Manish’s Verdict on the Baggies – Wolves (A)

A Sweet Double for the Baggies.

For young and old West Bromwich Albion fans, Sunday 11th February 2012 will be remembered for many years to come. Winning 5-1 against your fiercest rivals: it doesn’t get any better than that.

To do the double over Wolves is always sweet. But to give your rivals a hammering in their own backyard is even sweeter.

The Black Country derby certainly lived up to its billing from start to finish with many talking points. There have been a lot of comments about how poor Wolves were on the day and about the sacking of Mick McCarthy. But give credit where it is due.

From the back line to the front line, The Baggies were solid in every department and overall it was a superb team effort. It was by far the best all round performance from Albion this season and what a place to do it.

Praise and Dominance

Albion may have the joint worst-home record in the Premier League. However away from The Hawthorns, West Brom have been terrific recording six wins on the road.

I believe The Baggies have the third best away record in the division behind both Manchester clubs. That is pretty impressive although Albion are yet to go to Anfield, The Etihad Stadium and Old Trafford.

It makes me think if they can play so well away, why can’t they replicate that at home? And although Roy Hodgson does like to play 4-4-2, is 4-5-1 the formation that makes Albion tick? It will be interesting to see whether Hodgson sticks with the same team and formation against Sunderland.

Based on what we saw throughout the 90 minutes on Sunday, Albion without question deserved the win and to be quite frank it could have been more. Wayne Hennessey pulled off a number of fine saves in the first half to deny Albion going into half-time with a comfortable lead. The Welsh goalkeeper has probably been one of the positives of the season for Wolves so far.

West Brom could have taken the lead as early as the first minute with Hennessey making a fine save from Jerome Thomas’s close range effort.

Peter Odemwingie gave Albion the lead with a deflected shot and it was no more than The Baggies deserved. Roy Hodgson’s side were creating numerous chances and when Steven Fletcher equalised out of nowhere for Wolves, you might have been thinking those missed chances in the first-half could come back to haunt Albion.

Wolves had started the second-half brightly and Fletcher’s early deflected shot just missed the left post by inches.

However once Albion took the lead through Jonas Olsson, the result was never in doubt. Wolves failed to deal with a corner and the Swedish defender was able to strike the ball home on the half-volley although Hennessey could and should have done better.

Ben Foster did not really have anything to do in the game although he was forced to pull off a great save to deny Fletcher. The resulting corner saw Roger Johnson’s header headed onto the underside of his own bar by Youssouf Mulumbu. Had that gone in, it could so easily have been a different game.

From that point onwards it was all Albion and once The Baggies scored their third goal it was game set and match. Liam Ridgewell had a solid debut for Albion and he was able to head the ball across the box, Olsson back heeled the ball towards goal and Odemwingie was able to apply the killer touch for Albion’s third goal.

To rub salt into the wounds for the home side, former Wolves player Keith Andrews made it 4-1 with a deflected effort from 20 yards out. No doubt the Albion fans will love him after that.

Peter Odemwingie completed his hat-trick and finished from close-range to make it 5-1 in the latter stages of the game. It was Odemwingie’s first hat-trick in the Premier League and to do it against Wolves is something he will fondly remember.

The Odemwingie we saw against Wolves at Molineux is the Odemwingie we saw last season and hopefully his hat-trick will rejuvenate him and his season.

We all slated him for missing a sitter against Swansea but scoring a hat-trick in the next game was the perfect way to silence his critics. Peter was simply brilliant on Sunday. However he was not the only one who had a fine game.

Ben Foster was assured and did what he had to without any problems. Once again Gareth McAuley and Jonas Olsson were commanding at the back along with Steven Reid and Liam Ridgewell. McAuley has been one of the unsung heroes for Albion this season.

The Albion midfield were able to dominate the Wolves midfield. Jerome Thomas’s pace caused the Wolves defence problems and it was great to see him taking on players and running at defenders.

Youssouf Mulumbu, Paul Scharner and James Morrison more than played their part in Albion’s thumping win. But the one player who stood out for me was Marc Antoine-Fortune.

He might not have scored on the day, but his hold up play was superb and his link up play was decent as well. Fortune did exactly what a lone-striker should do and I have been very impressed with the way he has performed ever since he has come back into the first-team. Perhaps his loan spell at Doncaster did him the world of good.

And if Fortune continues to play as well as he has done, maybe Shane Long does have a fight on his hands to regain his first-team starting place.

Sunderland

With the away form absolutely fine, it is now time for West Brom to improve their form at home. The Baggies fans have not had much to cheer about at home and Albion have only achieved two league wins this season at The Hawthorns.

Next up at home for Albion are Sunderland. Martin O’Neill has already adapted to life at Sunderland very well and his side are not doing too badly either. The Black Cats are one of the form teams in the division and there is no denying Sunderland will be a tough game.

Stephane Sessegnon has come on leaps and bounds and for me he has been one of standout players of the season. Olsson and Co will need to be wary of Sessegnon for sure.

James McClean will also need to be stopped if Albion are to get anything from the game. The first time I saw McClean in action was against Peterborough in the FA Cup. I was thoroughly impressed with McClean’s all-round game and the Irishman can be a real threat going forward.

If the result against Wolves does not give Albion confidence going into the Sunderland game, I don’t know what will. It is vital now that West Brom build on their excellent win at Molineux and start delivering results for The Hawthorns faithful at home.

Time for Albion to start looking up the Premier League table rather than down the bottom. They are capable of finishing mid-table: the question is can they finish in the Top-10? The higher you finish up the table, the more money the club get. No pressure then.

Manish’s Verdict on The Baggies – Swansea City (H)

Same Old Story Again For The Baggies

It was yet another frustrating Saturday for West Bromwich Albion and their fans. And again they were on the receiving end of another 2-1 defeat at home.

Surely Albion’s home form cannot get worse. But with the way things are going, it is difficult to see when West Brom’s next win at The Hawthorns will come.

The Baggies cannot keep relying on their away form and they really do need to start picking up points at home. Otherwise Roy Hodgson’s side will be dragged into a relegation dogfight.

And just the small matter of a Black Country derby against Wolves next weekend. Wolves will be feeling upbeat after their 2-1 win at Loftus Road against QPR. With the game being played at Molineux, West Brom can go there and perhaps play with a bit more freedom.

Fully Deserved

As much as we can criticise the Baggies for another poor result at home, you have to give credit to Swansea City. The Swans have been a real breath of fresh air to the Premier League along with Norwich.

Despite the difficult conditions, Swansea stuck to their philosophy of playing free flowing football and both of their goals were decent team goals. For much of the first half, Swansea did boss the game and the Albion faithful understandably were getting restless with their side.

West Brom did have the chances in the first 45 but the fact Swansea were able to dominate the majority of the first half will have displeased the home crowd. West Brom should have been awarded a penalty after Ashley Williams’ blatant handball.

Had The Baggies been awarded a penalty and scored it, perhaps it might have been a different game. But Albion on the day were simply not good enough and shot themselves in the foot once again.

Marc- Antoine Fortune has been one of the positives in the last couple of weeks and scoring against Swansea will do his confidence the world of good.

But you are always vulnerable once you have scored and the Swans immediately went up the other end and equalised after Fortune had given Albion the lead on 54 minutes.

Questions marks as to who was tracking Gylfi Sigurdsson for the equaliser will come up. Sigurdsson also played a major part in the winning goal. The Iceland International’s cross from the right found Danny Graham and the ex-Watford striker made no mistake from close range to guide the ball past Ben Foster.

Peter Odemwingie will no doubt be dwelling on his shocking miss on the 70^th minute with Albion having been 2-1 down. Graham Dorrans was able to pick out the Nigerian with a pin-point cross from the right and from six yards out all Odemwingie had to do was guide the ball home.

With no one even close to him and with the goalkeeper Michael Vorm stranded, Odemwingie blazed over and missed an absolute sitter.  All he had to do was compose himself and side foot the ball into the back of the net. The Peter Odemwingie of last season will have scored that missed chance.

I’m not sure what has happened to Odemwingie this season but at the minute I do feel he is lacking in confidence. Whether injuries have taken its toll on him this season I’m not entirely sure.

But over the 90 minutes, Swansea in my view deserved the three points. The Baggies for me didn’t test Vorm enough and didn’t create many clear cut chances apart from Odemwingie’s sitter.

Signings and Wolves

The Baggies made two signings on transfer deadline day with Liam Ridgewell and Keith Andrews joining The Hawthorns outfit. Ridgewell was an expected signing but I certainly wasn’t expecting Albion to sign Andrews at the beginning of the day.

Considering the financial troubles Birmingham City are in, I guess it was inevitable Ridgewell would be leaving St. Andrews. Ridgewell also handed in a transfer request so it is no real surprise he has joined Albion.

Having played in the Premier League with Villa and Blues, Ridgewell has bags of experience and I’m sure he will turn out to be a decent signing for The Baggies. I would be tempted to start with Ridgewell in place of Nicky Shorey at Left-Back against Wolves.

Keith Andrews is an interesting signing. The former Wolves midfielder was out on loan at Ipswich earlier this season and scored nine goals in 19 appearances for The Tractor Boys.

Andrews will be looking to force his way into the first-team squad so he can get into the Ireland squad for Euro 2012. How ironic would it be if Andrews were to make his debut for Albion against Wolves? We will find out next Sunday whether he does or not?

Next Sunday’s Black Country Derby will be a massive game for both sides. Provided they are not in the bottom three before kick-off next Sunday, Wolves will want to pull further clear of relegation zone.

Albion are currently six points above the relegation zone and will be looking to complete the double over their deadly rivals on Sunday. Shane Long could be set for a return to the Albion side providing he shakes off a chest injury.

And as they are away from home, The Baggies at least won’t have to deal with the pressure of playing at home.

This is the team I would start with against Wolves: Foster, Ridgewell, McAuley, Olsson, Reid, Thomas, Mulumbu, Morrison, Tchoyi, Long, Fortune. Subs: Fulop, Shorey, Andrews, Odemwingie, Dorrans, Scharner, Cox.

The result was a disappointing one against Swansea along with the performance. But let’s get behind the Baggies at Molineux and roar the team onto three crucial points. Come on You Baggies!