Topics

1

West Bromwich Albion FC / 40 points!

« on: February 23, 2013, 07:45:50 PM »

Well - we've made it to the magical 40 points target with an amazing 11 games to spare.  A few disappointments along the way, which need to be put into context as it shows how high our expectations have risen.

We are now 7 points ahead of 10th place, and it realistically looks like we will be fighting Everton, Liverpool and Swansea for places 6-9.   6th or 7th would seal a great season, but if my understanding is correct I don't think 6th can get us into Europe as only Swansea or Bradford, rather than one of the Champions League placeholders, can get the Carling Cup place, and I don't think the FA Cup outcome can help us either. 

Take a bow Steve Clarke, Dan Ashworth, JP and of course the whole playing squad.

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Would play-offs benefit the Baggies?

« on: February 13, 2013, 12:38:44 AM »

A month or so back somebody posted the question whether our season would be over by the beginning of January if we lost to QPR in the FA Cup.  Sure enough ....that's what happened.

Last night's win really does make us safe I think, but Adrian Lawton's article in the Daily Mail today got me thinking.  He foolishly suggests that that the Premier League needs play-offs to keep it interesting because United are running away with it, but that's nonsense.  The league winner after 38 games is a worthy winner.

But:

Some have debated whether qualifying for the Europa League is worthwhile as it costs a lot of extra money to enlarge the squad sufficiently to go for it properly without increasing the risk of relegation.  For clubs like (this season) us, Swansea, probably now Liverpool, and maybe Everton if they slip, play-offs could be very interesting.

If the top 4 qualify for the Champions League and 5th qualifies for UEFA Cup along with the FA Cup Winners, why not have 6th-9th playing off for one further UEFA Cup place and a Europa League place?  4 teams in a round robin at the end of the season, top 2 play-off at Wembley for the UEFA Cup place, with the runners-up going into Europa Cup.

Global TV rights money would be huge, so pay £10m to the winners and £5m to the runners-up.  At the moment it means £500k per place prize money whether a team finishes say 8th rather than 9th.  With play-offs, the carrot for virtually all but the bottom 4 currently to go on a run and finish the league in 9th place would be a massive one, rather than going into the last month or so of the season safe from relegation, no chance of Europe, and just going through the motions.

Otherwise, and this is a very pertinent question, what is the point of clubs like us, Fulham, Stoke, Sunderland etc?  Avoiding relegation and getting a domestic Cup run is really the pinnacle.  And that's it.

Imagine if we were now currently playing to finish in the top 9 to get a crack at it. Imagine if you were Newcastle or West Ham now believing that a good run-in might scrape 9th place.

Not sure about anybody else, but to me it would add massive interest to the second half of each Premiership season for about 10 clubs each season who realistically don't have anything much to aim for after Christmas.

More importantly, it doesn't devalue the race for a Champions League place as that wouldn't be affected.  It doesn't affect the integrity of the relegation dogfight. In fact, it adds to the integrity of the Premiership because just about every game in the last 4-6 weeks has much more at stake.

Baggies for Europe?  It's questionable whether we could cope with Europa League, but with the extra prize money like I'm suggesting to fund it?  Well, it would certainly help.

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Mulumbu and Yacob together

« on: February 11, 2013, 11:43:12 PM »

No coincidence that we pick up a big 3 points with CY and YM back together in the central midfield in about 2 months.

Foster absolutely outstanding.

A massive win - we really needed that to take the pressure off.

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Let's be realistic

« on: January 13, 2013, 12:45:56 PM »

A reality check is needed.

In this big money league, over a 38 match programme to do well its vital to have a big squad, with high quality replacements to cover for injuries, suspensions etc.

In truth, we have Foster, Olssen, Yacob, Mulumbu, Morrison, Long, Odemwingie and Lukaku who are all top quality players. That's eight players.

The main support cast is adequate when probably 6 out of that 8 are playing, as long as its not Yacob and Mulumbu both missing. Any more missing and we are struggling for quality.

For a club like ours to finish top 6 or 7 we would either need another 3 or 4 players of the same quality as the Big 8, or be incredibly lucky with absences. That's why the likes of Arsenal and Liverpool can struggle for a period but their squad quality depth will still always see them recover in the table.

If Everton were to lose Fallaini and Baines they would really notice it. Is the rest of their squad overall better than ours?  I don't think so.

The finances of the Premier League such that no matter how good a start we may have, like this season, squad depth of quality will dictate whether we can sustain that over 38 games. At present we just can't.

We can only shuffle and deal the pack we've got. Spending to compete with the Big 6 clubs is a reckless strategy. Finishing 7th to 10th is realistically our best and worst expectations.

Whether we finish 10th or 7th depends on so many factors. We haven't become a bad side overnight. We are struggling with depth of quality.  When that happens, mistakes will be made,like yesterday.

Every single one of us would have settled for being 7th at this stage.  Let's be positive and hope to finish there or thereabouts. It is unlikely to get better than this, but we may be setting unrealistic expectations to repeat our top 4 form from the first half.

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Halfway point - take a bow!

« on: December 26, 2012, 05:43:45 PM »

Well, 33 points at the halfway stage is a massive achievement.  I know its only halfway, but a 66-point full season in the history of the Premier League would have earned at least 5th place every year but three (one 7th and two 6th places), but would also been enough for 4th twice and 3rd once.  Yes - that's European qualification form.

If Arsenal win their game in hand and Tottenham beat Villa tonight then we'll be 7th on level games but with potentially an EIGHT point gap to 8th place if Liverpool lose at Stoke tonight. 

Anything can happen in the second half of the season, and we will do incredibly well to match 33 points again, but we can continue to dream.  We surely must be reasonably confident to get anywhere between 55 and 60 points overall, which will be fantastic.

If the worst happens and we have a poor second half, then lets at least remember how good today feels, and bear in mind that we are only 7 points from safety!

Personally, I'd love to see us finish 7th and win the FA Cup - why not?!

Looking forward to Old Trafford on Saturday - they look very vulnerable at the back so you never know....what a great time to bea Baggie!

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Next 9 games

« on: November 10, 2012, 08:33:07 PM »

So, 20 points from 11 games and 9 to go till the end of December, taking us one game past mid-point of the season.

Predictions for points?

Chelsea H          D

Sunderland A     W

Swansea A         D

Stoke H             W

Arsenal A           D

West Ham H       W

Norwich H          W

QPR A                W

Man Utd A          L

18 points would take us to 38 from 20 games.  Based on current form, why not?

We are bound to slip up at some point but that's a pretty mouthwatering 9 games coming up in our current form!

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Reasons to be optimistic!

« on: August 07, 2012, 08:43:26 PM »

After all the close season fears that we may lose Olssen and not secure Foster, as well as the annual charade with Mulumbu and Odemwingie, here we are at the start of August full of optimism, and for good reason too.

Foster signed, Olssen seemingly going nowhere, Mulumbu and Odemwingie looking set to stay, Gera fit again, Yacob and Rosenberg signed, and suddenly the core spine of our squad looks really solid, as well as exciting.  Throw in a fit-again Long, a rejuvenated Dorrans, and the rest of a very decent squad and Steve Clarke really has got a superb platform to launch his management career from.

Possibly still needing another defender but hey, things look pretty good!

We should be under no illusions that maintaining our league position will be tough, especially as Reading, Southampton and West Ham all look well prepared as newcomers, and QPR are spending a lot of money, but I have confidence that we will comfortably do the business and entertain along the way.

Looks like JP and DA have continued the good work.

Roll on the start of the season!

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Wantaway players

« on: June 05, 2012, 12:06:42 AM »

If players with more than a year left on their contracts want a move, what is the view on what stance we should take?

Do we take (a) take the best fee available and move on,  (b) play hardball and threaten the player that he will rot in the reserves and see out his contract, or (c) strike a deal with the player that if we get a minimum fee of £x in the future then we would accept it, but until then he's going nowhere?

I really despise players who demand a new contract, get it, then a year later bleat that they want a move. 

This seems to be a really big issue for the club at the moment. 

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Cleansheets

« on: April 29, 2012, 09:06:27 AM »

I make it now 10 cleansheets for the season, and 5 out of our last 6 home games (only Newcastle have scored at The Hawthorns in that period).  In those 5 clesnsheets at home, only Villa have stopped us scoring.
After the dismal early season home form, Roy really has organised us into an incredibly tough team to score against here, and when you consider how long we went without any cleansheeets at all, 10 in one season (with two games left) is remarkable.
That's the foundation of a solid Premiership side and although its not just about Foster and Olsen, its vital that we retain them or at least replace them with similar quality.
McAuley has been a sensational signing, Jones has done brilliantly since Reid got injured, but Ridgwell has been superb since he joined us in January - what a difference he has made.
Blimey - people will even be buying Baggies defenders for their fantasy teams next season!

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General Football & Sports / How to improve the Premiership

« on: April 15, 2012, 02:15:12 PM »

Looking at today's league table with 4 points separating 8 teams who have nothing to play for beyond £ for extra finishing positions, it got me thinking about how to improve the Premiership to provide more interest for those of us who cannot compete with the spending power of the top clubs.

So, using the "handicap" idea used by some of the bookmakers, I've come up with a concept which would, in my view, be fantastic for most of the Premiership clubs, without in any way compromising the Premiership.

Bear with me...

£10m of extra prize money to be put up, funded by selling off the global TV rights to the play-offs described below. £5m to the winner, £2.5m for the runners-up, £1.5m for third place and £1m for fourth.  Possible European places as well if other countries followed the same format.

How does it work?

Based on the previous season's league table, a handicap points system is used. "Par" is the points scored by last season's 10th/11th placed mid-table teams which just happens to be us and Stoke with 47 points each.  So 47 is par.

We then exclude the top 5 from last season on the basis they qualified for Europe based on their finishing positions.  The three promoted teams are deemed to have 1 point less than the team which stayed up in 17th place.  We end up with an opening league table for this current season as follows, based on the finishing points last season relative to the team which finished in 6th place last season (Liverpool with 58 points):

Norwich +19
QPR +19
Swansea +19
Wolves +18
Wigan +16
Blackburn +15
Bolton +12
Newcastle +12
Stoke +12
West Brom +11
Sunderland +11
Aston Villa +10
Fulham +9
Everton +4
Liverpool 0

If we then apply the above handicaps to this current season's table (to retain integrity results against the big 5 clubs must be included), then the current handicap league table would be:

Newcastle 33 71
Norwich 34 62
Swansea 34 61
Sunderland 34 54
-------------------
Stoke 33 54
West Brom 34 53
Fulham 33 52
Everton 33 51
QPR 34 50
Wigan 33 47
Liverpool 33 46
Aston Villa 32 45
Blackburn 34 43
Bolton 32 41
Wolves 34 41

So, going into the last 4/5 games of the season with around 12/15 points still to play for, Newcastle are guaranteed to qualify for the play-offs and Norwich and Swansea are nearly there, barring a disastrous last month. No coincidence of course - these are the three clubs who have "exceeded expectations" this season.  We then have a fantastic battle for the 4th place between Sunderland, Stoke, ourselves, Fulham, Everton and QPR, with others not necessarily out of it if they finish with a flourish. 

The idea would be that the top 4 in the handicap go through to a 3-match round robin phase, playing each other once over a week at the end of the season (weekend/midweek/weekend), with the top 2 playing off for 1st/2nd place and the other two for 3rd/4th place. It would add 10-14 days on to the season for those 4 teams, but they are playing for up to £5m of prize money (and are guaranteed £1m).

It would in my view provide massive extra interest in the Premiership beyond the top 5 and those fighting relegation, and every single game would have added importance. The mid-table clubs would have something fantastic to aim for.

I am struggling to think of any downsides and if other European countries did the same to get around the boredom of their leagues only realistically able to be won by 2 or 3 clubs, then a European competition could result for the winners/top two in the following season.

Something needs to be done to freshen up the Premiership and to give clubs like ours something realistic and attractive to aim for.

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Can we beat last seasons points total?

« on: April 12, 2012, 08:46:29 AM »

To improve on last season's 47 points tally we need another 9 from our last 5 games.

QPR and Villa at home are both games that we should win, which would mean 3 points needed out of Liverpool away, Bolton away and Arsenal at home.

Its going to be close but hopefully we can finish on a high.

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Job done but....

« on: April 07, 2012, 06:30:24 PM »

Looks like safety is secured with 6 games to spare, so let's now go out and finish well and push for a top 8 place. Another 6 points at home, which we all know we SHOULD have earned, would have seen us on 45 points at this stage.
There is absolutely no doubt that this squad had the ability to finish top 8 this season and I think we will end up close. It has to be the target for next season.

Everybody thinks Swansea have had a great season but we are now above them !

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Have we finally arrived?

« on: March 03, 2012, 05:10:36 PM »

Does today's win over one of the richest teams in the world suggest that we are no longer a yo-yo club and have finally arrived in the Premiership, truly believing that we really deserve to be here and aren't just visiting?

Looking at the league table now, sitting proudly in 9th place, am I the only one thinking ruefully about where we could be now if our home form had even been "average" up until recently?  Another 10 points and we would be top 6 - and not far-fetched at all after losing to Wigan, Norwich, Everton and Swansea.

Look at today's bench - 7 full internationals.

A long way to go this season but every team in the Premiership should rightly fear playing us, either at home or way.

Wow !

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Mick McCarthy

« on: February 14, 2012, 05:34:44 PM »

Putting to one side the Dingle factor, I can't help feeling a bit sorry for Mick McCarthy.   Two successive seasons of relegation dogfights were always going to be tough to deal with, but he comes across as a decent bloke and one who players really want to play for.  He almost certainly had to go in the current circumstances, but I hope he lands a decent job (Leeds could be ideal for him).

He lost it big time over Scharner's T-shirt of course, but all in all he's certainly not one of the worst managers around.  Probably too honest for his own good.   

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Dear Mr Peace

« on: February 05, 2012, 05:08:40 PM »

Dear Mr Peace
Your decision to replace RDM with Roy Hodgson was a master stroke. A brave decision but one which was fully vindicated. In the second half of the season Roy gave us shape, gave us discipline and self-belief. We witnessed as a result a brilliant last few months of the season. It was great to be a Baggie.

Over the summer months we were more excited than we have ever been. We couldn't wait for the new season to start under our new manager. If he could achieve so much in 3 months, what could he achieve this season, having retained all of our best players and strengthened the squad further through Foster, Gera and Long, as well as McAuley and Jones, both unknowns but excellent buys.

However, over the course of the summer something happened. Roy clearly made a decision to turn a talented, attacking and now much better-organised squad into an extremely boring one, playing dross football especially at home. He has adopted a format of 4-4-2 which is outdated and just isn't suitable for the squad he has got here. He stubbornly won't accept that this is wrong for this squad. It just isn't working. He has continually played players out of position and has eliminated all width. We don't have to have his coaching badges to know that it just isn't working.

The players can see it and the fans can see it. Several players are clearly not being well man-managed. For whatever reason he is not getting the most out of several key players. Are they good enough? Yes. But they are totally unsuited to this style of football.

Roy has been an outstanding coach, one of the best of his generation. His achievements of last season must never be forgotten. But he is now driving season ticket holders to despair by what is being served up at the Hawthorns. Many are talking about not paying to renew next season if he is still in charge.

Please, please do not renew his contract. If he keeps us up for a second season then he will have done a great job for the club in giving us stability, but he is absolutely not the right man to take us forward. If we stay up and he is in charge next season then I doubt we will see 20,000 gates at home next season to watch this dross. He is squeezing every ounce of flair out of this squad.

Mr Peace, you are not a fool. You are not being told anything you don't already know, but please ensure that the Hawthorns is a positive place to visit next season for Baggies fans, not just for the opposition.

Roy should retire into the sunset with his head held high, if he keeps us up, but we need a bright, younger manager with a more positive outlook. That doesn't mean a return to the gung ho approach of TM or RDM, just something in between.

Here's hoping that we survive this season. It's not going to be pretty.

Yours sincerely

Overseas Baggie

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Half-term report

« on: December 22, 2011, 01:10:05 AM »

We are just 2 games short of midpoint of the season so a good time to take stock.

Overall we are much better organised. Far more solid at the back with a very good keeper.  McAuley has been superb, as has Olsen.

Prone to giving reckless penalties away and that needs to be addressed.

Midfield has been our strength most of the time, as expected, and we look so much more solid when Scharner is playing.  Brunt on the right and Thomas on the left seems to blunt creativity.

Long has been a revelation up front and if his partnership with
Odemwingie continues to improve then they will terrorise most defences.

The strength in depth has helped enormously and the likes of youngsters Thorne and Dawson are waiting for their chance.

Disappointments ?   Dorrans who sadly looks ready to move on, plus Thomas and Brunt for their inconsistency.

Need to permanently shed Bednar and Fortune, possibly buy another decent striker for the bench.  Good money for Dorrans may fund it. Worried about injury or suspension for Olsen or McAuley but hopefully Dawson would provide ideal cover.

Excellent away record with 4 wins but disappointing at home. Make the Hawthorns a fortress and another 8-10 points could have seen us pushing for 6th or 7th, especially if the reckless penalties are also cut out.

8 out of 10 for results, 6.5 out of 10 for style, 8 out of 10 for organisation.

Well on target for a one or two place improvement on last year's finishing position and perhaps a good FA Cup run.



 

 

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Some questions on our progress

« on: October 16, 2011, 06:15:51 PM »

A few questions:
1. How many of us questioned the signings of Long, Jones and McAuley? I did.
2. How many of us criticised the failure to sign another central defender but have now realised how good Dawson could be? I did.
3. How many of us expected us to have kept 3 cleansheets after our poor defending of the past? Not me.

Ok, we are adjusting to a new style of play which is far less attractive than we are used to, but we are far more solid and much better organised than I can remember in the Premiership. We look very well set up for good progress under Roy if we continue having a solid base at the back.

Let's be realistic. If we had been able to combine our current defensive record with our attacking play of the first third of last season then we would probably be looking at a 15 point improvement and that would be European qualification form.

The progress trend is upward.

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West Bromwich Albion FC / A reality check

« on: September 01, 2011, 10:16:27 PM »

Whilst I would admit that I would have bust a gut to buy a proven Premiership centre back, I am amazed at some of the criticism being aimed at Jeremy Peace.

It is pointless to look at our level of spending compared with the likes of Stoke and QPR or indeed any other big spending clubs. Those clubs are either (a) backed by owners with much bigger fortunes than Peace, or (b) playing roulette with their future existence. I don't think anyone wants to see us gambling the club's future existence, and do we really want to become a club which will immediately fail the financial fair play test when it comes in.

Jeremy Peace has put our club in a fantastic position. With the exception of one centre bsck and possibly a decent reserve left back, things look pretty rosy to me.

To take us to another level requires significant investment and I believe that's beyond the reach of Jeremy Peace, so how can it happen? Well, surely we must be just about the most attractive club for a wealthy investor to buy. Why are such investors always flocking to other clubs and not to the Albion?  Jeremy Peace will clearly sell out at some point, even if he doesn't sell his entire stake, and will there ever be a better time for him to sell than now when the club is in such a great shape?

19

West Bromwich Albion FC / Proud to be a Baggie !

« on: April 30, 2011, 05:10:06 PM »

Safe with 3 games to spare. Who would have thought it ?  Unbelievably proud of what has been achieved.
A brilliant first third and last quarter of the season - that was top 6 form. An appalling middle of the season but in many respects could be the best thing that could have happened as we've learned so much as a result.
The soft underbelly of the team has been eroded and replaced by a tough and never-say-die attitude.
Proud of you all.

20

West Bromwich Albion FC / A chance to secure our future by showing ambition

« on: April 24, 2011, 09:21:09 AM »

I've just posted a transfer wishlist on the "who we should sign" thread on the Transfers section, but its driven by a suggestion that Roy be given £20m plus whatever he raises from transfers to spend out of the circa £40m plus around £6m from our projected finishing position.

This is a huge opportunity for us to bolster the team and the squad with a view to becoming a top 8 Premiership side with a sniff of doing even better than that.

Most importantly it doesn't compromise our financial prudency. Not many Premiership clubs can afford to spend at the moment. Strategically we are in a fantastic position with our best-ever manager and the core of a really good squad.

Our time has come.  This could be our best-ever decade if we make the right moves now without being reckless. But we do need to show some real ambition. m

21

West Bromwich Albion FC / If only...

« on: March 05, 2011, 03:31:18 PM »

If only we had showed as much passion and been as well-organised at the back as we were today all season, we'd already be up around the 40 points mark with 9 games to go.  One lapse of concentration today could easily have cost us dearly, but overall a very solid performance.

If anybody has any doubts about whether or not we are good enough to stay up, banish those thoughts.  If we do manage to stay up now, then it will be massively due to Roy's influence. If we don't stay up, then we will rue all those earlier dropped points but there is no question that if we do get relegated then we were NOT out of our depth. 

8 points from our last 9 games ought to be enough but its uniquely tight at the bottom and I think we probably need 10 points (42). I think we will do it.

Roy arrived just in time. I was very worried that he'd come too late, after the transfer window had closed, to make enough of a difference but rediscovering Meite and releasing Scharner into midfield is almost as good as two new signings. Plus Vela of course.

32 points with 9 games to go. Wouldn't we have loved to be in that position two and four years ago!

Its Wigan, Blackpool and Blackburn for me to go down this year.