West Brom facing gigantic revamping of squad says Joseph Masi
Express & Star journalist Joseph Masi has said West Brom need a big clearout in the summer if they are to fight at the top of the Championship next season.
The Baggies face a disappointing mid-table finish back in the second tier after Premier League relegation with Steve Bruce unable to reverse the slump in form which began under previous boss Valerien Ismael.
Masi believes the players are the main culprits for this and has backed Bruce to make the right adjustments in the summer to get Albion challenging for promotion next term.
“You look at our squad on paper and everyone thinks we have Premier League quality, we haven’t,” he said on the Baggies Broadcast podcast (27 April).
“We are technically atrocious… this is why Albion’s board believe Steve Bruce is the man to turn things around.
“He knows this squad needs a mass overhaul…it’s going to be big, it’s going to be bigger than people think.
“He is very very good at building squads, he’s done it before.”
Rethink needed
For one reason or another this season hasn’t gone according to plan at all for West Brom as they’ve slowly sunk further and further down the league standings.
A time will come to dwell on this season’s failure but for now, Albion need to start putting the right building blocks in place so a similar farce doesn’t happen next season.
Reshaping the playing squad to one which Bruce believes he can coach to success is a logical first step, as despite all his mockery the 61-year-old has previously demonstrated a knack for putting together Championship promotion-winning teams at Birmingham and Hull City.
The attack would seem the most logical place to start given the Baggies’ extreme profligacy in front of goal and the future of Andy Carroll at the club still uncertain, but the reality is new signings are needed in multiple positions to give a realistic shot at promotion a go next year.
The board seem to have placed their faith in Bruce to put together that team and it is now up to them to put their money where the mouth is and give him the necessary resources for this gargantuan task ahead.
In other West Brom news, the club have started putting together their plans for pre-season with a warm weather training camp on the agenda.
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