Albion 1, Hull 0
The biggest clue to Albion's chances of sustaining a challenge in the Championship this season was the row of players, worth many millions of pounds, sitting behind manager Chris Hughton.
The squad assembled by Hughton and the recruitment team has impressive strength in depth.
Unless Albion are incredibly lucky with injuries and suspensions they will all be needed to cope with the rigorous demands of a 46-match campaign, the majority of which are sure to be tight.
Finnish international goalkeeper Niki Maenpaa, £5 million rated Lewis Dunk and England under-21s Jake Forster-Caskey and Solly March were not needed to complete a hat-trick of 1-0 home wins.
Neither were new contract recipient Rohan Ince, club legend Bobby Zamora or £1.5 million buy Jamie Murphy until well into the second half.
Did I neglect to mention Elvis Manu and Connor Goldson, signed for a combined total in excess of £2 million? The versatile Dutch striker and promising centre-half did not even make the 18, nor did Inigo Calderon.
Giving Manu a watching brief a fortnight into his move from Feyenoord, where he played in the Champions League, emphasises the depth now at Hughton's disposal after the summer rebuild and his trust in the players currently performing so well for him.
Kazenga LuaLua is banned for Rotherham's visit tomorrow night after collecting his fifth booking. That is a blow, considering the left-winger's influential, four-goal start to the season, but not the severe blow it might otherwise have been. Hughton has Murphy, March and Manu up his sleeve to compensate.
It is a similar story all over the pitch. Manu and Zamora, once he is fully fit, will provide Hughton with different types of options up front to matchwinner Tomer Hemed and man-of-the-match Sam Baldock.
Goldson is fourth choice centre-half. Maenpaa is an accomplished No.2 to David Stockdale. The adaptable Liam Rosenior, making his second start in a row as a right-sided midfielder against his former club, and Calderon can cover for full-backs Bruno and Gaetan Bong.
Hughton would prefer, of course, to lose nobody for fitness or disciplinary reasons but the players he can probably least afford to be without are Beram Kayal and Dale Stephens.
Their flourishing central midfield understanding was pivotal to Albion's ascendency against Hull in the opening half-hour. Hughton has alternatives in quantity, perhaps not comparative quality.
Hughton is not the type to blow his open trumpet so I'll blow it for him. The way he has integrated a cosmopolitan group of new players so quickly and effectively into a winning formula is a credit to him and his staff.
Rosenior said: "The manager has been successful everywhere he has gone. I think he's had a harsh deal at some of the places he has been at. The man that he is all you want to do is your best for him.
"He's an honest man, a good man at heart, and he is someone I want to learn off and emulate later on in my life, but he's someone I'm really enjoying playing for and have got the upmost respect for.
"Not just him but the staff here, Nathan (Jones) and Colin (Calderwood), they are all good people and they've got together a group of lads that are willing to run to a standstill."
The hard-working front duo of Hemed and Baldock have been instrumental to Albion's early successes.
The Israeli has now scored four goals in the last five games, while Baldock looks much sharper than last season and far more at home in a pair, which he has been accustomed to for most of his career.
Hughton said: "Last year Kazenga was injured and Sam is a willing player and runner, so it seemd quite obvious at the time to use him on that left-hand side.
"It was always going to be about which way I wanted to go come the start of the new season and I knew predominantly I wanted to play two up front.
"Because Tomer came in very early during the pre-season it gave the two of them a really good opportunity to work together.
"It's very difficult to play two players high up the pitch. You certainly need one who covers big distances, like Sam.
"Tomer's been great from day one, showed a great desire to want to do well. He'd been playing in a different way in Spain in the last few years, not the intensity there is here, but we knew there were characteristics in him we felt would suit the English game.
"You never know how it is going to start, how you are going to get your goals. He has worked very hard to get them."
Hemed slotted the decisive blow in the fifth minute with Baldock involved in the build-up twice, setting up Stephens for a shot which Allan McGregor parried and then scuffing the follow-up which his partner feasted on.
It should have been 2-0 and two for Hemed soon after but he failed to connect in front of goal from an inviting cross by Rosenior. Hull's harassed defence could not deal with the Hemed-Baldock alliance.
Rosenior said: "The work they get through as a two and the combinations they have, always looking for each other and unselfish in their play, it's a joy to play with them. Credit goes to both of them because they both cause teams all types of problems."
Hull were so outplayed in the opening half-hour that Steve Bruce had to bring on Tom Huddlestone for the cautioned David Meyler to induce some control.
They improved in the second half but there was not much purpose to patches of possession and it was not until the 71st minute that Ahmed Elmohamady had their first shot on target from a tight angle.
Although Stockdale was busier in the final quarter of the contest the saves he had to make were routine and Albion defended the lead with relative comfort to pull four points clear at the top.
Hughton said: "Sometimes you have to win games a little bit of a different way. When you keep clean sheets that's a good indication of a really good team effort.
"I was very hopeful that we could start very well and we could challenge perhaps a little bit better than last season but I didn't expect to be where we are now.
"We certainly deserved to win our first game against Nottingham Forest and at Ipswich. The three games in-between (Fulham, Huddersfield, Blackburn) could have gone either way. At the moment the margins are going our way and you obviously want that to continue as long as possible.
"My job will always be to temper down expectations because we are still only in September, six games in that leaves us 40 league games to go.
"We are going to have difficult times at some stage and you want to come out of them as quick as you can. But at the moment we are doing okay and long may it continue."
There is more chance it will with so much competition and cover for the starting eleven.
Original article
The biggest clue to Albion's chances of sustaining a challenge in the Championship this season was the row of players, worth many millions of pounds, sitting behind manager Chris Hughton.
The squad assembled by Hughton and the recruitment team has impressive strength in depth.
Unless Albion are incredibly lucky with injuries and suspensions they will all be needed to cope with the rigorous demands of a 46-match campaign, the majority of which are sure to be tight.
Finnish international goalkeeper Niki Maenpaa, £5 million rated Lewis Dunk and England under-21s Jake Forster-Caskey and Solly March were not needed to complete a hat-trick of 1-0 home wins.
Neither were new contract recipient Rohan Ince, club legend Bobby Zamora or £1.5 million buy Jamie Murphy until well into the second half.
Did I neglect to mention Elvis Manu and Connor Goldson, signed for a combined total in excess of £2 million? The versatile Dutch striker and promising centre-half did not even make the 18, nor did Inigo Calderon.
Giving Manu a watching brief a fortnight into his move from Feyenoord, where he played in the Champions League, emphasises the depth now at Hughton's disposal after the summer rebuild and his trust in the players currently performing so well for him.
Kazenga LuaLua is banned for Rotherham's visit tomorrow night after collecting his fifth booking. That is a blow, considering the left-winger's influential, four-goal start to the season, but not the severe blow it might otherwise have been. Hughton has Murphy, March and Manu up his sleeve to compensate.
It is a similar story all over the pitch. Manu and Zamora, once he is fully fit, will provide Hughton with different types of options up front to matchwinner Tomer Hemed and man-of-the-match Sam Baldock.
Goldson is fourth choice centre-half. Maenpaa is an accomplished No.2 to David Stockdale. The adaptable Liam Rosenior, making his second start in a row as a right-sided midfielder against his former club, and Calderon can cover for full-backs Bruno and Gaetan Bong.
Hughton would prefer, of course, to lose nobody for fitness or disciplinary reasons but the players he can probably least afford to be without are Beram Kayal and Dale Stephens.
Their flourishing central midfield understanding was pivotal to Albion's ascendency against Hull in the opening half-hour. Hughton has alternatives in quantity, perhaps not comparative quality.
Hughton is not the type to blow his open trumpet so I'll blow it for him. The way he has integrated a cosmopolitan group of new players so quickly and effectively into a winning formula is a credit to him and his staff.
Rosenior said: "The manager has been successful everywhere he has gone. I think he's had a harsh deal at some of the places he has been at. The man that he is all you want to do is your best for him.
"He's an honest man, a good man at heart, and he is someone I want to learn off and emulate later on in my life, but he's someone I'm really enjoying playing for and have got the upmost respect for.
"Not just him but the staff here, Nathan (Jones) and Colin (Calderwood), they are all good people and they've got together a group of lads that are willing to run to a standstill."
The hard-working front duo of Hemed and Baldock have been instrumental to Albion's early successes.
The Israeli has now scored four goals in the last five games, while Baldock looks much sharper than last season and far more at home in a pair, which he has been accustomed to for most of his career.
Hughton said: "Last year Kazenga was injured and Sam is a willing player and runner, so it seemd quite obvious at the time to use him on that left-hand side.
"It was always going to be about which way I wanted to go come the start of the new season and I knew predominantly I wanted to play two up front.
"Because Tomer came in very early during the pre-season it gave the two of them a really good opportunity to work together.
"It's very difficult to play two players high up the pitch. You certainly need one who covers big distances, like Sam.
"Tomer's been great from day one, showed a great desire to want to do well. He'd been playing in a different way in Spain in the last few years, not the intensity there is here, but we knew there were characteristics in him we felt would suit the English game.
"You never know how it is going to start, how you are going to get your goals. He has worked very hard to get them."
Hemed slotted the decisive blow in the fifth minute with Baldock involved in the build-up twice, setting up Stephens for a shot which Allan McGregor parried and then scuffing the follow-up which his partner feasted on.
It should have been 2-0 and two for Hemed soon after but he failed to connect in front of goal from an inviting cross by Rosenior. Hull's harassed defence could not deal with the Hemed-Baldock alliance.
Rosenior said: "The work they get through as a two and the combinations they have, always looking for each other and unselfish in their play, it's a joy to play with them. Credit goes to both of them because they both cause teams all types of problems."
Hull were so outplayed in the opening half-hour that Steve Bruce had to bring on Tom Huddlestone for the cautioned David Meyler to induce some control.
They improved in the second half but there was not much purpose to patches of possession and it was not until the 71st minute that Ahmed Elmohamady had their first shot on target from a tight angle.
Although Stockdale was busier in the final quarter of the contest the saves he had to make were routine and Albion defended the lead with relative comfort to pull four points clear at the top.
Hughton said: "Sometimes you have to win games a little bit of a different way. When you keep clean sheets that's a good indication of a really good team effort.
"I was very hopeful that we could start very well and we could challenge perhaps a little bit better than last season but I didn't expect to be where we are now.
"We certainly deserved to win our first game against Nottingham Forest and at Ipswich. The three games in-between (Fulham, Huddersfield, Blackburn) could have gone either way. At the moment the margins are going our way and you obviously want that to continue as long as possible.
"My job will always be to temper down expectations because we are still only in September, six games in that leaves us 40 league games to go.
"We are going to have difficult times at some stage and you want to come out of them as quick as you can. But at the moment we are doing okay and long may it continue."
There is more chance it will with so much competition and cover for the starting eleven.
Original article