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.

 

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October 2025

Five games this month for us to carry on our good form as the season really starts rolling. Hopefully the Leicester game was just a dip and we can crack on challenging near the top.

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

Regular service has resumed. Baah steps up with 2 early goals and a Mepham header from a corner sealed the points. Always great to pick up points on the road, especially with Diakite missing for a few games with injury.

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

Poor. We never got going and we really didn't look like we would get back into the match at all. Credit to Millwall for stunting our attack.

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

Now this one f***ed me off! Blunt attack and a poor back pass led to the goal as our defence played like they had never met each other before. This needs to improve and quickly.

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

Diakite, Wallace & Dike came in to try and spark a reaction, but unfortunately the power was off. 3 games with no goals and I am starting to worry. On top of that no goals for Aune Heggebo in 5 matches and the man with the golden touch has gone missing.

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

We are back on track with a hard fought win over a strong Ipswich side. Bany & Mepham come up trumps and helped at the end of the game when Cisse had to come on for Griffiths for the last 5 minutes. Hopefully just a small knock!

This shows how close the league is. We have dropped to 10th place, but there is only 4 points between us and 2nd place. Considering the middle of the month's performances I am more than happy to be so close.

POTM - I'm going to go with Mepham as he is popped up with 2 important goals, though still defensively suspect.

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November 2025

Last month was had 3 defeats bookended by 2 wins at the beginning and end of the month. We really need other players to step up with Aune Heggebo seemingly turning into Rufus Smalls.

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

This is getting silly. Beaten by a team who will no doubt be in League One next season and our keeper Griffiths apparently unable to catch any ball. Seb Ferdinand on loan from Arsenal tore us apart and is one I will be keeping an eye on.

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

Another side we expect to beat, and another defeat. I know deep down I should drop Heggebo but I just have the feeling once he gets going, he will be better than the alternatives.

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

Now this may cause a problem. Another loss, but Dike coming off the bench to score is really going to test my resolve. We need to win and win soon.

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

The chants are getting louder, and I can feel the knives coming for me. It's our first point of the month, but to be honest we were holding on for our lives as Coventry threw everything at us.

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

Heggebo is back! Yes we lost another game, but our star striker has finally found his scoring boots to get the first and last goals of the game. Strange to be happy in defeat, but maybe, just maybe we are about to turn a corner.

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

FINALLY! We wait until the end of the month to get our first win since the end of October. Though the goals were late in the game, Swansea really put up no threat and were lucky to be level until super sub Bany scored the first. Please lets make this a regular thing!

We have dropped to 14th and far away from the Play Offs compared to 6 games ago. The only Brightside is the win that gives us hope of pushing back up the table and not imitating the real life side's relegation battle.

POTM - NONE. The performances were poor and I refuse to give anyone credit after a terrible month.