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West
Bromwich Albion v Liverpool
The Hawthorns,
West Bromwich. 26th December 2004, 6.00pm. |
| 21st December 2004
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| Position |
20th |
6th |
| Form |
L D L L L L |
D D W L D W |
| Last Match |
Birmingham
City (A) 0-4 |
Newcastle United (H) 3-1 |
Last Meeting
11th September 2004 |
Liverpool 3 (Gerrard
16, Finnan 42, Luis Garcia 60)
West Bromwich Albion 0 |
Last Baggies win in this fixture
was 2-0 on 7th February 1981
Current Baggies manager Bryan Robson scored along
with Cyrille Regis in front of nearly 28,000 fans to give the Baggies
a rare win over the Reds. At the end of the season, Albion finished
4th and Liverpool 5th - the only time since Liverpool won promotion
to Division One in 1962 that Albion finished higher that the men
from Anfield. |
Boxing Day sees the
first return fixtures of the season and Albion play host to Liverpool.
The Anfield fixture saw the Reds win easily by three goals to nil
as Gary Megson fielded a disappointingly defensive line-up - sounds
familiar...
Rafael Benitez has certainly improved the style of football since
he joined in the summer, but results have been mixed although a
recent striker crisis hasn't helped. Having sold Michael Owen in
August, at one point Djibril Cisse, Sinama-Pongolle, Luis Garcia
and Milan Baros were all injured leaving youngster Neil Mellor and
the under-performing Harry Kewell as their only forward players.
Unfortunately for the Baggies, only Cisse remains injured and Baros
marked his return with a goal against Newcastle last Sunday.
Liverpool have pulled off some great results such as the win over
Arsenal and the fantastic comeback against Olympiakos that saw them
qualify for the knockout phase of the Champions League, but losing
the Merseyside derby and conceding a late equaliser to Portsmouth
are examples of the inconsistency.
If there is any hope for the Baggies on Sunday, it is that Liverpool
have one of their not-so-rare off-days, although Albion will still
have to play a hundred times better than they have been to test
even a well below-par Liverpool team. If Gerrard plays anywhere
near his best, he is capable of winning the game on his own, and
with the likes of Alonso, Baros, Kewell, Luis Garcia and Riise to
back him up, there is no doubt that this will be a very stern test.
Indeed, it is a stern test for any Premiership side, never mind
one bottom of the league, extraordinarily low on confidence and
without a win in ten matches. I don't hold out much hope for any
Christmas cheer, but I am looking forward to the match because these
are the games that make being in the Premiership worthwhile.
Robson has responded to criticism from the fans by blaming his players.
While I understand that the players have not performed in the last
three games, he must take some of the blame because, although he
denies it, I believe there have been significant errors in team
selection and tactics. He has "had words" with the players once
again, and it will be interesting to see what sort of reaction he
gets on Sunday.
Again, I cannot second guess Robson's team, but I would start with
the following assuming Contra recovers from his groin strain having
been 50/50 for the Blues match:
Hoult; Scimeca, Purse, Gaardsoe, Clement; Contra, Koumas, Greening,
Gera; Kanu, Earnshaw.
I don't, for one minute, think that AJ will be dropped, but it's
a move I wouldn't hesitate to make. Scimeca cannot play in central
defence and Haas just cannot play! We'll have to wait and see whether
Robson comes close to any of these changes, but if we go with a
defensive line-up, the outcome will be the same as it was at Anfield.
We have to force Liverpool back and take the pressure off our defence.
Come on Baggies, show some pride.
Jon Want, 21st December 2004.
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