THE GAME The footballing world comes to a halt on Saturday as one of the great games in world football takes place at The Hawthorns, West Bromwich. The giants of European football collide in an eagerly anticipated and season defining game between West Bromwich Albion and Watford. 'El Mediocritico' generally attracts a worldwide audience in the billions and this installment will be no different with TV signals sent to the International Spacestation and neighbouring planets sure to bring the interest to a boil. WEST BROMWICH ALBION Tony Pulis, 7th in line for the throne and an upstanding and honest coach, is doing a fine job at the giants of West Brom, with his unique brand of 'hoofi haffa' football dazzling the pundits and celebrities alike. 'Gee, I wish Tony had been my coach. He has a integrity and honesty that blows my freaking mind' - Michael Jordan 'Tony could have taught me a thing or two about finance handling' - Nick Leeson 'Aye' - Andy Murray 'He buys caps from me' - Richard Lee West Brom have had a fine start to the season, sitting in 9th place with their best result being a 4-0 win over European juggernauts Burnley. A shock 1-1 draw with minnows Hull City drew gasps from around Europe, but this was mainly due to an inept refereeing performance and a dog running on the pitch distracting Lager magnate Ben Foster. Former king and mine owner Solomon Rondon leads the goalscoring charts with 4, whilst Euro 2016's best striker and '2001 - A Space Odyssey' computer Hal Robson-Kanu has 0. Penalty expert and loyal West Brom player Saido Berahino is proving critics wrong with 0 goals this season. WATFORD It's been a frustrating week for the club with a referee inflicted 1-0 home reverse to minnows Stoke City. To make things worse, a soap to be based around was cancelled due to 'unforseen circumstances'. Sources close to club have suggested that the BBC felt that the character of Jose Holebas was simply too ridiculous for TV. The show is due to be replaced by 'Danny Dyer's Toilet Nightmares'. Rising star Isaac Success has been ruled out with injury until the return of the dinosaurs whilst in the absence of perennial booking collector Daniel Pudil, Miguel Britos fancied a game off after two totally avoidable bookings in the game vs Stoke. Walter Mazzarri, a TV quizmaster and up-and-coming East End boxer, has brought a level of stability to Watford with his over exuberant hand gesturing and inability to speak English. With the praise thrown at him this week by world class Sporting Director Luke....Dowling, this can only add to his confidence. AWAY FANS GUIDE With the city of West Bromwich having won several 'worlds best city' and other gardening awards, it's no surprise to see some stunning architecture. Here we see The Public. An art gallery which was actually made from left over parts of a used Space Shuttle and milk floats.The Public has sadly closed to the public after the public complained about The Public. Hopes are high that the building can be used to fund The Public, West Bromwich Council's hope to put a man on Mars by 2134. Sandwell College, who has had such giants of world politics as Hamlet, Donald Trump, Les Dennis and WFCForums stalwart ZZTop study there, stands alone in terms of building design and creating healthy political opinion. The new and beautiful New Square shopping centre has recently opened and has changed the landscape of shopping across West Bromwich and indeed the world. With cornerstone stores such as Kwiksave, Primark and Phones4u, it is the envy of shoppers across the free world. PREDICTION With world class talent and skill on offer, this should be the ultimate battle of the 'unstoppable force' versus the 'immovable object'. With both clubs threatening world domination, it's sure to be a good show so I'm going for a 7-0 West Bromwich win. Tough afternoon for The Hornets.
Neck and neck with SteveLeoBellecks for best preview to date. Dull 0-1 win for the hornets on this one. Deeney has been saying how the squad players have been training hard to put pressure on the first XI to perform better. Doesnt seem to be working but good to hear we have some able back up. Questions to be resolved 1- 4 at the back or a back 3 of Prodl, Kabasele and Mariappa 2- Midfield 2 of Watson and Capoue which would mean either Success or Amrabat missing out. Another option would be to play Capoue in Behramis role and Pereyra next to him , which would allow Success and Amrabat to play on the wings. 3- Will Okaka start ahead of Deeney ? Probably not, but I wouldnt be dissapointed if he did.
Don't really know how we'll approach this one. We can either have a back three of Mariappa-Prodl-Kabasele, or a back four of Janmaat-Prodl-Kabasele-Zuniga. If we play, say, Janmaat in a back three, we'll concede six again. I think a back four would be better on this occasion; I'd love to see Mariappa play, but then who do we put on the bench? Someone from the U23s? I think we can snag a draw out of this if we play the right players in position. I'd love a win, of course, but a draw is what I think is more likely out of those two, and we'll need to be at our best to even get that. I don't know whether or not to plump for a draw or go in with zero expectation and just hope it's a nice day out, like Liverpool was. West Brom away last season was a lot of fun, so the before-and-after parts may be the redeeming factors.
Where's everyone drinking for this one? We'll be in the royal oak. If anyone wants to meet up for a bare knuckle fist fight, wear a badge displaying your username.
Brilliant write up. 'El Mediocritico' :sign15: You forgot to mention... "If I owned a football club, I'd install Tony Pulis as manager" Jose Mourinho (real quote)
This season Sky Sports have been showing one 3pm kick off each week in Ireland only, our game has been chosen for this Saturday.
According to the WDSport write-up of the press conference, this is the current state of play with the squad: Suspended: Britos, Behrami Out injured: Cathcart, Kenedy Doubts: Watson, Kaboul, Mariappa, Success Sounds like if Watson doesn't make it, Guedioura will play as the holding midfielder... something that fills me with dread. Much as I like him as a player, he's not disciplined enough to play there and won't offer much protection to the back three/four. Doucore seems so far out of the picture I can't see him even being used from the bench. Still, on the positive side, Stoke came to us with a patched-up team, playing a different formation so there's hope for us yet!
Some 1st choice players that have contributed to some really awful performances aren't available for this, and I'm very concerned that their replacements might be just as awful. Actually, I'm not concerned at all. After last week and the Liverpool debacle, Watford can do one - I'm off go-carting, which is something I've never done before and promises to be far more exhilarating than anything these two arsewipe teams could possibly conjure up.
Anyone over the age of 14 that expects to find go-karting 'exhilarating' is in a bad way. Re the match, I'm looking forward to it and expect a hard-fought draw
Would be happy with a draw here. West Brom are not exactly known for being a goal factory but they've found their shooting boots enough this season to trouble a makeshift defence, which we may well be forced to deal with as Prodl is the only regular starting CB not injured or suspended. Really hope Watson is good to go. A win would be nice, obviously, especially since it would catapult us above whoever loses the Man U-Everton game (or both of they were to draw), but I don't know how likely that is. Depends on which Watford shows up I suppose.
Give up and don't go? Try ringing again today, if you still can't get in touch try e-mailing/tweeting etc. They can easily have West Brom print the tickets for collection at the ground, a bit of a pain and probably have to get there 15 minutes earlier but better than nothing.
Going for a score draw. 1-1. I honestly think we will have enough to score. I worry we have no defence to keep them out.
Think Rondon may be out with tonsilitus which would be a good bonus for us. Hoping the players who will have to come in to cover injuries and suspensions will step up much like those for Stoke did against us and really push their claim for a regular spot. I would take a draw if offered now and I think it probably will be 1-1.
Kaboul's not traveled with the squad so is definitely out. Success has made the trip though so some good news at least. http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/sport/14943733.Watford_defender_Kaboul_to_miss_Baggies_clash/
Cat B but mines came ages ago mate. Our ticket office is absolutely dog and won't deal with anything now. Best bet is to go to the Hawthorns early, explain that you didn't get your tickets and that the WFC ticket office is closed on away match days. What they'll probably get you to do is to buy more tickets again, they'll take down your details and will contact WFC. Get a receipt as well just in case WBA don't (in my example, Boro told us straight away) and call WFC on Monday explaining this. They'll refund you straight away afterwards.
