Baggies form slump worry

Tuesday, 13/12/2011

by Dave Wedgbury, Shoot's West Brom blogger

After a cautiously average start to the season, Albion are now starting to drop down the table and we find ourselves languishing three places from the relegation zone.

But for me it is not just about unlucky decisions, excess penalties and those that got away, as an ardent Baggies fan it is the lack of form of some of our usually reliable players, and also the failure to find a system that suit the players on the field.

At present it feels as it Roy knows his best eleven players at the club and is determined to make these players fit into his preferred formation but from the stands it is just not working.

There are players who are just badly out of form, yet week-in and week-out they are announced in the starting line up. Is this through loyalty and the hope that each week will be the match that they finally find the form that they have promised? Or are certain players being played as a result of a lack of alternative proven options?

After losing at home to Wigan and with away trips to Blackburn and Newcastle next week, we could be well and truly sat in the bottom three by the time Man City visit the Hawthorns on Boxing Day.

Worryingly I suspect we will not even try to rectify the situation in the January transfer window, maybe a loan signing in the hope that a youngster from another club can make a difference, or a player currently out of favour at another club can rejuvenate himself at our club.

I cannot see this making that much difference, so to me it is going to be about getting the players who are not turning up and playing anywhere near their capabilities to get more involved and give everything for the shirt.

After 15 games, who are the players that are thriving and who are those that need to pick themselves up and sort themselves out?

On the plus side this season I see the current form of James Morrison, who is giving everything at present and playing at the top of his game. The defensive partnership of Olsson and McAuley are looking our best for years and both playing above the level I expected for our club, also you know every week what you will get from these two no nonsense centre halves.

Add to this the ability and form of Shane Long, he does have the odd quiet game but is by far the best chance at present we have of scoring. Ben Foster in goal hasn’t done too much wrong this season and rarely can be blamed for the goals conceded.

Players that I am awaiting to find their form and really expect more from include Peter Odemwingie. What is going on with him at present is a mystery to us fans.

We know what he is capable of doing to opposition defence and the ability that he has to go past players and put the ball in the net. This season he doesn’t look the same player, he looks uninterested at times and doesn’t appear to be able play alongside Long.

A fit and on form Odemwingie would be like signing a new player over Christmas if he decides to kick start his season over the next few weeks.

Chris Brunt is the next player that flatters to deceive. On his day a player with the sweetest left foot in the division, but Brunt is not producing the form that we know he can. Head down at times and looking like a player who has given up, the crosses of old are gone, the cutting through balls are getting fewer and fewer.

The lad is captain but can players really be motivated and lifted by a captain that is so far off the pace of the game? Would a player take criticism from Brunt when he isn’t actually doing his own job? Maybe a few games rest would help Chrissy to the form that we know he can show, we really need his creativity on that pitch.

Add to this the drop in form of Mulumbu, albeit a slight improvement of late, and the vulnerability of Shorey at left back. Surely a return for Billy Jones at full back cannot be too far away?

Dorrans is another player who promised so much but has yet to reproduce this potential in the Premier League.

Finally Jerome Thomas, a player who can skip past defenders on his day, but this attacking prowess is slowly disappearing and Albion fans want to see him running at pace at the full backs and actually taking players on.

Come on Roy, sort things out and make the big bold decisions that we know you don’t usually shy away from, how many games do we have to underperform before changes to out of form players are made?

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