Baggies’ big test

Friday, 14/10/2011

by Dave Wedgbury, Shoot's West Brom blogger

Sunday’s black country derby is sure to provide a test for both Albion and Wolves, with Wolves' great start starting to falter and Albion still trying to find the form that led them to mid-table security last season. These games are always lively and the atmosphere is sure to be electric at the Hawthorns.

As a dedicated Baggies fan, I am still concerned that Roy Hodgson has not settled on his best eleven players yet, in fact some believe that he needs to review his preferred formation and possibly revert to a five-man midfield.

We really need to see the real Peter Odemwingie turn up at Sunday’s match, that is if the lad is fit, with all kinds of rumours running around about an ankle injury that he may or may not have. Make no mistake, we need Odemwingie’s pace and ability to run defenders ragged in order to score at this level.

All Albion fans would love to see Dorrans return to form, those Championship days when he controlled the middle of the park and acted as both provider and finisher seem a long way away now. A fit and on form Dorrans would make a difference to our relatively slow and defensive central midfield.

Will Roy opt for the consistency of Morrison or will he encourage Thomas to run at defenders, something which seems to have been scarce this season, the usually flying winger seems to have adopted a more defensive role of late and this really does not suit his abilities, we want to see the lad run at defenders and create the havoc in the opposition defence often witnessed during last season.

It does appear that McAuley will partner Olsson, although the big central defender has done well during these last few weeks, I do worry about the movement of Doyle and Fletcher, neither McAuley or Olsson are the quickest players and this could be an area of concern.

There are many questions to be asked of both full backs for Albion, Billy Jones may have to replace Reid if his injury gets the better of him, and can either fullback stop the tricky Jarvis on the wing?

I am looking forward to Sunday but with a nervousness rather than excitement, losing any game is difficult but this is the big one to Albion fans, fans will expect nothing less than 100% for their players and there will be no place for players not performing.

Albion need a real captain’s performance from Chris Brunt. Can he lift the players around him and inspire the team from the front? This is something I haven’t seen yet but hopefully Sunday will be the day that he leads his players to have much needed derby win.

Roy has had time to settle on his formation, team and tactics, I for one am hoping that he has done just that and the lads all know their roles and play with a new confidence that has been lacking over recent weeks.

Some days are meant for heroes and Sunday is one of those days – who will step up to the plate for the Albion and give the fans a lift to kick start their Premiership campaign? Odemwingie, Long, Brunt, Thomas or Dorrans – Albion fans will not care who it is, as long as we are walking from the ground Sunday with three more points on the board.

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