West Brom v Sheffield Wednesday - Match preview
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Baggies fans, good morning from a very blustery Albion training ground. I am in my car today
00:08as you can see. Basically because I've wimped out, I misjudged the weather today and I forgot
00:14the big coat and it's a lot more cold than I thought really. So rather than stand by
00:20the old sign that is usually in the background of my videos shivering and shaking the camera
00:27more than I already do, I'm in the driver's seat for this one. So yeah, we've just spoken
00:32with Tony Mulgrave this Friday morning before tomorrow's return to the Hawthorns and a clash
00:37with Sheffield Wednesday. Obviously, as you might expect, the presser was dominated by
00:43a deadline day reaction chatter. And of course, the moves that Albion did, the statement one
00:50goes about saying Adam Armstrong some 14 hours plus after the deadline finally confirmed
00:55on early on Tuesday afternoon. Tony Mulgrave is absolutely thrilled, as you would imagine,
01:01to be reunited with the 27-year-old striker again for the third club they'll be working
01:07together. Look, I mean, Tony didn't say it, but he's guaranteed goals almost, isn't he,
01:12Adam Armstrong? And what a difference he will make. And I do expect him to make his debut
01:18tomorrow. I mean, we didn't have that confirmed, but Tony Mulgrave just said there he came
01:22in on Thursday, yesterday for his first day's training. The players were off on Wednesday
01:28and Tony said he looks sharp, he looks ready, you know, as you would expect, he's played
01:33a lot of football for parent club Southampton and a lot of reaction from the head coach
01:37on that deal on the signing of Tama Banny and also obviously Alex Palmer's departure,
01:44which brought about a lone recall for Josh Griffiths, didn't it? So there's a lot to
01:47get through, lots to chew over. It'll all be on our website, Sharpish, as soon as I
01:52can tap it out. Just, yeah, there's a good mood about the place, certainly within the
01:58head coach. The club really worked hard to make that one happen. Tony Mulgrave had a
02:05helpful relationship. His brother actually works in the recruitment, I think he's head
02:09of recruitment at Southampton, so a little bit of a helpful link there. Look, I think
02:14it's no secret Adam Armstrong had a lot of offers, a lot of options and chose the Hawthorns,
02:20I think, in large part due to Tony Mowbray being the head coach. He's been a prolific
02:26scorer for Mowbray, hasn't he, at Coventry as a young kid and then more recently at Blackburn
02:32and Albion fans know all about him from last season's play-offs, certainly, and just general
02:39time in the Championship of late. So, yeah, really exciting capture. As I say, I do expect
02:43him to be involved. Tamir Bani, the new attacking midfielder from Denmark, will not be involved.
02:49He's checked in this morning, actually, he entered the training ground and had his first
02:52conversation with the head coach just before the presser, so finally in the building. But
02:58it was the end of the Danish season, basically, over there in Scandinavia and he's sort of
03:02at pre-season stage, so Bani will not play against Sheffield Wednesday tomorrow. He'll
03:07be in the stadium, he'll watch, he'll do likewise at home to Blackburn on Wednesday night and
03:12maybe he'll be ready, not down at Millwall next weekend, but probably for a place on
03:16the bench. He's just got to build that up. So that's that, really. Tony Mowbray was very
03:22coy and obviously wouldn't tell us why would he. It's a surprise and to keep the opposition
03:28guessing tomorrow, but very coy about who's going to be his number one. Is it going to
03:33be Josh Griffiths, recalled from Bristol Rovers? Is it going to be Joe Wildsmith, number two
03:37so far behind Palmer this season? I think we, and when I say we, I suppose I mean me,
03:43we're all quite certain I thought that it was going to be Griffiths, really, given his
03:47reputation at the club, given the season he's had so far. But Tony Mowbray certainly talked
03:52up Joe Wildsmith's prospects. So yeah, we'll leave that one to be guessed, really, for
03:59the surprise at, what time will it be? 11.30 tomorrow morning for the early lunchtime kick-off.
04:04It remains to be seen and it'll be a very interesting call, I think, and whoever is
04:08given the shirt tomorrow will have their opportunities to grasp it and we'll see. So yeah, beyond
04:14that, what was there? There was an illness in the camp, one player, an unnamed player,
04:18again to keep us guessing, is out of the game through illness, which remains to be seen.
04:25I think it'll be interesting to see how Mowbray goes tomorrow with the players that have come
04:30in through the door. Will he try and mix it up just to keep Sheffield Wednesday guessing
04:35or how will he go? A couple of, you know, Molumbi's impact from the bench in the defeat
04:39of Plymouth last week obviously got his goal. I think Isaac Price has looked good from the
04:43bench. So players pushing. Karl Bartley is back around it. He was an unused sub last
04:48week but he's fit enough to go should he be deemed worthy for a recall. In the back line
04:53you've got DK closing in, under-21s games coming up. I would expect, well, he will be
04:58involved for the 21s before he's ready to make his return. Josh Madgen not ready yet
05:03but a line on Shemi Ajayi, actually the defender, in a bit of a similar place to DK. He'll be
05:08featuring for the under-21s at some point, possibly even Monday night. They play at their
05:14home pitch of Soliel Moores on Monday night, I think against Newcastle. I will be there
05:18that evening for coverage. So great boost to have Shemi back. But yeah, so in a couple
05:23of weeks the likes of those could be, you know, ready for first team contention as the
05:28new players get up to speed as well. But the good news is Adam Armstrong is ready. He's
05:31razor sharp, Tony said. So a real positive there. And yeah, hopefully we'll see him make
05:37his debut tomorrow. Hopefully it's a scoring debut. We shall see. And hopefully Albion's
05:41sort of number nine goal-scoring finishing woes this season are behind them now. And
05:47Armstrong will hopefully play a big part in the top six push. I'll be there at the game,
05:52as will my colleague Johnny. And we'll bring you all the coverage from the Hawthorns tomorrow
05:55in the usual manner. So yeah, stay tuned, expressionstar.com.