Barnsley 3-1 West Brom

By: Oli | September 30th, 2009

West Brom Badge
West Brom haven’t won a single game at Oakwell for 62 years, and that’s one statistic that doesn’t lie. Some people laugh at the idea of ‘Bogey Teams’, but there can be no doubt that there is an influence. Recently, I’ve been going through a phase where each win has brought on blind euphoria. That was because Davey had (accidently) brought in a losing mentality, but I now feel Robins has done enough to remove that, and bring back what could, perhaps, be classed as ‘form’.

I disagree with the club constantly blabbing on about Man United, we should learn from the error of two years ago, and shut it for now. But, having said that, the crowd last night was over 12,000, when we only had 5,000 last week, and that is because of the increased likelihood of getting one of the golden tickets if you go to a few games. The relevance of all of this is that a larger number of you mugs will have seen the game first hand, and there is little or no point in a goal by goal break down. Suffice to say, the penalty was, and Shelton Martis can bang ‘em in the corners when he tries hard.

The performance was excellent. It is easy to focus on the attack which yielded 3 goals, but surely by now we must be getting to expect that? After all, the last two weeks of Barnsley games has seen the ball cross the goal line a whopping 21 times. But, after Saturday’s joke, why was the defence suddenly so much better? Why did we suddenly cut out the errors? The answer is quite simple, it’s Darren Moore. We moved Shotton to right back, where he looked confident and solid, and put the ex-baggies man in the middle. The presence brought by his huge bulk, and the calm brought by his huge experience are the difference between an unorganized and unconfident defence and a strong and effective defence. There are those who give the man a lot of flack for his extreme lack of pace. On the other hand, getting old and slow doesn’t matter, when you’ve made a career (one that holds the record for Championship to Premiership promotions, no less) out of not having any pace. Long may he continue, and long may he stay fit.

We seem to have been sticking with our 4-4-2 formation with Anderson in a Kaka esque position. However, we may need a new mentality for our clash against Roy Keane’s failing Ipswich side, because Anderson hobbled off just before half-time. The club website has announced that he requires a scan after a hamstring problem. Fortunately, it describes him as merely a ‘doubt’, and so he will definitely get fit over the International Break. The Brazilian midfielder has been a revelation since his howler at Watford during Robin’s first game. Robin’s has moved him back to the attacking role that I believe he may have played for Sao Paulo all those years ago, and he seems to be relishing it.

The last few games, Iain Hume has been magic. However, I’ve really just brushed over it, simply dumping him with an excellent rating and leaving it there. But, really, he’s more than that, he is truly turning into an Oakwell Legend, in the way no player has for seasons. To come back from a terrible and strangely iconic injury is quite some feat for any player, and many said he would never be the same again. And they were right. He’s come back better.

West Brom played awfully. Nobody can argue with that, even Di Matteo agrees with me. However, playing badly doesn’t necessarily mean you are a bad team, and there are certainly some hugely talented players, such as Chris Brunt. Yes, I know, gasp of horror; I said something nice about Brunt. I gave him as much abuse as the next guy, but for the last half hour we had the resurgent Dickinson following him around, and yet he still scored. I’m not convinced the ex-MK Dons man is the right man for the Hawthorns job, so there might be a different prospect waiting in the return leg. Of course, I’ve also freshly generated a hatred for the man. In his post match comments he said, “We made Barnsley look good”. Well, thanks for the Roberto. Idiot.

BBC match report here, Barnsley one here.

Ratings
Bartosz Biathingy: 7 – Didn’t have a lot to do, but did it all right.
Carl Dickinson: 7 – Much better. More of a defender, less of a clown.
Ryan Shotton: 9 – He now has my seal of approval as a good signing. And I’m proud to confirm, that that means absolutely nowt.
Nathan Doyle: 7 – He’s clearly a good defensive midfielder, not a full back.
John Macken: 9 MOTM – Seems to be turning into a Tuesday night fixture, and with two forwards like Gray and ‘Super John’ challenging for a single place, you know something’s going right.

Mark Robins has turned Barnsley into one of the most exciting teams in the Coca-Cola Championship. But wait, that can’t possibly last. Not because of how we will perform on the pitch, but because this season is the last stand of the infamous soft drinks company Coca-Cola, as the sponsorship deal will not be renewed.This is announced apoplectically by the official site, as the headline blares, “The end for the Coca-Cola football league”. There will be disagreement as to why this is the case. Many will blame the credit crunch, but me, I disagree. The same thing happened to football as always happens with Coke. It tastes sweet at first, but there’s always something artificial, and after a while it goes flat.

Today Roy Keane was issued a vote of confidence by his board. Ohhhhhhh, scary! Roy Keane is an animal, and you know what they do when they’re cornered. I’m gunna stick my neck out and say that if we can beat them, which I think we will, ‘Keano’ will resign by Monday morning. You heard it here first.