West Bromwich Albion vs. Middlesbrough [R]

At last the first game for the new manager. New Baggies boss Bryan Robson will try to boost the spirits of the club that gave him his first taste of top flight football... while trying to outwit the club that he managed for seven years. Robbo has named a squad unchanged from the match against Southampton, the last in which Frank Burrows was in charge.

After the results from today's matches, Albion are now in 18th in the table, with two points separating them from Southampton in 17th. Steve McClaren's Boro have 21 points and are chasing a European place and are unbeaten in five matches, so it will not be easy. But expectations are rather high at the moment.

In other news this week, Scott Dobie agreed to terms with Millwall and will join former strike partner Danny Dichio in south-east London.

West Bromwich Albion: Hoult, Kusczak, Haas, Scimeca, Purse, Gaardsoe, Moore, Albrechtsen, Robinson, Koumas, Gera, Johnson, Greening, Sakiri, Kanu, Earnshaw, Horsfield.

Middlesbrough: Schwarzer, McMahon, Riggott, Southgate, Queudrue, Parlour, Zenden, Boateng, Downing, Hasselbaink, Viduka, Doriva, Morrison, Cooper.

 

Robson's only seen the lads in training for less than a week and unless he's had time to watch every Albion match since the beginning of the season, he doesn't yet know their individual strengths and weaknesses.

But Robbo has been known in the past to be a 'players' manager', and I'm sure the Albion players will try to do their best. A one-nil scoreline sounds fair enough, but I'm not confident enough to say exactly which side will have the one.

 

West Bromwich Albion 1 - Middlesbrough 2

Bryan Robson's debut as manager brought on one of the most fluid displays of football by Albion... but the Baggies wasted clear-cut opportunities on goal, and Boro converted on just enough to grab three points.

Had Darren Purse not opened the scoring by putting the ball in his own net off a Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink shot, the Baggies would have had a better opportunity to earn some share of the points. Earnshaw leveled moments later. But after a defensive lapse let Dutch international Boudewijn Zenden, Boro were content to hold on... and just barely did.

Cosmin Contra made his debut in the first XI. And I have to wonder why he hasn't played sooner. He was involved in many of Albion's chances on net.

So now Albion will visit Arsenal on Saturday and play Manchester United after that. Yeah we'd like some points before December, but it doesn't look good...

 

Er, thank you Mr Obvious. We would never have known the final score without your diligent posting.