The official "West Brom to the Champions League" thread

[Mat]

The place to discuss all things West Brom on our quest to reach the Champions League under the guidance of Super Stevie Clarke.

Results for December:

West Brom 0-1 Stoke
Arsenal 2-0 West Brom
West Brom 0-0 West Ham
West Brom 2-1 Norwich
QPR 1-2 West Brom
29th December:Manchester United vs West Brom

Disclaimer:I don't really expect us to qualify for the Champions League...but I'm starting to believe Europe is possible!

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

You're gonna lose to us on the 22nd December. Just thought I would inform you of that

[Mat]

We shall see Olly.

[Kay Fabe]

What the hell, I'll throw my weight behind this...West Brom for the Champions League

[JamesLincs]

delighted for you. yo-yoing between divisions and now contenders for europe

[lfc91]

You are playing extremely well at the minute mate, fair play!

[Soldier_Of_Fortune]

Steve Clarke has been past the batton and WBA and upped there game a level this season. Most defenders in the Prem must hate playing against Long!

When we played you first game and got tonked, I thought that was more down to Liverpool being cack (which we were) but WBA have made the Hawthorns a fortress this season and the results have been fully deserved. I even think you should have gotten all 3 points against Citeh.

Be interesting to see if any forthcoming investment is made in Jan to push WBA on.

[westisbest]

Good god Baggies fans geting carried away

[Mat]

Good god Baggies fans geting carried away

Just enjoying it while it lasts! Rather be in our position than Villa's

SOF, can't see we'll do much spending in January to be honest. Will be a big month though, African Cup Of Nations so we lose Mulumbu and possibly Odemwingie.

[westisbest]

Fair play to you. Doing well.

Was having a good chat with a Baggies fan(who was the spitting image of David Seaman) after the Arsenal game sat. Good lad.

Lot of praise for Long, who is a top player and bloke(met him in brum october last year on a night out, had plenty of time to chat).

I must admit I didnt think Clarke would being doing this well with you.
Least you wont be in relegation battle this season(shouldnt be unless you go on a major losing streak).

[Mat]

Slight hic-up today with a 3-1 loss to Swansea. I think senor Clarke got it wrong tonight, 4-4-2 worked much better in 2nd half. No subs suprising also.

Stoke at home Saturday. Would be nice to beat them.

[Guest]

I've joined the party a bit too late

Still think we have a good run of fixtures to come:

Sun 16 Dec 2012 - West Brom v West Ham
Sat 22 Dec 2012 - West Brom v Norwich
Wed 26 Dec 2012 - QPR v West Brom
Sat 29 Dec 2012 - Man Utd v West Brom

4 points is the minimum I'd want from those 4 games, I'd be happy with 6, very happy with 7, and 9 or more would make my Christmas the best ever

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Well I can't see you getting wins against Norwich or Man Utd...

[Guest]

That's because you're blind Olly. Every undefeated streak ends sometime, yours will do so at The Hawthorns

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

It ended on Tuesday didn't it?

[Guest]

Oh so you can admit that now

You still have a league streak to defend.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

That'll end on Saturday against Wigan!

There is no way we will go 10 league games unbeaten and win 5 on the bounce at home

[Guest]

You say that, Wigan are easy one week, Barcelona the next. Catch them on a Walsall day and you'll be fine.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Well they haven't won in 3 so they might be due a performance!

But they have only scored 1 goal in 3 visits to Carrow Road.

This match is sending so many mixed messages!

[Mat]

Form is temporary, class is permanent.

Hopefully a return to winning ways this Sunday(Live on Sky Sports) against The Hammers, and then beat Norwich the weekend after!

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

I have 100% winning percentage viewing Norwich at the Hawthornes. The stats are against you

[Guest]

I have a 100% winning percentage watching Albion on Sky, so bring on West Ham

[sodhat]

0-1

Guaranteed.

[Guest]

0-1

Guaranteed.

Computer says no Soddy.

[Mat]

4 points from the last 2 home games has put this thread back on track!

[Mat]

Another win for The Baggies on boxing day, a lot of injuries going into the clash with Manchester United.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Home or away Mat? Gonna be tough, but you never know!

[Ent]

They are the next victims at OT.

[Guest]

United are vulnerable defensively, there's never been a better time to play them, especially with Rooney out

[Ent]

Vidic will play tomorrow though, and he won't start giggs and scholes again.

Should be a good game anyway!

[Guest]

So I'll be at QPR tomorrow, what's the betting we lose 3-0...

[Mat]

Big series of games coming up for Albion.

Reading away on Saturday, chance to get some more points on the road. Then the replay with QPR which if we win will give us a good chance to progress to round 5 with MK Dons/Sheffield Wednesday at home in Round 4.

Replay with QPR is followed by the big derby with Aston Villa! God I am excited for that already!

[Guest]

Yes, a good run over the next few games will set us up well for the rest of the season.

[Guest]

Okay, the Champions League may be a dream now, but we could have a chance at Europa League action

[JamesLincs]

youve had a great season and deserve to get into europe. where would you need to finish, and how does swansea success affect your chances?

[Guest]

The way I read it (and I could be wrong), then:

Champs League: Man Utd, Man City, Tottenham, Chelsea
Europa League: Arsenal
Capital One Cup: Swansea
FA Cup: one of Wigan, Blackburn or Millwall

The only way we can get in is via 5th place or the Fair Play League. Arsenal are winning that, so we'd have to finish second in that.

We are 4 points off Arsenal, having played a game more, but the fixture list is interesting:

Albion: Stoke, West Ham, ARSENAL, Newcastle, Southampton, Wigan, Norwich, Man Utd

Arsenal: Swansea, Reading, WEST BROM, Norwich, Everton, Fulham, Man Utd, QPR, Wigan, Newcastle

Similar fixtures, but if we beat them at home, it's a 1pt gap, and we just have to perform better over the other 8 games. I'd fancy points from all those games except United, as I'm sure Arsenal would.

All this of course assumes that Bayern beat Arsenal.

[JamesLincs]

you have a chance i think. depends where youre playing stoke, west ham and newcastle, you can probably forget the united game.

i know arsenal are away at swansea and newcastle and they can also forget about beating united. this is why i dont see spurs defeat as that bad yesterday. arsenals fixtures are horrible

[Guest]

If we can beat Stoke, West Ham, Arsenal, Southampton, Wigan and Norwich, that's 61 points for us.

That leaves Arsenal needing 15 to go above us - meaning 5 wins from Swansea, Reading, Norwich, Everton, Fulham, Man U, QPR, Wigan and Newcastle.

Let's say they beat Reading, QPR and Wigan, that means 2 wins from Swansea, Norwich, Everton, Fulham, Man U and Newcastle.

I've changed my mind, we have no chance

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

You ain't beating us at our place

[Guest]

Oh yes we are

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

One thing we are, for all our faults, is tough to beat at home!

Only lost to Liverpool, Chelski, Man City at home this year, and 2 of them we should have got a point from

If you score, we could be in trouble though

[Guest]

One thing we do well is scoring goals. Despite Odemwingie being absent for most of the season, and Shane Long disappearing since September, Lukaku and the midfield have chipped in goal after goal. I've never been a confident Albion fan, but we went to Chelsea last weekend and I fancied us to get a result (if we had Lukaku available).

I just don't like Chris Hughton. He epitomises a lot of what I hate in football - Tottenham, Birmingham, and rubbish CBs

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Haha he was quite heavily linked with you in the summer weren't he?

[Guest]

When Hodgson left, Hughton was the consensus vote from the fans, despite being a bluenose. And when Clarke was appointed, I was furious. But it's turned out rather well

[Mat]

Whilst our form has tailed off somewhat since the New Year, can't argue with 8th place, winning the "Best of the Rest" league.

Big summer ahead but with a few good additions, can't see why we won't finish in a similar position next season.

[Mat]

Also one in the eye for the following;

1) Matt Le Tisser, Paul Merson and Charlie Nicholas who all said West Brom would go down at the start of the season.

2) For anyone who predicted the above, Terry Venables was one.

3) Anyone who said Steve Clarke would be the first manager to be sacked this season(Olly!)

4) The media in general who just can't seem to find it in them to applaud Albion for a great season.

5) Harry Redknapp, Mark Hughes, Tony Fernandez and QP-Ha in general.

6) Peter Odemwingie.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

I have to admit I was more than wrong about Mr Clarke Mat!!

[Mat]

Massively wrong!

[NickisBHAFC]

I always said Steve Clarke would lead West Brom to a successful top half finish. The bloke was very respected at Chelsea as a coach, only the matter of time before he managed a club.

[Mat]

Title winner: Man City
Top 4: City, Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal
Surprise Package: Swansea
Relegation for: Stoke, West Brom and Norwich

From the Pre-Season predictions thread...

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