West Brom’s needs from the January window

A look ahead to January for the Baggies.

Transcript

00:00Charlie, looking at West Bromwich Albion and their season so far, obviously we've mentioned

00:05Josh Madgers being probably the standout player for them. You know, approaching January now

00:10and the window is so important sometimes midway through the season that you do actually get

00:16players who can actually push you over the line, especially in a sort of play-off chase

00:22for Carlos Corberán's side. So just how important is this January window for West Brom? Is there

00:28any sort of area that they might need to improve on, whether it's clear or someone they might

00:35just go to add to the squad depth? How do you sort of think they're going to approach

00:39this January upcoming window and how important is it for Carlos Corberán's side?

00:45I think it is important that they do address a few areas in the squads, but they don't

00:49have the money and the resources really to do it properly, which is the worry, and that

00:53has been the case for quite a few transfer windows successively now. The loan situation

00:58is getting better under the new ownership. They're doing a great job to try and resolve

01:02that, but it's not an overnight fix. It's going to take several years for things to

01:05get back to normal. A promotion would certainly help. The influx of cash would be absolutely

01:10huge for the club. That isn't on the horizon just yet. Just struggling to stay in the play-off

01:14race and not winning games, drawing far too many, not scoring enough goals. They need

01:19to address those issues. You can do that in January, but not having many funds, it

01:23makes it easier said than done. In terms of the areas they maybe need, the wing position,

01:28the left wing position in particular, they've been struggling in. The number 10 role, they

01:32can't seem to find who's best in that position. Karl-Heinz Grant has come central at times

01:36and that's worked out, but when John Swift's come into the team, Jed Wallace, Grady Deangana,

01:42the likes haven't quite been hitting their best form, which has not helped West Brom

01:47and their goal-scoring woes. Lewis Dobbin on loan from Aston Villa, you thought, could

01:51he make an impact? He's not had the desired impact. Micah Johnston signed permanently

01:56for £3 million. An assist, a very impressive assist he's got this season, but apart from

02:01that, hasn't really had any sort of contribution in matches and he's been disappointing. What

02:06we saw from him last year on loan from Celtic, he looked like he could be a very key player

02:11for the Baggies, but he just hasn't quite hit the ground running. Another area they

02:14might start looking at as well is in defence, because of all the injury problems they've

02:18had. Semih Ajayi will be out until around March with a hamstring problem. Paddy McNair,

02:24only signed on loan for a few months, is probably out until the end of his loan, also with a

02:28hamstring injury. Kyle Bartley has been holding lots of different problems as well. He can't

02:34seem to maintain full fitness. He's been a very key player. He's got that experience

02:38to try and carry West Brom through, but if they can't keep him fit, that's going to become

02:42a problem. Torbjörn Häggum, the new signing, has been very impressive, very versatile,

02:46very useful, but they definitely need someone else to bolster that defence because if you

02:50start running out of options, especially when the fissures start racking up, defence is

02:54one of the areas going to notice it most. So not much money to spend. If West Brom can

02:58find another defender, that could be important for them.