Plymouth v West Brom - Lewis Cox preview
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00:00Tony Mulberry has just spoke with the press ahead of Saturday lunchtime's early kick-off
00:05down in Devon at Home Park as Albion tackle Plymouth Hargaville. There'll be a few baggies,
00:10I mean including staff, players, reporters like ourselves and certainly fans heading
00:15down on Friday, won't there, and the stopover before the early kick-off at Home Park. Thanks
00:20to Sky and all involved with that, obviously, thinking of the baggies faithful and the stupid
00:26Some of the team supporters, coaches will have to be setting off down there, isn't it?
00:30But yeah, great to speak with Tony Mulberry, as ever, here today at the training ground.
00:35Bit to get through, really. I mean, I'll be writing it up ASAP for the Expressing Style
00:39website, but just a flavour here. I'll start with a bit of team news. Positive, really.
00:44Kyle Bartley is back and fine. Had a little muscle injury, but trained this week. Will
00:49be in contention for Plymouth. He'll travel down there. I don't think he'll start is the
00:53impression I get. I don't think there's a need. At some point, he'll be integrated back in.
00:58What else have we got? Jason Mulumby's fine again after illness. Grady Deangana's fine,
01:02sort of hobbled off, didn't he, but it was precaution. He's OK. Bit of news on Shemmy
01:07Ojoie, actually. He's been out since October, a long, long time with a hamstring problem,
01:11but he's a little bit, a few weeks ahead of kind of originally build, I think. In a couple
01:20weeks, two or three weeks, he'll be back in and around training and not long after
01:24that, hopefully contention. So, a bit of a forgotten man is Ojoie as a centre-back option,
01:28but obviously, he'll be in and around it. Certainly, we've had the news, haven't we,
01:32that Caleb Taylor's gone back out to Wickham in Ligue 1 to sort of resume his loan and
01:37Shemmy will come back in to be an option at some point. Josh Madger, on the striker front,
01:43Josh Madger's still, what, four or five weeks away from really being back in and around
01:48the top striker, the top scorer, sorry, but Daryl Dike is one we've had a bit of another
01:53update on. There's always the Daryl Dike update, isn't there, as we know, but Tony said, Dike's
02:00been in training for the best part of a week now and the medical staff are just managing
02:03his load. Once he's done a certain amount of sessions or drills, they'll bring him out
02:08and Tony had a laugh when he said to us that he had a chat with Daryl Dike and he said,
02:13yeah, I'm ready to go a week Saturday at home to Sheffield Wednesday and I'm pretty
02:17sure Mowbray's impression of it and certainly the medical staff's impression of it is that's
02:21a little bit early, Daryl. He's really champing at the bit to get out there as the US international.
02:26I just think that week, this is from next weekend, there's Sheffield Wednesday at home
02:31at the Hawthorns and then there's an under-21s game that Monday night over in Solihull and
02:36then Albion also play at home on the Wednesday night against Blackburn and then there's a
02:41home game, there's a game, sorry, the weekend after that and then there's another under-21s
02:46game on the Monday. So it just feels to me like that period, turning out for the under-21s,
02:51those back-to-back Monday games will be ideal for Dike, I think, before we see him or when
02:56we see him in and around the senior set-up. I will end this video with some transfer chat
03:01or certainly Tony Mowbray's opinion of things. This is the last press conference really before
03:05Monday night's transfer deadline. A bit late at this window because obviously Saturday
03:11is the first and the deadline wouldn't be the Saturday night so it's Monday night, 11pm.
03:16Albion are working to get the striker in they want, is what's going on basically. The likelihood
03:22is that that will happen. There is a world where it doesn't but that's not because Albion
03:29will be outbid or can't afford x, y and z. They're being pretty selective really with
03:33what they're after. They're pretty content with what they've got, certainly Tony Mowbray's
03:38and that's not reactive because they scored five goals. Last weekend they just see a multitude
03:44of options really in the forward areas that are pretty versatile, that can be productive
03:48in the final third. They know that maybe in a few weeks Dike will be in contention, Albion
03:52well, touch wood, that in a month or five weeks Josh Madger will be back, all those
03:57kind of things but the bottom line is they're working to get the one in. I'm not ruling
04:03out all possibilities because never say never and you never know about more than one checking
04:07into the Hawthorns. I'm sure if something crops up a bit opportunistic, think back to
04:12Mason Holgate on deadline day in the summer, that was very last minute opportunism but
04:17the sort of minimum, the priority is the one we've been reporting this month in terms
04:23of that forward option to just help, certainly in the short term while Madger's out, while
04:28Dike's coming back and then said player becomes an extra option between now and the end of
04:33the season really. So that's what's on the agenda. Exits are, I believe, unlikely really
04:39barring the odd bit of thing, the odd Euflone, maybe a Harry Whitwell going out but I can't
04:44see too much else in that regard. I know Jaroslav Rakic has been mentioned in parts overseas
04:50but again I'm not sure that will be one that will come off. Yes, so Albion are working
04:57to get it done and my opinion is that what they want to happen will happen. Now, obviously
05:04it's run late and there are reasons why it's run late. Obviously they'll have targets that
05:08are involved, I think, at their parent club, the clubs they're at at the moment, on the
05:11bench, playing, maybe even starting. Obviously we've seen names linked, haven't we, under
05:1621 stars at big clubs. You have Mark Giew at Chelsea, we've seen Jadon Danz at Liverpool
05:22mentioned, all playing in European football this week. So you can see why these things
05:26get kicked down the road. It won't necessarily be a loan, by the way, actually. One of the
05:30things Tony mentioned today was whether it's a loan or whether it's actually a purchase.
05:35So there's obviously a range of options but important to stress as well, Tony Moby is
05:39very much, not that he doesn't have a say because that would be wrong to say, but he's
05:44in the background of these kind of things. He's very much driven, led by Ian Pearce,
05:48Director of Football Ops and certainly Andrew Nesta as well, Sporting Director. So Tony
05:55pops into the office and he gives his take on targets and things like that. But it's
05:59not his priority and he actually said to us today, as I'll be writing, he won't be devastated
06:04and he didn't think it'd be the end of the world if something doesn't come off. But yeah,
06:07my impression is that it will and, fingers crossed, it's just not another terribly late
06:12and busy deadline day. It can be done at a reasonable hour, but let's see. Fingers crossed
06:17that will get what they want. Anyway, we'll be in Devon. I'm off tomorrow, Friday, to
06:22head down and a little overnight stay and be ready for home park come lunchtime Saturday
06:27and we'll have all the coverage. So stay tuned, expressonstar.com.