Steve Bruce believes his centre-back options at West Brom are good enough
West Brom manager Steve Bruce has told the Express & Star he is adamant that his current centre-back options are good enough for this season.
Albion currently have Dara O’Shea, Semi Ajayi and Kyle Bartley fit ahead of their season opener against Middlesbrough on Saturday (30 July), with Kean Bryan recovering from a long-term injury.
There had been calls for Bruce to bring in another centre-half, but in an interview with the Express & Star, he insisted that his current offerings are more than good enough.
“We were so imbalanced there last year because we had six centre-backs,” he said.
“We think we’ve got more than enough to cope. We think the loan was more important for Caleb Taylor’s development, that’s more important.”
Despite having so few defenders, Bruce sanctioned loan departures for both Taylor and Cedric Kipre, who went to Cheltenham and Cardiff respectively.
Don’t know about that one
Bruce’s comments are slightly confusing as it just seems obvious that Albion need another centre-back in right now.
Bryan is “still a little bit away” according to Bruce, so if another centre-back gets injured in the first few games of the season they are in trouble.
He outlined his belief that midfielders Jake Livermore and Okay Yokuslu can slot in if needed, but the point is that they should not have to.
Of course, having six players vying for two places is excessive, but only having three creates the exact opposite issue.
Not only does it put them one knock away from an injury crisis, it locks them out of playing three defenders as they did at points last season.
Even if it was ineffective, it is still important for any team to remain as versatile as possible and be able to switch the system when needed.
It is to be hoped that he will wrap all of Albion’s defenders up in cotton wool until Bryan returns.
In other West Brom news, they have been told to bring Elliot Anderson in from Newcastle.