[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Twelve months ago this week, an embattled Steve Clarke - who'd just coaxed Albion to five points from five league matches following a crucial first win - had to tackle the eternal stumbling block of the League Cup third round.  A valiant 120-minute effort ultimately came down to penalties, and unfortunately once again proved a hurdle we couldn't cross.  It was soon forgotten with a win at Old Trafford days later, but a year on, it's deja vu all over again as an embattled Alan Irvine looks to build on the weekend's triumph by negotiating an obstacle which has been an almighty embuggerance for us in recent years.  Having reached the FA Cup final last year, Hull perhaps have that bit more experience in the art of muddling through the rounds - you'd struggle to find a worse cup team in the top two divisions over the last five years or so than Albion - but with Jeremy Peace insisting that cup comps are a priority, and Irvine presumably wanting to prove himself in every way possible, could this year be our year?

Let's take it seriously and get the job done.

Classic Matches

Various League Cup Third Round

[DanTheSmethwickMan]

Hoping for a win and a nice cup run. Would love to see some new faces in this one. I'm sure they'll be playing the likes of Ben Arfa and Ramirez if they are not cup tied.

Myhill
Gamboa Mcauley Olsson Davidson
Mulumbu Yacob
Berahino Dorrans Varela
Anichebe

Foster,Lescott,Baird,Brunt,Blanco,Ideye,Samaras

[Tom_Wba]

Need to try and get Ideye in amongst the goals if we can, I'd like to see Samaras given his favoured left wing role ahead of Varela who i'd like to see given a try on the right he's naturally right footed and has played there before so it shouldn't be to much of a problem, I'd like to see a good cup run and despite all the changes i've made from Sundays team it still looks a very strong side!

[Kookiebags]

Afternoon All,
Totally agree with Ska,d we should take this seriously, but I would also like to see the players who have not started as yet for us to get game time. Varela, Gamboa, Samaras, Blanco, Davidson, GMac, and a chance for Ideye to get on the score sheet, backed up with Myhill, Yacob and Mulumbu and Jonas, and should be a good team. How AI will fit them into some sort of pattern I do not know, but will need to be on the ball against a Hull side that will probably also be of good strength.
Stick a couple of the others, like Anichabe,Daniels Nabi, Baird , Roofe and ONeil on the bench, and we can rest the side that played on Sunday.
Like this one to be finished in 90, so go for 2-1 to us, with Ideye getting off the mark.

[Slick_Footwork]

Need to try and get Ideye in amongst the goals if we can, I'd like to see Samaras given his favoured left wing role ahead of Varela who i'd like to see given a try on the right he's naturally right footed and has played there before so it shouldn't be to much of a problem, I'd like to see a good cup run and despite all the changes i've made from Sundays team it still looks a very strong side!

That would probably be my preferred line up too.

But I'd expect Irvine to play Baird and possibly Mulumbu too, instead of one of the expansive midfielders.

[drewks]

Need to try and get Ideye in amongst the goals if we can, I'd like to see Samaras given his favoured left wing role ahead of Varela who i'd like to see given a try on the right he's naturally right footed and has played there before so it shouldn't be to much of a problem, I'd like to see a good cup run and despite all the changes i've made from Sundays team it still looks a very strong side!

Like that team a lot, and it's testament to the strength in depth that we now seem to have that it's basically players that DIDN'T play in our first league win at WHL for 3.4 billion years.
A good performance here will really ramp up the competition for places

[WBA-Josh]

Myhill
Gamboa-McAuley-Lescott-Davidson
Mulumbu-Yacob
Varela-Blanco-Samaras
Ideye

Subs
Daniels
O'Neil
Garmston
Baird
Morrison
Roofe
Anichebe

[drewks]

I see Varela's been named in the U21 squad for tonight - good he's getting some match time but obviously still a couple of weeks away from 1st team action, I'd imagine

[bomberbrown1968]

I reckon that's spot on Tom and it looks a good team to put out with just Gardner from yesterdays team, goes to show a fair bit of depth in the squad that we haven't had for many a year.

With the unknown quantities of Blanco & Varela it still looks like a pretty solid premiership line up along with the other 10 from yesterday.

Of course wouldn't be saying that without the win at Spurs, but wins in any competition breeds confidence in not only the players but us as well, and god knows we both need a bit of that

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

I see Varela's been named in the U21 squad for tonight - good he's getting some match time but obviously still a couple of weeks away from 1st team action, I'd imagine

He scored and then came off after an hour, so it's possible Irvine might fancy putting him on the bench for Hull.