Our Albion correspondent Terry Wills is starting to get a bit nervous.
Another defeat. One point from four games. The team way below their best.
Could this possibly be the prelude to an anxious last seven games leaving Baggies fans wondering if they could yet be dragged into a fight to avoid dropping out of the Greed League? At the outset let me say that if we can’t gather enough points from seven games, four of them at home, we’d deserve to be relegated – wouldn’t we?
Yes the drop in form is worrying but in saying that the last two setbacks, against Newcastle and Everton, have come at the hands of two very much in-form sides. At Goodison Park the Toffees were clearly the better team and from the outset always looked likely winners. Swift attacking football, a defence that gave little away; it was clear that Ben Foster would be in for a hectic afternoon. He was, and if he hadn’t been on top form the defeat would have been much worse, although he made it perfectly clear in his (to put it mildly) disagreement with Peter Odemwingie that he felt he wasn’t receiving the protection he deserved.
Onto this week and one of the teams struggling to avoid the drop, Blackburn Rovers, visiting the Hawthorns. They pushed Manchester United all the way on Monday and should they knuckle down and deny Albion time and space, our truly awful home record could be extended. Roy Hodgson’s decision to give all his players a chance, while in itself commendable, has left many supporters confused. Okay, they do need an opportunity to prove their worth but when it was announced that Yousoff Mulumbu had been left out at Goodison Park I wasn’t alone in thinking that was a wrong decision.
Prospects for the Blackburn game? Three points are needed and at their best are well within our means. But should there be another Hawthorns setback then Hodgson will find his critics, and there are some, increasing in numbers and volume.
But again, whatever mistakes a manager is perceived to have made, it’s the players’ performances that eventually win or lose games. Far too many are way below their best, and against Everton, Peter Odemwingie and Chris Brunt (in particular) left supporters VERY disappointed.
Rovers will come out fighting, desperate not to lose. Albion need points to lessen the chance that they could find themselves looking nervously over their shoulders at those teams whose current form and results have closed the gap between themselves and survival, as opposed to what a short time ago seemed to indicate a possible relegation.
Come on you Baggies.