[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Courtesy of the stupid bloody World Cup being held in stupid bloody Qatar in the stupid bloody winter, this year we have the ineffable delight of seeing the league season commencing, for the first time ever, in stupid bloody July. For Albion this necessitates a journey up to Teeside to face Middlesbrough, who finished three points and places above Albion last season and narrowly missed the playoffs, in an early evening kick-off on Saturday. Unless FIFA decide it should be brought forward to the small hours of Friday morning, hosted in Western Sahara and played in a stadium made from human skulls.

It won't be an enormously different Baggies side lining up this weekend, but the summer additions of John Swift and Jed Wallace promise some much-needed creativity in attack, while the welcome re-addition of Okay Yokuslu - a staggeringly good signing for this division - adds steel to the team's spine for an encounter which will tell us a lot about our chances for the coming campaign. Promisingly, Middlesbrough have won just three of their opening games since the Millennium, the most recent of the trio in 2014; while Albion's own record isn't anything to shout about, Steve Bruce is a man who likes a winning start, and has achieved one in five of his last six seasons in this division. But more ominously, we've won just one of our last eight league matches against Boro; that victory, in October 2019, came at the Riverside en route to our last promotion. Crack this tough nut and it may augur well for the months to come.

It's the first time in a century that Albion have opened the season against the Teessiders, with the last curtain-raiser between the sides in August 1921 finishing in a goalless draw. That would be far from the worst outcome on Saturday, but we'd all like to see a bit of excitement to kick off the footballing year, so if we can score a goal or two and come away with at least a point, then it's mission accomplished.

[Stairs]

Regardless of the Bloody World Cup and the Bloody stupid league start date I am over the moon to see this post. It along with the prediction league is a bloody good thing

[drewks]

Regardless of the Bloody World Cup and the Bloody stupid league start date I am over the moon to see this post. It along with the prediction league is a bloody good thing

Surely you're over the BLOODY moon, Stairs?

[talkSAFT]

He's just having a bloody good moan. Nothing bloody changes!

[Blue Baggie]

Phillips and Livermore starting.
Bruce is hoping experience pays off.
IMO these 2 are experienced at losing.
The bench looks good though.

[talkSAFT]

Oh shit! 1-0

[Slick_Footwork]

We really could do with some staff and a manager who understand football. Bruce is clueless

I watched Burnley yesterday and that was what you expect from a new manager. Completely different style, an identity, a shape.

Since Bruce has come in, we look like 11 blokes thrown together who have never played before. It was like that last season and today is no different.

And this is nowhere near our best team. The selection is an absolute joke.

Yokuslu at 50% fitness should walk into team.

How many years do we have to watch Grant up top to know he can't play there? He couldn't control a bag of cement. Dike has to play.

Why is Phillips still in the side?

As for Furlong. Don't even get me started. How he's a pro is beyond me. His "control" when he lost the ball for their goal wouldn't be acceptable on a Sunday morning.

A few changes and we will get better but it shouldn't be like this. This selection should never have happened.

I give Bruce a few months and then he will be sacked. Unfortunately it will be too late. An absolute shambles.

[Baggie_One]

1-1
Swift

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Set up by Wallace, great play

[talkSAFT]

1-1  Swift 

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Unbeaten away.

[BaggieSteve]

We really could do with some staff and a manager who understand football. Bruce is clueless

I watched Burnley yesterday and that was what you expect from a new manager. Completely different style, an identity, a shape.

Since Bruce has come in, we look like 11 blokes thrown together who have never played before. It was like that last season and today is no different.

And this is nowhere near our best team. The selection is an absolute joke.

Yokuslu at 50% fitness should walk into team.

How many years do we have to watch Grant up top to know he can't play there? He couldn't control a bag of cement. Dike has to play.

Why is Phillips still in the side?

As for Furlong. Don't even get me started. How he's a pro is beyond me. His "control" when he lost the ball for their goal wouldn't be acceptable on a Sunday morning.

A few changes and we will get better but it shouldn't be like this. This selection should never have happened.

I give Bruce a few months and then he will be sacked. Unfortunately it will be too late. An absolute shambles.

Totally agree, Slick.

I saw the team before kick off and couldn’t believe it. When you have an excellent wide man in Wallace, what on earth is the point of playing Phillips, particularly when you leave Dike on the bench - if the manager believes he needs another wide player, however, then for f*ck sake play Diangana instead of Phillips.
Furlong continues at right back to the astonishment of everyone except himself and the manager.
Before the game I’d have taken a point, so I guess it worked out in the end but I can’t help thinking that some more positivity in the first half and it could have been three points.
Will Bruce have learned anything from this or will it be wash-rinse-repeat for the next match?

---

We really could do with some staff and a manager who understand football. Bruce is clueless

I watched Burnley yesterday and that was what you expect from a new manager. Completely different style, an identity, a shape.

Since Bruce has come in, we look like 11 blokes thrown together who have never played before. It was like that last season and today is no different.

And this is nowhere near our best team. The selection is an absolute joke.

Yokuslu at 50% fitness should walk into team.

How many years do we have to watch Grant up top to know he can't play there? He couldn't control a bag of cement. Dike has to play.

Why is Phillips still in the side?

As for Furlong. Don't even get me started. How he's a pro is beyond me. His "control" when he lost the ball for their goal wouldn't be acceptable on a Sunday morning.

A few changes and we will get better but it shouldn't be like this. This selection should never have happened.

I give Bruce a few months and then he will be sacked. Unfortunately it will be too late. An absolute shambles.

---

We really could do with some staff and a manager who understand football. Bruce is clueless

I watched Burnley yesterday and that was what you expect from a new manager. Completely different style, an identity, a shape.

Since Bruce has come in, we look like 11 blokes thrown together who have never played before. It was like that last season and today is no different.

And this is nowhere near our best team. The selection is an absolute joke.

Yokuslu at 50% fitness should walk into team.

How many years do we have to watch Grant up top to know he can't play there? He couldn't control a bag of cement. Dike has to play.

Why is Phillips still in the side?

As for Furlong. Don't even get me started. How he's a pro is beyond me. His "control" when he lost the ball for their goal wouldn't be acceptable on a Sunday morning.

A few changes and we will get better but it shouldn't be like this. This selection should never have happened.

I give Bruce a few months and then he will be sacked. Unfortunately it will be too late. An absolute shambles.

---

Apologies folks as I seemed to have replied three times to Slick

I’m posting from the wilds of Wester Ross where the internet connection is somewhat variable and seems to have a mind of its own