CRAIG Beattie is never short of a word or two on the pitch so we thought we'd give him the chance to get things off his chest away from it in a new weekly column.

The Scotland striker will offer his opinion on the latest events surrounding the club - and anything else that takes his fancy.

'Beattie's Blog' will appear on www.wba.co.uk every Wednesday, with the former Celtic ace speaking directly from the heart of Albion's dressing room.

Today, he kicks off with his verdict on the Baggies' campaign to date.

IT'S been an up and down start to the season.

But now the transfer window is closed, things are beginning to settle down and we're riding high on the back of a good 2-0 win against Barnsley.

It was great to score my first league goal for the club in that game.

But I think it's the boys at the back who should take all the credit after keeping their fourth clean-sheet in six games.

They have been different class.

Although we've lost some big players, it hasn't show as all the new boys are settling in really well.

There is competition for places everywhere in the team and, up front, we managed to snap up an old SPL rival of mine just before the deadline in Roman Bednar from Hearts.

He's a big, strong player who'll definitely add to the squad.

He scored a couple against my old club Celtic last season and will be a threat.

I'm happy to have competition because it's not just about me.

The whole club is striving to get into the Premier League and you need a good squad to achieve that, which I feel we've got here.

I'm enjoying playing with Kevin Phillips.

He's got a wealth of experience and is a fantastic player.

We've got five good strikers now so the manager will rotate things - and I understand that.

It's up to me to do as well as I can when I get onto the park.

It was great to see Chris Brunt finally make his debut on Saturday after completing his suspension.

He's been itching to play and, during the 26 minutes he was on the pitch, I'm sure the Albion fans will have seen what a great left foot he has.

He is probably lacking a bit of match action but once he gets that back he'll be a fantastic player for us.

I'm looking forward to getting on the end of some of his crosses.

We should probably have been more than two goals up at half-time against Barnsley.

And when it's 2-0, you're only one slip away from conceding and it being backs-to-the-wall time.

But overall we were delighted with the performance.

We also found out on Saturday we'll be playing Cardiff in the third round of the Carling Cup and I'm looking forward to that.

I came here to play games and it's a great opportunity for me to play more.

The Carling Cup is not a hindrance to me at all.

The games are coming thick and fast at the moment and I'm now with the Scotland squad preparing for two massive Euro 2008 qualifiers against Lithuania on Saturday and France four days later.

We're sitting third in a tough group, one point behind Italy and three adrift of France, and we've given ourselves a decent chance of qualifying.

I reckon we've got to beat Lithuania to stay on track and anything we take off France will be a bonus.

Although I'm up in Scotland, news has reached me of Robbo and Kev covering up their grey hairs by sporting a new look.

I'm told they've dyed their hair blond.

I can't wait to get back next week to see the end result for myself!

However, playing in Paris a week tonight means I won't be back in the country until the early hours of Thursday morning.

As I'll be focusing on the job in hand, my second blog will be a little later next week.