Albion Blog - How To Win Ugly

I lost count last season the amount of times fellow Albion fans told me "I wish we could just win ugly." Well, courtesy of a bit of luck and some fantastic defending, we did just that on Saturday at Nottingham Forest.

We played poorly going forward, but the immense performance of our defence and namely defender Jonas Olsson meant we escaped from Nottingham with all three points, when really we deserved nothing from a game the opposition dominated.

Albion head coach Roberto Di Matteo went with five in midfield and one up front. Although last season that formation did not restrict our creativity, it did on Saturday.

Luke Moore up front was feeding on scraps and it is a little worrying that three games in none of our strikers have scored, but to be truthful they have had few opportunities created for them.

Roberto has consistently stated that all he is interested in is winning games and if we can win games while not performing, it is certainly a handy trait to have.

I must admit I do not think we have ever won a game that has caused me to worry so much. The facts are that we have played three games, won two, and remain unbeaten. You could also argue that both league games have been probably two of the toughest fixtures of the season, so why all the worry?

I am hoping that our perceived problems are simply due to it being the start of a new season in a new division and our new players are only just beginning to gel together.

The international call ups certainly wouldn't have helped this week either, as we saw with Robert Koren and Chris Brunt's non performance on Saturday.

My biggest worry has been our lack of creativity, and I am struggling to put my finger on the problem, I mean we still have a midfield packed full of creativity and goals.

A number of fans have pointed towards our forward line as the problem, and maybe we all have to realise that in Luke Moore, Simon Cox and Chris Wood the squad is still adjusting to playing with a brand new forward line.

I know Moore has been with us a while, but his lack of games means he is effectively starting a fresh the same as Wood and Cox. Maybe it is just going to take a little time for our team to get used to playing with different players up front and we should all have a little more patience.

One thing that did confuse me on Saturday was the substitutions, not the players leaving the field but the players coming on. You all know I am not a member of the Craig Beattie fan club, although I do admire his 100 per cent effort.

I have never been convinced of his ability, so you can probably share my bemusement when he was asked to play as a winger during the second half.

Especially when we have players like Felipe Texeira straining at the leash for game time, it simply baffled me. I also believe his introduction along with Marek Cech was the reason we consistently failed to retain possession when Forest were pushing hard for an equaliser. Retaining possession? I mean that's what we do isn't it?

It seems strange to be having a bit of a whinge after winning and maybe I am nit-picking, but you all know me by now. Koren and Brunt had been away all week with their international sides and we are still missing arguably our best midfielder in James Morrison, so there are genuine reasons why we were not at our best.

And it was nice to see Forest striker and Albion old-boy Robert Earnshaw buck the trend of old players coming back to haunt their past employers. His penalty miss was a shocker.

It was Karma coming back to bite him on the back side. Let me explain, back in 2004 we were playing Fulham at home, Earnshaw had just come on and we won a penalty.

Darren Purse had been named our penalty taker and before the game I had £10 on him to score. I sat there and watched Earnie wrestle the ball from him and place it on the spot.

I was a bit miffed but decided all would be forgiven if he stuck it away -and he consequently stuck it over the bar. So I see Saturday's miss as my refund, thanks Earnie!

Onto tonight's game, Peterborough have been regular opposition in the last few seasons, although we have been playing in different leagues, and will provide us with another stern test.

It will be interesting to see what formation Roberto goes for with this one, Peterborough like to attack but do concede goals.

Personally I would like to see us go with two up front as I do not think we have a striker who can play the lone striker role effectively. Maybe our own outcast striker Roman Bednar could, but we wait to see what happens there.

But as our new manager keeps telling us, it's all about the three points.

Would we all settle for another ugly win? I think so.