Carlos Corberan hailed the impact of West Brom’s January recruitment drive as two new signings scored in his side’s 2-0 victory over Cardiff.
Winger Mikey Johnston, who arrived in the window on loan from Celtic, opened the scoring after just 30 seconds before Bristol City loanee Andreas Weimann emerged from the bench to secure the points in the 80th minute.
West Brom’s fifth win on the spin on home soil was significantly influenced by the new recruits, who have turned the heat up on Corberan’s pre-existing attacking options in competing for places – but that is something the Spaniard now relishes when selecting his team.
“It’s necessary to have these options,” Corberan said. “It’s something key, because if you don’t rotate the players, at the end you have more injuries.
“For us, as a club, it was necessary for us to add more attacking options, because we needed to increase the options we had. Right now, we’re using the players, because it’s necessary to have that impact from the bench.
“Our players now know that we have now good options. They believe in the team-mates they have. Our attacking players know that if they’re not at 100 per cent, we have others who will be. They understand it’s a strength we have and must use.
“It can never be a problem, to have two or three players competing in every position – now we have those alternatives.”
West Brom effectively began the match a goal ahead when Tom Fellows crossed for fellow winger Johnston, who stroked the ball home after just 30 seconds.
Cardiff tried to draw level prior to half-time, but Josh Wilson-Esbrand did not sufficiently worry Alex Palmer with his shot from distance.
Palmer would have been concerned, though, when Kion Etete met Aaron Ramsey’s header at the back post, and West Brom were thankful when the centre forward skewed his attempt over the bar from close range.
With it went the visitors’ most significant opening of the evening, and they were punished shortly afterwards when Jed Wallace collected a through-ball on the right and fired a cross in for Weimann to turn home.
For Cardiff manager Erol Bulut, there was only regret that his side did not take their one significant opportunity to equalise when the chance came their way.
“It’s difficult when you concede a goal in the first minute against West Brom, who are at home, with quality players,” he said.
“It’s not easy but we pushed really hard, especially in the second half, we had chances to score and make it 1-1, with Kion and with Ramsey.
“If you don’t score, it’s normal that at the end they get the second one, because we were pushing to get the second one.
“Opponents, when they get those chances they are scoring and we are not scoring. This is the difference. We have the chances, but we are not scoring.”
Southgate 'excited' by final England squad for Euro 2024
Gareth Southgate says he is "excited" by the players he has picked after confirming his 26-man squad for Euro 2024.
It was announced earlier on Thursday that James Maddison, Curtis Jones and Harry Maguire had already been cut from the 33-man preliminary party.
It was later revealed that Jack Grealish, James Trafford, Jarell Quansah and Jarrad Branthwaite would also miss out on the tournament.
Despite leaving some big names out, and losing some tournament experience along with them, Southgate says he is particularly looking forward to seeing the attacking threat his team possess.
"I'm excited," he said in a press conference on Thursday. "The other night [against Bosnia-Herzegovina], we had a lot of experienced attacking players not on the starting grid. And we had a lot of goals in the team still.
"We saw some fantastic performances the other night which underlined some of that and in the attacking area of the pitch we're blessed with a lot of options and they're all slightly different.
"In terms of where we are, we're excited about what we have. There's always the unknown of that in a tournament, but there's a lot of experience of tournaments in the group, and of big matches with their clubs as well.
"It's impossible to say if it's the squad you wanted. It's the squad we've picked that we feel is best equipped in this moment in time.
"Sometimes you have to regenerate the group more than you're expecting, but that has already brought a hunger and a competitiveness."
Maddison and Grealish were two of the big-name omissions, while Maguire confirmed in a statement that he would be missing out due to a calf problem that has kept him out since April.
Asked about the decision not to include them in the tournament, Southgate admitted it was tough, but he had to base it on recent form.
"They've all been amazing with how they've dealt with it, but I know it's a difficult day for them and their team-mates," Southgate said.
"The fact is we've got some players who have been playing extremely well all season in the league, and we just feel other players have had stronger seasons - particularly in the past six months or so.
"Madders [Maddison] and Jack [Grealish] would have provided us with something different as well, and they've been tough calls. They're calls we've gone over and over and over as a group of staff to try to be fair and to try to use the right rationale.
"The decision on Harry [Maguire] is totally about his physical condition and his recovery from the injury. There is no other reason, as he is one of our strongest centre-backs."
Along with Maguire, Southgate left out two other centre-backs in Quansah, who will remain on standby with the squad for the Iceland game on Friday, and Branthwaite, while the injured Luke Shaw remains as the only recognised left-back.
"It's a bit early for Jarrad [Branthwaite]. He has had a fabulous season; it was good to get him on the pitch the other night," Southgate added.
"But of course, in an ideal world, you'd like that balance of left-footers. For him to be in ahead of the others, I don't think it would have been the right call at this stage.
"At left-back, that's why we've taken what I think is a calculated risk with Luke Shaw, one which I think is worth taking."
England will play Iceland in their final friendly before beginning their Euro 2024 campaign against Serbia in Group C on June 16, before coming up against Denmark and Slovenia.
Final England squad: Dean Henderson (Crystal Palace), Jordan Pickford (Everton), Aaron Ramsdale (Arsenal), Lewis Dunk (Brighton), Joe Gomez (Liverpool), Marc Guehi (Crystal Palace), Ezri Konsa (Aston Villa), Luke Shaw (Manchester United), John Stones (Manchester City), Kieran Trippier (Newcastle United), Kyle Walker (Manchester City), Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Conor Gallagher (Chelsea), Kobbie Mainoo (Manchester United), Declan Rice (Arsenal), Adam Wharton (Crystal Palace), Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid), Jarrod Bowen (West Ham), Eberechi Eze (Crystal Palace), Phil Foden (Manchester City), Anthony Gordon (Newcastle United), Karry Kane (Bayern Munich), Cole Palmer (Chelsea), Bukayo Saka (Arsenal), Ivan Toney (Brentford), Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa).
Gibraltar 0-0 Wales: Dragons held as hosts end losing streak
Gibraltar ended their longest-ever losing run following a 0-0 draw with Wales, a team ranked 174 places above them in the FIFA rankings.
Julio Cesar Ribas' side had not won since seeing off Andorra 1-0 back in November 2022.
Since then, they had lost all 13 of their matches by an aggregate score of 0-50.
Yet Gibraltar proved rock solid against a youthful Wales team on Thursday, with Josh Sheehan's inswining corner coming back off the crossbar in the visitors' best opportunity.
Indeed, Wales failed to truly trouble Gibraltar goalkeeper Jaylan Hankins otherwise, despite registering 16 shots and having an xG of 1.13.
Wales did, though, equal their longest unbeaten run in Robert Page's tenure in all competitions (W4 D5), the last time they managed that was between September 2021 and March 2022 (nine games – W4 D5).
Data Debrief: Page gives the kids a chance but away woes rumble on
Away from home in all competitions, Wales have won just three of their 14 games under Page (D5 L6), while in that time they have only scored 3+ goals once before, against Belarus in September 2021.
Charlie Crew's 78th-minute introduction, meanwhile, saw him equal the record as the youngest player to play for Wales since Leeds United team-mate Ethan Ampadu against the Republic of Ireland in September at 17 years and 357 days old.
Lozano becomes first San Diego designated player signing
San Diego FC have signed Hirving Lozano as the first Designated Player in the club's history.
The Mexico international will make the move on January 1 ahead of San Diego's first season in the MLS, remaining with his current club, PSV, for the rest of 2024.
Lozano is just the fourth player to join the club and has signed a four-year contract, with the option to extend for a further two years.
"It's an honor to join San Diego FC as the club's first designated player," said Lozano.
"It's exciting to be part of history as we build a club that will compete for championships in MLS. In every country I have played, I always strive to leave a mark, and making an impact in San Diego and MLS is very important to me."
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