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Great point..but possibly the worst WBA team I've ever seen.
We fielded the best available team from our squad with only Kipre unavailable from last Saturday (not because he was injured) and first team squad members Ralls, who is team captain, with Ojo in for the only other changes, presumably to give Sawyers and Odowda a rest. Odowda came in after a few minutes due to injury but he has played left sided defender on a number of times in the past at this level. That is hardly a ‘scratch team’ is it ? To assist the online definition of ‘scratch team’ is - ‘A scratch team is a team, usually in sport, brought together on a temporary basis, composed of players who normally play for different sides. A game played between two scratch teams may be called a scratch match.’ Thought with all your extensive football knowledge you would have realised all that.
I was thinking more "starting from scratch"....which all team selections have been this season given our recent number of signings. That said....something of a scratch team at the end. No idea what formation we were playing in rhe last 10 minutes as it all got a bit hectic. Good to see us leave one up front when defending a corner. A well-earned point. So close to three.
No shots on target is a worry.
But potentially an excellent point.
Defending very well. To think a similar wba team beat us 4 nil at our place last season.
Sort out some more options going forward and we could have a decent season.
I expected the worst going into this game. Kept seeing how WBA have been playing well but just haven't been getting the results. It had all the makings of a "WBA have arrived" game, especially with our scratch team.
City also drew 1-1 at the Hawthorns last season.
West Brom finished 10th in 21/22. Are they likely to do much better this season? Maybe, but I suspect it’s their name rather than the quality of their team which meant they were among the pre-season favourites for promotion.
The Championship really does look wide open this season. At this stage it looks almost impossible to identify the top teams.
Its a very promising start to the season.
I think most of us would have taken an improvement in the football and playing style while staying comfortably in the league and avoiding a relegation scrap.
Early signs are im very optimistic we will achieve those.
There was always the danger that with such a high turnover of players and implementing a new style we could have sunk.
The likes of Rino , Sawyers , Kipre and Collins (will be a huge loss) look excellent signings. Romeo and O Dowda have also been excellent. Maybe the change of club is what they needed.
Add in Ojo and Philagene and a full season of Ryan Wintle ( what was McCarthy doing loaning him out)theres reasons to be optimistic about a good season.
I think if we signed a top Championship standard striker we could get top 10.
But like us, they don't have a striker. I think if either side had Kieffer Moore, they'd have won last night. But neither did, so it was a draw . We're just crying out for a striker. It's going to be really, really difficult for all our wingers and centre mids to chip in with 8/10 goals that we'll need them to.
When WBA signed John Swift from Reading, I really thought he might be the difference between them being 'also-rans' to playoff contenders, at least. I felt he was the sort of marque signing I'd like us to have made, although I realise his wages would probably have been a stumbling block.
However, he was fairly ineffective against us last night and perusing their message boards, it seems he's been anonymous in their other games too.
They've got some quality players in Wallace, Diangana, Zohore....
Swift is 27, Wallace is 28. Both are decent players by Championship standards, but neither has ever appeared to be destined for the step-up to the Premier League.
The majority of the players in West Brom’s current squad seem to fall into the same category - decent Championship players, but not good enough for the next level.