Albion look to positives

Sunday, 02/10/2011

by Dave Wedgbury, Shoot's West Brom blogger

Albion’s long trip to Sunderland looked like it was going to be a trip worthwhile when they took a two-goal lead within five minutes, a cracking header from Morrison followed by a clinical finish under pressure from Shane Long gave Albion fans high hopes of a second win of the season.

But like most Albion fans, I do not rest easy even with a two-goal lead, in my mind I start to feel comfortable once we are four in front, but that may be due to the years of following Albion and watching a fragile defence.

Protecting a two-goal lead away from home isn’t easy but seeing us capitulate in such a manner, allowing Sunderland two goals in as many minutes isn’t exactly what constitutes a Premier League team hoping for survival, let alone mid-table comfort.

But credit must go to Sunderland for turning things around, but questions will again be asked over team selection and formation. Albion once again lined up with Roy’s preferred 4-4-2, I crossed my fingers that Odemwingie and Long would strike up a good understanding, this was not to be.

Odemwingie does not look the player who scared opposition defenders last year, we desperately need that player back. Whether it is the formation, the partnership with Long or merely poor form, but on this performance surely Tchoyi may be asking why he isn’t getting a start alongside Long.

Would we see the inspiration Dorrans getting back to form and bossing the centre of midfield with his energy and creativity? The answer was no, the lad isn’t firing on all cylinders yet and how much we need his presence in midfield cannot be under-estimated, sure another question may be whether youngster George Thorne could be given a start to see if he can replicate his reserve team performances in the first eleven.

The positives again were McAuley looked fairly solid at the back and Foster looked comfortable in goal, but we are desperate for a game when all eleven players perform as us fans know they can – it would be an ideal scenario for this to happen at home to local rivals Wolves in our next match. Albion fans will not allow a player to perform half heartedly without letting them know what such a game means to them.

For now Roy must ensure that every player knows his role in this formation and he must do all he can to sort out the players who are not quite hitting the high expectations that us fans have of them, all in all, I’d have taken a point prior to the game, but after a two-goal lead, my own expectations changes and a draw became a loss to me. A long journey back feeling low and looking for positives isn’t what I had planned at 3.05pm when Long scored that second goal.

We must believe and Roy will surely get it right, hopefully with four very tough fixtures coming up, this will be sooner rather than later.

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