Two games and two defeats but amazingly I am still not ready to push the panic button, writes Albion blogger Jarrod Hill.
Saturday served as a harsh lesson to some of the Albion players who have not experienced the Premier League before. We dominated play and possession for large parts of the game before Everton ruthlessly finished the game with two goals from seasoned top flight players.
The second goal was conceded in typical Albion sloppy fashion, but although we were two goals down it was our attacking options that worried me.
We need to find some teeth upfront, we lacked a cutting edge, and I counted numerous balls into the box that we failed to get on the end of. Many fans will point to the fact of playing one up front and whether this is a tactic best reserved for away games.
What is clear is that Mowbray needs to sign at least one possibly two strikers before the end of this week.
I will always support any player pulling on the blue and white stripes, but when I see Craig Beattie coming off the bench in a game that needs saving I couldn’t help think that we are struggling in that department. The guy sitting in front of me summed it up by saying,” If Craig Beattie`s the answer I don’t know what the question is”.
On a positive, I thought Zuiverloon had an excellent debut, it was also good to see Koren back, and with Bednar’s penalty, at least we are off the mark in terms of scoring goals.
Tonight sees us enter into the League Cup by visiting Hartlepool. The Cup has been tarnished in recent seasons and is truly seen as the poor relation by all football fans.
However, this season it could become a source of confidence for the squad.
Winning can become a habit as can losing, and confidence needs to be in plentiful supply for what could be a difficult season. It will also allow some of the fringe players to get some game time and push their claims for the first team.
I think this week will see some frenetic transfer activity for many clubs, I am hoping we can secure at least a new striker and a new centre half.
Over a few beers on Saturday we were discussing our new record signing, Valero.
One of the lads suggested we all wear sombreros at the West Ham game to welcome him to the Hawthorns, thought it was an excellent idea, so I am just off to invest in a few boxes of them to sell outside the ground.
I need to make a few extra quid; my bid to become the new shirt sponsor is a couple of pounds short!!
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38 Comments
I’m not here to make silly comments or gloat over another defeat for you guys.
I have been saying for weeks as have many of you lot that a goalscorer is a must if you are to have any chance of staying up and saturday was proof that was correct. I now read Mowbray thinks you will be ok without another striker and is looking at 2 more players when im sure you were promised 4 new players last week(after the valero signing).
Your defence has been improved and you have a number of quality midfielders its just blatantly obvious you need at least 1 striker yet Mowbray is the only one who cant see this.
Arent you worried??
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I think anyone who has seen both of our opening games would agree with your concerns over the strikers, Jarrod. Personally I wouldn’t totally rule out playing one up front but it needs to be the right player in that position - and it isn’t Miller. If Brunt is going to be a regular this season, then surely the lone striker has to be Bednar as he can get on the end of the balls into the box. I can see an improvement in Miller from last season and maybe Mowbray wants to give him a chance, but he is still a long way short of the finished article and we can’t afford to wait around whilst he improves. Of course the other concern is Luke Moore. We have invested a decent amount of money in him, by Albion’s standards, and he has been here too long now to use the “settling in” argument so it’s about time we started to see a return on our investment.
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Good honest blog again Jarrod.Really hope we don’t find our traditional banana skin tonight and Tomo at least keeps the nucleus of the main team.Memories of Cardiff last year(although Cardiff played really well)are still painful and a repeat would be beyond damaging right now.
News of ANOTHER midfieder (Zhi)apparently on his way has got me twitchy-it’s so obvious our most dire need is for a striker followed by a centre half.Still-let’s see what unfolds this week.
Attack attack attack!
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Jarrod,
I agree we are not ready to panic just yet but I have a couple of observations about the game. Whilst Koren and Kim are clearly good footballers I thought they looked lightweight on Saturday neither looked happy to tackle Jagielka and for me they got knocked off the ball to easily. Whilst Meite made a mistake for the first goal I thought that Zuiverloon was close enough to Osman to have got a challenge in, he didn’t and they scored. Unfortunately the second goal was priamrily down to Carson in my book but again Meite should have dealt with it if he was in doubt. Unfortuantely you get punished in the Prem for this type of error. Miller was a willing runner but up against two excellent centre backs in Lescott and Yobo he did not really threaten their goal. I think we have to play two up front at home if we are going to be successful. In Mowbray we trust but a holding midfielder is I think a priority.
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Southern Wolves
We weren’t necessarily promised 4 more players but i think TM was after that amount, maybe the board have stepped in for money reasons beings though we have spent around the £20m mark already, hopefully this isn’t the case.
I’m sure a lot of people will bring the KP story up as a forefront on why we weren’t able to score the chances we churned up on Saturday and I do hope the next few days see’s some proven scorer in talks with us, I knmow it will be hard to get a proven Prem striker to sign for us at this stage so maybe this is where TM will dabble in the loan market. I remember us being linked with Saha on loan, I only wish this were true. I have always liked the guy. Hopefully with the imminent signing of Berbatov we can stand a decent chance of bagging Saha for a season.
Despite Everton finishing 5th last season I was pretty miffed we couldnt churn a draw out against them, maybe I was just being too confident. I recall a certain 3 word sentence comiong from my mouth when I saw the final score it started with fFOR and ended with SAKE
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I just hope Mowbray has some money left for a couple of strikers. I am still surprised he hasnt utilised the loan market, it proved to be a useful tool last season. Zhi can also play at centre half i am reliably informed, but when Tex comes back we are going to have a squad that is heavy in midfield and light in others. Lets see what we have by the end of this week.
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I just want to applaud the singing supporters in the Smethwick for drumming up a fantastic wall of sound around the four sides of the stadium. ‘Oh when the stripes, go marchin’ in… It was rocking and as certain players have already mentioned they really appreciated it. Gianni seemed well impressed. It is unfortunate that we didn’t make our dominance in possesion tell at that time and get our noses in front.
More of the same please from the Smethwick (is that a drum I can here in there ?)
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I know no-one wants to hear this, but its blantently obvious to me that we are missing a certain Kevin Phillips. I know he’s not the youngest or the fastest, but with his sheer skill/ luck of positioning, he doesn’t need to be. He’s banged one in in every game for blues so far and i still think he could have done the same for us. (I’d have had much more confidence with KP on the bench than Beatie). He’s gone now, so we need someone to fill his boots. I’m still waiting for Luke Moore to prove his worth and the more I seem to be waiting, the more I’m loosing faith in him. He needs to score tonight, to save himself in my eyes.
Miller has spells of looking great and I’m not sure if he’s just being unlucky or if he just gets sussed to easily by the opposition. Bednar is like a dog after a bone and I feel he’s always likely to be a threat.
The rest of the squad are looking good, we just need more striking options.
I think we always play better with 2 up front and I think thats how we’ll play tonight.
Here’s hoping Luke Moore opens his account tonight.
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Re: Southern Wolves
I think it’s obvious to everyone (including Mowbray)that we’re short up front.
I would suggest that when he’s talking to the media, he’s backing his current strikers so as not to undermine their confidence ( he can hardly say publicly that his strikers aren’t good enough). I’m sure the club are working on bringing in a striker or two, either before the window shuts, or via the loan market.
Of course we’re worried,it’s one hell of a step up to try to compete in this league.
By the way - nice to see a constructive comment from one of your lot, rather than the childish school playground name calling that goes on on these pages most of the time.
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jarrod can i have one at cost price plz,as for saturday and the week before youv only got to look at the subs bench to see where the problem lies but no doubt ToMo will get it sorted,aye boing boing
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i was there saturday, and everybody who went has the same point we knocked the ball around really well but there was no end product, i am a fan of miller and sure he will become a good striker eventually, but playing him on his own up front in the prem will be more in his benefit than the teams, bednar deserves his crack up front as much as miller and we do need another striker before the end of the week, im in favor of Lita, Mifud, Doyle, F.Campbell as we have all seen there qualitys as for this oscar trejo i cant find anything of him playing much for mallorca last season which means we are taking a risk and counting on him being a 1st season gem.
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Normandy Baggie
i am one of the Smethwic boys that loses there voice on the following morning all for the cause. and we will continue to do the same all year would like to hear everyone get behind the team vocally when we’re pushing for a goal, and yes it is a drum we went mad last year when the stewards escorted them out a game last year. BOING BOING!!!
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My fear with Oscar Tejo is that he looks to be one for the future whereas we need one for the here an now. Re our attacking, the difference for me is when we play two up front last season we invariably had Kev dropping off and finding space which caused opposing teams problems. When we have five in midfield most of our play is in front of the opposition and as we know it is easier to defend against.
We need strikers yes, but we also need a plan b in terms of style and attacking purpose.
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I would also like to mention the support from the Smethwick, i sit right at the back, and the noise generated was as good as it gets. In the vine after, even the Everton fans were saying it was the loudest they had heard from half a stand.
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Dave
Luke Moore hasn’t played a minute on the pitch this season, so to say you’re losing faith is a bit harsh!! When he comes back from injury maybe……
Agree with DOHR re: Southern, I think Mowbray’s well aware of our shortcomings in the final third, you only have to read his post-match remarks, but he’s not going to publicly undermine his current striking options.
I love Tony Mowbray, but for 12 months I’ve been saying that anybody who sets themselves up as an attacking team is only restricting themselves by playing 4-5-1. Everybody in the ground on Saturday knew that Everton were gonna score and that we would’ve needed more than 1 to win the game, or any game this season for that matter.
We got away with 4-5-1 last year because of the quality of the opposition, lets not fall into the trap of thinking it’s a successful way of operating.
Anybody remember Wolves at home last year 0-0? We spent the majority of the game in possession of the ball but played the game in front of them and looked toothless in the final third, despite having the better footballers on the day.
The warning signs have been there, 4-5-1 is not our best way of playing, and it never was. I hope Saturday gives Sir Tony food for thought.
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you lot are playing some realy good football. but as proved against Pompey in the cup last season no end product if you can get an out and out striker you will be ok.
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Lee Hughes scored three goals on Saturday, perhaps we shouldn’t have let him go either. KP chose to go and is scoring in a lower division as he knew he would, this doesn’t mean he would in the Prem but he’s gone and we’ll never know so let’s let it go.
Not often I disagree with TM but Miller as a lone striker was a mistake. Ishmael needs to play on the shoulder of the last defender but when both CH’s barely leave there own penalty area he is severely limited. Bednar should have come on earlier and taking off two midfielders limited our effectiveness. Having said that I wouldn’t swap him with any other manager, he will get it right sooner rather than later.
I’ve seen us lose twice and still feel full of optimism. We have half a new team getting to know each other. Luke Moore would have been a player better suited to play against Everton. Against a negative team you need a quick player able to make late runs.
Tremendous vocal support, let’s keep it going. Great to be a Baggie.
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we all know we need an experienced out and out striker,,mowbray knows this he aint daft but a good striker is hard to find and probably the hardest to sign,,mowbray has started rebuilding from the back and soon hopefully the jigsaw will be finished and we can all calm down,we will see…in mowbray we trust…..PLAYING IN THE PREM THE MOWBRAY WAY,,IN STYLE OF COURSE,,OOOOOOOOOOOH YES..
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Totally agree with wbabomber—-I just don’t get the tactics at all. We must get in a proven prem striker and yet today’s rumour is that we have signed another midfielder—Is TM becoming Martin Jol? On the subject of both games—there could not have been a better time to play both teams as they both had to blood kids but we have no points at all so Jarrod unlike you I am very worried. If however we sign two strikers and another good defender like Hyypia who is subject of a bid from Stoke we will be fine.
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Disappointed but not downhearted.Realistic summary of the game there where so many pluses not least Gianni, what quality!They had 2 chances and took them we didn’t.Too early to judge our strikers but i’m sure T.M.has been working hard to replace K.P.The fees ,wages and attracting someone to a newly promoted side may prohibit us at this stage.Having said that i wouldn’t be surprised if we broke our transfer record to get the right man.Another exciting week ahead i feel.
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If TM continues to play the same system (4-5-1), which I hope he doesn’t, he’s got to give Bednar a go. Remember what a good job he did when Philips and Miller were injured last season! I know it’s a lot harder in the prem but he suits the lone striker role a lot better than miller. We desperately need to replace Philips which is going to be very difficult on our budget, he would have been the difference against everton without a doubt! May be we should’ve held back the £3.5m we wasted on Luke Moore and put it with whatever cash we’ve got left and bought some quality stikers! P.s I hope Moore proves me wrong!
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Having lived in Spain a few years now, just like to point out that I´ve never actually seen anyone wearing a sombrero here. Think you´ll find it´s more common in Mexico. Don´t want to confuse the new boy, do we? Just a simple sign saying `¡Hola Valero!´ or `Bienvenido´(Welcome)should suffice and be much more appreciated. Try scoffing sunflower seeds and spitting the shells onto the pitch whilst waving your arms frantically as well. That should make him feel at home. Gracias.
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Has anybody else heard that Morrison maybe joining Blackburn?
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Bomber & 19. Glen. Think you’re right my friends. You won the chamionship last year by playing flat out attractive football. Now I’m not advocating that you can play your football this year like you did last but I’m sorry 4 5 1 at home is not the way to go. I don’t really want to drag up the KP discussion again but I think that was the big mistake you’ve made. Not suggesting he could play 90 mins of Prem football anymore, but coming off the bench with 20 mins to go, I think he would have been invaluable for you.
Anyway as a fan of West Mids football I really do hope you stay up there so thet we can have a real West Mids derby next season !!
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Tony Mowbray played Ishmael Miller up front on
his own against Mallorca and it didnt work,he
then put Roman Bednar along side him and we looked
a totally different team,we must start playing 1
up top if we are to suceed.
I THINK MOWBRAY HAS BEEN GETTING TIPS ON HOW
TO PLAY FROM BRYAN ROBSON!
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Dont panic lads and lassies, its undignified! We are not a bad team! we just need some fine tuning.I thought there were some excellent performances on saturday. Zuiverloon was absolute class and The lads at the back looked very good until they had a ten minute los of concentration. They will learn from their mistakes when they play together longer.
We seem much better at defending set pieces than last seasson though we arent any better at taking them!Meite is having a good effect on Barnett and his experience will be of great benefit. I have to agree about the 4.5.1 as it seems to waste the talents of Chris Brunt. He needs targets in the box who can head the ball, and that aint one of Miller’s strengths.I think we would have gone 442 if Luke Moore had been fit. The fans need to get behind Luke as they did brilliantly with the team on Saturday. It wont take long for everyones heads to drop if we lose a few more, especially with Soke and Hull getting points. I am still confident that the goals and the points will come. two games in is not the time to panic . We are only 3 points behind Arsenal!
Boing! Boing!
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There is no need to panic we are going to finish in the top half this season.The new back 5 have played 2 games and already look safer than last season apart from the one mistake.Look at the positives KOREN after 4 weeks out looked the premier player,gianni best debut since Stathen at stoke away and we won,the whole team growing in confidence.One striker two strikers no strikers he did this for Hibbs againstt Rangers and won,this team is full of goals.THEFURTURES BRIGHT ITS BLUE AND WHITE.
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Yes we need a striker, although we know Bednar is capable of scoring goals he hasn’t been given a chance yet, the last 15 minutes of 2 games isn’t enough.
I hate to sound negative with just 2 games played but if Mowbray doesn’t start playing a 4-4-2 then we won’t pick any points up! It’s good to notch up 67% of possesion against a side like Everton but not when there’s no end product.
All we seem to be signing are Midfielders, yes we’re all excited at the signing of Valero, but reports today suggest we’ll be wrapping up Zheng Zhi from Charlton in the next couple of days. Real Mallorca have already said no to us signing Oscar Trejo and apparently the player himself wants to stay in Spain so whats the point wasting time chasing him when there are only 6 days to sort transfers out, and lets face it we all know how long it takes Albion to get a signing through.
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1.
I am worrid yes i fully agree a striker is needed and it certainly was proved at the Everton game, all that possesion and we got nowhere, i think we need at least 2 strikers, so that side of things im worrid but about te 2 games we have played im not because the two teams we played finished in the top5 last year so we probably wasnt expected to win however i thought we should of won at home to Everton, so no need for the panic button yet, but we do need strikers!
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given the fact there are only 6 days left now i suspect we will see quicker tranfers manifesting themselves, the board and rest of management aren’t stupid and im sure they won’t risk our future this season. they have already sepnt
£22.5 mil so why stop at the most important signing, although as stated above .Bednar has scored 1 goal in 30 minutes. I see that as a decent start, hopefully he’ll notch one or two tonight! Come on Roman do the business buddy!!
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We must be patient but not get too far behind.
TM will have to change some of his ideas regarding the way he is playing the strike force and i say it once again, we should have given KP 2 years.Luke Moore is not the answer we must sign a quality sriker or we will be playing the dingles again next year.
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Hows the points total going? Wahey!
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wbabomber said:
“My fear with Oscar Tejo is that he looks to be one for the future whereas we need one for the here an now”
Spot on mate!
Miller, Moore and McDonald are all young with possible good futures ahead of them (and Bednars still relatively young & improving) - but we need a proven goalscorer NOW!
I’m a little concerned about Miller having to shoulder so much a workload & expectation up front on his own. Its a tough and often thankless task playing up front on yer own for even experienced seasoned pro’s, let alone a young kid with so much to learn. i hope it doesn’t affect his confidence..and therefore his form.
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Morrison to Blackburn?news to me, anybody else heard this.Shola in maybe?Is he any better than Moore
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I too agree that it’s far too early to be pushing any panic button!
I can see Zhi from Charlton, and maybe Trejo being added BUT don’t forget, we still have two loan signings available.
Keep The Faith Everyone
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why is it that we always lose to crap teams i.e hartlepool everton /the arsenal game was great but making six changes tonight against hartlepool (league 2) fair play koren but super kp bangin them in for blues i don’t care what other people say about this side to late now we got 40 million left lets buy 2 quality strikers get rid of kiely give danek a chance get rid of barnett get some young blood in and don’t play games with formations we can be better than this come on tm or ticket sales will drop really fast we are playin and then it’s start from number one use the god damn money and get a buyer in that will flash the cash. CHAIRMAN OUT CHAIRMAN OUT! ! ! !
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I agree with most of what is said above.
Kevin and Zoltan have gone so we must look forward to a new striker coming in before next Monday.
A new forward should have been our top priority from the end of last season–its the one area of the team which I believe is weaker now than it was when we played QPR to lift the Championship and we have stepped up another level.
I do hope JP and the Board support Tony to get in one or two strikers even if they are on loan.
I thought the same as the guy in front of Jarrod about Beattie–he has given his all and I wouldnt fault him but he and SM are not the solution at this level.
Still optimistic TM will get it right
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Hi Jarrod
Bolton should be a good chance to grab some points especially against the ginger one!
Stay positive mate, I’m sure that first win is just around the corner!
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