Albion blog: Frontline partnership

Friday 26th September 2008, 9:01AM BST.

Roman BednarI may have been away but I managed to see the game on Sunday and it reminded me of two things about us and the Premier League, writes Albion blogger Jarrod Hill.

Firstly, when I played football at a decent level I had a coach who always droned on and on about football teams being built on partnerships.

It didn’t really sink in as he made us pound out the miles around Chasetown and Burntwood, but now on reflection and with Sunday’s game in mind I understand what he meant.

At 1-2 down Mowbray opted to go 4-4-2 and introduced Miller and Moore, it simply did not work and we ended up spluttering out of the game.

The problem is we do not seem to have a frontline partnership, I still believe Miller, Moore, and particularly Bednar can offer us something in this league, but I do not see them working together.

It possibly points to the reason Mowbray has moulded the team into a fluid 4-5-1 formation, and a fall out of not being able to secure an additional striker before the close of the transfer window.

Carew and Agbonlahor showed how a strike partnership can work and every time the ball was hoofed forward they looked like causing us trouble.

Which brings me on to my second point; I have been surprised by how many teams in the Premier League play the long ball on a constant basis, or direct football to use the new terminology.

Villa used their greatest strength in Carew by hoofing the ball forward at every opportunity, and alongside Everton it just proves that even some teams in the top half of the so called beautiful football Premier League resort to tactics that hurt your eyes.

That said, their tactics worked well when it was combined with arguably Leon Barnett’s worst game in a striped shirt. I am not going to berate him too heavily because he has done remarkably well since the start of the season and at his age is still very much learning his trade.

Saturday sees us visit a club who still hold our manager as somewhat of a legend and I am sure he will want to show them he is as good a manager as he was a player.

Strangely I see Middlesbrough as one of our greatest threats, not in terms of their team, but more as a club who should they fail under Southgate would surely see Mowbray as a possible replacement.

Having seen snippets of Middlesbrough this season they seem a little Jekyll and Hyde and offer us an opportunity of gaining a vital first away win of the season.

Thanks goes to Pete ‘Hilltop Baggie’ Danckert for filling in for me during my absence, I just hope my return coincides with the boys returning to winning ways.

Oh when the stripes go marching in . . .


  1. 1
    Bullseye

    To go into the premiership with less firepower than what you had in the championship is a failure on Mowbrays part. He should have made replacing Phillips his number one priority and it will cost you dear unless Miller, Bednar and Moore suddenly improve. Miller has had his chances in games but clearly isn’t good enough, for all the pretty football you guys play it doesn’t win you games alone. Stoke have proved to be more effective and yet their football isn’t easy on the eye.

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  2. 2
    Nathan Lloyd

    Morning Jarrod, hope you are in fine fettle.

    Your spot on about partnerships. Although SEB scored a boat load of goals for us last season, it was obvious he needed some help up front. Iwelumo turns up this season and we look a completely different side.

    You played some good stuff against the Villa but lacked a bit of cutting edge in the last third (how many cliches can I fit in to 1 sentance?).

    Boro is a tough place to go when they play well. Your right in saying that you never know which Boro will turn up and play.

    Anyway, I’ll go back over the wall. Have a good weekend.

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  3. 3
    Wbaforever

    Nice to have you back Jarrod, and thanks and well done to Hilltop in your absence.

    The one point about the introduction of Miller and Moore on Sunday, yes they did look poor together, but was it entirely down to them ?

    When Bednar and Valero departed, so did our shape and penetration……It was clear that Kim was out of place wide left so was replaced by Greening, naturaly a wide left player, but his loss from the centre where he orchestrates everything was huge, and for me the telling factor.
    I think Moore is being unfairly criticized, he made some good runs into space, but the delivery never came.

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  4. 4
    ChrisBruntsleftfoot

    Totally agree Bully. Well said….

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  5. 5
    Albion1879

    I know the game is about putting the ball away but we are creating chances in games and this is a good thing.
    Goals will come, they always do in football. Whether we play 4-4-2 or 4-5-1.. We do have enough quality no doubt to score goals.

    Lets not get to wrapped up in where we are after 5 games, how many goals we’ve scored, our position etc

    To me, by Nov 1st we should no just how good we are or not. The new players will have settled and hopefully the quality of football will remain.

    Boro, Fulham, Hull and Newcastle to come (excluding Man Utd) and these are the games that will shape our season.

    Starting against the Smoggies on Saturday !!

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  6. 6
    Super Bob

    3.
    I’m sort of with you on this one.

    To me the position Greening has been playing during the last 2 games is the biggest mystery.

    Why is he playing advanced of Koren and Valero ? We need him in the middle , on the ball.He just didn’t see enough of the ball for my liking.Playing Valero just in front of the back 2 doesn’t work.

    I would prefer to see Valero in that advanced position.I thought he was bought as an attacking midfielder ? He hardly got out of our half against Villa.

    As we seem to be intent on playing 4-5-1 and with Brunt out for a month why not give that wide slot to Miller or Moore ? We would still have 4 midfielders for defensive duties.

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  7. 7
    Wbaforever

    I respect and admire Bullseye`s posts, however i cannot agree that the lack of the signature of a striker can be blamed wholely on TM.

    The most expensive commodity in football, a goalscorer, particularly at top level, we will never know, but i cant imagine TM was not persuing a striker/strikers.

    The names of Boyd and Nugent were being bandied about, but to spend 5/6 million apiece on them……..are they really better than what we have ? It`s hypothetical, but i dont think they are.
    Albion operate as a well run club with no rich benefactor who can say…..oh well he didn`t work out we will try someone else,
    we have to be careful and SURE when we spend that kind of money.

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  8. 8
    laughingwolf

    I agree the next month will shape you, but so far, not good enough, 1 goal from open play is shocking. mowbray has a weaker strikeforce than a year ago and this is a failiure on his part. stoke and hull are scoring goals. like we have said many times, playing 1-2′s on the halfway line with no end product will have you finish 20th.

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  9. 9
    wbabomber

    My personal opinion is that if we play 4-5-1 is that the team must include Kim and Valero, with both pushing on to support the attack. Kim will score goals i am sure of it, but he seems to operate better in the middle. For borough i would go with:

    Carson
    Looney, Donk, Olsson, Robbo
    Morrison (left) Greening (holding) Kim and Valero (advanced) Koren (right)
    Bednar

    I would also be tempted to allow Barnett to keep his place and let him go and prove last week was just a blip.

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  10. 10
    wbabomber

    Laughingwolf

    Actually its two from open play, i hope your financial knowledge is better than your football knowledge.
    I do kind of agree with your other points, but we play the Mowbray way, its great to watch and whether we stay up or go down we will do it trying to play football.

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  11. 11
    SuperMaths

    What we need is:-

    1. All first choice back 4 fit and available.

    2. 5 midfielders

    3. 2 up front.

    Those of you that are awake will notice that this makes 12 including Carson – but until we’re allowed to do that we’re either going to be too weak up front or too weak in the middle.

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  12. 12
    London Wolf

    Just stay out of trouble until January and Im sure TM and co will have striker targets lined up.
    I know thats not ideal, but if you do bring some quality in I really think you’re good enough to stay put.

    Good luck chaps.

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  13. 13
    Bullseye

    Wbabomber, i just think that you would have comfortably stopped up if a quality striker had been signed. Mowbray has spent 2-3 million on Moore which is a big gamble on somebody who looks like he ain’t going to player 30+ games due to injuries. Millers first touch is terrible, yes he has a nuisance factor but thats about it which leaves Bednar. So until January, you have 3 strikers to choose from which is a big ask. Maybe Mowbray did try to replace Phillips but judging by the other positions hes strengthened first, maybe he didn’t consider signing a striker a priority. You are as only good as your strikers at the end of the day.

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  14. 14
    TonyWBA

    Super Maths are you Oldham Baggie as I’ve seen that formation posted earlier elsewhere lol

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  15. 15
    SuperMaths

    Tony – they say great minds think alike!

    (Who knew that that saying would stretch to me and Oldham?!!)

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  16. 16
    Great_Barr Baggie

    Jarrod – Agrre with your starting 11; however i’m not a bug fan of Koren wide right. Koren is a player that needs to be in the thick of it making tackles, tracking back and bursting forward. The left is a bit of a problem at the moment and i think that if Mowbray won’t start Moore up front he should get a chance on the left. He did it well at Villa!

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  17. 17
    Filtonwolf (Bristol)

    Still think it’s early days for you yet. I still think you have what it takes to stay up, the team just hasn’t fired together yet but I’m sure it will come and I for one hope it does because I’m one of those people (probably lunatic) that would love to see you, us , villa and the Blues all in the Prem at the same time.
    As regards your striking problems I do think that you need another striker – maybe a big target man that you will have to pay through the nose for – after all you are Prem now !! I just hope that the Jan transfer window doesn’t come too late for you.
    Saturday – think you might be good for a point at worst. Borough are a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde team. Got my fingers crossed for you that they don’t click this weekend.

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  18. 18
    TonyWBA

    This is a post I put elsewhere so copied and pasted as did’nt want to write pretty much the same again

    I’ve been to the 3 home games and watched the Arsenal game on Sky, so I believe I can make a judgement on the Home performances in particular, my belief is that the football is great as you all would of noticed the possesion factor in most games has been notoriously higher to the Baggies, my concern especially on Sunday is that I found myself screaming “get the ball in the box”, and as I said earlier in the week I could then contradict myself by saying “who’s gonna get on the end of it”. I do believe we should be playing 2 up front at home, but then would we keep hold of the ball any better as we know we are at our worst when we have’nt got the ball. I’m sure that is why I’m not a football manager and Tony Mowbray is.
    I feel especially next week against teams like Fulham that we could give the 4-4-2 a try, will TM think the same?
    I also feel Luke Moore is getting heavily criticised due to his links previously with the Vile, but in fairness to him last season he came into an highly successful team who play in a different manner to the Vile and settling in may not of been easy, then we could go onto the moment of madness against Leicester, luckily that result did not cost us dearly. It was my belief that after a pre season he would of gelled with the team and we would reap the benefits from his Premiership experience, but as yet he has only really been given 10-15 minutes here and there, I’m sure many of you on here have played football matches yourselves and can also admit to occasions where you have been sub and to come on for the last few minutes does’nt really give you a chance to shine in the game, back to Moore it is my belief that I’ve seen a bit more effort from him in his brief appearances and would like to see him start a little more but it MUST be a 4-4-2 for him to do that, and once again I believe his partner would need to be Bednar.

    As for the defense I think a little bit of pressure would be taken off them if the goals were flying in the other end, maybe I’m wrong but overall I’m not downbeat at the moment because I can see improvements from previous visits to the Premiership.

    As I have’nt been away from home this season and probably will not go away I will leave the analysis from my point of view to people who have.

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  19. 19
    andrew hodgkinson

    10/wbabomber
    Its actually 3 goals from open play!
    westbrom o arsenal 1
    everton 2 westbrom 1 bednar pen
    bolton 0 westbrom 0
    westbrom 3 westham 2 bednar pen,morrison,brunt
    aston villa 2 westbrom 1 morrison

    my 11 for boro game!
    carson,
    zuiverloon,barnett,donk,robinson,
    koren,valero,greening,morrison,do-heon,
    miller.

    I`d rather play Miller as he at least looks
    like scoring and has that extra bit of pace,
    although Bednar does hold the ball up better
    and can bring other players into the game.
    Tony Mowbray should also go with the 5 man
    midfeild which done so well against Bolton.

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  20. 20
    Charlo_Baggie

    play the same as we did away to bolton and i can see us getting a result! we were tactically excellent that game and may have nicked it but for poor fortune.

    a point is good enough tomorrow. 3 points would be a bonus!

    come on chaps

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  21. 21
    terryLAPTOPbaggie

    if ya think we got pobs tek a look at bolton blackburn spurs newcastle fulham nd weev scored more goals than man u feel better now aye boing boing donk

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  22. 22
    Terry Wills.

    20 Charlo_Baggie.

    Quote ” 3 points would be a bonus!

    To true.Considering that however well we play at Middlesborough (on the odd occasion!) it makes little or no difference to our points tally.

    Like me Cyril Randle can recall (!) our last win was WAY, WAY, back in 1952 when a goal from George Lee secured the two points for a Baggies victory.

    Those were the days. eh Cyril?!

    About time we broke a 56 year old hoodoo but i wouldn’t bet on it!

    “Come on you Throstles”

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  23. 23
    peter pandaal

    It cannot be denied, our failure to land a premiership striker on deadline day, is haunting us match on match.
    The midfield are generating plenty of energy, possession, and ideas—but there is woefully very little end product. This is the premiership, only the strong, well gelled clubs survive.
    What can be done is tap into the midfield and give koren, morrison,et al free licence to scheme further into the oppositions box. They are all well skilled marksmen,given half a chance.
    Come on you baggies, we have enough flair and attacking intent to beat Boro..

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