Monday, May 13, 2013

ANALYSIS: Chris Lepkowski's West Bromwich Albion Season Review - Birmingham Mail

How was your 2012/13? It was a season where Albion claimed their highest-ever points total, their best-ever finish, nurtured Chelsea's next best thing and the year we realised that footballers and Twitter aren't always easy bedfellows.

Everton at home was named as the best display at the club's recent end-of-season dinner but Southampton away was the moment it all came together on and off the pitch. Steve Clarke changed his side's formation, switching to a 4-3-3, to exploit Southampton's weaknesses.

Let's get this one out of the way. It's the one topic everyone has been sick of this season: the club's Facebook vote to decide which player's play-list will feature in the pre-match schedule.

There have been the odd choices (Youssouf Mulumbu opted for the Harlem Shake), the truly awful – Ben Foster chose 'It's a Groovy Kind of Love' by Phil Collins – to the downright inappropriate such as Romelu Lukaku's hardcore gangster rap, with its awkward use of English.

Here's an idea: how about turning the volume down and letting the fans create their own atmosphere? It might just catch on.

It would be too predictable to go for one of Zoltan Gera's long-range efforts against Liverpool or Sunderland – so I'll go with Lukaku's effort at Anfield.

It wasn't the most elegant goal but the way he drew the ball away from the defender and the poise of his finishing underlined why Lukaku is merely passing through The Hawthorns, rather than a permanent fixture.

Yes, you knew this one was coming. We should have seen the warning signs when Peter Odemwingie rattled off a series of angry tweets to the Nigerian football federation.

His two separate Albion-related cluster of Twitterbombs are the sole reason why some Baggies fans want him nowhere near the club. The point of no return has long since gone. What a shame for all concerned.

There are so many we could point to – Lukaku at Reading, Yacob in any of his first dozen games – but surely nobody could beat Ben Foster's performance at Liverpool.

The Reds certainly couldn't. A succession of saves and a penalty stop were the highlights of another excellent year for the Albion No.1.

You know you've witnessed something special when ex-Barcelona and Real Madrid man Michael Laudrup describes the first half as being the best 45 minutes he's been associated with.

Football fans can be accused of recycling old tunes for new chants but whoever came up with the 'Popov' song (to the tune of Popeye The Sailor Man) deserves to be rewarded with a family-sized can of spinach. Brilliant.

This one is directed at the dressing room sage who bought a QPR shirt and had Odemwingie's name with a No.12 printed on the back, before hanging it on his dressing room peg.

Some fans just won't have Chris Brunt. But nobody within the Albion dressing room embraces the notion of 'taking one for the team' more than him.

Signed as a left-winger, Brunt has featured on the right flank and via the centre – all to accommodate others. He never complains. And he still has one of the best assists records. As a captain he is respected by all within the dressing room.

Consider this. In 2012 Albion lost their manager, their sporting and technical director and appointed a 'novice' boss.

For Clarke to guide Albion to eighth spot, with a club record number of Premier League points amid the backdrop of some of the nonsense he's had to deal with has been commendable. He's been bold with team selections, innovative with formations/substitutions at times. They didn't always work - but for a first-time boss, in his maiden year, it was a damn good effort.

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