Tuesday 24 May 2011

West Bromwich Albion have been linked with....

Gareth McAuley
No sooner has the last ball of the season is kicked the transfer rumour mill is cranked into overdrive. I am going to keep track of all the rumours for the comings and goings at the Albion, I will restrict the rumours to the mainstream media. I reckon we will actually let around 5 players leave and hire a simalar number but I will guess we be linked with upwards of 50 and most of our key players will at some stage be of interest to this or that club

To start the ball rolling we have signed

Gareth McAuley defender from Ipswich Town (Bosman)

Linked with rumours and reported interest

In

Brad Friedal (now signed by Liverpool)
Andy Johnson
Carlton Cole
Itay Shechter
Stuart Parnaby
Mark Schwarzer
Bradley Johnson
Jelle Vossen
Kevin de Bruyne
David Ngog
Marius Stankevicius
Tomasz Kuszczak

Out

Mulumbu Bayern Munich Aston Villa and Everton
Odemwingie Juventus Sunderland and Everton
Brunt Liverpool

I am going to update this through the summer, time permitting and I suspect it will be a very long post by the time the window closes

Monday 23 May 2011

Drama free Final Day (well almost)


Mid table finish crack out the Champagne

 Yesterday amongst the drama of survival Saturday the Baggies travelled to Newcastle with nothing much at stake in 11th place. This is remarkably dull for a team that has over the last decade finished either 17th or below in the premiership or 6th or above in the Championship.

Frankly it is a position that looked very unlikely in February when DiMatteo was replaced by Hodgson. At that point we were sliding fast and another relegation looked very much on the cards. The chairman's decisive action in sacking RDM and appointing Roy Hodgson might with hindsight be a pivotal moment in the club's history. Without wishing to fall into results oriented analysis the appointment of Hodgson was a master stroke and without it we certainly would have been going to Newcastle needing something from the game to survive.

The game at St James Park was pretty typical of our season. Some pretty dreadful defending gifted Newcastle a 3:0 lead which was followed by an inspired comeback with Tchoyi sealing a point by completing a hat trick in the 90th minute.
 
We have won more points from losing positions this season than any other side in the premiership. This reflects our woeful defending which has resulted in just 2 clean sheets all season and the charactor of the players to comeback from some very unlikely situations.

It is appropriate that the team should sign off a rollercoaster season in typical fashion in 11th place. We have been as high as 4th and as low as 18th. There have been performances of breath taking quality (the Arsenal games and Liverpool at home for instance) and performances which left me at the brink despair (the Wigan and Blackburn games). However the same pattern has prevailed throughout going forward we have been lethal but we have never really looked that secure at the back. Roy managed to improve the side as a defensive unit but he will be working hard over the summer to improve this aspect of our play.

Overall a satisfactory conclusion to an excellent season. I am looking forward to next year with genuine optimism just another 80 odd days to go.