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Messages - Baggies

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1
General Football & Sports / Re: Anything England Football
« on: March 26, 2024, 10:37:40 PM »
Good effort to get the draw after a fairly dominant half, while Bellingham showed his class in the end, but it’s another disappointing turn out vs one of the elite sides. We had a hell of a lot of injuries, but Belgium were missing a few names as well today. Our record vs the elite, as has already been pointed out a few times, is just sub standard. A fairly ordinary Germany have beaten France and Netherlands this international break, could you imagine us doing the same? If you take the average “elite” side, they win as many as they lose vs other members of the elite. Sadly, we don’t under Southgate. I disagree that our squad doesn’t match up to the rest now. Time to start getting the results.

The bright side is that in the summer, we will hopefully have a full choice of players to pick from, including Kane, Saka, Walker and co, with the added advantage of young Mainoo, and hopefully Colwill. It will be a much stronger side than the one we’ve seen this week.

2
General Football & Sports / Re: Anything England Football
« on: March 26, 2024, 09:21:10 PM »
I agree with the point about the spine of the team, it hasn't quite been there over the last few years, but that is starting to change now. The midfield trio tonight still need to develop,  but they have potential to be as good as any midfield trio in Europe. Bellingham in particular has future Ballon d'Or winner written all over him.

Kane, Saka, Walker, Forden would all be considered for any squad in world football, while the likes of Rashford, Tomori, Alexander-Arnold, Grealish, Stones and James have played at the top level for top sides. Throw in up and coming defenders like Colwill and Branthwaite could finally be the answer to our defensive issues.

I don't think there are any sides in international football that are perfect. France probably have 2 players for every position, but the rest rely on a mix of world class players and then filler, just like we do, the difference being we probably have more strength in depth than most.

We aren't in a great place with injury at the moment (plus a loss of form for a couple of players), but this is still a very talented group.

3
General Football & Sports / Re: Anything England Football
« on: March 24, 2024, 01:54:05 PM »
On the talent point, interesting to see the names in the England under 2's and 20's sides this weekend, especially given the amount of injuries in the senior sides and promotions of youngsters (Mainoo, Gordon, Branthwaite).

Harvey Elliot got 2 goals, a regular now for Liverpool and another in the James Maddison mould, the exciting 18 year old Archie Gray also managed an assist, someone to rival Kobee Mainoo at the heart of England's future midfield. Rico Lewis and Nonr Madurke other stand out names in the starting line up, Dortkubds Bynoe-Gittens and Bournemouth's Alex Scott getting minutes from the bench, while Liverpool regular Jarrell Quansah didn't even get off the bench.

England under 20's featured Newcastle pair Lewis Hall and Lewis Miley - in another era they would have been with the under 21's , alongside Liverpool's Bobby Clark, Ireogbunam and our Tom Fellows.

There is so much depth coming through now, there really is very little excuse not to challenge for honours over the next ten years.

4
West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Under 23's / Academy Thread
« on: March 24, 2024, 01:44:22 PM »
Thanks for the info Blandy, very interesting to know (albeit Dan's edit is undoubtedly the reality).

Are there any that have particularly stood out to you? Are Fenton Heard and Layton Love part of that age group? My gut instinct says Heard will be in Villa colours by the summer.

5
General Football & Sports / Re: Anything England Football
« on: March 24, 2024, 01:39:08 PM »
England players have struggled for decades against the top nations, usually down to a lack of variety in the players we produce. I'm not sure if you can honestly say that with this squad though, there are several players now who look comfortable in possession and we have strong options in most positions. The fact we are still losing more than we win vs the top nations may well be on the manager this time. If we don't win the Euro's, or at the very least make the final having beaten top opposition, then I hope we say thank you and goodbye to Southgate.

This is an incredible generation of players with more still coming through, it would be a massive shame to waste it on a manager who isn't quite amongst the elite.

6
Albion Matchday Forum / Re: Pre Match Chat
« on: March 10, 2024, 11:12:35 AM »
The bench looks like it could have more of an impact than recent weeks. Fellows and BTA vs tired legs will give any defence in this division something to think about.

A shame for Marshall. I don't love taking kids from prem clubs and the dropping them from the squad- long term you might suffer and miss on out on future players.

7
General Football & Sports / Re: OFFICIAL CHAMPIONSHIP THREAD
« on: February 25, 2024, 06:35:02 PM »
Sarmiento scored again for Ipswich - again from the bench.

Can't tell if they are just getting a bit more out of him due to a roll change, or if he was always likely to kick on in the second half of the season.

Can't say we're missing him, Johnston has been more impactful so far.

8
Albion Matchday Forum / Re: In Game Chat
« on: February 24, 2024, 02:12:18 PM »
3 phases of ball watching in that defensive move then.

9
General Football & Sports / Re: Seals watch - Anything Villa
« on: February 24, 2024, 10:47:28 AM »
Can't imagine WMP will love having Ajax fans in town. Expect a huge police presence for that one.

10
General Football & Sports / Re: OFFICIAL CHAMPIONSHIP THREAD
« on: February 24, 2024, 10:46:01 AM »


Ilias Chair from QPR sentenced to 12 months in prison with a further 12 months suspended. Safe to say he's out for the season

Just read QPR's statement, which bizarrely references him being "charged with assault" and not commenting due to it being an "ongoing case". Pretending that he hasn't already been to court, found guilty and then sent to jail is such strange comms, even if he does plan to appeal.

Also will be a fascinating test of if QPR will sack him should the appeal fail. You can guarantee a squad/youth player would be sacked if racist comments were found on their social media, but will the lesser offence of (checks notes) cracking someone's skull open be treated the same.

11
West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Mikey Johnston joins on loan (Official!)
« on: February 21, 2024, 07:16:15 AM »
Fans are saying he does make the wrong decision on quite a few occasions, but he is lively/ dangerous enough to get away with it.

Decent short term loan so far.

12
Albion Matchday Forum / Re: Pre Match Chat
« on: February 20, 2024, 07:00:56 PM »
Sousa starts for Plymouth, who Field as many Albion academy outfielder alumni as we do. Their whole team seems to be filled with former "top young talents".

Good home side ,will be a tough game.

13
West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: WBA NEW OWNERS - Bilkull football
« on: February 18, 2024, 10:13:58 AM »
I haven't seen any statements BB74 and  can't see anything in the official website or twitter.

Has he spoken publicly now?

14
West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Action For Albion/ Potential Takeover
« on: February 16, 2024, 06:22:02 PM »
Well done to everyone at action for albion, our own Ali, Aaron and the rest. Great work in raising awareness and applying pressure.

15
Albion Matchday Forum / Re: In Game Chat
« on: February 10, 2024, 02:00:27 PM »
Can near enough write him off now sadly. A shame, sometimes the body can be cruel. He just cant complete more than a few games it seems.

16
West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Caleb Taylor
« on: February 01, 2024, 09:04:16 PM »
I think this makes sense. He hasn't got a start despite Ajayi being away at Afcon, you have Kipre, Bartley, Peters and if desperate Yokulsu and Furlong (plus Kelly).

Better Taylor gets a bit more game time under his belt. Only gripe is that I'd have preferred a championship loan.

17
West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: MIKEY JOHNSTON SIGNS OFFICIAL
« on: February 01, 2024, 08:59:22 PM »
Reviews are somewhere between Burke and Zohore, so I won't get my hopes up, but he is ultimately coming in to make cameo appearances from the bench when we need some creativity to break a team down. It seems a mix of injuries and a lack of a developed footballing brain have held him back so far, but on a limited budget, let's hope he gives us a bit of occasional spark in 3 or 4 games in the second half of the season.

18
General Football & Sports / Re: The big sports thread
« on: February 01, 2024, 08:04:00 AM »
Six nations starts this weekend. France vs Ireland in Paris tomorrow may decide the eventual winner, I'm going for France due to them having home advantage in the key game.

I don't see much difference between this tournament and the last few, I expect it will be France and Ireland at the top, Scotland stranded in 3rd and then England, Wales and Italy struggling at the bottom. England in particular look vulnerable to a bad tournament. The 3rd place finish at last autumn's World Cup came following a very easy route and was shadowed by a first ever loss to a 2nd tier nation and some close run affairs against lesser lights. Owen Farrell has all but retired from international rugby and gone to France, joining exciting players from the autumn like Marchant, Arundel, Ribbons and Willis who, due to English rugby's domestic financial issues have gone abroad. Throw in retirements of big names like Courtney Lawes, Mako Vunipola and Johnny May and injuries to Smith, Lawrence and Curry. I predicted a first loss to Italy under Borthwick and with us travelling to Rome on opening weekend, I'm probably going to have a few quid on an Azzurri win.

Other sporting mentions, the PGA tour has it's Pebble Beach event, one of its elevated/signature events, with one of the first truly strong fields of the year, kicking off the march towards the masters. No Tyrell Hatton, Adrian Meronk or John Rahm - they will all make their LIV debut instead this weekend having left the tour.

Finally, it's the start of Ireland's National Hurling Season. If you aren't going to the Hawthorns and fancy something different, Warwickshire GAA in Solihull will be hosting one of their few annual home games against an Irish county, facing County Louth in a winnable game.

19
Albion Matchday Forum / Re: After Match Debate
« on: January 31, 2024, 02:08:04 PM »
One thing I will say to refute a few claims I've seen on here and social media. Don't be certain it was fans selling their tickets to Wolves fans. I was surprised to hear of a small pub by me getting complimentary tickets for the game, a sell out where tickers were hard to come by. It suggests a lot of tickets have to go to sponsors who can then give them out to their people. Those people- including the pub I know of - are more likely to sell them for the £100+ going rate on offer.

Maybe the club and the FA wants to consider how many tickets should be given out to sponsors for in demand games. Reality is Wolves fans were always going to snap up touts tickets.

20
General Football & Sports / Re: OFFICIAL PREMIER LEAGUE THREAD
« on: January 31, 2024, 02:02:56 PM »
I just cant take to Klopp as a person, whenever something goes against him he turns nasty. His defenders will say it's a high pressure job, but he trades on this "nice guy" persona but he clearly isn't. I'll still remember his weird comments after the draw in our relegation season.

All that said, if I needed a manager to both win the league with a topclub, or keep a no hoper up on a small budget, I'd pick Klopp over anyone in world football. He is the ultimate all rounder - the Sebastian Leob to Guardiola's Lewis Hamilton.

21
General Football & Sports / Re: Transfer Window Watch (Non Albion)
« on: January 31, 2024, 01:57:28 PM »
It's an odd recruitment strategy to pay over the odds to basically re-sign every academy kid Albion lost.

22
Albion Matchday Forum / Re: After Match Debate
« on: January 28, 2024, 02:49:16 PM »
We dominated possession, matched them in most areas, but we have 4 of our 5 strikers unavailable and 3 wingers out (plus one recalled). That's nearly all of you attacking output. It's no surprise that we struggled to take our chances.

Ugly scenes, as expected with it being a first game in 12 years. Not too dispirited about the loss as Wolves are a mid table prem side full of international players.

23
West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Callum Marshall
« on: January 27, 2024, 07:01:40 AM »
Can’t understand us wanting to sign a player in Marshall who has no track record at Prem or Championship or indeed at any level apart from match’s in the FL Trophy ! Surely this is going to be a complete gamble . Why not let Jovan Malcolm have an extended run off the bench .

It's down  to our limited finances, and the growing realisation that the big clubs seem to want a lot of money for their loanees so we can't afford them.

Marshall however isn't your normal academy kid. He was signed from Linfield's first team in Northern Ireland and is a fully fledged Norhern Ireland International now.

Strikes me as a gamble worh taking for your 4th choice stirker/option from wide left.

24
Turns out today was the final game covering Albion for Birmingham Mail's Joe Chapman. Reading between the lines, it appears Reach who run Birmingham Live/Brum/BC mail are pulling the dedicated reporting of the club.

With the Athletic ditching us in the last 12 months, that leaves only the Express and Star and Radio WM now turning up at club press conferences and applying scrutiny, from 4 down to 2.

Not great news, regardless of what you thought of Joe's ability to get an exclusive.

Always heard he was one of the good guys, hope he still has a role at the organisation.

25
West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Action For Albion/ Potential Takeover
« on: January 13, 2024, 08:22:40 PM »
Looking through Matt Slater’s article and Twitter replies, he is still adamant that the stories saying the Patel family are in pole position are not quite accurate and that the slightly concerning bid by Farnell/Elkashashy is still the lead bid. Says he heard the same thing last week but his research has refuted this.

Personally, I find all 3 names linked to be quite underwhelming, not just the lack of big money which I expected, but also the lack of successful sporting experience and even the track record of trying and failing to buy clubs in the past, but of the three I feel the Patel link is my preference. They seem more grounded, less sketchy, maybe more forward thinking (plus clearly a big sports fan who has lived in the UK before).

I’d have loved an owner at a top American sports franchise who has a good track record, but as that now looks highly unlikely, I’ll cross my fingers that the Patel’s win the race.

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