Albion boss hopeful Koren will stay
Tuesday 26th January 2010, 11:29AM GMT.
Albion boss Roberto Di Matteo is increasingly hopeful midfielder Robert Koren will stay at the Hawthorns for the rest of the season.
The Slovenia captain has sought no fresh talks with the head coach since hinting at a move earlier in the campaign.
Di Matteo is optimistic the 29-year-old will now stay willingly, after winning back his place in the last two Albion matches.
He said: “I never wanted to sell him. He wanted to play on a regular basis and to move. That was the situation.
“We said we were going to review it this month but he hasn’t been to see me and I hope he doesn’t.”
Koren looked set to move on after losing his place as the team’s prime playmaker to the emerging Graham Dorrans and expressing concern about a lack of senior football in a World Cup year.
But the player has been recalled in a new-look five-man midfield in the last week and now looks set to stay with a week remaining in the transfer window.
Di Matteo has also insisted Luke Moore remains a part of his plans, despite the striker missing out on a substitutes’ spot for Saturday’s FA Cup win over Newcastle.
Moore has been a regular starter this season but was dropped for last Monday’s Championship draw at Newcastle and then excluded from the squad at the weekend.
The manager said: “It was tactical. We had two strikers on the bench and we needed to cover all the other positions. It was just for one game. We will need everybody, because we are going to be playing every three days now and if a player misses one game it may not be because of any particular reason.”
Albion hope Abdoulaye Meite will return to England this week, after Ivory Coast bowed out of the Africa Cup of Nations in the quarter-finals.
But Di Matteo is unsure whether the centre-back will be available to face Sheffield United on Saturday.
The Baggies boss added: “We expect him back as soon as possible. We’re trying to contact him, but Abou should be back tomorrow or soon after.
“Whether he’ll be okay for Saturday I don’t know. He hasn’t played much out there, so we will need to check his condition and see what he has been doing for the last four weeks.”
UK Sport
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He should stay, he should continue playing as he has in the last 2 matches, we should win a lot more than we lose because of it, get promoted and then watch him revel in another Premiership campaign as our most experienced outfield player.
Simples!! :-)
On a serious note, he’s gone about things the right way this time, as has Cech, by just concentrating on his performances when given the opportunity.
Now you’d struggle to drop either of them from the first XI on their last 2 displays.
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Agree Ned. When it wasn’t working out for him earlier in the season that was because DiMatteo hadn’t seen him playing much in a more central role. He now has seen that and also can see the quality Rokko posseses and is keen for him to stay.
Interesting about Luke Moore though because if we had two strikers on the bench – Cox and Miller, then for that challenge RDM considered him less than adequate. I think Moore could do worse than follow Koren and Cech’s attitude and work hard to regain favour. When he wants to play he has got some quality, problem is too often he doesn’t show it and drifts in and out of games. The championship does not allow and would be successful team that luxury.
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UP THE BOYS
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How RUDE!
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH Matron!
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I suspect that RK’s hernia which eventually needed an operation affected his early season performances. Now that he injury free and reaching full fitness we are beginning to see the best of a very good player again. I hope the club refutes any offer for the player should any come in before the deadline. Don’t know what to make of the Luke Moore situation , I think RDM is politely telling him that he has to improve if he wants to play.
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I am a Koren fan. He is fluid, will run all day and has class. Also he can shoot just like Dorrans. Why let him go? We have a smallish squad as it is.
Tonight’s match is on computer it seems. I’m not sure whether E&S would show the address but we might all see Sir Terence and his beloved in the crowd!
That alone would justify printing the address as she waves just like the Queen.
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Just read Jerome Thomas write up regarding the penalty he won.Jerome,All that is required of you is to play to the REF’s whistle and blow whats going on behind you.Right on NEDBALL.~~~~~BOING~~~~BOING~~~~JtH.
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I’ll give it a go. Try these:
http://www.livefooty.doctor-serv.com and
http://www.footballstreaming.info
You’ll need Flash Player and Internet Explorer 8 for the first one. On the second one I tend to use ‘Browser’ as the stream.
Sir Terence, please wave.
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Cyril,
you my good man, are a true, true gentleman!!
Thank you very much.
Ned
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Cyril you old rascal!
I thought you weren’t up with all this computermabob stuff.
Been hiding your light……!
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Thank E&S too, that was a good thing to do. You do realise there are no guarantees with the streams but usually they work very well. It’s time to divulge: I was a Senior Lecturer in Electronics at Walsall Tech for over a quarter century and spent my whole life in Electrics and Electronics. Computing I took up in 2001 as I was always too busy at work, although we had a very healthy Computer Section. So, if ever you need to chat on TV, Video, Hi-Fi problems, I’m sure they will indulge us on here to swap email addresses. Cross fingers for the streams for tonight. You may need to sign up for the second one so get in early. Allow a few minutes for loading too.
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Still no links on No.2 site, only for Prem games. That site has a ‘healthy’ Forum as long as you avoid some of the rude comments. The Wulfies are on both sites so those who can’t afford to go should be OK.
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Cyril..I only have a laptop with one those internet sticks in. No sure if it can cope. What do you recommend? The second option gave numerous applications to download, but I´m a bit of a dunce with these things. This is the nearest I can get to seeing my beloved team when not shown live on the goggle box over here.
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Hi Cyril
I thought it was strange to see championship matches on those site, unless Sky are covering them of course
After spending 10 minutes filling out the forms to unlock the stream, only to find it wasn’t there in the first place. In fact non of the championship matches are
Just hope a heavy defeat for the Wolves makes up for it, with WM on in the background
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Hi Broseley. I had the same experience except I took 40 minutes filling in the ONE minute survey. What a disgraceful con trick! They didn’t have any Championship games so they added a link to these surveys. Never, ever seen anything like that before and I’ve used both sites on many occasions. I did manage to get one insult away to the perpetrators and I shall try again today to fire a broadside of bile. The four Prem matches were there on both sites and at least out Wulfie friends got a look in. The ‘footydoctor’ dispensed bad medicine Kimusabi.
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Yeah, a bit dissapointed not to see the stream in the end, even after putting false name and address’s all the way through !!
Why only pick the championship match’s? They would have attracted the smaller audience anyway. We have always been able to rely on that site for the football.
Looks like the footy doctor may need some major surgery, any suggestions ???
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Might I suggest castration with a rusty razor blade ?
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