Recovering from my Christmas and Boxing Day excesses on the couch today I watched the best part of 5 Premiership games on the trot - something akin to what heaven will no doubt be like.
To my surprise the outstanding game of the day was the one I least expected to enjoy - West Bromwich Albion v Manchester City. The reason being on one side you have the Premiership's Nouveau Riche over laden with talent (some 300 million pounds worth in the game day squad - most signed in the last 2 seasons), and on the other the Boing Boing Baggies, regular relegation scrappers with a propensity for "bouncing" between divisions - hence the nickname. Given the state of the two protangonists I thought I'd be watching a one sided goal fest that involved an ultimately futile rear guard action on one hand and a barrage of shots from men worth more than some countries GDP on the other.
Instead what I saw was a game of the sort that brings a smile to the face of football fans while leaving the egg chasers completely bemused. Nil all? Must have been a crap game! Is a common quip but it just goes to show the lack of understanding of the game.
West Brom's manager Roy Hodgson was faced with trying to tame a side who had scored 53 goals in 17 in the league thus far. They could field names like Sergio Aguero, Samir Nasri, Edin Dzeko, Mario Balotelli and Ya Ya Toure, West Brom on the other hand have a squad largely made up of Premiership journeymen and "finds" from the lower leagues of England.
The first 45 minutes was a battle of wills and patience, West Brom sat deep content to let City have the ball to within 30 yards of goal, two banks of four fronted by a couple of terriers in Shane Long and Peter Odemwingie who chased anything knocked forward and attempted to pull the City back four around the field to make room for the likes of Jerome Thomas and Chris Brunt on the break. The discipline to not go chasing the ball when lost up field allowed West Brom to always have players behind the ball but this was not a kick-fest with the home side only conceding eight fouls (three less than City) and no bookings. This was intelligent skilful defending under pressure.
Manchester City on the other hand played their part in the game too. David Silva was a constant threat finding space between the two banks of four and attempt to weave either himself or the ball through the backline to link with Balotelli and Aguero. He did in truth have one excellent chance the first half when the ball was cut back to him on the edge of the area but he uncharacteristically lifted the shot over the bar.
So scoreless at half time and it was the half to come that really made the game. Buoyed by the success they'd had in keeping the league leaders scoreless in the first half West Brom played with a confidence and pace that showed they believed the game was there for the taking. Equally City - while still attacking - were starting to get both frustrated and and anxious at what may happen at the other end of the field should they lose the ball. The game opened up and really was at times end to end with the plucky under dogs looking to steal their piece of glory at any given opportunity while the men from Manchester attempted to boss the game and quell the unexpected fight.
City's best chance fell to Aguero who beat the offside trap to latch onto James Milner's header but one on one with Ben Foster (for a brief moment) he took an extra touch and allowed the excellent Gareth McAuley to get back and knock the ball off of his toe and out for a corner. At the other end Jerome Thomas' excellent wing play opened City up down the left on several occasions with the best opening seeing a blinding Thomas drive beat Joe Hart in the City goal only to hit the far post and deflect away.
While both teams contributed to an outstanding game the plaudits really should go to West Brom - especially Billy Jones (Man of the Match and only making his 5th appearance after transferring in the summer from Preston North End) the previously mentioned McAuley, Paul Sharner, Nickey Shorey, Youssuf Mulumbu, Jerome Thomas and the tactically astute man in the dugout Roy Hodgson who, so maligned at Liverpool, showed the rest of the league how to play without the ball against City and still compete.
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