| Liverpool takeover: Singapore billionaire Peter Lim could make higher offer for club On the eve of court battle to decide Liverpool's future Singapore billionaire Peter Lim reportedly ready to make higher offer for club. telegraph.co.uk |
Heart striker, Fury coach face bans Melbourne Heart striker Gerald Sibon has been offered a two-match ban by the match review panel while Fury coach Franz Straka faces a one-match ban. foxsports.com.au |
Adrian Mutu to be investigated over assault on waiter days before drug ban ends Fiorentina will await outcome of police investigation after Adrian Mutu is accused of a "serious" assault. telegraph.co.uk |
Marseilles rallies past Lille Defending champion Marseille scored three second-half goals Sunday in Paris to rally from a goal down for a 3-1 win at Lille and move into second place in the French league. cbc.ca |
Paul Wilson: West Brom no longer look like yoyos After the up-and-down years West Brom have a platform to progress and do not look like relegation fodderSven-Goran Eriksson's Leicester City have discovered in the Carling Cup what the Premier League worked out weeks ago: West Bromwich Albion are no mugs and this time they could be sticking around in the top flight rather than just looking around.Of course it is far too early in the season to make firm predictions, although by the time the weekend fixtures have been completed a quarter of the league campaign will have passed, but it can be said with a degree of certainty that no one expected the Baggies to be in a Champions League position in mid-October, which they were, briefly, after their victory over Fulham on Saturday. Roberto Di Matteo admitted afterwards he had never factored that into his calculations, so it is reasonably safe to assume no one else did.After their ups and downs of the past decade – in three previous promotions in the new millennium the Baggies have only once stayed up longer than a single season, something of a miraculous survival under Bryan Robson in 2005 when 34 points was enough to keep them above Crystal Palace, Norwich and Southampton – it also comes as a pleasant surprise to see Di Matteo's team making the best start of the three promoted clubs. That honour appeared to be going to Blackpool – West Brom's opponents on Monday in what should be a revealing game at Bloomfield Road – though there have been signs of late that opponents have begun to work Ian Holloway's team out. Actually that may be overstating the case. It may be more true to say that after sensational away results at Wigan, Newcastle and Liverpool alerted the nation to the fact that Blackpool could play a bit and were not in a frame of mind to roll over and think of the parachute payments, teams have been taking them a bit more seriously and the essential element of surprise has gone.The reason for saying Monday's fixture could be revealing is that some of Blackpool's early-season bravado may have gone, too. Those three notable victories away from home remain the Seasiders' only wins so far, an initial points rush concealing the fact they have yet to beat anyone at their own ground. While 10 points from nine games is a better yield than most would have predicted for Holloway's apparent ingenues, Blackpool are just a single point off the relegation positions and should they fail to beat fellow newcomers at home it could be the official start – like the switching off of the illuminations – of a long, dark winter to come. Blackpool have played a disproportionate number of away games due to ongoing ground redevelopment at the start of the season. Yet the three home games they have played, against Fulham and Blackburn and Manchester City, could be described as winnable, with the arguable exception of City. If points cannot be picked up against another promoted side at home the Tangerine dreamers will begin to fear the worst.Yet describing West Brom as fellow newcomers undersells them considerably. They are sixth in the table and will arrive at Bloomfield Road on the back of a hugely improbable win at Arsenal and an even more impressive recovery from a two-goal deficit to claim a point at Old Trafford. Startling as Blackpool's away form has been, beating an inept Wigan, a disorganised Newcastle and the shambles that used to be Liverpool does not quite match up. West Brom also beat Holloway's Blackpool home and away in the Championship last season, by the same 3-2 scoreline. Games involving Blackpool and other footballing sides often seem to contain a few goals and Monday's encounter may be no different, but the Baggies can only be encouraged by the resilience they have shown in the Premier League this season. Including the Carling Cup victory over Manchester City, Saturday's victory over Fulham was the sixth time they have come back from a goal or more down to claim a result."There is no secret," Di Matteo said. "It is just down to hard work and the players enjoying what they do." He could also have added that the West Brom players all seem to know exactly what they are supposed to do. They were more impressive against Fulham than the 2-1 scoreline suggests. Three or four goals to one would not have been an unfair reflection of the play, and West Brom certainly had the chances. Then, towards the end of the game when Fulham threw everything forward in search of an equaliser, a well-drilled defence calmly shut them out.Under Tony Mowbray the Baggies were somewhat patronisingly, though not totally inaccurately, characterised as a positive passing side with not quite enough steel to stay up. Di Matteo seems to have worked on that, and with an organised defence and a decent goalkeeper has at least a platform for progress. Youssouf Mulumbu does a passable impression of Claude Makelele, James Morrison, Chris Brunt and Jerome Thomas can all spring surprises going forward, and even Paul Scharner is being effectively deployed. West Brom possibly lack an out and out goalscorer capable of regularly troubling top defences, but they still have Peter Odemwingie to come back. What can be said at this early stage is that they do not look automatic relegation fodder, in fact if they can post just a few more performances of the quality produced so far they may be able to stay out of trouble in the way that Wigan did in their first Premier League season, not just surprising opponents but matching them for belief and competitiveness.For every person you meet who believes that, however, you will meet two or three more who will tell you the Baggies will do a Hull. That is the official new parlance for looking like world-beaters before Christmas and then being unable to buy a victory in the New Year, culminating in either relegation or an uncomfortably narrow escape. Yet if anyone is going to do a Hull this season it seems likely to be Blackpool. If any under-pressure manager is about to do anything as photogenically daft as Phil Brown's al fresco half-time team talk, your money would be on Holloway rather than Di Matteo.There is no reason to assume history will repeat itself anyway. All three promoted clubs have made encouraging starts, that is all that needs to be said at this stage, apart from the fact that several other teams beginning with W are probably more worried about relegation right now than West Brom.The trick, if there is one, is probably not playing like world-beaters in the first place, so as not to give yourselves too much to live up to in the second half of the season. Just playing like a team that belongs in the division ought to be enough, and this time around the Baggies seem right on course. Just keep an eye on the big match at Blackpool.West BromBlackpoolRoberto di MatteoPaul Wilsonguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |