City 4 West Brom 2

Unsurprisingly, there was much tipping of West Brom for an upset ahead of yesterday's game - given our exertions in the UEFA Cup and also no doubt our propensity for allowing those sides near the bottom a great shot at taking three points.

Despite wobbling enough to allow West Brom back into the game at 2-2 (with a sniff of a win) we had enough quality and firepower to ultimately go on and take the points, and coupled with results elsewhere (notably draws for West Ham and Fulham) allow a glimmer of hope once again in the race for seventh, which will bring Europa League qualification.

There is no doubt Thursday night took a lot out of us but it was a flying start that we got off to with Robinho firing impressively home from a sumptuous through ball from Stephen Ireland to put us 1-0 ahead, and when Nedum Onouha took advantage of a bodycheck on Scott Carson from Felipe Caicedo (although it is safe to say Caicedo was surely fouled in the build up anyway), Mark Hughes may have been tempted to mimic Rafa Benitez in declaring the game over.

Perhaps a combination of both mental and physical tiredness allowed West Brom back into the game, and there must have been thoughts of games such as Liverpool where we contrived to allow sides back into games when we should have killed them off.

Credit though to the side, although Olsson's needless trip on Elano so soon after getting back on level terms was a gift, but Elano fired home (once again) and you did sense that West Brom felt their opportunity had gone. It was not until the final minute until the game was killed off though, when Ireland selflessley teed up Daniel Sturridge for a fourth and all but condemn our opponents to the drop.

A good three points then and a vital win as it keeps the season very much alive as we still have designs on that seventh position. With 53 points still the target I believe we need we have very little margin for error with some difficult games still on the fixture list to come.

We may need a huge amount of help from those sides ahead of us for us to achieve it, but if we keep winning that is all we can do. Time to sort out the away form then.

West Brom open thread

Time constraints are such that I'm not able to get a preview up for this weekends game, but feel free to post up any comments or thoughts.

West Brom 2 Manchester City 1

West Brom 2 Manchester City 1

Sunday December 21, 2008, 1.30pm
The Hawthorns - Att: 25, 010

[Telegraph report, Guardian report, Times online report]

Unsurprisingly, the message boards have been on fire following today's defeat and Mark Hughes has now been installed as the favourite (odds on to boot) to be the next Premier League manager to lose his job. Hughes however has stated that he expects to stay and has been given the green light as regards squad additions in January, which would suggest he will see the season out at least.

The difficulty now though is that with Paul Ince fired, the media speculation will all be about Hughes and it is inconceivable that this is not going to affect the team - particularly if reports regarding the splits within the squad are to be believed.

The 4-4-2 line-up that Hughes opted for today was perhaps him returning more to his trusted principles, and it did give us a more compact and tidy look yet we still lacked a really cutting edge and with a defensive central midfield of Gelson and Kompany, our creativity and spark always came from out wide and this was nullified by a lack of presence in the box.

Whilst Vassell and Benjani turned in performances that were amongst their better ones, it was more industry than anything else and the introduction of Caicedo at least saw a forward with some purpose and direction.

Hughes bemoaned individual errors once again, and Richards and Dunne's lack of consistency is a real issue now. Either a central defender of real quality needs to be added, or at least the hope is Diarra's arrival will allow Kompany to move into defence.

After getting a late equaliser, to lose so in that manner was so disappointing. Neither side probably did enough to deserve to win the game but given the lack of confidence and form that West Brom had coming into the game, to drop all three points against them does not auger well ahead of a potentially tricky pair of games to round out the year.

Most of the talk will now of course be regarding Hughes's future and there is no doubt he is under pressure, but lest we forget it hasn't just been this season that we have performed miserably - 2008 as a whole has been our annus horribulus.

The difficulty in sacking Hughes is that once again we will back to square one, hunting for a new manager, who will want his own staff, players and style - all of which will take time. This does not however mean he stay in the job solely for those reasons. The adage of being too good to go down is often used, but the way the league is shaping up this season means we can easily climb the table (a win today would have seen us move up to twelfth).

The danger we do have though is if our recent form is as a result of the cracks in the foundations of the Hughes regime, these could get bigger and bigger until the season is well and truly in a great deal of trouble.

Hughes is still the right man, but the questions are growing by the game.

Some quick thoughts

• With talk of factions within the squad, and an abject display in Santander, has Elano played his last game at the club (under Hughes at least)?
• How miraculous was Benjani's recoveryfor the game given he was expected to miss the remainder of this year?
• The Observer suggests that Gigi Buffon will arrive in January, on a weekly wage of £225,000 per week.
• Hughes's BBC interview does suggest he will be bringing 'immediate impact' players.
  

West Brom open thread

Post your comments...

West Brom v Manchester City preview

Venue: The Hawthorns Date: Sunday, 21 December Kick-off: 13:00 GMT

[BBC preview, MEN preview]

The first of a trio of games over the Christmas period which could either leave us in a genuine relegation scrap or lift us into a mid-table position where we can hopefully recover what has been an underwhelming first half to the season.

Although we are facing a West Brom side who are bottom of the table and without a win in ten games, we do have very little confidence heading into this game given recent results (particularly away from home) and with reports of disharmony in the camp.

Speaking to a West Brom fan at work though, he is approaching the game with even less confidence and is anticipating them being relegated. Given their lack of goals and hammering at managerless Sunderland last week, the game should be ours for the taking if we can throw off the shackles of our recent poor form.

Robinho is likely to miss out, but Richard Dunne will return to the line-up in what I imagine will not see many changes given the lack of options we have. The only real decision I see facing Hughes is the choice of who will lead the line, and perhaps given Caicedo's cameo on Thursday he should given an opportunity given the lack of success elsewhere?

Team news:

West Brom central defender Leon Barnett has recovered from a knee injury.

Roman Bednar is also pushing for a recall, while James Morrison and Borja Valero have been ill but are expected to recover in time to play.

Manchester City skipper Richard Dunne is expected to return after missing the Uefa Cup defeat in Spain on Thursday to deal with a family matter.

Robinho suffered a recurrence of his ankle injury against Racing Santander and faces a late fitness check.

Match stats:

• West Brom have won taken 11 points off us in the Premir League. More than against any other club.
• West Brom have gone ten matches without a clean sheet and failed to score in 4 of their last 6 games.
• We have our lowest Premier League points tally after 17 games since 2000/01 - when we were eventually relegated.
• We have won every game this season where we have kept a clean sheet.

We are not know for having too much success when featured live on TV, and there is a real danger that coming away with a defeat will leave us in the bottom three and really begin to expose some cracks.

The key to victory for me will be Ireland and Wright-Phillips, and if they have good days we will be good value for all three points so with that in mind I'll go for a 2-1 victory.

Miller earns under-21 call up

Ishmael Miller will be seeing some familiar faces after being called up to the England Under 21 squad.

The powerful striker has been in a rich vein of form since starting a season-long loan spell at West Brom in August, bagging nine goals for Tony Mowbray's side.

He now links up with Stuart Pearce after the former City boss was hit by a number of injuries to his original selection.

The 20-year-old will meet up with City team mates Joe Hart and Nedum Onuoha as Pearce fine-tunes preparations for the Euro 2009 qualifiers against Bulgaria, in Milton Keynes on Friday, and Portugal in Agueda next Tuesday.

-mcfc.co.uk

A good reward for Miller's fine form this season for the Baggies and it will be interesting to see how he fares when stepping up to this level, as he has surprised me (and many others no doubt) with how he has performed this season.

Interestingly though, it is Stuart Pearce who has of course named him in the squad - so expect a two minute cameo or an appearance on the left wing...

West Brom eyeing long term Miller deal

West Brom are believed to have agreed a £2million fee with Manchester City to sign on-loan striker Ishmael Miller on a permanent basis. -teamtalk.com

Miller's hot start to the season is definitely making the loan deal look a savvy move indeed.

Upon Eriksson's arrival, Miller's less than stellar pre-season play and lack of appearances suggested he would be one of the casualties, however in a surprising move he was given a new three year deal and farmed out to West Brom for this season.

I've yet to be convinced that Miller does have a long term future at the club, and it maybe that this season is somewhat of a make or break for him, but what is smart about the loan move is that it puts him in the shop window for an extended period of time and should he play well, score a few goals and grab some headlines (all of which he has done so far at this early stage), what he will do is ensure a host of clubs willing to take him on a permanent move at the end of the season - and in turn inflating the transfer fee from what it would have been last season.

Alternatively of course, Miller may well do enough during his time at West Brom to convince Eriksson he does have a future with us and that is combination of size and pace is something he covets up front going forward from next season.

All in all, a win-win situation for both the club and Miller himself.

If he does well, increases value and increases interested clubs plus contract gives more cash to us on transfer fee.

Was heading nowhere at City so win-win when sent him out as could come back after strong season

Miller-time for Baggies

YOUNG City forward Ishmael Miller has gone on a month's
loan to West Brom.The 20-year-old had also been attracting interest from Preston
and Watford but will now help the Baggies try and bounce back from their opening
day defeat at Burnley.West Brom manager Tony Mowbray earlier indicated his
wish to bring Miller in, saying: "Ishmael is a young player who has been on the
fringes at Man City in a difficult period for their club."He would play as a
striker if we managed to bring him in and he would offer different assets to
what we have already got at our club."He is a big, powerful and quick boy."He
has played a lot of reserve matches and is someone who needs exposure on the
football pitch."

-MEN.

There had been stories that Miller could be on the way out permanently but it maybe the Eriksson feels he potentially does have a future at the club - or is at least not willing to let him go just yet until further additions arrive.

It is a good move for Miller - who after making a handful of appearances last season, finds himself marginalised by the new arrivals to the squad. West Brom should be a decent fit for him and it will benefit him playing up front rather than out left where he operated last season.

The only surprise for me with the move is that it isn't a longer one, with a move until January perhaps a better one all-round to allow him to settle in and get at least a dozen or so games under his belt.