West Bromwich Albion, a team that has been transformed since Roy Hodgson took over just over a year ago. Before the arrival many managers had tried to keep the yo-yo club from getting relegated but many have failed, even though West Bromwich managed to clinch survival twice - where in the 2004/05 season they escaped relegation from being bottom at Christmas, a feat that no other club has managed to achieve in the Premier League – they have finished just above the relegation zone.
Managers such as Gary Megson, Bryan Robson, Tony Mowbray and Roberto Di Matteo have tried their hands at making West Bromwich a stable Premier League club. Despite the supposed success of stopping up on two occasions during these managers reign they were relegated the next season. However Roberto Di Matteo seemed to have solved the problem last year. He made the team play an attractive style of football with Odemwingie scoring the goals while Northern Ireland’s playmaker Chris Brunt supplied the assists.
As we know in the Premier League, scoring goals is one thing, but stopping goals being conceded is another thing. West Bromwich were as high as 4th in the 2010/11 season but soon dropped as results started to go against them, defensive lapses let in goals and goal scoring seemed to be a problem again. In the end Roberto Di Matteo was deemed surplus to requirements and was sacked mid-way through the season. To replace him was Roy Hodgson, a manager that has been all around the block and managed to get Fulham to the Europa League final and slip Liverpool into the relegation places – sorry Lewis for mentioning this.
Hodgson’s style of management is what West Bromwich Albion needed and results soon started coming their way. West Bromwich carried a potent goal threat and with a more organised defence – a tactic which Hodgson supplies to all his teams – soon rose up the table. Great performances managed to propel West Bromwich up to a more than satisfying 11th place. For a manager to come in like the way Hodgson did and make a yo-yo team into a mid-table club soon made him a very popular man.
For the start of the 2011/12 season West Bromwich managed to secure the signing of Reading’s clinical finisher Shane Long, a signing which was welcomed by West Bromwich Albion supporters. Also Ben Foster – a former England international goalkeeper – was brought in on loan from Birmingham to replace calamity Scott Carson. Two very good signings and to prove themselves they had to play their first two games at home to champions Manchester United and then away to a new look Chelsea team under the manager Andre Villas Boas.
In both games West Bromwich Albion played absolutely brilliant – not being biased as a WBA fan – with Shane Long scoring a goal in each game, and they deserved to win both games but shabby defending cost them. West Bromwich didn’t really kick into their attractive style of football and soon were hovering just above the relegation zone due to a lack of home wins and goals; however one good point was that Albion’s away form was decent.
Soon enough problems were starting to occur for Hodgson as West Bromwich looked like they could end up getting relegated so in the January transfer window Hodgson signed Liam Ridgewell to help strengthen up the defence and also signed experienced central midfielder Keith Andrews from Blackburn for free. Another midfielder Hodgson signed was Scott Allan from Dundee United dubbed to be the next Graham Dorrans to help bolster the manager’s options.
In the game against Wolves the new signings proved their worth with Keith Andrews scoring the last goal in a 5-1 rout which inevitably got Mick McCarthy the sack, also last year’s top goal-scorer for West Bromwich Peter Odemwingie got himself a hat-trick, just what was needed for a goal hungry striker. In the next game against the league’s in form team Sunderland under the manager of Martin O’Neill was deemed to be a tough fixture. On the contrary West Bromwich proved the critics wrong winning comfortably 4-0 with Andrews scoring another and Odemwingie grabbing a brace.
9 goals and 2 wins in the space of 2 games soon saw West Bromwich shoot up the table. Next up was Chelsea and an under pressure Andre Villas Boas, which meant West Bromwich could go into this game full of confidence. The game to be fair was dominated by West Bromwich as they had almost three times as many shots on goal than Chelsea. Going into the 84th minute it seemed West Bromwich were going to get a draw but terrible defending from Chelsea led to the winning goal as Liam Ridgewell’s miscued volley across goal was tapped in by Gareth McAuley.
The result ended up getting Villas Boas the sack but it meant West Bromwich had broken their losing to Chelsea hoodoo and getting three wins in a row since a very long time ago. In the space of these three games West Bromwich scored a total of 10 goals, kept 2 clean-sheets and only conceded the one goal. This perfectly timed run of form propelled West Bromwich up to a healthy 10th position.
West Bromwich Albion are currently now 15 points behind Chelsea who are in the Europa League spot, and reading the newspaper today I read that West Bromwich was aiming for this Europa League spot. As a WBA fan this amazed me but it is possible, a difficult game against Manchester United could prove the deciding factor but with games where West Bromwich should be able to win could see them reach that prestigious Europa League spot. This would be great as it would put West Bromwich into the highest ever position they have finished in the Premier League and they would be involved in a European tournament.
If West Bromwich Albion were to reach the Europa League I would definitely give the ‘Manager of the Year’ to Roy Hodgson due to the impact it would have on the club. Even if West Bromwich Albion finished mid-table this would still be satisfying for the manager and the board as it proves that West Bromwich can be a stable club that is capable of beating anyone. Hope you enjoyed reading the blog and come on you Baggies, Europa League is a possibility.
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