OPINION
Darren Moore must axe Kyle Bartley and Tyrone Mears if he wants to field his best possible line-up in West Brom’s clash against Reading at The Hawthorns this weekend.
Albion go into Saturday’s game off the back of a 2-2 draw with Sheffield Wednesday, which highlighted some serious flaws in Moore’s squad, especially in the defence.
The senior duo of Bartley, 27, and Mears, 35, were woeful at Hillsborough and should be axed – with somewhat of a left-field twist.
Chris Brunt is clearly not a central midfielder, but where did his assist come from when the Owls scored an own-goal? The right-flank. Brunt clearly has enough of a right foot to play on the right and given the fact that Mears is no good, it would be a good shout to start the club captain as a wing-back as Matt Phillips remains an injury doubt.
Exciting midfielder Sam Field must be brought in to replace Brunt in the central midfield role to add some dynamism to the side, while Gareth Barry must return to the starting line-up as a left-sided centre-back. He may not be natural in that position, but neither is Bartley and Barry does posses the ball-playing attributes to be able to do a solid job.
For the rest of the team, Sam Johnstone must start in goals with Craig Dawson and Ahmed Hegazi joining Barry in the back-three.
With Brunt as the right-sided wing-back in this line-up, Kieran Gibbs must start on the opposite flank as he continues to impress this season.
Field is yet to earn a league start under Darren Moore’s leadership, but must do this weekend and seven-times England international Jake Livermore should be picked to partner him.
Albion’ front three is the most feared in the league and it would be crazy to divert away from using Harvey Barnes in the No 10 role behind Dwight Gayle and Jay Rodriguez.
West Brom’s record against Reading has not been the best over the years with the Black Country club winning just two of the last 13 meetings dating back to 1997.
However with this line-up, Moore’s side will be able to tear the Royals to shreds and pile more woes on Paul Clement’s side.