Albion on the march

Monday, 25/04/2011

by Dave Wedgbury, Shoot's West Brom blogger

Albion’s fight for Premier League survival continued with a hard fought draw at Tottenham, once again the team showed true spirit to fight back from 2-1 down to gain a deserved point.

Peter Odemwingie scored his 12th goal of the season with an excellent finish after a cutting through ball from Vela. But his finish was outshone by the Albion equaliser late in the game by Simon Cox who had only been on the pitch for a few minutes after replacing Scharner.

Cox curled his shot into the top corner of the Spurs’ goal from outside the penalty area. Although Cox’s opportunities have been limited this year, this was his first Premiership goal and was once that will be remembered for a while to come.

It will take a brave person to assume that we are safe from relegation but we are certainly in a much better position that we could have expected a number of months ago – Roy Hodgson and his team have really given us hope that we can match and even beat teams in this division.

With two local derbies coming up against Villa and Wolves, Albion fans will be hoping that we can gain those few points that will finally ensure we are mathematically safe from the dreaded drop.

Many message boards are looking forward to Albion having the opportunity to gain those points at Wolves, and putting a dent in the survival hopes of their nearest rivals, although myself I would miss the electric atmosphere that is created when Albion play Wolves – I know many die hard fans will disagree but I would miss the matches against Blues, Wolves and Villa, if any of these Midland teams should fall into the Championship.

If we do survive then the manager will have a number of real important decisions to make at the end of the season, Roy will have to consider which players he feels can take Albion forward and those that he considers surplus to requirements.

With a number of players not appearing to form part of Roy’s first eleven and others out on loan, Roy will probably have to move a number of players on in order to bring in fresh faces for next season. I would like to think that the chairman, Jeremy Peace, will make an extra special effort to ensure the funds are available for Hodgson, he has deserved the chance to bring in a few of his own players with the way that he has performed since taking over the club.

Make no doubts about it, even if we do survive this year, we do need to let Roy tinker with his squad to strengthen certain areas of the teams to move the club forward – we do not wish to be fighting relegation at the end of next season.

We still need another centre forward to accompany the massive success of Odemwingie, I really hope that we can gain a deal for Vela, either a year loan or a permanent purchase. I also feel the goalkeeping position needs reviewing, there is still doubt over Scott Carson, and possibly someone such as Robert Green or Shay Given would strengthen this area.

Ex-Baggie Zoltan Gera is another player being mentioned on the terraces as a player who could maybe return and make an impact. Would Roy even try to gain a player such as Danny Murphy to add some experience to his midfield?

There are many players who will become free agents at the end of this year, I’m sure Albion’s management team will be monitoring this closely. All decisions will remain on hold until we know next year’s destination, whether we are locking horns with the teams in the best league in the world, or being reunited with those Championship teams again.

Mr Peace, I urge you on behalf of all Albion fans to support Roy as he is the proving to be the best manager to cope in this league we have had, and he and the fans deserve the support of the board to cement a place in this division.

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