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General Football & Sports / Romaine Sawyers

« on: June 09, 2018, 04:42:44 PM »

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2018/06/09/west-brom-move-sign-bobby-reid-romaine-sawyers-prepare-championship/?WT.mc_id=tmg_share_tw

est Bromwich Albion have launched a £10m bid to sign Bristol City attacker Bobby Reid and Brentford’s Romaine Sawyers as the club prepares for the Championship.

Darren Moore, Albion’s head coach, has offered around £7m for Reid and is hopeful of agreeing a fee with City this month.

Reid scored 19 goals in the league last season and was a key figure as Lee Johnson reached the Carabao Cup semi-finals.

Sawyers, a former West Brom academy graduate, is also high on Moore’s list of targets with a £3m bid understood to be imminent.

West Brom are determined to back Moore as they aim for a swift return to the Premier League.

 Romaine Sawyers - West Brom have made a £3m bid for their former academy player Romaine Sawyers (right)
West Brom have made a £3m bid for their former academy player Romaine Sawyers (right) CREDIT: JOHN WALTON/PA
Jonny Evans was the first departure last week, following relegation into the second tier, after completing a £3m move to Leicester.

The futures of Jay Rodriguez, Salomon Rondon and Jake Livermore are also uncertain, with a number of top-flight clubs ready to test Albion’s resolve.

James McClean, the Republic of Ireland international, is a target for Stoke manager Gary Rowett.

But Moore wants to keep the core of his squad together and Albion are poised to open talks with defender Craig Dawson over a new deal.

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Interesting that we are trying to resign a player we have previously released. Plays in a good footballing Brentford side as does Bobby Reid so some sign there’s the way DM wants to play football

2

West Bromwich Albion FC / What has this club become?

« on: August 31, 2016, 09:29:49 PM »

Albion summer transfer window 16/17

Outs
Anichebe (40k)
Gamboa 900k (25k)
Pocognoli loan (20k)
Chester 7m (25k)
Sessesgnon (50k)
Lindgaard (15k)

Total money 7.9 million
Wages saved 175k a week

Ins
Phillips 5.5 (35k)
Galloway (15k)
Chadli 13 mil (60k)
Nyom 3 mil (30k)
Robson Kanu (20k)


Total money 21.5 million
Wages spent 160k a week

Above is a summary of our transfer window this summer. The figures quoted are rough guides especially the wages although I can't imagine I'm miles apart on most of them.

All in all what do we make of it? I'm my opinion it's been an absolute shambles and compared to clubs our size they have drastically improved their team and spent that extra money needed to push on. We have spent more on transfer fees than we have received by 13 million and wages wise we are about par so haven't even increased our wage bill. Putting into account the TV money on offer it's not a great deal.

It has been said a few times that we're still operating on a Jeremy Peace budget as the takeover hasn't been ratified yet and I think it shows. We are acting like a small time club and it serves us right if we do get relegated. Where's the belief? Where's the willingness to want to do better and thrive rather than just survive in this league. No wonder attendances are on the slide and the atmosphere is getting worse.

Mr Lai, John Williams and Nick Hammond (still wondering what his contribution is) have a MASSIVE job on their hands and so has our head coach who for all his criticism has obviously been screwed over with signings. If he wasn't our head coach we would be relegated with this team, no doubt.

We've had bids of £16 million and £15 million accepted only for them to fall through over a failed medical and then squabbling over £3 for a final payment, how small time can you get? Then had a £21 million bid for William Carvalho who we wasted our time on turned down. Anyone who says we don't have any money to spend needs to get their head out the sand. We as fans are being mugged off in my opinion. We are passionate fans that deserve better than shopping at bargain basement. We've been in this league 7 years but you'd think we'd of just got promoted when we're signings Watford's cast offs and losing out to Jack Whilshire to Bournemouth, just embarrassing!

Something needs to change with our transfer policy and quick. We sleepwalk our way through each one while others act quick and get their business done early.

There was a tweet last week saying 'what is the point in WBA' and it got a lot of fans backs up but looking at it and from an outside perspective I do really think why are we in the Premiership when we have no intentions of acting like one.

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Chris Baird

« on: January 20, 2015, 10:44:49 AM »

Turning into one of our best signings of the season?

I can't believe I would of been saying this start of the season but Baird has gone about his business very professionally throughout the season and played in various positions and done quite well. In the game he's played he's looked very solid and I feel quite confident when I see him in defense!

His best position is definitely RB/LB. I think Pulis likes him a lot and I expect to see him in the starting 11 quite often.

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Anyone completely bored of WBA?

« on: November 29, 2014, 07:05:08 PM »

At not one point in my life did I ever think I'd get bored of my beloved Albion, but at this moment in time I'm so bored of the club in general. The people running it, the people coaching it and the people playing for it.

I've not been to any games this year and won't while Irvine is still here: the football is that bad. But it's not just the match itself it's the build up towards it. It's the same old drivel from Irvine and Gardener/Brunt each week before a game saying how we're 'unlucky, deserved more, have to respect the opponent'. There's just no passion in any of our players as well. Our star striker is off doing stupid things and our exciting summer recruites just can't get a game in a very poor team.

Maybe I'm just bored of the Premiership, I don't know. Either way something has to change at the club. We need a long term vision instead of getting through head coaches like there's no tomorrow. I look at Swansea, Southampton etc and get very jealous.

Anyone else feel like this?

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West Bromwich Albion FC / If we are relegated...

« on: September 14, 2014, 09:46:17 AM »

I don't actually think it might not be a bad thing. We need a total reshuffle from top to bottom really. New coaches, new players (get rid of the old gaurd) and a new philosophy.

Yes we would lose the Prem money and the Championship is hard to get out of, but at least we might start going to games again looking forward to a game and not dreading what boring and negative football we will see. We have been seeing this for a good 2 and half seasons!

Opinions?

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West Bromwich Albion FC / What do you think our strongest starting 11 is?

« on: August 24, 2014, 06:45:20 PM »

With the recent arrival of Varela it got me thinking that we have a strong team pretty much everywhere and that some key players over the last 2/3 seasons get nowhere near out 11 now. Our strongest 11 in my opinion is...

                                   Foster
Gamboa         Lescott     Olsson        Poco
                              Mulumbu
                  Gardener        Dorrans
Berahino                                               Varela
                                 Ideye

Looking at that team it looks pretty good to me, easily good enough for top half if they remain disciplined and put their minds to it.

People like Brunt, Morrison, Yacob, Gmac will find it hard to get into the team I think. It's great though as it creates competition

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General Football & Sports / Ballon d'Or

« on: November 11, 2013, 01:30:32 PM »

Who do you think will win it this year?

I think it's between Ronaldo and Ribery this year, but it has to go to Ronaldo as he's simply been amazing this year, the amount of goals he's scored is just mental. Of course Ribery won the treble with Bayern but it's an individual award and he just doesn't compare. Messi has been good this year but not up to his usual standard, he's also had quite a few injuries, like today he's ruled out for 8 weeks. I can see him winning it though because FIFA love him and see him as a 'good boy'.

The short list is...

Gareth Bale (Wales), Edinson Cavani (Uruguay), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Radamel Falcao (Colombia), Eden Hazard (Belgium), Zlatan Ibrahimovi? (Sweden), Andrés Iniesta (Spain), Philipp Lahm (Germany), Robert Lewandowski (Poland), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Thomas Müller (Germany), Manuel Neuer (Germany), Neymar (Brazil), Mesut Özil (Germany), Andrea Pirlo (Italy), Franck Ribéry (France), Arjen Robben (Netherlands), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany), Luis Suárez (Uruguay), Thiago Silva (Brazil), Yaya Touré (Côte d’Ivoire), Robin Van Persie (Netherlands), Xavi (Spain).

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Free travel Away game

« on: October 08, 2013, 01:44:33 PM »

Does anyone know whether Albion will be doing this again like we did last year for Southampton? If so when will Albion normally announce this?

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General Football & Sports / Chucho Benitez

« on: July 29, 2013, 02:18:03 PM »

Such sad news. Former Birming City Christian Benitez has passed away at the age of 27 after having a car accident. He was top goal scorer last season in the Liga MX too. RIP

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West Bromwich Albion FC / 4-3-3? Should we use this more?

« on: April 22, 2013, 10:58:17 AM »

Looking at the possession stats from the Newcastle game, the passing and all round good play and dominance against Newcastle when switching to this formation made me question why don't we use this formation more often. We are coming to the end of the season with nothing to play for and it is quite obvious 442 just does't click for us because all we do is lump the ball up field and somehow magically hope one of Lukaku and Long will do something amazing, which very often they won't.

With 443 is allows our slick passing game to flourish, but also when Olsson, Popov etc decide to lump it up field we have support. Bringing on Long in a 443 Saturday really worked as his workrate basically makes up for 2 strikers up top, and this showed as at one point we had him and Fortune pinning a Newcastle player in the corner who had to kick it out, this is the sort of pressure we want, and the sort of pressure we don't see in a 442, far too often we will sit back, absorb the pressure get the ball then kick back up top and lose it again.

Another thing I would do is give Yacob a rest as he's not the same player as he was before his injury and just doesn't look fully fit. When he went off and Dorrans went central we looked a lot combative and balanced.

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General Football & Sports / Euro 2012 Dream Team

« on: June 07, 2012, 01:30:57 PM »

Hi guys i've set up a mini league on The Sun's 200k Dream Team. Would be nice if we could get as many people to join as possible!!

MINI LEAGUE NAME: West Brom.Com Euro League

MINI LEAGUE PIN: 161793

MINI LEAGUE PASSWORD: Hodgson

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General Football & Sports / Messi can't do this

« on: April 12, 2012, 02:18:31 PM »

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfPNac3mFG0

Best player in the world for me. His goalscoring stats are insane, 128 goals in 126 games for Madrid.

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General Football & Sports / Fifa Ballon D'Or 2011

« on: January 10, 2012, 11:21:03 AM »

Of course we knew Messi was going to win it, but personally I would of liked Xavi to win it. It will really be a shame if he never does win it, such an amazing player.

Here though is a link to show all the captains of each country and who voted for who, very interesting read. Both Portugal captain and coach clearly hate Messi, and love Ronaldo oh i wonder why 

http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/classic/awards/01/56/60/53/awards_men_player_countries.pdf

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Some stats on Odemwingie, Long and Foster

« on: December 20, 2011, 12:11:39 PM »

This blog is well worth a read. Shows how important Odemwingie is to us and how good Long and Odem can be together.

http://www.eplindex.com/wba-win-opta-stats-report-previe/

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General Football & Sports / Cristiano Ronaldo - Tested To The Limit

« on: September 11, 2011, 12:36:58 AM »

Part 1 - Body Strength: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7vYfKfI87U
Part 2 - Mental Ability: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21AFrsXa7E4
Part 3 - Technique: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vyqz9OtTJw
Part 4 - Skill: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbNQ_kCE6V0

Very interesting videos, well worth a watch!

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West Bromwich Albion FC / 4 Midfielders playing CM

« on: August 28, 2011, 10:20:49 PM »

Why do we have all four of our midfielders playing in the centre mid role, it's so infuriating. In the game With stoke we had no width what so ever, this was the case against Man Utd and Chelsea when Reid and Shorey were left defenseless.

Brunt seems to think he can go wondering anywhere on the pitch, he position is RM, not CM! Morrison on the other hand seems to think he can make 3 yard passes to Scharner and Mulumbu and think that's enough.

Our problem today was not our defense and that wasn't the case in the other games either. We are seriously lacking width and creativity and that is making Long and Tchoyi feed off scraps. We either need to refer back to 451 and make the midfield dominant again or stick with Roy's miraculous 442 with wingers who would rather be in the middle and watch the same old rubbish each weekend.

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General Football & Sports / Drogba's Injury

« on: August 27, 2011, 08:26:00 PM »

http://www.epltalk.com/didier-drogba-injured-in-serious-collision-video-34101   

Obviously he dived..

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General Football & Sports / Canadian GP

« on: June 12, 2011, 10:11:30 PM »

Did anyone watch the race?

What a great race and superb drive from Jenson Button!