we got promoted
Wolves could stuff us 6 but if we got promoted it would mean nothing.
And I am sure if the boot was on the other foot the Wolfies would say the same.
Losing to your local rivals is no different to losing to scunthorpe for example in my opinion.you get the same no points!!
Score draw tonight i think, and if i am honest i will take that. Have my hat ready to protect me from the neandertholes above
what a refreshing change to see a posting without the “we’re better” than you mentality, so I’ll drag it down…………..wheres Terryinsertwhateverhappenedyesterdaybaggie dissappeared to when the topic is full of sense….lol
Anyway, good luck to both teams tonight, but a little bit more to the ones in gold n black and heres to a renewal of rivalries in the top flight next year
The only way W*lves will win it, is if they sneak a 1-0, or the Baggies will take them to the sword (like last year’s cup win).
However, I’ll take the draw to go back to the top of The Championship. Boing! Boing!
Jarrod.
You certainly seem to bring out the best in both sets of fans. Let’s hope for another day in paradise.
1 SBBA.
Not sure if you mean last time we got up when you say we had a good chance of staying up. If you do I’d disagree. I don’t think many of our fans(once they’d taken off their blue and white glasses,) thought we’d hack it. I want to see us have another go at the prem with the nucleus of this team as I think the style of football will be better suited. It still won’t be easy but I think we’d have a chance.
9 glenn.
I think you’ve been a bit over critical. Barnett is still improving in leaps and bounds, if he was the finished article at the age he was we wouldn’t have got him at the price we did. Moore hasn’t really been given a fair chance by a lot of fans, how can you write him off on what little we’ve seen so far? Cesar, if we go up would probably be better suited to the prem. Beattie has suffered due to our wealth of strikers and has been limited on games. McDonald is another who is improving and may have a good future. The others were purchased to give the squad depth, some on deadline day, remember the win at Leicester with nine players out? I think today’s transfer market is a minefield and I think that on the whole the club have done well this season and we will be shopping in a different store if we get up but due to last season’s inspired purchases we can be more selective. (candidate for longest sentence of the year?)
Finally. Just to echo what everyone else is saying. I’m not going tonight but hope it’s a great game, for Sky’s sake. Hope everyone gets home in one piece and hope we can do it all over again next season in the greed league.
14. I think we’d all agree Albion and Wolves alike, boasting from the championship to prem ‘we beat you last year,’ would have a very hollow ring to it. I’d happily take a 6-0 for promotion.
Great Blog post
I think that simply defending set pieces is only half the threat with Wolves attacking with Eubanks-Blakes pace and skill. What we need to do is retain good possession and not be afraid to take the game to them. I definitely think for Albion being the away team today helps our game. I think it will be very open and can’t see another 0-0. If both sets of fans were offered a point now I think they would begrudgingly take it. Obviously 3 points would be a massive boost but a point and we go top with Bristol playing against Stoke on the weekend.
Let’s hope the fans can maintain the atmosphere that makes this the best rivalry in the country at present without going over the top.
Come on you baggies. Sing your heart out for the lads….