So the “only team to not have an English
scorer this season” hoodoo is over and how very welcome it is.
Tad misleading though it is, it’s nice to
be over.
When you hear of that stat – you can
imagine enraged Sunderland, Norwich, Southampton and a cavalcade of mid-table
teams up-in-arms, degrading The Baggies for not having enough English talent.
Well, we do. We have a back five that
consists of three Englishmen, to be precise. There is a dearth of English
goalscorers, as the national team can attest to, and we’ve stocked up on our
home-grown boys in what we tend to do best on these isles: kick and head the
ball away.
In Billy Jones’ case, we could add direct,
jinking runs to that list and a composed finish – on his weak foot no less.
The stat is even more misleading, however,
because at The Hawthorns there is a wealth of British players, all playing a
prominent part in the mechanics of the squad.
Playing against Newcastle when the stat-men
took a hit was Britons Foster, Jones, McCauley, Brunt, Morrison, and Long, who
came on as a second half sub.
Adding to those stalwarts is Liam
Ridgewell, representing our first choice left back and I for one will welcome
him back after witnessing another hit and miss, mainly miss, performance from
spitter Goran Popov. Ridgewell might not be fancy but at least he doesn’t get
brushed over by Debuchy and he played a big part in Olsson’s dire back-pass
with a hospital ball to the Swede. Popov did drive a beautifully accurate cross
to Long for a headed chance so credit where it’s due.
I, for one, have been sceptical of the
former Preston North End right back this season and have often pined for the
solidity of Steven Reid at full back - but Jones’ performances have slowly
ebbed away those doubts.
He now represents an agile, diligent full
back who can add goalscoring to his repertoire.
Reliably informed by Twitter stat-men
@BaggiesFacts, “Billy Jones won all 4 of his attempted tackles today [against
Newcastle], as well as completing 3/4 successful take-ons. Oh and he scored!”
That’s a good return against a decent
Newcastle United outfit, despite their perilous league position.
Jones, no longer a youngster at 25, is
proving to have the capability to take over from Reid at right back on a
permanent basis. Coupling together endeavour in attack and defence and an
astute ability to pass the ball, the hair-banded right back has started every
match for The Baggies since March 2.
Summer search for a right back should be off
and a Lukaku-like forward put top of the list.
Let’s see what du-du-du Romelu Lukaku is up
to for 2014, yeah?
