Jonny Drury and Lewis Cox bring you part three of the Albion season review.
In the latest positional review they discuss the midfielders.
In the latest positional review they discuss the midfielders.
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00:00 Hello Baggies fans, welcome back to ExpressAndStart.com. My name is Jonny Drew, I'm here with the
00:11 latest end of season positional review on the Baggies and apologies for that lorry just
00:18 going down the Alphard Lane. It's just as rainy as yesterday. It's rainy, it's wet,
00:23 yeah, not as yesterday, yeah. And we're in the same position. So we're going to talk
00:28 about midfielders in this one. We'll talk central midfielders and we'll talk about that
00:32 central midfielder pairing, which I called at one stage the best central midfield pairing
00:37 in the championship of Alex Moet and Okai Yacushlu. Alex Moet, don't think his levels
00:43 ever dropped this season. Okai Yacushlu maybe did a little bit towards the end, but Coxsey,
00:48 they've been pretty consistent pair of them in the middle of the part of the season for
00:53 Albion. Excellent partnership and combination, aren't they? I think they dovetail each other
00:58 so well as a combination. Now, how will it be beyond, how will it move forward next season?
01:04 Will it? We don't know yet, I suppose. But for the season just gone, for what they brought
01:09 to each other's game and yes, you're right in saying in terms of Yacushlu, I'm a big
01:13 fan of his, but I did think it tailed. It seemed he had physical fitness issues in completing
01:19 games certainly, didn't it? But Moet really brought that to the table and that's why I
01:23 think Moet is probably second best performer for Albion this season, realistically. But
01:29 just in the engine room, I think Moet, for me, was sort of like the heartbeat of the
01:33 side. Yacushlu, ball retention, phenomenal really, the way he can keep hold of it. What
01:40 he lacked in some departments, so technically he was such a fine player to watch and keep
01:46 hold of the ball, isn't it? Moet, I think that sells in several departments, to be honest.
01:51 We hope we see him stick around here next season, but let's see. I think both of them
01:56 had a really good campaign. Moet, excellent by far, his most consistent time at Albion,
02:01 obviously, isn't it? Again, like Kipra, we spoke about before with the defenders, would
02:05 we have predicted that last year after Moet's in and out time at Middlesbrough? I mean,
02:11 again, it would have taken some knowing the lottery numbers for that one, wouldn't it?
02:15 But Okoy, yes, I think I can be very pleased with his campaign. A regular in the side,
02:21 played almost all of the league games, did well enough to be considered for a Turkey.
02:26 Provisional squad recall for the European Championship, that says a lot, doesn't it?
02:31 Obviously, we were talking about Verlang on a previous video about garnering interest
02:35 already. Yacushlu has from his homeland, I think that will be ongoing. But as a partnership,
02:40 I thought they were excellent. And let's say something else as well, they had to be good,
02:43 didn't they, I think? And that was potentially a bit of a problem. One for certainly Jason
02:50 Molumbi's injury. We didn't see him after New Year's Day. We saw him very few and far
02:57 between before the injury, let's be fair. It was strange, wasn't it, to not see Molumbi
03:06 as much as he did prior to the season, in some awards the previous season. And we thought
03:12 he might kick on and take another step. But obviously, his game is a certain way, isn't
03:17 it? Molumbi, energy, winning the ball back, pressing, all of that sort of thing. Albin
03:22 went a different way. Molumbi got injured halfway through the season. We didn't see
03:25 him again. Chaleba, barely see him, was he in the fan group? And obviously, it has been
03:31 released. I think that's a deal that didn't really work overall, did it, in terms of Chaleba
03:36 who said that. And a stopgap in Yann Mbappe, a sign later on, it was clearly just a stopgap
03:43 for numbers. So, you've got Schleuer and Moat, had to work as a pairing, had to play most
03:50 games, did, and credit to them.
03:52 We'll move on to the wingers now. There obviously is a few in there. Matt Phillips, Tom Fellows
03:59 and obviously Mikey Johnson are the main three. Matt Phillips, who has departed, and Jed Wallace
04:05 as well. Although, we could put him in the strikers, to be fair.
04:09 Oh, yeah. There's a lot of Jeep class of linemen as a winger or a striker.
04:14 We'll talk about those three wingers in this and then we'll talk about Jed maybe in the
04:17 strikers, because obviously that department is light. But Mikey Johnson, signing of the
04:22 season, Tom Fellows, young star of the season.
04:26 Great crew star, yeah.
04:27 And Matt Phillips, a bit of a heartbreaking final season, really.
04:31 Yeah, it was the stopped area, wasn't it? And overall, it was a stopped area. It took
04:38 hits, didn't it? It took hits. It took a long old Phillips absence. It took a... who was
04:45 the other player I was just thinking about then?
04:47 Samir Samiento went to January as well.
04:49 Yeah, Jeremy Samiento. We haven't mentioned John Swift, who isn't a winger obviously,
04:54 but played in the middle of the wingers as a tent. The Phillips absence, John Swift injured
05:00 and let's not forget, John Swift was Albin's best player for the first two months of the
05:04 season. Before that injury, top goal scorer, really relied on, looked like he was turning
05:09 off when his Albin created the in the end. He just didn't recover, did he? And Phillips,
05:16 fair enough, serious hamstring injury, surgery, came back April, didn't recover. I think if
05:21 we strip it back, take it back to the start of the season, Samiento coming in. I think
05:27 we thought he'd be a main man, didn't he? I think we all thought that. He was a key signing
05:33 last summer, one of very few signings. Obviously, there was only one permanent in Josh Madger
05:39 and then Samiento was one of two loads with Pippa. Then I think coming from Brighton,
05:43 we expected big things, didn't we? It didn't deliver overall and he was recalled in early
05:47 Jan. I don't think there were many tears shed overall. I think it's worth mentioning.
05:52 So, yes, a bit of a miss for Samiento, I would say. In terms of Di Angana, miss the start
05:58 of the season injured. We all kind of wondered, well, he's got African as well coming into
06:03 the halfway through the season. How is it going to be for Di Angana? Is he going to come to
06:08 light? Is he going to deliver on some promise that we haven't seen for a while? And I think
06:13 he did, didn't he? A lot of praise, I think, needed for Di Angana's season. And interestingly,
06:19 not as a winger, I think having taken on that number 10 mantle instead of Swift, sort of
06:25 redeveloped into a bit of a new player, didn't he, I think? Sumit Carlos said he could see
06:30 happening and it did come up trumps. I think in terms of an attacking outlet, productive
06:36 attacker, I would say, what, for the final two, three months of the season, Albin? Well,
06:41 no, Mikey Johnson aside, we should say. Albin's most consistent sort of attacking performer,
06:47 I think, along with Fellows as well. That became the prominent trio, didn't it? And
06:51 sort of Wallace lost his role, obviously Swift couldn't come back, Matt Phillips was out
06:57 injured. So it was an interesting, strange old campaign for the collection of wingers,
07:03 attackers, for mostly those three behind the striker, wasn't it? And you could chuck in
07:07 Andy Ryman into it, really. He kind of came in Jan and he's a bit of a forward that's
07:12 not really a striker, didn't really see much action beyond the promising start, did he?
07:17 So, yeah, we'll get on to Wallace. Very interesting in his regard, having really lost his place
07:23 as a winger that we all know. We spoke about, we praised Dean Gardiner there. I think we
07:29 need to do the same for Tom Fellows, don't we? Because this time last year, doing these
07:33 videos, we certainly wouldn't have mentioned Tom Fellows, would we? And now, I mean, now
07:39 as we stand and speak, he's the one out of that whole squad that you would most balk
07:44 at a transfer bid for. He's the one right at the top of the list that you wouldn't want
07:50 or we can't lose Tom Fellows. And that's incredible, really. That's incredible. I remember his
07:56 league debut, certainly first league involvement of this season being the Blues away, defeat
08:01 on Friday night, the night Swift got injured. And then he just grew and then when it came
08:05 to Jan, after he'd had all of his cameos in the league, he finally got that start and
08:10 he just flew, didn't he? And he got that new long-term deal and he's a breakthrough standout
08:15 star. And Michael Johnson, what can you say? Absolute talent, absolute pleasure to watch
08:21 his own goal of the season, competition, wonderful, wonderful loan signing. Can he come here as
08:28 a permanent? I would say extremely unlikely, extremely unlikely, but it was a pleasure
08:33 and he really helped fire Albin over the line into the playoffs. Really a massive, massive
08:39 part in that. Couldn't quite make it happen down at the semi-finals, could they, as a
08:44 collective, which was a shame. An emotional farewell to Phillips, as you rightly said,
08:49 a bit of heartbreak there with his injury and not being able to get back. I think we've
08:52 said it, haven't we, releasing Phillips as the right call. I think we'd all agree on
08:57 that, sadly. And can he go and kick on somewhere? Hopefully, I'm sure he can. But some misses,
09:06 some hits, some unlikelies, some breakthroughs, some nowhere to be seen, lots of injuries.
09:12 Yes, an interesting season for all of the attackers.
09:15 Rollin' BSF.