Albion manager Tony Mowbray today threw his support behind his strikers – as defender Neil Clement headed for a specialist over his injured knee.
The Baggies boss put his faith in Roman Bednar, Ishmael Miller and Luke Moore after the club failed to land reinforcements before Monday’s transfer deadline. Mowbray said: “We worked very hard all night but it didn’t happen and I went to bed still content enough.
“We would have liked to have done something because we’re trying to create competition in all areas.
“One more certain type of midfield player and one more striker would have left me totally happy with the squad that we have got.
“But it wasn’t a lack of perseverance that didn’t allow it to happen.
“We were pretty close, but in the end it didn’t happen.
“I’m am pretty happy with the pool that we’ve got and I am not a follower of these pundits who suggest we will struggle to score goals in the league.”
And Mowbray admitted that the Baggies’ hopes of landing Real Mallorca striker Oscar Trejo ended early in transfer deadline week.
Mowbray had tracked the 20-year-old Argentine forward for much of the summer but the La Liga side were unwilling to sell.
“That got put to bed pretty early on,” said Mowbray. “People behind the scenes worked hard on that for a while, but it became pretty clear that it wasn’t going to happen.”
Meanwhile, Clement was today booked in to see a knee specialist as he continues to struggle with an injury that could require surgery.
The defender, who has been blighted for two years with injuries to his left knee, is now struggling with his right. Mowbray said: “Best case scenario is that he will be back on the training field in two or three weeks. Worst case scenario is that he will need an operation.”
Abdoulaye Meite is heading home from international duty with a calf injury but James Morrison will stay with Scotland despite a knee problem.
59 Comments
dont agree with him at all we desperatley needed another striker as mcdonald and sluraski and even beattie are not premiership standard they couldnt cope in the championship
tony’s happy so im happy,are you happy, happy,aye boing boing donk
aid,get back on your own pages will ya aye boing boing your not worth a donk
I was at Derby on Sat and Mcdonald showed some promise he just needs a bit of confidence, we have destroyed too many players in the past at the albion by getting on their backs. Sluraski: has he really been given a chance??, and whilst I agree that Beatie is not up to the standard we all have to be united now as nothing we can do about it until Jan. IMO we will be ok, we will revert back to 4-4-2 with Miller, Bednar and Moore the preferred Options and the goals will come. I completely agree with TM that there was absolutely no point signing another striker on deadline day just because there were available to warm the bench when they would be no better than what we have got
1- Aidan, you wanted him out yesterday.
He’s not gonna come out and publicy criticise the strikers he’s left with, whatever he thinks privately.
If you’re a season ticket holder and not a Wolves fan like you say, then I hope for our sake you and some of the other clowns who’ve been slating Mowbray, Peace, Miller, Moore and McDonald for the last 24 hours get behind them for the good of the club next week against West Ham.
Tezza - I’m always happy !!
4.lord, which mcdonald was you watchin mate aye boing boing donk
P.S. Lord_Shephard, spot on mate.
Sherjill McDonald will prove useful, mark my words. He’s by no means the finished article but he’s an impact player who comes off the bench after 70 minutes and beats defenders. I’d rather that than a slow target man coming after 70 minutes.
Just hope his Albion career’s not ruined by a few morons before it even begins.
i went to bed content too, mind yow id had 8 cans a john smiffs xxx aye boing boing donk
I still aint been to bed! However, in Mowbray I trust!
ok but agree with me on beattie he is the biggest donkey i have ever seen
#4 LORD
Strange, everyone else went to Bolton.
12 haha no wonder he looked good.
Lads , where is all the negativity from. Luke Moore has not had a real chance yet. Miller just needs a goal he has run his heart out so far. Bednar will get goals.
And as for KP an old man who had no faith in his own fitness so how could we.
We will be fine it is early days.
I am sure most these negative fans have just jumped on the bandwagion the last few years.
I remember going to Halifax on a sunday FA cup 1st round and we lost 2-1 . Now we are at the emirates losing 1 -0 but with an England goalkeeper one the most visionary managers we have had. A chairman who puts his hands in the coffers with out risking the long team stability of the club. And a list of players with good technical ability and a great future. But what do i hear TM out JP out Stoke are doing this Hull are doing that. Maybe its age of maybe its ignorance but baggies fans sort it out.
Onwards and upwards and in TM we trust
I have seen enough over the last three league games to think we will be ok. Yes I have concerns over scoring enough goals, but I would be more concerned if we were not creating chances but we are and with a bit of luck Saturday against Bolton we would have got all three points.
I agree with posts above and wish people would just get behind the strikers we have got, because one thing is for certain they won’t do any better if their heads drop because they think we have got no faith in them.
4-4-2 against the Hammers. Come on you Baggies!!
Did anybody else think that Valero looked class on Saturday and Kim just gets better and better every time he plays.
BOING BOING!!
Baggie Rich totally agree with you on Kim and Valero class players who will play a big part in our survival the defence and midfield is great but our strike force is cause for concern AT THE MOMENT before all the comments about me being a dingle start this is my view
I am probably well in the minority here but i dont think Beattie is that bad.
He looks like a carthorse compared to the graceful SKP but his goal average to appearances isnt bad. he looks awkward and tends to cock up the easy ones and then csre an impossible goal. Again he is one of ours and while we are entitled to express opinions, it cant be constructive to slag him off.
DogHouse Dave i go home and away every week and when he comes on he is totally useless you are entitled to your opinion but listen to me he wont score many goals i can assure you
We are all supporters of the Albion and they need our support this season.especially the strikers.Whatever you think of our business in the transfer window and what Mr Peace has done or not done we now know our squad and they will need our support.Football is about confidence and we can give the players that confidence from the terraces.And whilst I am on the subject groaning or booing when things are not going well is not support in my book.If we all pull together with the quality we have in this squad we can have a great season.Divided we will be relegated.
4, 14, 15, 17 and 19……..hurrah, thank God for that. I was beginning to think I was a Wolves fan with all this negativity.
Everyone knows we could’ve done with a striker….but we didn’t get one. Point made by almost everybody. End of.
Stop moaning, we’ve got it as good as we’ve ever had it. Get behind them!!!!!!!!!!!
COME ON YOU BAGGIES!!!
We’ll be fine boys and girls.
Of course we all wanted an extra quality striker to come in, but it didn’t happen, so let’s move on.
The strikers we have will get goals, as will the midfield, and for the first time since Gary Megson’s era, we look as though we can cause teams problems on set pieces, instead of just looking vulnerable to them at our end!!
Keep the faith everyone!
By the way, does anyone else think that Jonas Olsson looks a bit like Hellboy in the photo attached to the Tony Adams story, or is that just me?!
14 Baggie mentions Halifax
Some of you seem to have forgotten this and:
Woking
Bristol Rovers at Twerton Park
Losing 3-2 at home to Swansea when 2-0 up
Bobby Gould
Losing 13 on the bounce under Buckley
5-1 at home to Crewe
Denis Smith
Losing 2-0 at Walsall
This is where we’ve wanted to be for years playing football we want to see.
By all means be critical of things if it’s constructive, but booing Miller, McDonald and Moore is just going to undermine our best chance ever of surviving. It never helped Scott Darton’s career did it?
yes another striker would of been nice
but its gone now so we have to move on
we look a lot stronger at the back
the midfield looks even better as well
i think we will score a lot of goals from midfield this season so im not too concerned
come on you baggies
19. bridgenorth baggie.CRACKING STATEMENT lets make some noise for the boys and create a fortress hawthorns with every one solidy behind the lads,and then well show the pundits,the hacks whoose sunday morning write ups seem written with a hidden agenda,mind you with man city being bought by the megga arabs theyll all be at COMS with their snouts in the trough…the club is in safe hands with JP AND MOGGA…YOUVE SEEN THE LIGHT NOW KEEP THE FAITH…
24
Totally agree with you
BOING BOING
22 ned
its just u mr magoo lol
Be Careful what you ask for….
Remember when we bought Paul Williams….what an absolute donkey he was…
14.I remember that Halifax game very well - it was freezing cold ,wet and rubbish.
We will be okay.
Have Faith.
I’m afraid you’ve made a big mistake in not getting a quality striker in, i’ll admit you’ve got a decent team with a goalie, defence and midfield with some prem quality but seems like it will all go to waste without a decent striker. I think you may well look back at this season if you go down as the one chance to cement yourself in the prem
27 - Oh well, thanks any way!! ha ha!
i hope the refereeing standard improves this season e.g. mike riley and mike dean
i really cant wait for the end of the season for all the wolves fans to stop scare mungering and all you albion fans being pesemistic to realise we have got the best team weve ever had and they will DO THE JOB in the prem!!!!! End of
boing boing!!! donk donk!!!
When all is said and done and If we get to the end of the season and go down, the quality of the players we have now is another two levels above what we had last season when we won the CCC and with a seasons experience in the PL, should see us straight back up BUT let’s enjoy this season first. Chuck all your worries in the bin and support the team and especially the forwards we have now and enjoy each game as it comes. It hasn’t looked this good for 30 years!!
With this defence i think most prem teams (apart from 3 or 4) will struggle to score against us which is a great platform to build from.
There are definatley goals in this team, whether from the striker, midfielders or defenders from set pieces. I can see us causing real problems for the opposition.
I think the club will be working from now till January on bringing in another player or two - but don’t be suprised if we are already in a decent position at that time.
We have players in all areas who are good on the ball - when they start to gel we will see some great footy.
LOVIN IT !!!!
Warren (Albion)
Add to that Bournmouth away when Mick Coldicott a bloke who used to live down the road from me and I was stood next to him after loosing there 2-0 was invited into the dressing room by Bobby Gould to tell the players what he thought of them!
Swansea Away on a Friday night 0-0 in the cold!
Wigan away stood on the grass bank!
Paul Williams missing pen against Port Vale!
Loosing 5-2 at home to Plymouth!
Tim Buzaglow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Need I go on!!!!!!
Remember where we have come from!!!!!
Aidenwba I can’t believe you are an Albion fan mate if you are you must be as young and nieve as your ridiculous posts, are you sure you’re no going over to the dark side 14 miles away?
SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Like the positivity on this page !!!!!
We will be alright, in fact better than alright. Yes the prem is a difficult league to stay in, the hardest one in the world…. But we are here & we are here to stay…..
If we all pull together then the team will haul itself up the table……. & who knows were we will finish this season if we did that !!!!!!
COME ON YOU BAGGIES !!!!!!
BOING ! DONK ! BOING ! DONK !
31; as someone said earlier “be careful what you wish for”. A decent ref would have given a goal and at least one penalty against you at the weekend. Never mind at least you’re playing the other teams off the park whilst they beat you.
I accept TM comment’s and also accept that we do not want to buy just any striker which i thought they were going to do when Nugent was mentioned.
What i want to see is on the 1st of January a new striker signed and ready to play… Lets use the time between now and 1st of Jan to do the deal not leave it until 31st Jan 09… If we are going to survive we need at least 1 proven Premier striker.
28:
….Paul Williams… Fabio De Freitus…Stuart Bowen…Gary Piggot…
enough to give you nightmares! ( and Bobby Gould was responsible for 3 of those idiots!!)
I too went to Halifax, and i had Sky Sports back then (it was live on Sky)!!!!!!!!..Oh, and got there too late for a pre-match drink, just to top it off!
Bad, bad day - but makes you appreciate where we are now.
As proved at Bolton we need a striker who can put the ball in the net,why did we sell Phillips before we had a replacement.Mowbury has bought all defenders in the transfer window, so who is going to put the ball in the net,not the present srikers the way they are playing.Why do we always wait till the end of the transfer window before we try to get players in.This is not a moan at mowbury,i think he is the best manager we have had for years,and i can go back as far as the50s
Now I know why I left the black Country to much negativity— 11 players and 20 million quid— a dame good team well able for the task ahead…lovely football…great manager—much critisised but excellent chairman…quality ground and facilities…on the whole great supporters… if your over 35 you’ll remember the last time we played wonderful football and entertained the league…Man utd 3 - WBA 5 WBA 7 Coventry 1 WBA 3 Bristol City 1 (on ice) Arsenal 1 - WBA 2 … those were the days my friends…AND NOW WERE BACK….They say Villa park is a wonderful place compared to West Brom its a ….blah blah blah with Regis and Johnston and Cunningham to we’ll ….. on the ….in claret and blue… Bring on West Ham —moreover… BRING ON THE VILLA…Dingles are history…Boing Boing Donk xx
this is for you i was there when we played halifax etc, so was i thats the past, some baggies fan was saying about the 60s, mate its 2008 thats the past if you think like that why say anything, its about pushing forward and if someones not good enough and pulling there weight then they have to be dropped end of, i could have put those chances away even if i was naked lol, the club comes first not some lazy git who cant score i say put moore and mac up front i would ppl who run and scare def not hold the ball up for one second and lose it
23. 28; The biggest donkey we had was Fabian de Fretis, if remember right he forgot to turn up, set his alarm clock at the wrong time lost 5-1 to Crewe me thinks!!
Another one, remember Geogre Reilly 6ft 4 and could get 2 inches off the ground.
Aidenwba: get a life and stop bleating on about our fron line, we have a better squad than when we got promoted in 2002 and 2004 and the great escape squad.
Im confident Mowbrays knows what he is doing however i am concerned of lack of fire power we could of done getting Nugent on loan on the Monday night but i guess we have to stick and have afaith with our current strikers and hope our Midfielders notch some in until January
23 Warren - 2 words. Brian. Little.
23- thanks 4 jogging my memory about scott darton, took me this long 2 get over him!
worse albion player eva??
WBA Dan, its all about opinions and you lot were quick enough to voice yours when you went up as champions last season! You haven’t got enough firepower up front, you ain’t playing against the Gary Breens of this world now. Most of the centre backs in the premiership are generally world class, fast and two footed so Mowbray needed to sign a proven premiership striker. For all the passing and movement, it doesn’t mean diddly squat if you don’t score at the end of it. I’m amazed you haven’t signed a decent striker to be honest. I hope you stay up, i genuinely mean that but i think you’ll be in for a titanic struggle now.
Doghouse Dave
Craig Beattie has got to be one of the worst
strikers EVER! to put on an Albion shirt.
NO PACE! NO SKILL!NO DESIRE!NO NOTHING!
He`s just another James Quinn.
The sooner Mowbray gets rid the better!
Luke Moore deserves his chance as does Roman
Bednar,Ishmael Miller needs to be dropped after
missing about 6 great chances in the opening
games.
andrew hodgkinson at last somebody who agrees with me on craig “the donkey” beattie the man is a complete waste of space
OK, so I’m an Albion fan who is a little disappointed that we didn’t manage to sign a striker during the transfer window, but it’s not the end of the world. We, as a club, are in a damn good position compared to where we were ten years ago when all those years outside of the top flight and bad management and board decisions were leaving the club a laughing stock, a club with no ambition and no way forward. This was of course before a certain Gary Megson became manager, and who didn’t think it was the cheap option then? He worked wonders as we all know and the club would not be in such a good position now if it weren’t for Gary.
But, those wilderness years from 1986 to 2002 did us a lot of damage, and it need not have been that way, before things got so bad, they could have been so different.
Cast your mind back to 1988, Ron Atkinson was enjoying his second tenure as WBA manager, the team were starting to play some actual football again after the dourness of the Ron Saunders era. We had Goodman up front, who was young and quick, but unfortunately, could not hit a cows backside with a banjo, so alongside him (for at least one half of most matches) was the old warrior Andy Gray, who usually chipped in with a goal.
We had playmakers (we hadn’t seen one for a few years) in Tony Kelly and Colin Anderson and a winger in seasoned pro Tony Morley, we also had a promising young fullback in David Burrows and we weren’t bad for a second division team that had struggled in the previous season.
Then Big Ron left of course, again, he got the call from Spain and off he went – “too good an opportunity” he said, I probably wasn’t the only one who was reminded of the time he left to manage Man Utd.
So, disappointment again, who could take over this team that looked to be on the cusp of doing something. Step forward, Brian Talbot, our captain and leader, he could become player-manager, just like Kenny Dalglish of Liverpool.
Under Talbot initially, Albion flourished, with the manager out on the pitch, and him being such an inspirational figure out there, we looked great. We were winning games healthily (including a 6-0 drubbing of Stoke City at the Hawthorns which sent us top of the league) We were sitting pretty.
Chelsea were in the second division that year and they only managed to draw with us at Stamford Bridge by equalising in the last minute with a penalty.
So, top of the league, playing good football with a young Manager at the helm whom the players were responding to, even Don Goodman started to find the net regularly under Talbot and Stuart Pearson’s guidance, you would think the board would make a decision to push on and go for it, promotion, give the manager some money to work with wouldn’t you?
This was probably Talbot’s problem, he may not have been strong enough in the boardroom when it came to transfers. Instead of buying players, we sold the best ones – David Burrows to Liverpool for ½ million for a start, but worse was to come.
We had a young midfield “stopper”, a tough tackler called Carlton Palmer, he had been at the club for a few years and no one had really found out where to play him, he’d been tried at right back, centre half, right midfield and even up front to no avail, but under Talbot he had played in front of the back four as cover for them and he had been a revelation, lots of top clubs had watched him and may have been weighing up their options.
You may be laughing and saying “Carlton Palmer? That donkey?” but let’s not forget what the English football league was like then, there really wasn’t any “superteams” like Man Utd and Chelsea (Liverpool were still one season away from becoming the first) and Arsenal had a team of tough tackling no nonsense players who used to grind out results doggedly. There was no Ronaldo’s or Rooney’s, no foreign imports to speak of, it was very different and Carlton Palmer could have quite easily made the transition to the top tier of English football then as could a few of the WBA players.
A fact that Ron Atkinson knew too well, having just lost his job in Spain after a very short time, and being appointed Sheffield Wednesday manager who were in Division One at the time (For those of you who are too young to realise – it was the Premier League but in old speak)
Big Ron saw his side needed a stopper in midfield and as Ron used to do quite often, he went to an old side of his to get a player. Sheffield Wednesday made a bid for Palmer in the region of ¾ million.
What reaction would you expect from a team sitting on top of the table with an offer for one of their prize assets? Of course, no. But this is Albion and Palmer was sold for around ¾ mill plus a player exchange in Colin West.
One can only imagine the meeting when Talbot was told, at least Ron would have called their bluff and threatened to walk.
So with our defensive protection gone and a new striker on board, the style of play changed, no longer would Colin Anderson, so often the creator in this team, thread passes through for Goodman and even Gary Robson to run onto, instead we had our centre halves clouting the ball forward for Colin West to get his head to (which he did rarely, truth be told)
Results and goals dried up, we finished the season in sixth place, after such a promising start, but there were no play offs then either. Chelsea went up as champions by the way after beating our “new look” side 3-2 at the Hawthorns.
The season after that is well documented, Talbot hung up his boots and found it difficult to get his messages across when not playing himself, the team found themselves losing any style of play whatsoever and this all culminated in the Woking debacle. Enter Bobby Gould and, well… that’s another story.
So, as you sit back and prepare to moan about the lack of activity on the striker front, if the board had made the right decisions back then, or we’d have had a stronger Manager back then, we might have been a Premier league staple by now, so let’s be grateful for the shrewdness and determination to not be held to ransom by anybody from our now board and Manager, let’s be grateful for the wonderful style of football our team now plays and let’s be grateful for the fact that as a club we are leaps and bounds ahead of where we were ten years ago.
well said happybaggie ,,,thats the best post on here mate .would like to see afew others posting positive ,why cant everybody be like our terry ,the best baggies fan by far,always upbeat with a smile on hes face ,and a cracking drinking partner as some of you know,,these are fun times get behind the best team weve had for yrs and enjoy the superb football,and if your agreat supporter we might even invite ya to our next party at the vine,,cos its only for the bestest fans….PLAYING THE PREM THE MOWBRAY WAY,,,IN STYLE OF COURSE,,OOOOOOOOOOH YES..
50 ROYLEY,,flip me mate thats a book youve wrote there,never seen such a long post..leave a bit of room for our terry,,he aint on yet,,goodpost tho…ENJOYING THE PREM WITH MOWBRAYS GEMS,,ITS ALL COMING TOGETHER,,OOOOOOOOOH YES…P.S MORNING happy ,hilltop ,wbatony ,our terry ,cyril ,and all the other nuts..
35) whatever happend to Mick Caldicott not seen him at the match for years. if i remeber right he was a big lad used to stand at the back of the brummie
ROYLEY
Yes!!
ROYLEY.
That’s one hell of a post,and brings back a
lot of memories some good, some bad.
Well done, you’ll be doing Jarrod’s blogs next.
have faith lads we always av a poor start to the season mowbray will give bednar a chance and he will take it u wait and see miller will score against the hammers
37.
‘A decent ref would have given at least a penalty against you.’ How do you work that out? As the two decisions not to give penalties were proved spot on with numerous replays from various angles. Surely you mean a poor ref. I agree though that the ball over/on the line was impossible to decide and he was therefore right again not to give it. Had it been MU though, who knows?
40 Frank.
We didn’t sell Phillips. His contract ended and he chose to move as he didn’t feel good enough for the Prem. You slag of TM’s judgement before saying you aren’t going to moan at him. Make your mind up.
PS. Do you have a Grandson maned Aidan?
50 Royley.
It’s very easy for long posts to get boring (I’ve written a few myself.) Yours was excellent and sums up perfectly what I’ve been trying to get over to a few of our more recent fans. Congratulations on an epic and top class blog.
57Real Bully i no we didn’t sell Phillips we could have kept him if we had given him a 2 year contract. what will you say if he gets bham promoted with all the goal he could have scored for us, bad mistake on some ones part for letting him go.I never slag of mowbray it is just good constructive comment
58 Frank.
We offered him a contract whereby he only needed to appear in half the games to activate the second year. If he wasn’t going to appear in (not necessarily start) half of our games, how was he going to get all of these goals to keep us up? I think KP is an honest player and didn’t sign for us because he wasn’t confident that he would cut it for a full season in the Prem and should be applauded for that honesty.