West Brom won the Championship
West Brom won the Championship last term and has decent chances of staying in the Premiership for at least one more season. West Bromwich won the competition in style as they scored a devastating 88 goals and sealed the place in the Premier league. The manager Tony Mowbray has to take the credit for this success, because he inspired the team to play attractive attacking football, and he remains adamant that he will not change his philosophy even in the Premiership. The baggies ability to construct incisive moves in midfield made them stand out from the rest, and the likes of Gera, Greening and Teixeira are the ones to blame. They made the job easy for strikers Philips, Bednar and Miller, which resulted in tremendous amount of goals. Team’s only weakness was the defense which was susceptible to set pieces and teams with stronger strikers.
Mowbray recruited nine new players
Mowbray showed he was a man of his words by stating that the club will not break its wage structure to keep key players. That resulted in departures of Zoltan Gera and Martin Albrechtsen. Their top scorer last season, Kevin Philips decided to join town rivals Birmingham. Defense being the weakest part of the team, Mowbray made most signings in that area. He first signed Scott Carson, maybe future England number one keeper. Gianni Zuiverlon, Abdoulay Meite, and Marek Cech will make the new defense, and we feel that these will prove very good signings. The manager was happy with last year’s players on loan and he permanently signed Roman Bednar and Looke Moore, who will along with Ismael Miller have to provide the goals this year. Curtis Davies’ contract was bought off by Aston Villa which pretty much sums up the transfers this summer.
In
Roman Bednar (Heart of Midlothian),
Michal Danek (on loan from Viktoria Plzen),
Kim Do-Heon (Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma),
Luke Moore (Aston Villa),
Gianni Zuiverloon (Heerenveen),
Graham Dorrans (Livingston),
Marek Cech (FC Porto),
Scott Carson (Liverpool),
Abdoulaye Meite (Bolton)
Out
Luke Steele (Barnsley),
Zoltan Gera (Fulham),
Martin Albrechtsen (Derby County),
Curtis Davies (Aston Villa),
Kevin Phillips (Birmingham City)
The team is confident of survival
As important as new signings the squad must maintain the team spirit and its work ethics. Mowbray knows how to instill these things into his team as he was assistant coach in Ipswich to George Burley when the team finished fifth in the Premier League, right after promotion, without bringing new players apart from Hreidarsson. Mowbray thinks that the team mentality is what matters, and if his players listen to him we are sure the team will have a very good season. The team was reinforced in just the right positions and with very good players, such as Carson, Bednar, Meite and Cech. And Mowbray although young, displays the characteristics of a very good manager, and he may be the decisive advantage for this team. Captain Johnatan Greening, who has experience of playing in the top tier of English football, showed his credential last season, and no doubt he will do that again. All of this taken into question, we predict a mid table finish for West Bromwich, and we are certain they won’t get relegated.
Our tip: West Bromwich not to get relegated
Odds 1.66
Bookmaker: Bet365
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