West Bromwich Albion 2016/17 Season Preview & Predicted Finish

Shoot’s West Bromwich Albion blogger Thomas Goffe tells us how the club are shaping up ahead of the 2016/17 Premier League season, which starts this weekend.

Lowdown: The breakdown of the Diafra Sakho deal added to a fairly inactive transfer window. Some worryingly lacklustre performances against Plymouth and Torquay in pre-season had seen concern among the Hawthorns faithful rise rapidly. However, the announcement last Friday morning that Guochaun Lai, owner of Yunyi Guokai Sports Development, had shaken hands with Jeremy Peace and was now the majority shareholder of the club was just the lift the fans needed and once again made social media a safe place for Albion fans to venture onto.

There is no denying that last season was a hard old slog. Even though safety was secured with eight games remaining, across Europe’s top five divisions, the Baggies had the worst efforts at goal ratio, creating even less opportunities than our woeful relegated Midland rivals Aston Villa. Improving on this is a must and newly-appointed chairman John Williams was quick to reassure fans that adding to the capture of winger Matty Phillips (£5.5 million signing from QPR) was the number one priority and that himself, alongside technical director Nicky Hammond, will be working tirelessly in the upcoming weeks to make that happen. With a left-back, two strikers and a creative midfielder desperately needed, they definitely have their work cut out.

West Brom manager Tony Pulis face a big season at the Hawthorns – Photo: Paul Roberts / Offside.

Manager: It’s safe to say Tony Pulis still has plenty of work to do if he is to win over the majority of Albion fans. It seems for every fan that rates Pulis, there is another that cannot stand our cap wearing Welsh head coach. I can relate with both. What I like about Pulis is that he is a tremendous man manager who instils a great comradery within the playing staff – meaning they fight tooth and nail for one another come match day. However, his stubbornness to adapt his playing approach can be infuriating, especially when coming up against ‘beatable’ opposition at the Hawthorns, and his strange obsession with playing players out of position is baffling to say the least. Even with some extra creativity within the ranks, will Pulis be braver in his approach and ‘go at teams’ instead of merely shutting up shop and trying to sneak a goal on the counter or from a set piece? This will be the season we finally find out because if he doesn’t I can see the new owners getting rid sharpish.

Key Player: Salomon Rondon – The one big plus point for me last season (other than maintaining our Premier League status obviously) was the performances of our burly Venezuelan striker. Brought in from Zenit St Petersburg in the summer transfer window for a club record fee of £12 million, Rondon quickly became a favourite among the fans. An ever-willing runner, Rondon worked tirelessly in every match and his tally of ten goals in the league was seen as a minor miracle by the fans considering how little service he received. His rich vein of form at the end of last season has got the fans excited with many, myself included, envisaging a big season for the South American. I’m very confident he can add at least another five goals on top of his tally from last season IF some creative players are brought in before the summer transfer window slams shut.

Leko in action against West Ham United at the end of last season – Photo: Marc Atkins / Offside.

Youngster to Watch: Jonathan Leko – The winger shot onto the scene at the end of last season with some eye-catching cameo performances. Combining blistering pace with bags of trickery, it’s easy to why the young attacker has drawn comparisons to Crystal Palace’s Yannick Bolasie. Even though he’s still very raw, he is an exciting prospect with the potential to make a huge name for himself in the game. If pre-season is anything to go by, then he’s set to get plenty of playing time in the forthcoming campaign so let’s just hope he keeps his head down and works hard to try and nail down a starting spot instead of following another notorious academy products lead.

Prediction: 14th – I just don’t feel we have done enough in the transfer window yet to eradicate the issues that held the team back last season. I feel that what we are really lacking most of all is a quality playmaker. The likes of Darren Fletcher and James Morrison are accomplished players who can pick a pass, but I see them more as all-rounders and not creative number tens who can sit in the hole behind the strikers, sliding in through balls and chipping in with half-a-dozen goals plus. There is still time left to bring in a player of similar ilk and I really hope we do as I feel it will be the difference between a similar finish to last season and having a genuine shot at securing a top-half finish. Over to you Messrs Lai and Williams.