Posts Tagged ‘brunt’

Swansea West Brom team news

Luke Moore returns tonight for the trip to Swansea and is joined by Ben Watson and Abdoulaye Meite as new faces to the team compared to last Saturdays home victory over Blackpool.

Luke Moore has recovered from flu as we mentioned earlier today and will start up front on his own, Miller ends up on the bench as a recovered substitute after his first start Saturday for over 15 months.

Meite replaces the injured Steven Reid, Gabriel Tamas will move over to right back and Ben Watson replaces Morrison who drops to the bench. Gianni Zuiverloon makes the subs bench but there is no place for the injured Roman Bednar and Jerome Thomas.

SWANSEA (4-5-1): De Vries; Rangel, Tate, Williams, Monk; Dyer, van der Gun, Britton, Pratley, Gower; Kuqi. Subs: Cornell (gk), Richards, Cotterill, Pintado, Beattie, Bauza, Trundle.

ALBION (4-5-1): Carson; Tamas, Meite, Olsson, Cech; Koren, Watson, Mulumbu, Dorrans, Brunt; Moore. Subs: Kiely (gk), Morrison, Miller, Cox, Barnes, Mattock, Zuiverloon.
REFEREE: R East (Wiltshire).

Albion Blackpool teams, Miller starts

Ishmael Miller gets his first start in over 15 months this afternoon against the Tangerines.

Di Matteo makes 2 chamges to the winning midweek team. After a superb goal midweek it is no surprise that the other addition to the starting lineup is Robert Koren who replaces the injured Jerome Thomas.

Luke Moore is the man replaced by Miller, he is ill and not on the bench, however, a nearly fit again Bednar is on the bench.

Ian Holloway names an unchanged Tangerines side to the one that beat Ipswich 1-0 a week ago.

ALBION (4-5-1): Carson; S Reid, Tamas, Olsson, Cech; Koren, Morrison, Mulumbu, Dorrans, Brunt; Miller. Subs: Kiely (gk), Mattock, Bednar, Watson, Cox, Meite, Barnes.

BLACKPOOL (4-4-2): Gilks; Edwards, Baptiste, Eardley, Martin; Southern, Adam, Vaughan, Dobbie; Campbell, Euell. Subs: Rachubka (gk), Clarke, Burgess, Ormerod, Butler, Bannan, Husband.

REFEREE: J Moss (West Yorkshire).

West Brom Sheffield Wednesday Team news, Barnes on bench.

Lke Moore is back in the starting line up as two changes are made by Albion.

Graham Dorrans is the second returning player, with Ben Watson heading to the bench as well as the recovered Simon Cox.

Steven Reid keeps his place to make his home debut and Giles Barnes makes the bench too. He could well make his first senior appearance tonight. Joe Mattock drops off the bench for a total rest.

Ex Albion player Darren Purse is the team captain for the opposition tonight.

ALBION (4-5-1): Carson; S Reid, Tamas, Olsson, Cech; Brunt, Morrison, Mulumbu, Dorrans, Thomas; Moore. Subs: Kiely (gk), Meite, Koren, I Miller, Watson, Cox, Barnes.

SHEFFIELD WED (4-4-2): Grant; Spurr, Purse, Beevers, Nolan; Johnson, Potter, O’Connor, T Miller; Varney, Clarke. Subs: O’Donnell (gk), Hinds, McAllister, Jeffers, Simek, Soares, Gray.

REFEREE: S Mathieson (Cheshire).

Morrison, Reid, Mulumbu and Cox in Albion QPR starting lineup

Morrison makes his first start for over 10 months today at QPR. Albion boss Di Matteo makes 4 changes to the team that beat Derby Last week.

Steven Reid comes straight in after joining on loan mid week, he gets the right back position.

Youssouf Mulumbu and Simon Cox return to the team and Ben Watson plays against his old team mates.

Abdoulaye Meite, Robert Koren and Graham Dorrans, who all played 90 minutes for their respective countries in midweek, and Luke Moore are the guys that drop to the bench.

Ishmael Miller is among the substitutes but there is no place for Giles Barnes.

Ex-Baggies loan signing Jay Simpson starts in attack for Rangers.

QPR (4-4-2): Ikeme; Connolly, Stewart, Gorkss, Hill; Leigertwood, Taarabt, Ephraim, Faurlin; Priskin, Simpson. Subs: Cerny (gk), Ramage, Vine, Buzsaky, Balanta, Borrowdale, German.

ALBION (4-5-1): Carson; Reid, Tamas, Olsson, Cech; Brunt, Mulumbu, Morrison, Watson, Thomas; Cox. Subs: Kiely (gk), Koren, Dorrans, Meite, Mattock, Moore, Miller.

REFEREE: S Attwell (Warwickshire).

Cardiff West Brom team sheets

ROBERTO Di Matteo has been forced in to four changes tonight for the trip to Cardiff.

With 9 players unavailable, Roman Bednar is the newest casualty, a back injury the fault there. He makes the bench but is an unlikely participant.

Slory will hopefully get past the warm up tonight, make his full debut and join other new faces to the team sheet, namely, Gabriel Tamas, Frank Nouble and Luke Moore.

The benched Simon Cox, ends up on the bench.

Academy players Sam Mantom and Kayleden Brown, plus 19-year-old rookie midfielder Joss Labadie, are among the subs.

Cardiff are unchanged.

CARDIFF (4-4-2): Marshall, McNaughton, Gyepes, Gerrard, Kennedy, Burke, Rae, Wildig, Whittingham, Chopra, Bothroyd. Subs: Enckelman, Quinn, Taiwo, Blake, Feeney, Matthews, McCormack.

ALBION (4-5-1): Carson, Zuiverloon, Tamas, Olsson, Mattock, Slory, Koren, Dorrans, Brunt, Nouble, Moore. Subs: Kiely, Bednar, Cox, Brown, Wood, Mantom, Labadie.

Ref: A Woolmer (Northamptonshire).

Starting line up at Reading – Slory starts.

Simon Cox today returns to his home town club Reading where his career started, he joined the Royals aged nine and worked up through the ranks before making his League Cup debut at Luton in September 2005. He will be so happy that he has been handing a starting position.

Hopes are high with Baggies fans today, especially as the Albion have been quite successful in the FA Cup in recent years, reaching a Wembley semi final most recently.

Pointers for more success include the fact that Reading have not got passed this stage of the cup for 83 years.

Albion have the best away record in the country and are the championships highest scoring team.

The players want the cup run and are hungry for a trophy.

Reading on the other hand have beaten premiership opposition twice, both Liverpool and Burnley have fallen to reading.

Reading have won 4 of their last five games and beat Albion in the last FA Cup meeting between the 2 teams.

Andy Slory gets his full Albion debut, Roberto Di Matteo makes four changes to the victoriuos Scunthorpe team.

The Dutch winger gets the cup-tied Frank Nouble ‘s position.

Gianni Zuiverloon and Abdoulaye Meite come in, with Gonzalo Jara pushed into central midfield and Gabriel Tamas rested.

Youssouf Mulumbu and Robert Koren also meet the bench as Simon Cox comes in to the team.

Youth Sam Mantom, just 18 next Saturday, is handed an early birthday present as he is named among the subs.

Reading (4-5-1): Federici, Griffin, Ingimarsson, Mills, Bertrand, McAnuff, Howard, Karacan, Gunnarson, Kebe, Long. Subs: Hamer, Tabb, Henry, Church, Robson-Kanu, Rasiak, Pearce.

Albion (4-5-1): Carson, Zuiverloon, Meite, Olsson, Mattock, Brunt, Cox, Jara, Dorrans, Slory, Bednar. Subs: Kiely, Koren, Moore, Wood, Tamas, Mulumbu, Mantom.

Ref: C Foy (Merseyside).

Nouble Starts and there are 3 more changes tonight

Fresh kid on the block, short term loan signing Frank Nouble is given his Albion debut as Roberto Di Matteo makes a total of 4 team changes tonight. Obviously Jerome Thomas was out, but the other three are chosen.

The West Ham forward Nouble replaces the suspended Jerome Thomas on the left wing as we suggested earlier today, however, Slory still gets no better than the bench.

Gonzalo Jara, Jonas Olsson and Robert Koren are all recalled after being rested at Plymouth, the benched three who they replace are Gianni Zuiverloon, Abdoulaye Meite and Simon Cox.

ALBION (4-5-1): Carson; Jara, Tamas, Olsson, Mattock; Brunt, Koren, Mulumbu, Dorrans, Nouble; Bednar. Subs: Kiely (gk), Cox, Moore, Meite, Zuiverloon, Thorne, Slory.

SCUNTHORPE (4-4-2): Murphy; Byrne, Mirfin, Jones, Sparrow; Togwell, O’Connor, Moloney, McDermott; Wright, Hooper. Subs not used: Lillis (gk), McCann, Hayes, Forte, Woolford, Morris, Raynes.

REFEREE: K Wright (Cambridgeshire).

Plymouth Albion team sheet

Di Matteo names 4 new faces on the team sheet, the first change for 6 games.

Abdoulaye Meite replaces Jonas Olsson to join Gabriel Tamas in the Baggies defence.

Gonzalo Jara joins Olsson as a sub and Gianni Zuiverloon is recalled at right back.

Marek Cech is replaced by Joe Mattock at left-back.

Simon Cox replaces Robert Koren, who becomes a sub.

17 year old youth team midfielder George Thorne is on the bench.

PLYMOUTH (4-4-2): Stockdale; Duguid, Arnason, R Johnson, Sawyer; Clark, Fletcher, D Johnson, Judge; Mackie, Fallon. Subs: Larrieu (gk), Wright-Phillips, Barker, McNamee, Noone, Summerfield, Cooper.

ALBION (4-5-1): Carson; Zuiverloon, Tamas, Meite, Mattock; Brunt, Cox, Mulumbu, Dorrans, Thomas; Bednar. Subs: Kiely (gk), Jara, Olsson, Koren, Moore, Slory, Thorne.

REFEREE: S Tanner (Somerset).

Di Matteo explains last night substitutions at Blackpool

Because of the fact that the Albion have to play 3 games in 7 days Roberto Di Matteo made the substitutions that he did last night. The latter stages of a game where a player becomes tired are prone for picking up injuries.

Bednar, Thomas and Brunt all made it in for an early bath with at least 15 minutes to go and were replaced by Miller, Zuiverloon and new boy Slory. This turned out worse than expected when Miller picked up an injury as well as a penalty and hurt his ankle. Marek Cech also finished the game with a hamstring worry.

Speaking to the official club site Roberto Di Matteo explained last nights substitutions at Bloomfield road with the following comments:

“You think about the fact we’ve got three games in six days and fortunately I have players on the bench who can make an impact on the game,” said Di Matteo.

“It’s a shame he missed because it could have been a nice debut for him.”

Freak kick and excershot win Baggies the points

The Baggies walked away from todays game at Leicester with all three points, the 3 points were literally won in the first half by a freakishly lucky freekick and such a powerful shot that it appeared to head for goal in a similar way that a missile heads for its target.

Jara’s goal, Albions 2nd made him the 15th different Albion scorer this season, it was a scorching shot from all of 3o yards after he had burst through from his own half. The shot powered through many bodies avoiding all obstacles and hit the back of the net with much velocity.

Albion never looked anything other than the victors in the first thirty minutes with the majority of the possession, two superb chances falling to Luke Moore, whom true to his self could not convert them. Moores first chance came when Dorrans set him free with a through ball and he burst off from Wayne Brown only to hesitate, leaving Brown the Foxes left back chance to get back and block Moores weak effort.

On 18 minutes Moore had an even more clear cut chance when Brunt fired a long high ball down the line that reached Zuiverloons feet who managed to fight for some space before pulling the ball back for Moore. Moore chose to put his shot too close to the Leicester keeper and another chance went begging.

These misses and Albion not taking the advantage despite their golden 30 minutes spurred the Foxes on to fight their way back in to the game, however, they were stunned by 2 great goals in the final 9 minutes of the half.

A Mathew Oakley foul on Jerome Thomas allowed for Dorrans to hit a weird and freakish free kick from 20 yards that weaved its way through the mass of players just resting in the net as it finished its momentum! Certainly will not be the best free kick that the Scottish youngster ever takes, but it sure counted for a goal.

Just 4 minutes Later Jara pops up to hit the second and seemingly kill off the game before the halfway point.

Leicester should have been level within a minute of the restart, as Matty Fryatt beat Jonas Olsson and Jara to cross for  Paul Gallagher, who missed a very easy chance from all of 6 feet. Before the hour mark both Brunt and Thomas came close to wrap the game up but both missed their golden opportunities. Moore missed another chance with 9 minutes left too.

As the game went in to its death the Foxes piled on the pressure and showed why they are so high up the table, forcing the Albion into a very deep and defensive position. With 5 minutes shown on the fourth officials board they fought desperately and managed to get 1 goal back when Gallagher had a free kick that Carson could not hold on too, allowing Berner to knock in the rebound. Albion defended really well, however, and deservedly kept the ball out of the net for a second time allowing them to keep up the pressure on top placed Newcastle whom also won.

Sol, Roman, Chris and Jonas

All 4 currently subject to discussion for various reasons:

Sol Campbell has been told that for a release from Notts County he must sign a 5 year gagging order! Now i would like to know, what is so secret now that will be without issue in 5 years? There must be some real dark secrets in Nottingham, just what are they up to?

Roman Bednar is in the news as he is hoped to be returning this coming Saturday for the Watford tie, he is certainly a requirement if the Albion are to make anything of this season and not lose the great head start that they have forged thus far. No criticism is due to young Woods and even Cox, however, Luke Moore has been the brunt of some fans frustration and one can only agree with the sentiment when he is still not producing. Talking of Brunt, Chris is also hoped to be available as fit this coming Saturday too!

Jonas suffered at Coventry from a few irate fans at the end of the game, now fans will get irate and take their frustrations out on players, this will always happen. Olsson was probably not the fairest of targets, however, he was the chosen one on Saturday. Now when a player is paid so much money and has a responsibility to set a decent example to both players and fans of the younger generation, reacting as he did when fans chose to subject him to abuse was very poor and unprofessional.

Jara not coming home early to boost injury hit Albion

A glimmer of hope wash dashed when the Chilean FA refused to release banned Gonzalo Jara early from his international commitments. Jara was banned Saturday and as Chile have nothing to play for it seemed that there was every reason to allow him to return home early, however, Chile have refused and he will not return until Friday now. This leaves very little time to get over the travelling and be fit and in the mindset to play Saturdays clash against Reading.

With Dorrans returning from international duty for Scotland with a bruised foot and facing a fight to be fit for Saturday, Di Matteo is beginning to get a bit of a selection nightmare.

Luke Moore is doubtful with a knee injury and Chris Brunt is out for the next 3 games at least suffering with a calf strain. This is all adding up when you consider that Ishmael Miller is out til January at the earliest with a long term knee injury and James Morrisson is also on the long term injured list suffering with a heel injury.