Hodgson's Baggies Renaissance: How Good Are the New West Brom?

Roy Hodgson is a brilliant manager. As you can see, I rate him very highly. He is one of the only British managers who have broken through the "island mentality" and has gone abroad to spread his views and to scrutinize other football theories.

Hodgson had an unremarkable playing career, playing mainly for Crystal Palace in their Second Division years and eventually also playing for Carshalton Athletic.

He is famous, however, for his managerial career, where he led Malmo FF to two Swedish Cups and went on to manage the Swiss national team, leading them to the Round of 16 in 1994 (their first world cup appearance in 30 years) and Internazionale (to a UEFA Cup final, where they lost on penalties to a Jens Lehmann inspired Schalke).

After a spell with Finland, where he again almost qualified for the World Cup being only three points off, in a group that included Italy and Portugal. He then moved to Fulham , where he gave them their only European final, a 2-1 defeat to Atletico Madrid. He was given the Liverpool post, where he was appalling, and left them in ninth position.

Now he has the West Brom job, where he's performing well. He got them clear of relegation very early, when they were tipped as being certainties to go down. He has brought that organization to the Baggies allowing them to defend better.

The First Game of the Season: v. Manchester United

Starting XI: Foster, Olsson, Reid, Tamas, Shorey; Brunt, Scharner, Mulumbu, Morisson; Tchoyi; Long

West Brom rallied well from an early Rooney strike to equalize through Shane Long, though they lost to a Reid own-goal. They lined up in a traditional 4-4-2 with creative wingers (Brunt and Morrison).

Mulumbu was the water carrier in the side, while Scharner distributed well. The strike pair was a target man (Tchoyi) and the poacher (Long). Long is calm and cool in the finish and he showed that in his very well taken goal.

Second Game: v. Chelsea

Starting XI: Foster, Olsson, Reid, Tamas, Shorey; Brunt, Scharner, Mulumbu, Morisson; Tchoyi; Long

West Brom were again unlucky in the fact that Shane Long again scored and they were in the lead going into halftime. Then, Anelka and Malouda scored to kill their hopes off. However, they were very unlucky not to have won the game, having played much of it on the counter and having created some chances.

Statistical and Tactical Analysis

Most of the Baggies' play comes from the left, James Morrison. The Scot also plays the most key passes in the West Brom side, with the Northern Irishman Chris Brunt on the right side, being better at crossing and tending to take long shots from the right. These two seem to be the only creative forces in that West Brom side.

Mulumbu and Long are both hard-working players, and Long is a pure poacher, it is the typical "big man, little man" partnership. Mulumbu is the archetypal African player, hard-working, strong and powerful, not hesitating to put himself about. He plays a target man role as a foil to the pace and composure of Shane Long.