WBA - BAGGIES TROUSERS 2.0

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8 years ago I took West Bromwich Albion from the Championship to the Premier League without taking the story any further. This time round, I am determined to take this team as far as possible; though the challenge itself looks much harder than before.

Lets get going!

 

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The Squad

Last time round I had talent everywhere I looked to get out of the division, with such names as Sam Johnstone, Allan Nyom, Gareth Barry, Matt Phillips & Jay Rodriguez. Now it's a new team which has severely underperformed in the real life, this needs to change, and quickly.

Goalkeepers

Josh Griffiths is the clear starting number one keeper as Max O'Leary is out for 8 months. In an ideal world, Ben Cisse would go out on loan and cheap back up signed for the bench but I am comfortable with him being back up for the mean time.

Defenders

We have nice depth and experience at centre back with Phillips & Mepham my starting pair. My best full backs are in on loan and this will have to be rectified either this season or the next.

Midfielders

A good core of central midfielders will allow us to rotate when needed, but I am worried about the lack of depth on the wings. Hopefully Johnston can step up and perform so that we can let Jed Wallace leave at the end of his contract.

Strikers

The strongest area of my squad. I will only be playing with one striker, but having good options to change the type of play will come in handy. The only worry is that both Dike & Maja have contracts expiring at the end of the season and are on sizeable wages, we could be losing them both at some point in the season.

Formation
I will be using a 4-2-3-1 formation, looking at utilising wing play as my 2 best strikers are extremely good aerially.

Potential Sale
Karlan Grant - One of the few players that is potentially able to bring in a fee and can be replaced.

Targets For The Season
Sky Bet Championship - Better the real life West Brom team! My hope is to be top half of the division, and maybe try and sneak into the play offs if possible.
FA Cup - 4th round, I hate going out of the FA Cup too early so at least getting through one round will keep me and the board happy.
Carabao Cup - No targets for this, I don't believe we are good enough to win the competition and would rather focus the team elsewhere.

 

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July/August 2025

We fly through pre season with 3 wins, a draw and a loss as we focus on fitness. My only worry is Heggebo only scoring once during the 5 matches, not great form going into the beginning of the season but here we go!

In other news, Karlan Grant leaves for £3m as we try to improve the squad.

Starting XI - Griffiths, Imray, Taylor, Phillips, Mepham, Diakite, Molumby, Wallace, Price, Styles, Heggebo
Subbed On - Gilchrist, Bielik, Mowatt, Johnston, Maja

A great start after 2 minutes sees Heggebo nod us ahead from inside the box, unfortunately we are unable to hold on a come away with a point in our first game.

Starting XI - Griffiths, Imray, Taylor, Phillips, Mepham, Diakite, Molumby, Wallace, Price, Styles, Heggebo
Subbed On - Bielik, Mowatt, Johnston, Bany, Dike

Mixed emotions. I never like to lose, especially so early in the season, but I really am not fussed about the cup at all. Heggebo makes it 2 from 2, no complaints there.

Signing - Kwadwo Baah joins on loan from Watford to improve out presence on the wings. There is an optional fee of £11.25m, but I doubt we'll be exercising that. It has been a struggle to sign players that will have an impact on the starting 11, and we have loads of back ups so it could be a quieter transfer window than I thought.

Starting XI - Griffiths, Imray, Styles, Phillips, Mepham, Diakite, Molumby, Baah, Price, Johnston, Heggebo
Subbed On - Gilchrist, Bielik, Mowatt, Taylor, Wallace

Heggebo at the double! Our striker continues his early season form and we also keep a welcome clean sheet. The changes to the side seemed to make us more attacking which is welcome.

Starting XI - Griffiths, Imray, Styles, Phillips, Mepham, Diakite, Molumby, Baah, Price, Johnston, Heggebo
Subbed On - Gilchrist, Taylor, Wallace, Dike, Maja

Aune, Aune, Aune! Oi, Oi, Oi! Heggebo strikes again to give us a slender win against Pompey. Another clean sheet and even though I would prefer more goals, points win prizes!

Starting XI - Griffiths, Imray, Styles, Phillips, Mepham, Diakite, Molumby, Baah, Price, Johnston, Heggebo
Subbed On - Gilchrist, Taylor, Wallace, Bany, Maja

A good nil nil draw away at Stoke completes our first month. a 3rd clean sheet in a row is assuring me that we can play attacking and our defence can handle anything being thrown at them.

After 4 games we sit in the Play Off spots, which is where I would like to finish the season. Though very early in the campaign, I would love to be finish in these spots and with a free scoring striker up top that might well be possible!

POTM - Has to be Aune Heggebo. Our top(and only) goalscorer with 5 goals from 5 games has had a real impact since his £4.8m move from Brann in the summer, lets hope he can keep this up!

 

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September 2025

We have only 3 games this month due to the international window which will help with fitness, but there are no easy games as we take on Derby, Middlesbrough and Leicester.

Starting XI - Griffiths, Imray, Styles, Phillips, Mepham, Diakite, Molumby, Baah, Price, Johnston, Heggebo
Subbed On - Gilchrist, Taylor, Bielik, Mowatt, Wallace

You wait until the 6th game for a scorer other than Heggebo to hit the net, then 3 come along at the same time. A decent win, and of course Heggebo hits in the 2nd half to continue his good form.

Starting XI - Griffiths, Imray, Styles, Phillips, Mepham, Diakite, Molumby, Baah, Price, Johnston, Heggebo
Subbed On - Campbell, Taylor, Mowatt, Wallace, Maja

Two straight 4-2 wins and again the goals have been shared about between the players. Heggebo scores AGAIN! No clean sheet again, but as I'm probably saving on clean sheet bonuses I won't complain too much. Johnston picks up a slight knock but should be available for the next game.

Starting XI - Griffiths, Imray, Styles, Phillips, Mepham, Diakite, Molumby, Baah, Bany, Johnston, Heggebo
Subbed On - Gilchrist, Taylor, Mowatt, Wallace, Maja

Our good form and Heggebo's scoring run finally come to and end with a late own goal. Tammer Bany had a good game coming in for the tired Price, and overall I won't complain with this being arguably one of the harder games on paper.

Despite the loss to Leicester, we find ourselves in the top 3 and way ahead of where I anticipated we would be at any point of the season. I don't expect this to carry on for the whole season, but I will enjoy it whilst it lasts.

POTM - I will give this to Isaac Price, with 2 goals from his two games he has really stepped up to help out Aune up top.