West Brom's Ben Garner: We got what we wanted from Plymouth draw

Tony Pulis's side drew 0-0 with League Two Plymouth Argyle in an uneventful pre-season friendly at Home Park.

James McClean missed a one-on-one and Jonas Olsson had a shot cleared off the line, but even though Albion didn't score, the coaching staff were pleased with the overall outcome.

"We got what we wanted, we came through with no injuries and good minutes under the belt," said Garner.

"There's work to be done, we look a little bit leggy but we've been training hard so we expect that at this stage.

"It's more a case of them being a little bit fatigued in games and final end product not being there.

"We've got two weeks to really sharpen up and get that right for the Premier League season."

Last season, Albion lacked a clinical edge going forward and based on this game, it's a problem that's yet to be fixed.

But Garner says it's not being ignored on the training pitch.

"That's something we work on on and ongoing basis," he said.

"They're a little bit leggy and that decision sometimes to take half a second to make sure of the end product wasn't quite there.

"It was good to see Matt Phillips being positive today, getting shots off on goal. He was unlucky with one left footed shot in particular.

"That's the area that we can really work on now over the next couple of weeks."

Some supporters grew disgruntled last season by Albion's lack of creativity in the final third.

Phillips has been bought to address that issue, but he's the only signing the Baggies have made so far.

Although Garner admits that it's a balancing act, he would like the club to add some more attacking talent before the window shuts.

"It's always about getting that balance between being solid defensively and being a threat in the attacking sense," he said.

"Ideally you'd like to strengthen the squad in that respect, and it's something that we will work on in training.

"We'll keep trying to help the players on that front without losing the solid base that we've got."

After playing many of the youngsters in early pre-season, Pulis put out an experienced starting line-up today, although he did bring teenagers Kane Wilson and Jonathan Leko on in the second half.

When Garner was asked if the starting line-up was the first choice team he said: "It will be game by game in the Premier League season.

"It will be a case of looking at the opposition and deciding what team's right for which game.

"There's two weeks for that to take shape now. There's opportunities for the younger players as well as experienced ones to stake their place over the next couple of weeks."

Albion are staying in Devon for the weekend and have a quick turn around for Monday night's game at Torquay United.

"They've done a cool down now, and we'll look after them in terms of recovery, in terms of the food and the bits and pieces," said Garner.

"We're going to get them in the sea Sunday morning, and do a recovery session.

"Then they'll have a bit of down time tomorrow afternoon and then we'll train to prepare for the game on Monday night.

"It's really now about getting the minutes in to make sure the recovery and the recuperation was there."

Elsewhere, senior players Rickie Lambert, Callum McManaman, Boaz Myhill, Sebastien Pocognoli and Cristian Gamboa all played for an Albion XI in a 1-0 win over Huddersfield.

Tahvon Campbell scored the goal.