West Brom fans baffled by what happened to Tom Fellows last night – ‘Madness’, ‘Wild’
Tom Fellows being left on the bench for all but two minutes of England Under-21s’ 0-0 draw with Northern Ireland has left West Brom fans in disbelief.
Fellows, who has had an electrifying start to the new Championship season and currently leads the league for assists with three, came off the bench for Elliot Anderson in the 88th minute of the stalemate.
The 21-year-old Albion winger had been a late call-up into the squad following injury withdrawals [England Football, 30 August], and was named on the bench when England announced their starting side at Windsor Park on 6 September [X].
West Brom fans slam ‘wild’ Tom Fellows England Under-21s choice
Despite Fellows being a late addition into interim England Under-21s coach Ben Futcher’s squad, Baggies fans aplenty still believe he’d done more than enough to earn a starting place in the side.
One made the point that Fellows has played much more first-team football than some of the players who started the match, saying that not starting the 21-year-old ahead of such players was “madness”.
Other fans pointed to the sheer impact made by Fellows so far this season, highlighting Fellows’ assist record in the new Championship campaign and asking “why on earth” he wasn’t named in the starting XI.
That creativity – and England’s lack of it – was emphasised at full-time, with one Albion fan saying that by giving Fellows just two minutes of the 90, the Young Lions “obviously didn’t want to win the game.”
Further comments encouraged Futcher to “get him (Fellows) on” earlier in the match, with another Baggies supporter saying that the decision to leave the winger on the bench for so long was “wild”.
A drab 0-0 draw over a side they should have easily dispatched on paper does point to England lacking creativity, and that’s something Futcher will need to solve ahead of their next match against Austria.
With bundles of creativity on the bench in the form of Fellows, don’t be surprised if the Young Lions’ interim boss calls on the Albion winger right from the very start.
In other West Brom news, the Baggies are likely to be on high alert to see if they can seal a new free-agent transfer this month.
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