Concern over Baggies’ failure to plug the gaps
HAD Albion reeled off win after win in pre-season it might have papered over the cracks and concealed the fact the squad requires a facelift.
As it is, Albion’s frailties and desperate need for revitalisation could not be any more acute.
What is perhaps most frustrating is that the problems are all too familiar.
They have existed for some time, but have still not been addressed.
Tony Pulis still doesn’t have a specialist left-back and has forced the role on youngsters Sam Field, a holding midfielder, and Kane Wilson, who predominantly plays at rightback.
There is still no cover Dawson at right-back.
Dawson has barely match under Pulis.
But he is bound to pick up an injury sooner or later that will rule him out for a prolonged period of time.
The arrival of Matt Phillips – Albion’s one and only signing of the summer – and the emergence of Jonathan Leko means Albion do have options out wide when added to James McClean and Callum McManaman.
But doubts remain as to whether McClean and, in particular McManaman, can cut it week in, week out in the Premier League.
Another winger, able to play on either flank, would certainly not go amiss.
Given Pulis places such emphasis on width and delivering crosses into the box, the end product from Albion’s wide men was poor last season and has to improve.
In the middle of the park there are no real alternatives to Darren Fletcher and Claudio Yacob.
There really ought to have been a concerted effort to sign Alex Song from Barcelona before he moved to Rubin Kazan.
If not Song, another ball winner who has a physical presence, is composed and accurate in possession and can get around the pitch.
Like Dawson, Fletcher for Craig missed a started each and every match last term.
But the Scot, 33 next February, will do well to maintain his astonishing availability rate.
Yacob is a fan’s favourite, rightly so.
Never does he give anything less than 110 per cent.
But maybe Albion need more than someone who simply puts a foot in.
Craig Gardner can play centrally, but the midfielder is approaching the twilight of his career and no longer able, it seems, to influence a game for 90 minutes.
Furthermore, Pulis prefers to use him out wide.
Field looks a great prospect, but the 18-year-old cannot be expected to step up to the plate on a regular basis and in such a crucial position.
There’s also James Morrison, but to play him in the heart of a flat midfield four would be to waste his creativity.
And so to the biggest bone contention – the forward line.
No department is in greater need of refurbishment. The stats don’t lie. Burnley’s Andre Gray has scored more pre-season goals than West Brom have as a team.
Even if Saido Berahino stays, Albion still need another striker to replace Victor Anichebe who was released in May.
But all the signs point to an exit for Berahino, but only once a striker has been brought in.
The big clubs will be looking to offload senior professionals deemed surplus to requirements and shift younger players out on loan.
Albion should be ready to pounce on the likes of Wilfried Bony, Loic Remy, Christian Benteke, Theo Walcott, James Wilson and Patrick Bamford.
There’s still so much work to be done on the recruitment side in a short space of time.
There’s genuine alarm among fans, while the clock’s ticks get louder. Premier League and of