This is undoubtedly one of the most upbeat blogs I have been able to write this season, as I’m sure I’m not the only Albion fan still celebrating a magnificent 5-1 victory against Wolves at Molineux on Sunday.
Sometimes, you can win games by a large margin and it will not be entirely deserved. However, on this particular occasion, Wolves were the side flattered by the scoreline, as we could quite easily have scored double the number of goals we actually managed.
I’ve already spoken about the game at length in the Fan’s View I provided for WBA-MAD, so I won’t be spending too long talking about the game again in this blog.
It is worth noting though, that Roy Hodgson was receiving a lot of criticism from some of our supporters going into the game due to our abysmal home form this season.
We had suffered yet another disappointing defeat at The Hawthorns against Swansea City last time out, and quite a few Albion fans seemed to be losing patience with what were considered negative tactics by Hodgson.
I was somewhere in between the two extremes – one was that Hodgson’s job should be in danger, while the other was that he was still doing a brilliant job and should be exempt from any criticism because we were still on course to stay in the Premier League.
However, results like Sunday just prove what a good manager Hodgson is and the kind of football our players are capable of playing when they are given the opportunity to get forward.
Tactics
We played a formation which was essentially a 4-5-1 without the ball, but a 4-3-3 when we were in possession.
This meant that on the rare occasions when Wolves were seeing more of the ball, we outnumbered them in midfield and were able to win the ball back and counter-attack with ease, something which undoubtedly contributed to the emphatic nature of the scoreline.
I think it is now clear that 4-4-2 is not the formation which will get the best out of our players, as we have far too many talented midfielders to only have four of them in the starting line-up.
We look far more balanced when playing 4-5-1, as it enables the likes of James Morrison to have a free role in the midfield, and means that we push more players forward in support of the loan striker, who is currently the in-form Marc-Antoine Fortune, much quicker.
We now have a free weekend due to our lack of involvement in the FA Cup, which gives any players carrying an injury of some kind to rest it and recover for our Premier League game at home to Sunderland in ten days’ time.
Our home form has been a major concern this season, but hopefully Sunday’s result and performance will see the players play with a bit more confidence at The Hawthorns over the next few weeks, and help us pick up the points required to remain in the Premier League for another season.
Boing Boing!
Can Albion transfer their away form to The Hawthorns? Have your say at WBA-MAD's fans forum here at Baggies Banter.