Talk Of Europe Is Premature For West Brom, But The Signs Are Promising

Very highly rated as a coach and assistant after spells at Chelsea, West Ham and Liverpool, Steve Clarke took his first plunge into management at The Hawthorns. Clarke left Liverpool after Kenny Dalglish was sacked and, with Roy Hodgson taking the England job, this left a vacancy to fill. The former Scotland international was appointed by The Baggies’ board – and he hasn’t looked back since.

A 3-0 demolition of Liverpool on the opening day of the season signalled intent from, but this could have easily been a ‘flash in the pan’ result against a side in transition of the back of a troubled league campaign. However a trip to White Hart Lane saw another point picked up, as well as another 3 points at home against a Merseyside club – Everton. This left them with 7 points out of a possible 9. A 3-0 away defeat to free-scoring Fulham could have been tough to take, but the Baggies bounced back. Fast forward to the 25^th November and they woke up sitting pretty in the Champions League places. 4 wins out of 4 this month (Southampton - H, Wigan - A, Chelsea – H, and Sunderland – A) against difficult opposition shows that the first 3 games were no fluke – The Albion look the real deal right now.



West Brom have been on fire so far this season

The pool of riches up top in Long, Odemwingie (who played on the wide right yesterday due to Mulumbu being missing and James Morrison being dropped to play alongside Yacob) and Lukaku (on loan from Chelsea) provide a wide range of options, with generally one of these sitting up top being supported by the likes of Morrison, Brunt and Gera behind them. Mulumbu and Yacob, a great little signing from Racing Club of Argentina, pull the strings in midfield. With a fairly solid defence and goalkeeper behind them, this run shows no real signs of ending right now.

It is extremely unlikely that West Brom will be able to break into the top 4 this year, or even the top 6 with the sheer amount of teams looking like challenging. A few injuries to the core of their team, the likes of Long, Morrison, Yacob, McAuley and Ridgewell, could halt their charge – but as long as they don’t happen all at once they have enough strength in depth to cover a few absentees.



Claudio Yacob has run The Baggies' midfield this year

The signs are promising for The Baggies’. Whether they will keep it up remains to be seen, but they have the form, talent, and decent enough fixtures on their side. What you can be certain of however, is that Steve Clarke has done a superb job in moulding the team into his own – and the side look very strong right now.