West Bromwich Albion 3 - Queens Park Rangers 2

Summary:

Albion climbed up to fourth place and maintained their perfect home record with a victory over Queens Park Rangers, but after a dominant start to the game they were left clinging on until the final whistle.

James Morrison opened the scoring with a superb header from Shane Long's cross and Zoltan Gera doubled the lead when he pounced on a loose ball in the box. But Adel Taarabt did exactly what he normally does and conjured up a fine strike from nowhere to pull one back for the visitors after a few chants of "sacked in the morning" had begun to ring out in the direction of Mark Hughes. The goal - Albion's first in the Against column at homs this season - gave Rangers some confidence and the rest of the half was more even, although two good chances for Long could have put the game almost out of reach.

Albion replaced stand-in right back Gabrial Tamas with Gonzalo Jara Reyes at half time, but never reached the quality of their early first half display; the double substitution of Long and Peter Odemwingie by Romelu Lukaku and Markus Rosenberg only causing them to lose shape still further.

With just five minutes left, however, a beautiful passing move down the right involving Jara Reyes and Youssouf Mulumbu gave the latter a neat side-footed finish to restore Albion's two goal advantage.

That should really have been the end of it, but Albion failed to keep posession to see out the game and halfway through the four minutes of added time they were given a nervous finish by a well-taken goal from Granero. Will it have been enough to keep Hughes in a job?

Paul Gainham:

Note to Steve Clarke - whilst I have admired your willingness to change formation and personnel at a time that gives them a chance to impact the game, sometimes you don't have to change anything - just leave things as they are.

And so it was at QPR yesterday - during the first half, some of our attacking football and movement was, IMO, superb. We looked sharp, fluid, there was a lot of movement and we could easily have been 3 or 4-0 up at HT. Having said that, when QPR had possession, we looked a little nervous and tended to back away too much which was to prove an indicator of how most of the 2nd half went.

Interestingly Olsson was not at his commanding best yesterday and with Tamas struggling at right back against Tarabt, you could see that if a goal was to come from QPR that would probably be the route. And so it transpired, in fairness to Tarabt, a great chest, turn and volley gave Foster no chance.

The second half signalled a complete reversal of fortune. We looked more nervous, our play became sloppy and we began to sit back way too much, just as we had done at Villa last week.

Jara came on for Tamas which was a good move as Tamas had been booked and would most likely have been sent off. The problem was Jara had a mare constantly giving the ball away. True he did set up the 3rd goal but his overall play was poor which with Reid still out leaves a hole at RB that still has to be filled.

The quality of the goals on display yesterday was excellent. Morrisons opening header and Mulumbu's late shot were the result of some excellent build up play and superbly executed. In between Gera's side foot was also well struck. Again, in fairness to QPR, both of their goals were excellent as well.

Back to my opening point, both Long and Odemwingie were playing well yesterday and should have stayed the distance, or at least until 5-10 mins left. By bringing on Lukaku (who at the moment does not look the player we saw against Liverpool or Spurs) and Rosenebrg (who looked awful) we lost our hold up play and attacking flair. This happened at about 15 mins into the 2nd half where you could see that QPR were on top - I would have thought a better move would have been to bring 1 player on at that stage, probably Fortune, to give us another hold up option at front.

Still, its early for Clarke, we are 4th and its our best start to a top league season since 1919(?) so its purile to criticise - we do look overall a really good team, my concern from yesterday would be that playing as we did and making the substitutions he did, against a better side we would have been found out.

Player Marks

• Foster 7 Not much he could do with either goal
• Tamas 5 Struggled all 1st half against Tarabt, subbed for start of 2nd
• Popov 6 Occasionally made the wrong decision but i like the look of him
• Olsson 6 Not his commanding best today
• McCauley 7 As Olsson struggled, McCauley held it together
• Mulumbu 7 Great goal, looked good in 1st half, struggled 2nd
• Yacob 7 The invisible man (in a good way) you don't see him but he did a lot of good work yesterday
• Odemwingie 7 Looked sharp, prepared to run at people, great ball to Gera for the goal that nearly was
• Morrison 8 At the heart of most of the good things we did
• Gera 8 My MOM - supported the forward play well, took his goal well and got back to help Popov
• Long 8 Another good display, more like this and last week and I will have to eat my words. Unlucky to be subbed.

Subs

• Jara 4 Had a mare
• Roseneberg 4 Had a mare
• Lukaku 6 Not the player we saw earlier in the season

Bobby Hope:

Well another great result but a patchy performance. Some very good goals too. QPR have talent and we saw that in their two exceptional goals but Albion's threat going forward as a team was exceeptional too. I thought the first goal was good but the last was even better!

QPR played better when 2-0 down as the pressure was off them really. They can be a real handful when they are 'ticking'. Their defence, however, is terrible and they will go down if they don't put that right. To see Long head a ball out of defence and then run the length of the pitch to almost dispatch Mozza's perfect cross was very heartening - what a shift that guy puts in every game! Odem, Mozza and Gera all played very well and are a real threat - can't see Brunt or Thomas getting back in at this rate!

SC had to take Tamas off as he ould have got a second yellow and he couldn't really cope with Taarabt - the ref had his card marked (pun intended!). Jara unbalanced the team and his initial passing was awful - he can be forgiven after that glorious one two and cut back to Mulumbu in the 85th minute - not sure what would have happened though if that pass had gone astray and QPR had broken away down their left??? Then again if my Auntie had bo**ocks she'd be my uncle!

Really glad that Jonas has signed up for life! Have to say that Yacob is my player of the year so far. Bring on the Champions! COYB

oshawabaggie:

A funny game. We went from playing some sublime one-touch football in the first half, and a seemingly comfortable lead, to hanging on for the win. QPR had a great chance to tie it up with the last kick of the game. But we should remember that QPR are a desperate team, full of skilled (and expensive) players and, to repeat an over-used axiom, there are no easy games in the Premier.

In the first half hour the exchanges between Gera, Morrison, Long and Peter O. were a delight to watch - lightning counter-attacks and clinical finishing. Even after QPR's brilliantly taken goal, we still looked dangerous and Long had a great chance. But we went off the boil in the second. Why? I think the weight of expectation (to keep the streak going) is starting to impact the way we play. When we have a lead we focus on hanging on to what we have, rather than risking going forward. But it's hard to be too critical, as long as we do hold out for the win.

A few games ago, I said Lukaku should start and RSA baggie disagreed. I have to say, having watched his last couple of appearances, RSA was right. He has looked really raw. I was pleased with Peter O's performance after his suspension. Our achilles heel seems to be in the 'right back' position. Reid would be fine if he could stay fit, but Jones, Tamas, and Jara all have defensive limitations (and consequently concede too many fouls), although Jara did well on Mulumbu's goal.

Great news on Olsson's signing. That should give the team a boost - as if they needed one. So, at this rate, we are set for a 76 point season. OK, OK, just having a bit of fun, but I don't see why we can't pass the sixty point mark, which might be a 7th spot. I think we are genuine top half team now and it's great not to be getting ulcers before October is out.

On a completely different note, I notice that Bobby Hope posts. Not 'THE' Bobby Hope, surely? My favorite forward line: Foggo, Brown, Astle, Hope, Clark. What a superb passer Hope was. Every corner and free kick on Astle's head. And talking of 'posts' what happened to Dave Watkin? I thought his comprehensive reports were so informed.

Bring on City!!

COUCHCRITIC:

I hope Steve Clarke reads these postings and takes on board the points made about our defensive frailties. Whilst our attacking play is now as good as any, we are likely to throw this advantage away through woeful defensive errors. Tamas & Jara Reyes are both accidents waiting to happen and in my opinion should never be in the team & need to be offloaded at the earliest opportunity. I hope that Clarke & Dan Ashworth (before he's pinched) can source some quality replacements by the next window. Perhaps then Europe will not be a dream.