Source: Team_Talk
Odemwingie ready to fire again
West Brom striker Peter Odemwingie has vowed to prove he is not a one-season wonder as he closes in on a return to full fitness. The Nigeria international believes he is close to full fitness and sharpness after suffering a pre-season ankle injury in a friendly at Bristol City.Odemwingie followed up his 120 minutes action against Everton in the Carling Cup on Wednesday with another full appearance during yesterday's goalless home draw with Fulham.He scored 15 goals in his debut campaign for the Baggies and believes he is more of a marked man now, but is determined to show he can score in the Premier League season after season.Odemwingie said: "Is the full sharpness there? It is getter better. It was coming more against Fulham and hopefully there are no more setbacks."At Everton I got two good kicks on the ankle, against Fulham on the Achilles. English football is not easy. It is sometimes tough."Defenders pay more attention. They will not be under-rating my abilities after last season."But I am very motivated and the excitement of playing in the Premier League is still there."Even though I had a good season last season, I am not still satisfied and hopefully I can build now my confidence, get back to good physical condition and start scoring again."Albion remain in the relegation zone despite moving off the bottom but Odemwingie feels there were encouraging signs during an improved second-half showing.He said: "I think the second-half performance was very promising. We were very nervous, having lost lately, being last in the table."It puts you under some kind of pressure. We can't relax and just play."But the motivation we showed in the second half is what impresses me personally and I think that performance gives us hope that we are just temporarily down the table and we belong somewhere else."Manager Roy Hodgson was happy with Odemwingie's second-half show and that of his striker partner Shane Long after reverting from a 4-3-3 to a 4-4-2 formation.He said: "Players have bad games. Peter played 120 minutes in the week and didn't have a good first half against Fulham."I think he was trying too hard, he was trying to make everything work almost single-handedly."I asked him at half-time to play a bit simpler and be a bit less hard on himself and he seemed to do that - and it was the same with Shane Long."Both had good second halfs and poor first halfs."Fulham boss Martin Jol was pleased with the way his side overcame the loss of strikers Bobby Zamora and Andrew Johnson through illness to earn a point.They are still seeking a first league win but only a fine point-blank save from West Brom keeper Ben Foster to deny substitute Bryan Ruiz kept the score goalless.Jol said: "It looked like an away game for West Brom. It was good because we had all the possession and we could play around them in midfield."The only thing is you need to finish them off. We had three or four possibilities. We had the ball against bar and post, we had a few shots, we can probably do better in the future."If you play that well, it bodes well. I think we looked the better team."But I can live with a draw. If you look at the general play in the first half, you can't say we deserved more - but I wish we had exploited that majority of play better."