Baggies need window action

Saturday, 31/12/2011

by Dave Wedgbury, Shoot's West Brom blogger

With Albion very likely to lose their inspirational midfield battler Youssouf Mulumbu for the New Year’s Day clash with Everton, the important role of central midfield will be up for grabs.

No Baggie’s fan will want to see an Albion team without Mulumbu but it will provide an opportunity for another player to squeeze himself into the starting line up.

Will James Morrison return and play alongside Scharner, or will Hodgson prefer offering Dorrans the opportunity to stamp his authority upon the game?

Roy may even surprise us all by starting youngster George Thorne who is maybe more suited to the deeper role, but this would be a big gamble for Roy to throw Thorne into such an important fixture.

I can only see these three competing for that starting place, but I am sure the wily old fox that is Hodgson will have his own ideas and will have been organising set pieces and individual roles ready to outwit Everton.

Everton are a difficult team to beat and with a solid back four, including two fullbacks who like to attack, it will be important that the wingers, probably Thomas and Brunt watch the runs coming from right and left back, there can be no going to sleep and ball watching.

Albion’s defence will have to be at their best to prevent the trickery of Saha and the heading ability of Cahill. I also worry about the talented midfielder Drenthe who has been impressive whenever I have watched Everton this year.

But we have our own players who can cause problems for Everton, dare they throw too many players forward with the ability that Long and Odemwingie have to break at pace?

Either way, Albion have the perfect chance to continue an excellent run of results, I would have taken four points from the four Christmas games, we already have a win and draw so have reached my expectation. A win against Everton would set Albion up nicely for the new year.

I look forward to the transfer window, why I don’t know because we rarely dip our toes into the market in January but would like to see a couple of players come into the club.

There is talk of Dundee United youngster Scott Allan coming south to the Midlands, but I will wait until I actually see him with the shirt on the website before celebrating that deal. Albion fans know that no deal is done until they have that shirt on with our thrifty chairman at the helm.

I would also like to see another more experienced player come into the club. American defender Tim Ream seemed to impress while on trial but apparently his club would prefer a permanent deal rather than our offer of a loan.

Sometimes you just have to take a chance in order to get in ahead of the opposition. Whether Mr Peace will see a permanent deal as too much of a gamble is anybody’s guess, but if the player is wanted by Hodgson then the club should support him.

No doubt I will be watching the rumours unfold, the message board wind ups and the lists of players every fan wants to join and then wait until the last days to find out we sign a youngster and probably loan him out and then just miss out on a number of players.

Life at the Albion can sometimes be full of hopes followed by the inevitable blast of reality, but at our current position should we need new players? My answer is yes, whilst other buy to get out of trouble, we could be left in the shadows and any injuries to key players could result in a slump in performances, is it worth the risk for the sake of a couple of decent signings?

Chairman, support our manager, the fans are behind the club, players and the manager, let’s show that we are all fighting for the same goal and push on to bigger and better things.

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