Daniel Feliciano

Sun 26 March 2023 17:40, UK

West Brom have had two first-team players named in the best England XI from Championship players after Gareth Southgate’s recent comments.

The England manager was disappointed that he only has four left-footed English left-backs to choose from in the top flight and admitted that he would have to start looking at the Championship and elsewhere for potential options for his squad.

That led the Daily Mail and data firm Delphlyx to link up and find the best statistical English team from the second division, and that saw both John Swift and Grady Diangana included.

Swift was named in midfield due to his ability to get up and down the pitch as well as being “one of the most dangerous players in the Championship”.

Diangana on the other hand would be fielded on the left-wing, where his dribbling and work-rate stood out moreso than anything else.

Quality

While the season we’ve had down in the second tier has been far from good enough for the most part, it can’t be ignored that we definitely do have quality in our squad.

Swift has been very good since joining on a free transfer from Reading last summer, and Diangana has shown his quality in flashes since joining from West Ham in 2020.

But if these players were able to perform to their best on a more regular basis, then the reality is that they wouldn’t be playing at West Brom or in the Championship.

With five points separating the Baggies from the playoff spots with just nine games to play, it seems unlikely that we’ll be playing Premier League football next season.

Diangana won’t be able to help the push as he is out injured, but if Swift can turn it on for the final stretch then it can’t be ruled out that we close that gap.

Once you’re then in the playoffs, anything can happen, and we should be allowed to dream after such a torrid few years.

In other West Brom news, one international star labelled this Baggies star as a “Tank” while away on duty with their nation.