West Bromwich Albion

West Brom continued its surprise start under new manager Steve Clarke with a 2-0 win over Everton on Saturday.

Clarke, who is in his first season as a club manager, has been a pleasant surprise so far this season in the managerial ranks.

After winning at home over Liverpool on opening day and then drawing with Tottenham on the road, the Baggies got their third result against a quality EPL club to start the season.

West Brom was high on confidence going into the match after a 4-2 win over Yeovil in the second round of the Capital One Cup on Tuesday.

The match at The Hawthorns on Saturday mirrored the club's draw with Tottenham with a boring first half being replaced by an energetic second half.

The energetic second half was ignited by the introduction of Peter Odemwingie on to the pitch in the 58th minute.

Seven minutes later, the Nigerian set up fellow striker Shane Long for the first goal of the match.

The second goal of the match was set up by another substitute in the 82nd minute.

Club captain Chris Brunt made his entrance onto the pitch in the 75th minute to replace Long, and he was the man who assisted on the second goal of the match.

Brunt's corner in the 82nd minute found the head of defender Gareth McAuley, who sent the ball into the back of the net.

The Baggies are still undefeated in EPL play with two wins and a draw in Clarke's first three matches.

With the win, the Baggies moved up to third place in the table with seven points.

With the loss, Everton dropped its first match of the season after winning the first two matches to open the season.

Everton dropped beneath its Saturday opponent to fourth place with six points.

After the international break, West Brom will travel to Fulham on September 15th, while Everton will host Newcastle United on September 17th at Goodison Park.

For the first 65 minutes of Tottenham's home opener against West Brom, the score was tied at zero and there were very few legitimate scoring chances.

For the last 25 minutes, two substitutes made an instant impact and the score ended at 1-1.

Tottenham's Emmanuel Adebayor and West Brom's Romelu Lukaku both came on to the pitch at the same time in the 65th minute and the pace of the match revved up a few notches.

Nine minutes after the first substitutions were used by managers Andre Villas-Boas and Steve Clarke, Tottenham were the first team to find the back of the net.

Benoit Assou-Ekotto was the goal scorer for the home side in the 74th minute after his shot deflected off of West Brom player Graeme Dorrans and into the net.

After the Tottenham goal, West Brom began to dominate the match with the help of the 19-year-old loan signing from Chelsea.

Lukaku gave Spurs defender Jan Vertonghen plenty of problems in attack and was able to earn five corners in the time that he was on the pitch.

The threatening attacks from West Brom almost resulted in a goal in the 89th minute as Gareth McAuley's header was headed off the line by Assou-Ekotto.

Just two minutes later after the next West Brom corner, James Morrison was able to score the equalizer.

After a melee in the box which involved a header off the line by Spurs defender William Gallas, the ball fell to Morrison who struck the ball into the right corner of the net past keeper Brad Friedel.

After the equalizer, Spurs almost went ahead in the last minute of the match but Gallas was ruled offside in the penalty area before Gareth Bale found the back of the net.

Right after the offside call was made, the full-time whistle was blown and the match ended in a draw.

The draw continued Villas-Boas' misery in trying to earn his first win at Spurs; the former Chelsea manager has only won three of his last 14 matches.

As for West Brom, they sit in fourth place for now with four points before hosting Everton at The Hawthorns next Saturday.

Under Roy Hodgson's guidance last season, West Bromwich Albion were well-drilled, well-organized and unflinching.

Their 4-4-2 formation never deviated, and by season's end the rigorous discipline had earned the considerable dividend of a 10th-place finish in the league standings.

Albion netted 45 times in league play, conceded 52 and still managed to win 13 games. It was a true testament to the results that can come through Hodgson when a team buys into his steely mentality.

But Hodgson has since departed for the auspicious position of England national team manager, and Steve Clarke, formerly Kenny Dalglish's assistant at Liverpool, has taken the helm.

Given Albion's first performance under their new boss—a 3-0 waxing of that Liverpool side that finished two spots above them in the league standings last season—fans have every right to consider a charge toward a top-eight finish a very feasible possibility.

The win marked the first time the side, in the top flight for three years running now, had ever won its EPL opener.

“I spent all week telling the players to believe in themselves and be confident coming into this game because they had no reason not to be," Clarke told the club's official site.

The new manager wants his team to play attractive football, and his team formation to start Saturday's match—a 4-2-1-3 formation with plucky Irish striker Shane Long up top, and the midfield anchored by Youssouf Mulumbu (both of whom were fantastic against the Reds)—showed certain vestigial imprints of Hodgson's tenure, while integrating some sublime passing movements Clarke is sure to have worked on this preseason.

Mulumbu was terrific in a holding midfield role, and while Albion were subjugated to an attacking deluge from Liverpool in the first half—Luis Suarez ran riot for the first 45 minutes—they never broke.

And thanks to Zoltan Gera, the Hungarian midfielder in his second spell at the club after joining last season, they were up 1-0 in the 43rd minute.

Gera made just three appearances under Hodgson last season when a gruesome knee injury suffered in November cut short his campaign.

So when Gera collected a Liverpool clearance off a corner and unleashed a searing right-footed half volley into the top corner of Pepe Reina's net, it was a moment of quality that had been a long time coming for Baggies fans.

"The Hawthorns is special for me and to score here after the disappointment of last season was really something," Gera told the official site.

While it took Daniel Agger's red card in the 59th minute for Albion to truly put themselves in control of the match, once they'd seized the reins they never let Liverpool off the hook.

After adding two more goals, Albion began stroking the ball around with supreme confidence, showing a ruthless quality that will surely keep them in good stead this season.

Chelsea loanee Romelu Lukaku was excellent in his substitute's role, and told the official site that "the most important thing about today was the three points, but the way we passed the ball and the way we defended was perfect."

A tricky fixture next Saturday at White Hart Lane looms large, and with Tottenham sure to be looking for a win after dropping their opener at Newcastle, Albion will need to be at their best.

But if they continue to employ the formula shown on Saturday at the Hawthorns—a mixture of resilience with some terrific attacking flair—a positive result might not be too far out of the realm of possibility.

Sort of like their current third-place standing in the league table.

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. 

Owen Hargreaves starred for Manchester United in all of 27 league games over a four-year span.

The English international, born in Canada, starred for Bayern Munich for seven years before making the switch to England and Sir Alex Ferguson's side, but his contract expired this July and was not extended.

Hargreaves, who filmed himself working out to prove his fitness to clubs and put it on YouTube, looks to have earned himself at least a shot of sticking in the Premier League for a bit longer.

According to The Daily Mirror (via Goal.com):

Owen Hargreaves could be offered a route back into the Premier League with West Brom, after Manchester United decided not to renew his contract, according to the Daily Mirror. 

 The 30-year-old endured an injury-hit four years at Old Trafford, making just 39 appearances in his time at the club, but Roy Hodgson is said to be considering offering him a pay-as-you-play deal at The Hawthorns.

The move to United never panned out after a rash of injuries limited Hargreaves to only five appearances in the last three seasons, and as United went out and got younger at a number of positions this summer, Hargreaves was easily squeezed out.

During his seven years in Germany he helped the German giants win four Bundesliga titles and a UEFA Champions League title as well. His first season at United, when he was healthy, saw the Red Devils win both the Premier League and the Champions League.

Hargreaves was capped 42 times by England despite never having lived in the UK or playing in England prior to joining the international squad.

His career path since his move to England certainly hasn't been fair, but West Brom, in an attempt to improve on an 11th place finish in the EPL last campaign, have little to lose from bringing in a true winner like Hargreaves on a "pay-as-you-play deal."

Roy Hodgson, the 63-year-old manager that was bounced from Anfield less than a year into his run before taking over at the Hawthornes, could do worse than giving a shot to Hargreaves.

Sven-Goran Eriksson, who worked with Hargreaves during his run as England's boss from 2001-2006, is also believed to be interested in the 30-year-old although he manages at Leicester City in the Championship.

Hargreaves will, first and foremost, want a shot at keeping his talents at the top level of English play, but a move to Eriksson's club is certainly not out of the question if everything falls through.

If none of the aforementioned possibilities work out for Hargreaves he will likely retire from professional football after an 11-year career with two of the game's biggest clubs.