Ni massive crack machine

edit: yes I know I have written Bromwich incorrectly, reddit does not let me edit the title and I have already deleted and posted this twice lmao
After having posted my season 7 squad on this subreddit, I started Reading al lof these CM stories of you guys, so I decided to kinda tell the story of my WBA road to glory, there Will be some blank spaces cuz I didnt document it all, and all I'm writing is just from memory, but as a very famous italian journalist would say, here we go! (also sorry for my english, I’m spanish so it is a bit limited :P). This will be a very very long read, as this story has a lot of chapters waiting to be told!

SEASON 1

Transfers and squad
So I started with WBA with a squad that honestly didn't give me much confidence ahead of this huge challenge. With a Budget of 18 million € there was not much room for big names or huge changes in the squad (that Will have to wait until seasons 2-3). Nevertheless I dove into the market and was able to do some Good signings, obviously letting some players go before (I don’t remember who exactly, this was about 4 or 5 months ago). John Swift and Adam Armstrong were the 2new faces in which I trusted to take us back to the top division of english football, and, to be honest, they did preform. Fun fact #1, not only this was gonna be our first run on the Championship, but also our last one!
​
Sorry I dont remember pretty much any subs apart from O'Shea and Ferguson
Season review
Things didn’t really started the way one would have liked, as we lost on our season opener against Nottingham Forest 2-0, and honestly our defence was a bit of a joke through the first half of the season, but when we settled in, there was nothing that could stop us: We took the lead of the league in the 18th match against Sheffield Wednesday (who were the leaders at that point) with a commanding win of 3-0, and since then we were untouchable the whole season, winning the league with an impressive amount of 116 points. The team was looking much better, with rising-and future team Captain Dara O’Shea starting to peek his way into the starting XI, and Nathan Ferguson and Leko proving that they might be able to step-up and preform in the Premier League as they did in the second división. For anyone wondering, our cup campaign was absolutely awful loosing in the third round of the Carabo Cup, and in the replay of the 3rd round in the FA cup, but anyway, Premier League football was back at The Hawthorns, and this time it was gonna be for a long time.

SEASON 2

Transfers and squad
This team did a good enough job in the Championship, but it was of my concern the fact that it was not that great for a Good Premier League run, one that could see us staying in the league for many years and heck-maybe even qualify for european football. So it was a bit of a rebuild time, but with 26 million € of Budget again not many big transfers incoming. Those 26 millions were quickly reduced when I realised that our last season star Matheus Pereira was on loan from Sporting Portugal, and that your star left winger Diangana was also not your club’s propriety. 17 million were gone in a blink for the pass of Pereira, and although we made some Good money with sells as Phillips by 7 million, Budget was a bit tight. Other players as Gibbs and Sawyers left the club bringing a bit more of cash to the club. We also made the signing of Faouit Maouassa a very promising left Back that could run the entire pitch, come back to his net, and then run again the entire pitch all in the same sprint, he was quick as a man can get. We tried to get Diangana back but it was just too expensive for us so we went for Said Benrahma from Brentford. Young Diogo Costa came from Porto for about 4 million, but he was gonna be our sub GK as Sam Johnstone was already at 80 OVR, probably will only play the cup games and from time to time a Premier League game, getting him prepared to step up for upcoming seasons, as he was our future keeper. Also we tried to squeeze through m Matty Cash but only a few thousands in bonuses didn't allow us to sign him. Finally, on deadline day I decided to sign Kevin Danso from FC Augsburg for about 5 million as a bit of a gamble for the future, if he preforms and improve he can certainly make it into the starting XI. So the team was a bit stronger, with not much on the bench to be honest but good talent, and what’s more important - a much younger squad tan the one I encountered at the start of the journey.
​
Diogo Costa and Ferguson improving a lot - looking good for the future!
Season review
Cup-wise it was another awful season, loosing this time in the second round of the Carabao Cup, and again in the replay of the 3rd round in the FA cup, but the objective was not to win a trophy yet, just to stay safe in the midfield of the table. And honestly it was a great campaign on the PL, finishing 6th on the table, just 1 point below Chlesea in 5th, who overtook us in the last game after a painful loss against Wolverhampton Wanderers 3-0 (They qualified 4th to the Champions League). But crucially there was a big incident in the 23rd game of the season, against Manchester United (which were a direct rival for us despite having a much better team) when Adam Armstrong got a direct red from a tackle to Fred and left us one men down for 50 minutes. Eventually we lost that game, and Armstrong never made it into the starting XI again that season, being sold the following summer (look I know that the one that made that tackle was me but ya’ know, you have to make up a bit of a story from time to time). Overall it was a great season, qualified for the Europa League, with a lot of talent in the squad still growing as Jonathan Leko, already in the high 70s, Dara O’Shea now playing every game from the start, Ferguson and Costa also improving a lot.

SEASON 3

Transfers and squad
This season I knew that we definitely needed a step-up from our squad if we wanted to stay competitive in the top 6 and preform in the Europa League. But I also knew that the transfer Budget was not gonna be anything crazy (40 million-ish this time, not too bad to be fair). Fun fact #2, I already knew that through last season, so in January I did some 0-cost moves looking forward to season 3. There were 3 main names (there was a 4th also, Fosu-Mensah from Manchester United, but he was more of a rotation guy) that we signed whose contract came to an end after the 20/21 season. Firstly, Aboubakar Kamara, he was not gonna be our main striker of course, but a bit of a experienced (and fighting) sub, one of those trouble-maker players that you need on your squad. Secondly, a star signing from Liverpool in the Right Back. No it was not Trent Alexander-Arnold who moved onto Real Madrid at the end of season 1, but Hector Bellerin, who changed London to Liverpool at the end of the 19/20 season, and did not play a single Premier League game under Klopp’s management. So to try and relaunch his career he decided to come to a club that did play an european competition, but was not under the constant lights and cameras that playing for a top-tier team meant. He also was gonna be a good reference to Nathan Ferguuson, and would help him a lot improving. Lastly, we signed Tottenham discard Eric Dier. For some reason he only played a couple of games last year and Tottenham were not keen on renewing his contract, so I gave him a new one! (and with his signing starts a struggle to find the perfect fit alongside Pereira, a defensive midfielder that can also go up to the other team’s field and create some danger, a bit of an all rounder, which Dier was not). Of course those 3 were not our only incorporations that summer, as we were also looking for another Left wing (Benrahama did preform but just was not the kind of lightning player we were looking for on the side of the pitch) another midfielder to have a bit of better rotation on the squad, a new central back, because being honest I was not very safe playing with Ajayi and Hagazi in the defence (both got sold in this summer), and crucially, a new striker that could fill the shoes that Adam Armstrong left after being sold by 25 million. Well, we signed Tottenham sub Ryan Sessegnon for almost 30 million (the most expensive signing in this career so far), Yossouf Fofana from Monaco, maybe the all rounder we were looking for, maybe not, very young, not too much potential but we’ll see; Emmanuel Dennis from Club Brugge, a very quick striker with some good finalising skills, and Mohamed Salisu from Valladolid, an enormous human being, very quick, with great defensive skills and a lot of potential to unleash at The Hawthorns.
​
Diogo Costa now was the starting GK, Ferguson was having much more playtime
Season Review
Those new players were gonna be responsable of either a well consistent season and maybe, just maybe a push for the top-4 in the Premier league, or the confirmation that West Brom was a one season wonder and that there was not much more in this squad. It turns out, it was the first one. Not only we gave Man City and Liverpool a good run for their money in the first half of the season (falling a bit in the second half to be honest), but we finished 3rd in the league well ahead of 4th and 5th, Chelsea and Manchester United. Not gonna lie, we have always done way better in the long-term league competitions tan in the cups, but that changed this year. We didn’t get knocked out of the Carabao Cup as usual in the 3rd or 4th round, but manager to get into the final (winning on aggregate 5-0 to Arsenal) against all-mighty Liverpool. It was the first final of this squad, and it showed. Liverpool wiped Wembley’s pitch with our faces in the first 20 minutes, eventually scoring the first goal of the afternoon because of a heavily-inspired Sadio Mané. We were starting to find our place at the pitch from min 20 to min 30, when a bit of light appeared in front of our faces. Daniele Rugani did a criminal foul on the center of the field and was sent out to the locker-room directly; Liverpool were one men down, and our hopes had just rise an immense amount. Emmanuel Dennis scored on the 42’ and we were tied starting the second half, but Sadio Mane had other plans for the match and he put Liverpool on top with just 35 minutes ahead. Crucially, Yossouf Fofana went into the pitch just after the goal to sub Eric Dier in the midfield, and it was his first absolute masterclass as a baggie. Not only he gave the assist to Emmanuel Dennis on the 76th minute to equalize the game again, but scored the decisive goal with just 7 minutes left, beating Alisson and giving West Bromwich their first trophy in 50 years. Since then he was on the starting XI for pretty much the resto f the season. In the FA cup we lost on the semi finals just 3 days after our league cup success against Manchester United, with a 1-1 on the match and a 4-3 loss on penalties, but in the Europa League we were not gonna let go so easy. Indeed, the season ended in a high, winning West Brom’s first European title in their history beating Borussia Monchengladbach by 2-0 in Mestalla; a pitch in which we made an impressive comeback against Valencia after loosing 0-1 in the Hawthorns, winning in Spanish soil 4-0 (4-1 agg) on the quarter finals.

SEASON 4

Transfers and squad
For some reason I did catalogue all the transfers that we made ahead of this season so I can give more details on the operations that we made.
Departures
Solorth - to Real Sociedad for 30 million € (He underperformed massively)
Aboubakar Kamara - to St. Etienne for 7 million € (Was a good free signing, but for UCL football not enough)
Kevin Danso - To West Ham utd. for 15 million € (Did not improve as expected and found a better option on the market)
Said Benrahama - to (???) for (???) - (I know I said I catalogued the moves but this one idk why I didn’t)
Signings
Tuanzebe - from Man Utd for free - did not play much at United and they were not gonna re-sign him so…
Otávio - from Everton for free - gave us a big headache in which is still up to date (I’m writing this after finishing season 8) our toughest loss, 5-1 in Goodison Park. His contract was running off so decided to get a good 80 OVR player.
Fikayo Tomori - from Norwich for 30 million € (Did not taste success at Chelsea, went undercover at Norwich, but now he wanted to return to top-tier football)
Youcef Atal - from Nice for 30 million € (Emi Buendía was not doing nothing wrong, but was not as incissive as Sessegnon on the right)
Brandon Williams - from Fortunata Dusseldorf for 17 million € (The same as Tomori, but from Man UNited to Fortunata in the Bundesliga: Very young with a lot of potential)
Mike Jeffrey Portillo Soler - from Valladolid for 15 million € - He was the replacement for Kevin Danso, much younger and with a lot of potential.
At this point I had about 20 million left and the task of signing a good sub striker. Had my eyes on Patson Daka, but Crystal Palace thought the same as me and they did sign him before I could do anything. After that I saw two young with great potential players that, if they did not perform could give us a great benefit selling them.
Favio Silva - from Oporto for 14 million € (74 OVR)
Troy Parrot- from Tottenham for 7 million € (He was 72 OVR and did not play a minute for the Spurs)
​
Still improving the rotation of the team
Season Review
From what I can remember this season was the brightest in terms of football that The Hawthorns has seen so far. Being a bit of an underdog as 3 seasons ago we were in the Championship kind of benefited us because our opponents did nos self-isolate just under their nets as they could be doing against europe’s biggest teams. Season started strongly with a 4-1 win over Bayern Munchen ni the Uefa Super Cup, with yet another masterclass from Yosseuf Fofana. We were pressing Bayern so hard they barely got out of their pitch in the second half. Honestly, one of the biggest games WBA have played since Alex Goerge is their manager, defeating in style last year’s Champions League winner. Our main opponent in the Group Stage was Real Madrid, but with them dropping points in both their games against Lazio, and an embarrassing defeat against us in the Santiago Bernabeu by 4-0, their late win at The Hawthorns by 2-1 couldn’t get higher than 2nd place behind WBA. In the domestic competitions things were looking really good as we again did a pretty strong first half of the season in the Premier League an managed to get into the Carabao Cup Semi-Finals against Manchester United. Our run in the Premier League was looking good for a title shot, but unfortunately in the Carabao Cup we drawn both legs against United 1-1 and lost in penalties (like last year against them in the FA cup semi finals) by 4-3. After an “easy” draw against Oporto in the first knockout stage of the Champions league saw us through to face against Liverpool, as lady luck did not seem to be by our side, giving us pretty much one of the toughest rivals we could get. Last year’s Carabao Cup final showed us we still were not a match for them unless something strange happened (like Rugani’s red card, which allowed us to make the comeback), but this season it was different, being just ahead of them in the league, we knew we could challenge them in the quarter finals. And heck we did. A 1-1 in The Hawthorns was not a good result for the second leg but we did still had our chances, and in a game that remembered a lot the Super Cup won in august against Bayern, we knocked out Liverpool winning in Anfield 3-1 with Klopp’s team not creating a single chance in the second half of the game. Suddenly we were in the Champions League semi-finals against Barcelona, leading the Premier League by 4 points with less than 10 games left and in the FA cup semi-finals against Chelsea. Unfortunately we couldn’t make it into the FA cup final, even we pushed Chelsea with our aggressive pressing style up to their goal for the entire game, a late Pulisic goal in the 81’ made me bring out Emmanuel Dennis as I did big rotations for this game (1st squad needed a break). Dennis managed to tie the game in the 88th minute, but yet in another counter-attack Chelsea got us in the 105’. Dennis still had other plans as he socred just ten minutes later the 2-2, and then we were into the penalty shootout again. And we were not good at that. Chelsea won the shootout by a humiliating 3-0, but we still had good chances of winning the Premier and Champions League. We maintained a 4 point lead over Liverpool with 2 games left, the first one at Stamford Bridge, and the Premier League finale ni our home receiving Tottenham. Couldn’t break through Chelsea’s defense but managed to take one point out of the bridge, so we still were only depending on ourselves against José Mourinho’s Spurs in front of our fans to win WBA’s first league title in over 100 years, the first one of the Premier League era. After a boring first half, with much more possession than Tottenham but not too many chances I decided to bring out Troy Parrot (against his former club) to see if he could gave us something that Leko could not. And he absolutely could. He broke trough spur’s defence not once, not twice or even three times, but managed to score 4 goals (one third of all the goals he socred one season) and made West Brom the Premier League Champions of the 22/23 campaign. Out european campaign saw us receive Barcelona at The Hawthorns in the UCLsemi-finals for the first time in the club’s history, an despite Barça took the early lead, Leko and Dennis managed to score one goal each and wrap up the first leg winning 2-1. Half of the work was done, but there was still a visit to the Nou Camp remaining. And it was absolute hell. We managed to get some decent chances in the first half, but Ter Stegen ( as well as in the 1st leg) made some impossible saves. In the second half we just couldn’t manage to get out of our pitch, Barça was a machine of creating goal chances, including one post in the 93th minute. Luckily (or not), we survived on spanish soil and squeezed our way into the final with a nil nil in the second half. We faced Juventus in the season finale for european glory, and the match couldn’t start in a worse way for us. Not only we were missing some incredible chances (Szczęsny did pretty much the game of his life), but Otàvio was given a direct red card with 10 minutes left in the first half. Nevertheless, I knew the spirit of this team was indestructible, and so, Dennis scored in the 75th minute, and gave WBA the biggest trophy of their history. Shoutout to both young strikers Fabio Silva and Troy Parrot, the first one being key for the UCL title (10 goals 9in 10 games) and the second one, not really performing until the last game of the PL, until then he was pretty much out of the team.

SEASON 5

Transfers and Squad
I did not catalogue the transfers this season, so I will do this from memory...
Departures
Mohamed Salisu - to Real Madrid for 75 million € (As I said, there was not much hope on retaining him after Barcelona almost got him on last summer’s deadline day, so a good offer came in and there was not much to do)
John Swift - to Manchester City for 29 million € (A good player, that had been with us since the beginning, but after all the signings made on the midfield, there was not much room for him, so it was silly to deny him a move)
Otávio - to Schalke 04 for 30 million € (Pretty much the same case as Swift, no room for him, and his red card on the UCL finale was difficult to forget… nevertheless he di a really good job the season he played with us, he might come back at some point in the future)
Buendía - to Chelsea for 45 million € (He had been with us since s1, but was not the type of rocketship player we were needing for our counter-attack playstyle anymore)
Youcef Atal - to Valencia for 40 million € - He not only did not fit the rocketship player role that we were aiming for, some good performances against Liverpool and Man Utd that gave me some hope, but was never decisive.
Eric Dier - to Juventus for 30 million € - Really never fit in our squad, with some good performances but never a standout one.
Faouit Maouassa did not go anywhere, but was really close to closing a deal with Barcelona on deadline day, so until he decided to stay definitely 2 months later and renewed his contract, did not play a minute.
Signings
Jack Grealish - from Aston Villa for free (85 OVR, he had nothing to do on a club that was constantly fighting for not being relegated, I suppose he did not want to renew his contract for that reason, so was a great option)
Youri Tielemans - from Leicester City for free (pretty much the same case as Grealish, Leicester was fighting for Europa League positions, and he was ready for much more)
Lucas Fernandes - from Vitoria SC for free (Brazilian, same profile as Pereira, 2 years younger, with less potential but he was a great option as a sub for him)
Boubacar Kamara - from Villarreal for 40 million € - Defensive midfielder, very young (84 OVR), signed him for matches in which we need a bit more defensive skills (against top teams) to be just behind Pereira and give the team a bit more consistency.
Patson Daka - from Crystal Palace for 45 million € (Wanted to sign him last year, Crystal Palace was faster than me, this year he was not gonna play anywhere else than The Hawthorns)
Krépin Diatta - from Eintracht Frankfurt for 75 million € (The most expensive transfer we have done so far in this career, he was 86 OVR and was coming to fix the issue that Atal was not able to. His signing was a very risky one, so he had to perform from day 1)
With Ferguson moving to the centre of the defence as a replacement for Salisu while Portillo Soler kept growing, we had to look for another RB, as Fosu Mensah was okay, but only 79 rated, for a club fighting for Premier League and Champions League was a bit low for being the second option.
Matty Cash - from Southampton for 20 million € - I was really close to sign him years ago, and he was a solid option for being Bellerin’s sub, with Fosu Mensah completing a good rotation on the RB.
Kieran Tierney - from Napoli for 35 million € - This signing was made in a hurry on deadline day with just 4 or 5 hours left as Barcelona and Maouassa were finishing up a deal. Their negotiations ended up badly, Maouassa stayed and now we had him, Brandon Williams and Tierney, three pretty good solid options, none of them was way better than other on the LB.
Illan Mesliar - from Leeds for 15 million € - Also another signing made in a bit of a hurry as Diogo Costa got injured for long duration on pre-season and I only had one more GK
​
Just Diatta missing for a quality sub - Maouassa loosing his position in the LB
Season Review
Not gonna lie, probably the toughest season so far in this save. We started our league title defense with 3 losses in a row against low tier teams, conceding 8 goals against and not scoring even one, so our league titles were pretty much obliterated from there on. Managed to start picking up the pace, but we never had a consistent enough run to fight for the title again. After the first half of the season we were standing in 11th place, really far from the objective, which was finish inside the top-4 and secure a UCL spot for next year. Managed to finish a poor 4th in the league, overtaking Manchester United in the last game, ending the campaign just 1 point ahead of them. In the domestic cups, we threw away the Carabao cup in round 3, so, pretty much in November, we had no chances of winning the league cup nor the league. Things were not looking good. Fitting Tielemans alongside Pereira in the midfield was being a struggle, and Jack Grealish did not want to be behind Sessegnon in the team, so before the end of the year, they told me they wanted to leave the club. Grealish only play some games from there, but Tielemans ended up changing his mind, but it was really clear that he did not fit the role that Fofana did absolute wonders alongside Pereira. If that was not enough, in december, Leko, our main striker since the beginning of this save told me he was determined to leave, and in January a FC Barcelona offer came in for Hector Bellerin (Barça is the club he grew up in). Tomori also did want to leave the club in january. So yeah, things were not going smooth.
I could not sell Tielemans or Grealish in January yet, and was determined to keep Leko until the end of the season given he was one of the most-if not the most important player of the team. Tomori went to Real Madrid for 60 million as he was not getting the playtime he wanted (ferguson was playing as a CB alongside O’Shea, and Bellerin was in the RB) I managed to convince Bellerin to stay until the end of the season, and in the summer we were gonna let him go to Barcelona back again. Apart from that, Fofana goit injured until late february, so I had to make a move and sign some players. The chosen ones were Juan Foyth, from Granada, with good potential, and Lewis Cook from Florentina, who caught my eye seasons ago, but never was a priority until now. Also, Brandon Williams went on loan to RB Leipzig, as we had three top quality LB and not all of them could have the playtime they wanted.
We managed to get through the UCL group stage, but we were gonna face Real Madrid, and things were not looking good. Fofana got healthy just in time for the 1st leg, and as Tielemans had not worked alongside Pereira so far, decided to put him on the starting team. And what a decision it was. He once again gave another masterclass, we beated Real in Spain 3-1, and then after another Fofana masterclass in The Hawthorns won 2-1 again. So after trying Tielemans so much, it was clear that both our CMs had to be Pereira and Fofana, and Tielemans was gonna be a pretty sure sale next summer. Worked our way onto the UCL final against City (sorry for not giving much more details, but i don’t remember them) , and beat them 3-1 without Leko (I did not think he really deserved to play the last game of the season after telling us he wanted to left the first time things were not going smooth in the team). In the FA cup we won the final against Manchester United, a club that used a really dirty tactic to destabilize us one week before the game: sign Jack Grealish and Leko, both of them at the same price, 75 million €. Pretty much the only good thing this season was the fact that Diatta not only showed he had great potential, but proved he was exactly the player we were looking for, we solved the issue in the right, now wwe had to sort out Pereira’s mate in the midfield (Fofana was good from time to time, but only 81 OVR, one of the lowest in the team, and a really inconsistent player)

SEASON 6

After a tough season 5, we had to sort some things on the squad, and try to do a decent PL campaign, maybe not win it, but at least put up a good fight against Liverpool and Man City.
Transfers and squad
Departures
Youri Tielemans - 100 million to Manchester City - a good business for the club, he did not get out of the club in a bad was (as Leko or Grelaish did), but after trying so hard to fit him in the team’s scheme, it was clear that there was no room for him at The Hawthorns, with the squad playing much better with Fofana instead of him.
Jack Grealish - to Manchester United for 75 million € - did not perform on the pitch, wanted to leave as soon as possible, again, a free signing that reports a 75 million profit for the club, but you don't want players so unhappy in the team or you could easily lose the trust your players have.
Jonathan Leko - to Manchester United for 75 million € - after 5 seasons in the first team, he decided it was time for a new challenge at Old Trafford due to his lack of minuted (I feel this was a bit of an excuse, as he did have the playtime he deserved, playing even more games than top-scorer Emmanuel Dennis)
Hector Bellerin - to Barcelona for 30 million € - after he agreed to stay until the end of the season due to the big trouble the team was going through january, when Barcelona tried to sign him again in summer there was no choice but to let him go. A true gentleman who believed in the early-stages of this project that leaves the club after 3 seasons. Now Ferguson was ready to take on his place on the RB.
Patson Daka - to Real Madrid for 60 million € - he did a pretty rubish season, only scoring 6 goals, and although he was a sub, he played a lot of games, had many chances, but just missed pretty much all of them.
Fabio Silva went on loan to Roma to have a bot of more playtime. His 1st season was much better than Parrot’s one, then the second one was the other way around, so I let one go temporarily.
The departures of Grealish and Tielemans were no big deal as they were not a crucial part of the squad, Bellerin, although he was a great player, did not have any progression left, while Ferguson was already ahead of him in terms of numbers, was younger and did had a lot of potential to unleash yet. So the only really harmful sell was Leko to United.
Signings
Diogo Jota - from Wolverhampton Wanderers for free - this was the only free signing of this transfer window, as the club did not want to keep with this politic of signing players that were running out of contract, as it was a maneuver to expand the club at a low cost. 87 OVR, did not have much to do in a club fighting in the midfield of the Premier League. He was a great option for both the left of the field and as a partner for Dennis.
Renato Sanches - from Monaco for 56 million € - the struggle for finding a good rated player to play alongside Perira continued, but Sanches was clearly a good option, as the player that had worked better with the Brazilian was Fofana, with 80 ish on all his stats, and Renato was a bit ahead of him in pretty much each way. A player with both good defensive and offensive skills.
Allan Saint-Maximin - from Newcastle United for 45 million € - Although Diogo Jota could play in the left, his signing was mostly to be a striker, so Sessegnon still did not have a natural sub, which made it difficult to have him in shape for the big games.
Moise Kean - from Everton for 50 million € - I was not very confident about the signing of Diogo Jota, as other free players that came in did not perform as expected (Tielemans, Grealish), so Kean was a good option that I had been tracking for years, and now his time had come at WBA.
Diego Lainez - from Betis for 40 million € - I did not have a decent sub for Diatta and although he played most of the games I wanted one just in case he got injured or there was little time between important matches
​
Team full of powerful rotations on all positions
Season Review
This was honestly one banger of a season. The main objective was to be back on top of our game and be competitive again in the Premier League, as last year was a bit of a disaster. This time there was not gonna be experiments as Tielemans was last year, I knew the one that worked better with Pereira was Fofana and he started playing since day 1 of the season, with Renato Sanches having some minutes looking for substitute Fofana, but unfortunately no remarkable games from Sanches proved me that maybe he was not the replacement for Fofana neither. On th other side, the formula that we did know that worked did absolute wonders, and we finished the season unbeaten, with 4 draws, and 106 points, we claimed our second Premier League of our history, just 2 points ahead of Liverpool, who just lost 2 games of the season, both of them against us (0-4 at Anfield, they were one men down since minute 30, and 2-0 at The Hawthorns, so without both victories we wouldn’t have won the league). In the Carabao Cup final we defeated also Liverpool 3-1, a result that also was seen in the Uefa Champions League final, also against Klopp’s squad. No, we did not win the FA cup against Liverpool in the final (we knocked them out in the extra time of the quarter finals), we won it against Manchester City 2-0. The quadruple was ours, but this journey was far from ended. One remarkable moment in the season was the UCL semi-finals against Atletico de Madrid, We drawed 1-1 at The Hawthorns, and in the second leg Matheus Pereira was given a red card after just 20 minutes, so things were looking absolutely horrible. Dennis managed to give us the lead with 25 minutes to go, but Atletico managed to tie just after the kick-off. We went onto extra time and then onto the penalties, which, if you remember, did not give us good memories from a few years ago losing both the Carabao Cup and FA cup semi finals in the shootout. Fortunately, this time we managed to win 4-3. In the january transfer window Brandon Williams returned from his loan from RB Leipzig (and got a lot of playtime just behind Maouassa as Tierney was a bit stuck in terms of progression).
The pictures that I have posted of the team are from the start of each season, but don't tell the full story (i.e. Maouassa starts s5 on the bench as he almost went to barcelona on deadline day so until he renewed his contract he did not play on the starting XI, then mid season he gets his position back and starts s6 as usual)
So guys this has been the story until season 6 of this journey with the baggies, if you have come this far just wanted to say thank you as this has been a lot of work (not only playing, but also writing, again sry for the bad english, and a lot of memory work as I did not have almost anything catalogued). I will be doing another separate post at least for seasons 7 & 8 where I have catalogued a lot more and I have them much more recent in my brain xD. Again thank you for the read, and don't hesitate on leave your opinion or ask anything (if you have beem able to go through all of this)