Premiership preview, table prediction: 12. West Bromwich Albion

West Bromwich Albion

West Bromwich Albion Barclays Premier League position preview 2011/12

Manager: Roy Hodgson

Ground: The Hawthorns

Nickname: The Baggies

Capacity: 28003

Squad:

·         Goalkeepers 1 Ben Foster 1 Luke Daniels 13 Marton Fulop ·         Defenders 3 Jonas Olsson 4 Marek Cech 6 Pablo Ibanez 18 Gonzalo Jara 20 Joe Mattock 20 Nicky Shorey 23 Gareth McAuley 25 Craig Dawson 26 James Hurst 28 Billy Jones 30 Gabriel Tamas 33 Paul Scharner 34 Paul Downing

·         Midfielders 7 James Morrison 11 Chris Brunt 12 Steven Reid 14 Jerome Thomas 17 Graham Dorrans 21 Youssouf Mulumbu 27 Sam Mantom 28 Romaine Sawyers 29 George Thorne 37 Kayelden Brown ·         Attacking Midfielders 22 Zoltan Gera

·         Forwards 5 Somen Tchoyi 9 Roman Bednar 24 Peter Odemwingie 29 Ishmael Miller 31 Simon Cox 32 Marc-Antoine Fortune 38 Saido Berahino 41 Lateef Elford-Alliyu Shane Long

West Bromwich decided to sack Roberto Di Matteo during last season and got a lot of critic for it. But after Roy Hodgson came in the club started to get better results and climbed the table and landed a sensational 11^th place. So I guess the critics have forgotten all about the sacking from last season now. Hodgson did it brilliant as well in Fulham, but his style of play didn’t fit into a club like Liverpool who needs to dominate a lot of their games. But West Bromwich and Hodgson is a match made in heaven, and I think they can get a nice season this year and maybe even get far in one of the English cups.




Pre-Season Fixtures/Results
July 12 vs San Jose Earthquakes 1-2 – Thomas
July 17 vs Ventura County Fusion 4-2 – Dorrans, Cox, Brunt, Bednar
July 20 vs Portland Timbers 3-2 – Morrison, Tchoyi, Tamas
July 26 vs Rochdale 0-3 July 27 vs Southampton 2-2 – Cox (2)
July 30 vs Bristol City 1-0 Dawson August 4 vs Olympiakos 2-2 Dorrans, Thomas
August 7 vs Parma 1-1 Tchoyi




Players in
08/11 Shane Long FW Reading FC
07/11 Craig Dawson DF Rochdale AFC
07/11 Ben Foster GK Birmingham City
07/11 Zoltan Gera FW Fulham FC
07/11 Billy Jones DF Preston North End
07/11 Gareth McAuley DF Ipswich Town




Players out
06/11 Ryan Allsop GK Millwall FC
06/11 Giles Barnes MF Doncaster Rovers
06/11 Scott Carson GK Bursaspor
06/11 Abdoulaye Méïté DF Dijon FCO
06/11 Boaz Myhill GK Birmingham City
06/11 Carlos Vela FW Arsenal FC




Hodgson have done some nice signings so far in the summer in Shane Long, Zoltan Gera and Ben Foster. He recently went out and hailed the owners for giving him the founds to bring in his 3 main targets in this transfer window. He also added that he would like to add another defender to his side before the window closes, but he was very happy with the squad he had at the moment.



Most likely starting lineup for West Brom next weekend:

                                                   Ben Foster

 Gonzalo Jara     Jonas Olsson     Gabriel Tamas   Nicky Shorey

Chris Brunt         Paul Scharner    Youssouf Mulumbu       Somen Tchoyi  

                               Peter Odemwingie         Shane Long

I don’t see why West Bromwich should do it any worse this season, and tip them to finish around the same place as last year. In attack it will be interesting to watch how Odemwingie and Long could match up. It could give West Brom one of the strongest attacking forces in the premiership if it works well.  Looking at their squad as well, Hodgson have a lot of players with premiership experience, and West Brom should be hard to beat at The Hawthorns this season.