Boing Backability for the Baggies
Monday 29th November 2010, 9:05AM GMT.
Yes I know it’s not a real word but it really should be! writes Albion blogger Jarrod Hill.
Saturday’s win at Goodison Park had all the ingredients that thrilling games need to have to remain in our memory banks for years to come. Lots of goals, disputed refereeing decisions, a goal of the month contender, and more importantly three desperately needed points for Roberto Di Matteo’s boys.
We all knew how much our boys needed a result, and we didn’t gain our boing boing nickname for nothing.
Friday’s blog stated our need to have a change of luck as well as an upturn in form, however on Saturday we got both. With the score line at 1-2 our South American hot-head Gonzalo Jara got involved in an incident that another referee on another day could have interpreted differently and when I say differently I mean he could have been the one taking an early bath rather than Mikel Arteta.
But hey we were due a bit of luck from those people posing as referees, and our play more than deserved the win. Everton missed some glorious chances and Scott Carson again played well to keep us on top, yet on reflection that was just a side story to the four fantastic goals we scored.
Paul Scharner opened his Baggies account with the type of goal we have been waiting for, a goal we had got used to seeing him score for his previous employers.
The second goal was simply straight out of the top draw, postage stamp stuff as Chris Brunt unleashed a curling free kick into the top corner. Two keepers would have struggled to stop it and it was great to see him back on the pitch after a recent injury picked up on international duty.
But the great goals did not stop there, Somen Tchoyi has been unlucky not to get more game time in many fans opinion and he did his chances no harm at all when he climbed off the bench to score another cracker. He looks a threat whenever he gets the ball and was again involved when we scored the fourth, it was a real team goal and although the powers that be gave it as an own goal Youssouf Mulumbu had more than just a hand in it.
His late sending off would have been laughable if it wasn’t so damaging to our preparations for the next two fixtures. He, like Gonzalo Jara needs to learn to be a little smarter when it comes to the officials and giving them opportunities to penalise us.
His red card was completely overshadowed by the result and the three points feel like a huge shot in the arm for all connected to the club. I know it helped make my weekend great and as we approach Christmas I am sure most fans are happy to be sat in twelfth position in the league with 19 points. I still feel the need to look over our shoulders and the five point gap down to the bottom three is still too close for us to get over confident, but at the same time that small cushion is as welcome as a mug of mulled wine on a cold winter’s day.
Our attentions now turn to our League Cup quarter-final game at Ipswich, and it feels good to have a break away from the pressure of getting three points. The chance to make the last four of the competition is good for the club and exciting for the fans and it will be interesting to see who our head coach Roberto Di Matteo choses to play. Up until now he has used the competition to give game time to a number of fringe players, but with a bigger prize now within his grasp will he be tempted to play a stronger side?
I wait with baited breath, and at this point in time i just feel glad to be Baggie and look forward to the game.
Sometimes we feel deflated, sometimes elated, sometimes what happens on a Saturday effects your mood for weeks, forth coming games fill your thoughts as you try to sleep, and provide conversation while you enjoy a pint with your mates. But one thing always remains constant, it is never boring being a Baggie!
Up the Baggies.
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Latest Blog — Same again for West Brom
What a strange two weeks it has been since our last game. I haven’t looked over my neighbour’s fence with as much interest since Pamela Anderson moved in next door and regularly used her trampoline, writes Albion blogger Jarrod Hill.
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Fantastic result, fantastic goals and a real boost just in the nick of time. RDM does need to have ‘a not so quiet word’ with Jara, frankly he was lucky not to walk and this is not a one off for him. Mulumbu, red card for celebrating a goal (great as it was) and a soft yellow card, again RDM have a word! We need our best players available every game, then we have got as good a chance as anybody in this league.
But today I am a happy Baggie. Boing Boing!!
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JARROD
I like you was made up with the result Saturday, we really needed to stop the rot.
I see you have had another swipe at Referees , are they any worse than they have ever been ? . I have followed the Albion since 1969 and in all that time Supporters up and down the land have moaned about the standard of refereeing. I think they have a difficult job , that is not helped by the poor behaviour of players and managers , there are good refs and bad one’s , which i think we will just have to live with, as i cannot see the Authorities changing anything in the forseeable future. I truly believe that over a season these things even themselves out and at the end of the season teams finish were they deserve to .
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Great Blog again Jarod.
Fantastic result and one which will hopefully give us the confidence to kick on over the next couple of very winnable games.
I have major concerns with Jara, in my humble opinion he is going to cost us some more points in the near future by getting himself sent off again. Gave him the benefit of the doubt against Blackpool, but there was no excuse on Saturday, he was extremely lucky, how the ref didn’t see that I don’t know. But on saying that, Cahill was lucky as well when he kicked out at Jara just before Arteta’s stamp, which was quite frankly the most stupid thing I have seen in a while. Please RDM have a word with Jara before its too late.
But apart from Jara, I must admit I’m loving life as a Baggie at the moment. We are playing some great football, scoring some great goals and we look like we belong in this league. Keep it up Albion.
Agree Jarod, Tchoyi deserves a chance to start.
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Scott Carson is my hero,inglands inglands no1 inglends no1 aye boing boing
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Great result, need to follow it up with a win over newcastle and we can go into the derby season full of confidence.
I think di matteo needs to drop thomas, barnes was better against stoke and tchoyi against everton. He is being carried at present and needs a rest to re charge and reflect.
PS. I think Jara is inline for a bafta for best drama performance in a sporting role after his pre stamp rolling around.
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roll along wednesday,i think he will put put a strong side out for 2 reasons,1 we dont play till sunday,2 cuz all the fringe players out on loan :-) aye boing boin
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Wall Heath Baggie
You have raised an interesting and very topical debate in regard to the recent standard of refereeing. I have been watching football since about 1981 on a reglar basis and in my own honest opinion beleive the standard of refereeing is in a very poor state.
I am not soley blaming the refs as i appreciate that there are a number of contributing factors. Firstly the fact that all decisions are re run over an over again and examined in the minutest of detail. Secondly players cheat, yes they cheat, diving, feigning injury, and all sorts of shenanigans.
Yet i feel the biggest problem refs have today that they did not have years ago is the fact that they are no longer allowed to use their own common sense when it comes to making a decision.
Booking players for celebrating goals is just plain ridiculous, surely the joy of scoring a goal sould be celebrated and enjoyed, yet we have allowed stupid decisions like this to creep into our game as we know it.
However i do think that i have seen poorer refereeing performances in recent seasons than ever before. The insistence on keep tweaking rules doesnt help either, the offside rule is now so complicated it is farcical.
So yes, i agree the job of a ref these days isnt easy, but hey that is why they get paid big bucks to do it, but it seems a week doesnt go by without us discussing the officials, and surely that is a bad sign, especially after the four goals we all saw on Saturday!!!!!
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One other point i forgot to mention in the blog was regards to RDM.
In Fridays blog i stated that he was now facing possibly his biggest challenge since joining us as this was the first time we had gone a number of games without winning.
On Saturday i think he proved he can withstand the pressure and has the ability to inspire his players when the chips are down.
Boing backability i think they call it!!!
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Time to use the squad over the next few weeks. For starters, Morrison and Thomas are both flagging a bit and could probably do with a week or two off now so they are flying come the Wolves game and Christmas rush.
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it must be freezin out,sumbodys just walked past our house with a wolfs hat n scarf on,aye boing boing
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Jara worries me. He seems to have a bit of the dreaded Muscat in him.
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Some refereeing decisions leave a lot to be desired. I agree with a referees league, it would allow the cream to rise to the top. Jara needs a cooling off period. Let players celebrate their goals but as soon as the opposing team is in place the referee can then restart the match. That will cut out some of the childish celebrations. What’s wrong with punching the air or the index finger salute as players jog back to resume the game. Brunt has to be worth £50m if he’s worth a penny.
I know I go on but Tchoyi needs more game time so he can really click into gear. Also Dorrans in the Ipswich game with Read.
BOING~~~~BOING~~~~JtH.
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On another point , Super Mick from the Dark side reckons people who do blogs are Numpties, what do you lot reckon ?????
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At the moment Jara is a complete liability compared with last season where he was so composed on the ball and passed it for fun.On saturday he could easily of been sent off twice for the elbow and the two footed tackle.His passing is awful and his tackling very risky.I feel very sorry for Stephen Reid who I have yet to see have a bad game for us and is a very solid alternative but it was a fantastic result on Saturday and much needed.
I want to see our strongest team out for the league cup and really go for Ipswich after their thrashing on Sunday,we are in a stable position in the league and a semi final is within our hands if we take it seriously.Leicester,Man City,Ipswich,Pontentially Villa,Does it ring a bell to another famous cup run in the past?????
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It is true the result overshadowed the Mulumbu dismissal.
Yet it was that dismissal which highlighted so much of what is wrong with the game at the moment and why referees don’t get the respect they should have.
The second yellow card was so soft. I didn’t even think it was a foul and had to rewind match of the day several times…still I don’t think it was a foul.
Bomber Brown, commentating on Beacon, kept repeating that Albion needed to be careful as the referee would be wanting to even up the sending offs. The Mulumbu decision reeked of this. My esteem for this referee disappeared.
Shameful.
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Wall Heath Baggie
Lol couldnt agree more!!
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(13)
Wall Heath,
I think winning a match has gone to his head.
Further more, He doesn’t know what he’s on about half the time. Just trying to make himself important.
BOING~~~~BOING~~~~JtH.
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Wall Heath
I reckon he read Tim’s blog last week where he said Wolves are better than the Albion!!
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2 Wall Heath.
I agree with you on this!!!!!!!!! But only up to a point.
I heard a player this morning mention Kevin Lynch. For those that don’t remember him, he would have given Rob Stiles a run for his money as the all time worst referee. Which goes to show that there have always been numpties.
I think the difference these days is that the overall standard is so low. We have the show offs like Graham Poll. He is just a reincarnation of Clive Thomas, two legends in their own lunchtime that thought they were more important than the game. What we don’t have are the Jack Harris’ and Keith Coopers.
I think this is down to television. It highlights mistakes and allows the big hitters like Ferguson and Wenger to exert massive pressure. In trying to avoid the ire of these two they forget that they are there to officiate a game between two football teams in an unbiased manner. Once you start down this way of thinking it’s a long way back.
What’s the answer?
1. I’d like to see the Rugby Union code on the pitch. Players not allowed to question decisions or even approach the referee.
2. Managers and players not allowed to comment on refereeing decisions until 24 hours after the game.
Will this happen? No way because Sky, the real controllers of our game will never allow it.
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PS. I do realise that Graham Poll is no longer refereeing but was just a good modern day example.
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TRBH
Steady on , you will be sending me a xmas card next . I would have sent Carson one , but he will probably drop it.
Oh damn promised not to mention him again.
Just for the record some of your posts do get on me nerves, no doubt mine get on yours even to the point of depressing you , but it would really be boring if everybody agreed on everything.
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On a serious note , do you think Super Mick will be getting a Xmas card from Roy Keane this year or will they blog each other .
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22 Wall Heath.
Could be one of those embarrassing meetings soon, when they’re both down the Job Centre and have to pretend they haven’t seen each other.
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Great blog as usual, the comments about chris foy and co are unfounded they are all top refs and if you want to judge them I’ll be happy for you to have my whistle, however good blog and I agree that jara and mulumbu need words 3 reds between them so far
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Have to admit didnt give us a chance at Goodison but was concerned about Cahill we hadnt conceded a headed goal and thought this is why RDM chose Scharner over Ibanez in the end it didnt matter it will probably be another 31 yrs before we score 4 like that.
We could have done with jonas back for the threat of Carrol maybe Scharner will stay in
back 4 we havent a good record v toon (HOME)
Hope we dont risk key players v Ipswich will
pitch be playable?? need to concentrate onPL
Too many out on loan Hope Krul isnt in goal for toon.
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Not normally one for naming the teams, but as the blog mentions what team RDM might play against Ipswich, here goes….
No idea weather he’ll go Carson or Myhill…
GK
Reid, Tamas, Ibanez, Shorey,
Tchoyi, Dorrens, Cox, Barnes, Mulumbu
Fortune
I’ve assumed Mulumbu’s not yet suspended. Expect a decent run out for Miller at some point, or maybe Odemwingie etc… if it’s going t_t’s up!
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…ah, just read the other story – Mulumbu’s suspension starts with the Carling cup game! Sharner to play then or possibly Reid to hold with Jara at RB.
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