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A
late Graham Dorrans strike against Stoke gave West Brom their seventh win of
the season but, while there were positives to draw from the match, Roy Hodgson’s
side are right in the mire that is the Premier League relegation battle.
The
Baggies have missed
the creativity of Zoltan Gera this season, who picked up a knee injury in
November, and have looked one-dimensional and one-paced for the last few
months. They are not particularly pleasant on the eye for any fan of the
passing game; this, of course, isn’t necessarily a major problem, as long their
style is effective.
Four
wins since November and only 20 goals scored in the league this season would
suggest that West Brom are struggling this season. While they might not be
favourites to go down, this is perhaps only because of the astoundingly poor quality
below them: it would be a quite astonishing fall from grace if a mid-table team
became worse than Blackburn, Bolton or Wigan in the space of six months.
The
most worrying thing for West Brom fans in recent weeks, though, has been that
Hodgson has seemed incredibly reluctant to change things. He’s been reliant to
an almost stubborn level on the 4-4-2 formation, a set-up which has failed to
get the best out of certain players, including Peter Odemwingie, who has only
scored four goals in 17 games, a poor return from a player who starred last
season.
The
Nigerian hasn’t been able to forge a cohesive partnership with top scorer Shane
Long (6 in 17 games), but both were left on the bench for the away trip to
Stoke, with Hodgson reverting to an almost
fluid 4-5-1 formation. Marc-Antoine Fortune was given his first start of the
season in a move that was surely designed to battle against the physical
features of Stoke’s defence. Simon Cox played out on the wing but came inside
to play as a kind of second striker.
A
central midfield three of Graham Dorrans, James Morrison and Youssuf Mulumbu
worked well as a unit, attacking well and defending resolutely when needed.
Jerome Thomas was lively on the left wing.
Both
Stoke and West Brom looked to power the ball forward as soon as possible, with
Nicky Shorey in particular desperate to hit a sometimes isolated Fortune,
whether there were better options on or not. This contented refusal with
possession football was always going to be problematic with the wind causing
both sides problems, most notably playing a part in Morrison’s poor shot
dribbling past a hapless Thomas Sorensen into the net.
That
goal was only West Brom’s 21st of the season in what was their 22nd
game, but while they’ve struggled to score goals this term, they’ve been
impressively tight in defence. Jonas Olsson, unyielding against the Potters, marshals
the defence well and has become West Brom’s version of what Christopher Samba
is at Blackburn – dominant, omnipresent and consistently leading by example
(although Olsson looks to actually be committed to his club). And behind him,
the excellent Ben Foster is a reassuring presence.
The
fact remains, though, that the team who finished 11th last season
now find themselves amongst relegation candidates and are in a similar
situation to QPR and Wolves, both in terms of league position - hovering
dangerously above the bottom three, their situation far from safe - and playing
quality.
Many
fans have now started to ask if owner Jeremy Peace needs to start investing
more money into the playing squad or whether a new owner needs to come in to
give Hodgson more to work with.
There
has to be criticism for Hodgson, though, and, while today’s performance against
Stoke was promising and gave them a much-needed three points, the problems are
still there. The offensive play is predictable and, with that lack of cutting
edge, WBA struggle to open teams up. Almost half (49%) of West Brom’s shots
this season have come from outside the box; their best chance today and the two
goals were strikes from range, Morrison hitting the post in the second half
with a volley and Dorrans’ free-kick, which Stoke should have dealt with
better.
Of
course, this is not to say that Hodgson is failing as such. This is certainly
not a call for his head – for one, it is difficult to imagine who would come in
and be an improvement on the Englishman. Hodgson needs more time to build and
there maybe has been a lack of investment, but that doesn’t mean he’s without
fault.
