West Bromwich Albion 3 - Sunderland 0

Summary:

Albion's season finally got into full swing with a deserved 3-0 victory over Sunderland at the Hawthorns. With his work permit sorted, Stephane Sessegnon was handed his first start for Albion playing behind Nicolas Anelka while Steve Clarke made the brave decision to drop Claudio Yacob to the bench in favour of James Morrison, Scott Sinclair, Youssouf Mulumbu and Morgan Amalfitano in midfield.

After a nervy opening ten minutes Albion started to look the better side and Sessegnon gave them the lead after Sinclair's shot from Amalfitano's cross had been saved. But despite their dominance, Albion had failed to extend their lead and were lucky not to lose it with 20 minutes left to play when Steven Fletcher blasted an easy finish over the bar.

It proved to be a crucial moment, as Fletcher was injured and had to leave the field - but Sunderland had already used all three substitutions. A few minutes later Amalfitano crossed, their keeper palmed out and found Liam Ridgewell in space - the left back squeezed his shot inside the near post to put the game out of reach.

Amalfitano capped a Man of the Match performance with a superb strike in injury time to lift Albion to joint thirteenth in the table and leave their visitors rooted to the bottom.

Footnote

Following the final whistle, Sunderland manager Paolo Di Canio walked over to the away section and made an assortment of gestures, the meaning of most of which probably escaped many onlookers. "One day, if I receive the full support from the players, we will turn the corner", he said later. Next morning, however, he was sacked following a run of just 13 games in charge and became the latest in a growing list of managers to lose their jobs after losing to Albion.

oshawabaggie:

Massive result. Sessegnon, who I thought was average overall, nevertheless may have changed the course of our season with his goal. A loss today would have been devastating and we looked a little shakey until the goal went in. After that goal we started to push the ball around with more confidence, except for a dull period at the start of the second half.

Amalfitano was brilliant and looks like a real keeper. I love his work rate. Mulumbu once again was a huge presence. The defence in general looked fairly solid. Ridgewell, who takes a lot of stick from the fans, had a good game today and put the game beyond reach.

Up front we still have problems. Based on the few times I have seen him, Anelka doesn't have it any longer. He gets caught in possession way too often and drifts offside. Does SC have the courage to sit him? He should have been subbed at half time. Anichebe did well to set up the third goal, but I don't think he will score many goals himself. Sinclair didn't really get into the game. I hope Vydra is back soon and Berahino deserves a longer look.

However after a vital 3 - 0 win I shouldn't be too critical.

Malteser:

4-2-3-1 is definitely the formation to go. We outplayed Sunderland (albeit them going down to 9 men at the end).

Morgan Amalfitano was superb - his flair on the wing was much needed. Good goal too. I liked the understanding he had with Billy Jones. Sessegnon did well too, though he dwells too much on the ball at times.

Great one-touch football at times. Morrison looked useful alongside Mulumbu - provides more impact than Yacob. Scott Sinclair is still getting used back to regular first team football, so we need to give him more time.

Anelka remains more of a supporting player, though he had a near miss with that header. Once one of the other forwards ups his form, we may see Anelka down on the bench.

All in all, a very positive afternoon. No injuries/knocks too.

Let's keep hoping - Capital One Cup tie against Arsenal next. My hunch is that we w ill lose it as we happen to have this jinx with Arsenal in the League Cup. I think we've lost to them around 4 times or so in the last 11 years.

Didcot Baggie:

Well that was more like it! The new boys showed that they can be valuable additions and there were moments of sublime interplay between Sessegnon, Anelka and Amalfitano. Amalfitano was class all afternoon and fully deserved his man of the match award.

Of course we rode our luck at times and it needed Sunderland to be reduced to 10 men with the injury to Fletcher for us to really take control. Even so I was surprised to hear fans around me criticising Steve Clarke for being too cautious and getting on the back of Anelka and Billy Jones. We won a 3-0 for goodness sake, Anelka is never going to be a goal machine but showed some good link-up play and Billy works hard and linked up well with Amalfitano all afternoon.

So no real negatives for me. Defence solid. Revamped midfield worked hard to win possession and forwards did their bit. The question is really what to do with our abundance of attacking options. Sinclair or Brunt? What to with Vydra and Berahino and have we seen the last of Shane Long? Dorrans and Rosenberg must surely be released in January.

Anyway, a good win and with tough games coming up that's no bad thing.