Sam Allardyce And Rafa Benitez
Sam Allardyce doesn’t believe that West Brom could have got any better with the budget they were working with in the January transfer window. Bearing in mind that all four players are either seasoned internationals or burgeoning hopefuls, and added in that the Baggies are cut adrift at the bottom which made the efforts to attract the adequate personnel all the more difficult, Allardyce is pleased with his lot and is of the opinion that it’s the best the club could possibly have done in the circumstances.
Sam Allardyce said: “We got four very good players on a limited budget of a greater quality than I thought we would achieve,” he admitted. I didn’t think we’d get Ainsley coming from Arsenal and wanting to join the battle, Robert Snodgrass with what we were missing — bundles of Premier League experience — and then a quality forward, 6ft 4in, who leads the comfort of being leading scorer of Galatasaray to join West Brom, and Okay from Spain, a Turkey international. I don’t think you could loan better for the money we’ve spent.”
Allardyce’s only regret is that the club weren’t able to get those key additions in sooner; Diagne, Maitland-Niles and Yokuslu all arrived in the last few days of the window and the latter pair were unable to feature in a key game at Sheffield United at the start of February.
Sam Allardyce added: “What would I have liked to have done better? Obviously get them in on January 2 and January 3 and that might have made a difference to the games we lost. But because of that negotiation and that financial situation I thought we did massively well arriving with four players on loan, apart from Snodgrass, I thought it was a massive achievement but whether it’s enough only time will tell.”
Albion have conceded just the one goal in their last couple of matches, that being an admittedly excellent strike by Bruno Fernandes of Manchester United. Is it fair to ascertain that Albion have turned something of a corner defensively?
Sam Allardyce added: “Always as a manager and a coach there’s not enough time, but because of fatigue and because we’ve had a couple of clear weeks we’ve had a bit more time on the training ground. Because new players have come in and made a difference, as I said before that’s instilled a lot of confidence in the players already here. They can see that we can create more and do more both in and out of possession and that’s making them more comfortable in the way we’re playing.”
