Calm the key for Baggies skipper
Monday 30th March 2009, 11:20AM BST.
Captain Jonathan Greening has claimed Albion’s composure could keep them in the Premier League as he focused on the ‘panic’ among their big-name rivals.
The skipper feels Albion are calm ahead of the final weeks of the relegation battle while clubs like Newcastle, Blackburn and Middlesbrough are fretting about the run-in.
He said: “If we get a result against Stoke then some of the bigger clubs who are down there may start panicking. We were expected to be down there, but look at Newcastle. They could end up being like Leeds.
“It’s not nice to go down there and Leeds went down with all the players they had.
“We’ve got Sunderland and Blackburn to play, so we’ve got to be positive.
“Middlesbrough wouldn’t have thought they would be down there, or Newcastle or Blackburn. They have been finishing in the top eight.
“It’s a big thing for them to be down there. They may start panicking and twitching if we get something against Stoke and Portsmouth.
“They’ve got problems off the field as well, so everyone is panicking a bit and we have to make the most of the situation.
“I think teams like Portsmouth, Newcastle, Middlesbrough and Blackburn and even Sunderland at the start of the season would have been thinking they’d at least be in the top half of the table throughout the season.
“If we can get a few good results together we can put the pressure on them.”
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All very good teams above us losing but no use if we don’t win! Luv TM and his brand of football but doesn’t have the quality of player to carry it off yet (table doesn’t lie), he needs more time and money to weed out the players not quite up to it. The only person i would genuinely regret leaving if we go down will be TM and for loyalty Clem
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Not quite the mind-game quality of Sir Alex, but C+ Jonno!
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great to hear Jonno hasnt given up, but lets be honest we dont stand a chance against Stoke. They might not be pretty to watch but they know how to stay in this league and we dont. I’d rather have Pulis than Mowbray in charge. As for Portsmouth, if Crouch is injured there may be a chance but i carnt see us getting anything.
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3. Got to disagree with you there John. There is no way I’d wanna pay good, hard earned cash to go up the Hawthorns to watch the tripe that Pulis makes his sides play…we traditionally are a footballing side and I’d much rather have a manager like TM in charge who actually believes in good play. I think, although it’s not been our season at all, we need to give TM a bit of our patience. I don’t wan’t ‘Wimbledon’ style football at my club!
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I’d rather have Mowbray than Pulis in charge.
Staying up isn’t as important as enjoying watching. Just think how much more entertaining a season we’ll have if we go down and romp to another championship title.
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3) John – There have been many ridiculous comments on these peges but yours has “taken the biscuit”!!
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3. John are you off your head!!!!
Pulis or TM
Ok Stoke are above us (well everyone is come to think of it put I pay my money to be entertained. I have had a season ticket since the days of atkinson and through the dark days of gould etc..
And I am 100 percent sure should we ever get a manager that plays football in the way Pullis has Stoke playing I would not be renewing it for next season even if it meant we retained premier league status.
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5, Are you serious?
So whats the point of winning promotion, or turning up to play for that matter?
Oddest comment i’ve ever seen.
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That is the worst attempt at mind games Greeno! baggieleaddie I wouldnt say you are a traditional footballing side. You have attempted (with many peoples praise) to play football and have a few times but most of the time it has been losing the ball and being completely out fought. I know albion fans are split in their opinions of Mowbray and should he stay, but I think he is the best man for the job.
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I agree with all saying they’d rather see us play football under TM than watch Rory Delap throw a ball into a box for 90 minutes under Pulis.
We’re not picking up the results we require at the moment and Stoke are….fair enough, but I’d much rather watch us lot than them week in / week out.
There’s a footballing culture throughout the Hawthorns now and that’s been installed by TM. The youth teams, academy, reserves and 1st team all try to pass the ball and play ‘the beautiful game’ and if we had 7 more points (which we easily should have) everyone would be saying that it’s working, we’ll stay up etc and well done for palying football and getting the results.
However, we haven’t got those extra points, but it’s been down to silly mistakes time and again, and missed chances.
I believe we are still moving in the right direction, and this is probably a matter of 1 step backwards, to take 2 steps forward eventually.
We will eventually crack the Prem under TM I’m sure. He has learnt a lot this season and we as a club will come back stronger for it.
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Just give us three points occasionaly,i don’t give a flying fig how we get ‘em,long ball, hoof ball, short passing pretty football,i know where i would rather be placed in the Prem. compared with Stoke and Hull it isn’t where we are.
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No.8,
I can see exactly where he’s coming from, i think its called “looking at the bigger picture”.
Besides, if you don’t enjoy watching it, why on earth would you keep going? No-one enjoys watching a side thats losing every week,but its inevitable during a supporters lifetime that they will experience this at some point, but hte bottom line is i want to be entertained.
I too would rather watch TM’s football than Pulis’s, but i wouldn’t particulary knock that style as its effective and has got Stoke in the prem and may well keep them there, but i just wouldn’t want to watch it every week! Theres room in football for many different styles and systems – its why we love the game, how boring might it be if every team played exactly the same way?
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Stoke look likely to be staying up, we are certain to go down. Who cares how attractive the football is, its going to be championship football next season. Anyway, i dont find passing the ball sideways before conceding goals very entertaining, if anyone of you do you need your heads seeing to. The idea of the game is to win
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3. Do me a favour! What a ridiculous comment!! I can only assume you have never seen the Albion or Stoke play, because if you had, you would not make a comment like that!!
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jonno forget the talk,just walk the walk,towards stokes goal may i add, and by the way jonno can you tell the lads to play a little more direct like we did against spurs, man city, and boro
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The only reason we are calm is due to the fact we are not fighting for anything to be honest, were practicly down so the pressure is off us.
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Anyone who would rather lose, but look pretty, should watch female tennis. Not having talent and playing like your Arsenal, but losing is not exactly genius. Having not budget and staying up is. For winners, anyway
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i wonder how many of you whingers went to wembley twice,aye boing boing theres only one TONY MOWBURY
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We have got to TRY to stay up, but at the end of the season if all teams have given 100% three of them will still go down. So all the players must try to remain in the Prem, but if we do get relegated then that’s how it is. If this happens then TM is still the best option to get promotion. I reckon he got a bit of a shock this season with the overall quality of the Prem and will be wiser next time around.
Finally, playing like Stoke may retain Prem status, but not for long. Remember the glorious “Great Escape” – all very exciting but involved mainly long balls to Kevin campbell or the towering Robert Earnshaw. Worked once then didn’t next season. Real Prem status is about playing football and “building” a squad over time.
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morning pop pickers who sung we are the champions aye boing boing yazooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
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Morning all, have a look on the most commented story about SEB getting an award for Championship player of the year and read the comments.
No-one likes Shadrag, not even his own kind!!
Brilliant!!
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read um ned,no wonder he comes on here all the time your the only one that loves him,aye boing boing dingle no mates
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LAFFINWOLF I WILL BE YOUR FRIEND,ITS NOT YOUR FAULT YOUR A HALFWIT,AYE BOING BOING PLANK
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A lot of strange new names on here, Albion fans?
If Tony Pulis keeps Stoke up then he has done a good job. The point is he won’t pull it off again next season playing this type of football, the other teams work you out, where are Wimbledon, Watford etc? To play good football you need good footballers, have Stoke got the money to bring in enough of this type of player in the close season, that’s assuming Pulis has it in him to play this style, he’s shown no signs so far.
Tony Mowbray said when he came here that turning us into a Prem club was a long term strategy, not a quick fix. The fans that have been here for a long time, as well as well as the newer ones that believe in the club will not only understand this but will applaud it. After careful housekeeping and building by Ronnie Allen, Big Fat Ron came in and threw money about. It was very exciting for a couple of years then very depressing for many more years in the wilderness.
Tony Mowbray is our best hope for the future. Let’s hope the knockers don’t get their way. Remember Aidy Boothroys is out there waiting. Is that really what you want?
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NEWSFLASH albion are in talks with arsenal about extending simpsons loan till end of next season aye boing boing he came from london town
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