Big pre-season loss leaves West Brom suffering the Blues
A 4-1 defeat away to League One opposition – ambitious, big-spending opposition at that – was no way Carlos Corberan wanted to bring Albion's pre-season to a close.
The St Andrew's mauling sent more than a few ripples of concern through the Baggies fanbase, particularly as it was a first glimpse of the squad in a friendly this summer.
With Saturday's trip to West London to tackle QPR looming large, threadbare Albion are very clearly far from the finished product.
We have a look at some of the key talking points from a somewhat painful warm-up afternoon.
Squad make-up
It says everything about Albion's current ranks a week before the season starts that it carried the bigger shock factor than a 4-1 defeat to City.
The starting XI looked decent enough – though not to challenge for the top six in my opinion – but an 11-man, or boy, bench had just Jayson Molumby, linked with a move away, with any sort of senior outfield experience.
Corberan's subs at St Andrew's were sprinkled across the last 20 minutes. Maybe it was a coincidence the Baggies fell apart in that period, or maybe not.
Jed Wallace (calf) is a big absentee, as is Grady Diangana (calf), two key attackers. The club's two newest recruits Paddy McNair and Devante Cole weren't deemed ready. A concern. Those aside there is so much to do. There is money to spend but it won't be splashed about wildly, it will be spread across more nominal fees and loan wage contributions.
Corberan said five or six more are needed. It will be a big effort to manage that. And how late will they arrive? Will they be ready? And what quality will they possess? Big questions.
