West Bromwich Albion

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West Bromwich Albion full-back Brayann Pereira will have benefitted from turning down an international call-up to stay at The Hawthorns and work on settling in a the club, according to head coach James Morrison.

The 23-year-old decided not to travel for DR Congo's Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers and remain in England to train with the Baggies, having only joined the Championship club from NEC Nijmegen on transfer deadline day.

"He probably realised he needs a bit of work to fit into the system," Albion boss Morrison told BBC WM.

"When we signed him we knew he played in a different way but we've seen his attributes. We've been working with him a lot over the period so I welcome that.

"He's taken on board a lot of information and I've been really happy with him so he'll be ready to go."

West Brom return to Championship action at home to Birmingham City on Saturday (12:30 BST) with Pereira available after serving a suspension for being sent-off on his debut in a 1-0 win at Derby last month.

"As a player you know [when you've made a mistake] and I think he learned his lesson," Morrison added.

"How he plays he's always on the front foot so he'll learn a lot from that and will be wanting to put it right."

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Former West Bromwich Albion and Scotland forward Matt Phillips has announced his retirement from professional football.

The 35-year-old made 238 league appearances for the Baggies, scoring 28 goals during an eight-year stay at The Hawthorns which included three seasons in the Premier League.

Phillips started his career with Wycombe Wanderers before joining Blackpool and then QPR in 2013. He cost Albion £5.5m in 2016.

He made his Scotland debut in a 5-1 friendly win over the USA in May 2012, going on to make 16 senior international appearances and scoring one goal during a win over Hungary in 2018.

After leaving the Baggies in August 2024, Phillips spent 18 months with Oxford United before ending last season with Stevenage where he scored two goals in 19 League One games.

"It's been an amazing journey, as my professional playing career comes to an end let's see what's next," he said on social media., external

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West Bromwich Albion welcome Birmingham City for a West Midlands derby in the Championship on Saturday lunchtime (kick-off 12:30 BST).

It will be a second local derby in a row for the Baggies, who are hoping to bounce back from a 1-0 defeat at Wolves before the international break.

Blues have won just one of their past five games (D3 L1), but drew with promotion hopefuls Middlesbrough last time out, and will want to keep pace with the early frontrunners.

• West Bromwich Albion have won one of their past seven league games against Birmingham City (D2 L4), a 1-0 home win in February 2024.

• Since the start of the 2000-01 season, Birmingham City have two wins in their 13 away league matches against West Brom (D5 L6), winning 3-2 in both in 2005-06 and 2022-23.

• Since James Morrison's first league game in charge on February 28, West Brom are one of only two ever-present Championship teams without a home defeat (W4 D6), along with Southampton, with the Saints the only side with more home points (26) than the Baggies (18) in that time.

• Birmingham have drawn more Championship games than any other side this season (5) – it's the fourth time they've had this many draws after eight league games in a campaign, along with 1965-66 (5), 1980-81 (5) and 2018-19 (6).

• Liam Millar has been involved in four goals in his previous three Championship appearances for Birmingham (1 goal, 3 assists) – across their past three matches, the only Blues goal Millar hasn't either scored or assisted was a Riley McGree own goal in the 2-2 draw with Middlesbrough.

West Bromwich Albion summer signing Toby Collyer has confirmed that boss James Morrison spoke about his intention to bring him back to the club months before the transfer window opened.

The 22-year-old midfielder joined the Baggies on loan last season, only for an injury to cut his time with the club short, and he was subsequently loaned out to Hull City in January.

He returned to the Hawthorns as an unused substitute for the Tigers in March, and Morrison took the opportunity to talk to him briefly about his transfer plans.

"After the game, he said if I get the job then I'll look to bring you back," Collyer told BBC WM Sport.

The former England Under-20 international has praised Morrison's "great personality" which has not only helped him develop as an individual, but also allows him to share his own unique experiences with the team.

Prior to his first spell with Albion, Collyer was part of Manchester United's youth sides and being around a club under international public scrutiny is something he says helped him "grow up really quickly".

He added: "When I was there a couple of years ago we [at United] weren't in the best place in terms of results and that adds to the pressure, but I think that makes you better.

"If situations ever aren't going too well, I've been in situations like that before where I can understand what to do to try and get the lads out of it."

Watch the full interview above or listen on BBC Sounds here.

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West Bromwich Albion full-back Nolan Galves has been ruled out for the remainder of the season after undergoing knee surgery.

The 23-year-old summer signing from French club Rodez AF started Albion's first five league matches of the campaign before being rested for the game against Derby at Pride Park on 9 September.

He had to come on as a 37th-minute substitute after Brayann Pereira was sent off on his debut but the Frenchman then had to be replaced just 15 minutes later after going down following a challenge with Mo Fuseini.

Albion's director of medical, Tony Strudwick, told the club website:, external "Nolan sustained a significant knee injury in the game against Derby early in September.

"Following consultation with a knee specialist he underwent surgery earlier this week, including an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction.

"We expect him to miss the remainder of the season. He will complete his rehabilitation with the football club and we will support him every step of the way."

Strudwick also revealed Jimmy-Jay Morgan and Callum Styles were ruled out of international duty due to minor injuries sustained before the break but added: "We're hopeful they will be back in contention for the next match."

Fifth-placed Albion return to Championship action against Birmingham on 10 October (12:30 BST).

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National League club Solihull Moors have signed experienced Chesterfield centre-back Chey Dunkley and teenage West Bromwich Albion defender Carter Pinnington on loan until 26 December.

Dunkley, 34, has also represented Oxford, Wigan, Sheffield Wednesday and Shrewsbury in the English Football League.

Pinnington, 19, joined Albion from Liverpool in the summer but is yet to make a competitive first-team appearance for the Baggies.

Both players were named in the starting line-up for Tuesday's National League game against Woking.

Former West Bromwich Albion midfielder Richard Sneekes thinks James Morrison needs to be more adaptable if the Baggies are to enjoy success this season.

Speaking on BBC WM's Football Phone-In, Sneekes, who played more than 250 games for the Baggies between 1996 and 2001, said he was disappointed in the manner of Wolves' goal in the derby defeat at Molineux last time out.

Nat Phillips' tame backpass allowed Fer Lopez to score the only goal as Morrison's men missed the chance to go joint-top of the Championship.

Sneekes said: "I think you need to tweak a few things, if you play out of the back and press high and make a mistake, look what happens. I know it's against (Morrison's) philosophy but needs must sometimes.

"I just do not understand why people want to play that way, it's such an easy way to gift people goals. The likes of Barcelona and Man City can do it because they can attract the best players.

"I was disappointed in conceding the goal, you could see it happening in the games before and it could have been easily avoided."

Despite Albion's second defeat in the opening eight games, the Dutchman, 57, remains positive about the campaign as a whole, after narrowly avoiding relegation to League One last season.

"If you look at it until now they have got to be (aiming) close to the play-offs," he said.

But he added: "It's a very young group, how are they going to deal with adversity?

"Sometimes you can't just play the same way. That's where you have to find solutions by doing things a little bit differently."

West Bromwich Albion defender Conor Townsend labelled their Black Country derby 1-0 loss to Wolverhampton Wanderers their "worst performance of the season".

Albion goalkeeper Max O'Leary made a handful of excellent saves to keep the margin of defeat to just one goal, scored by Fer Lopez in the 50th minute.

Wolves produced an expected goals (xG) of 1.96 from 15 shots, six of which were on target, while the Baggies struggled to exert their attacking threat with an xG of just 0.27 from seven shots, two being on target.

"As a team, we could be better on the ball," Townsend said.

"This season we've been brilliant at playing out and building and moving the ball and we didn't do anywhere near enough. I thought the first 10 minutes we did but then we went away from what we're good at."

But the experienced 33-year-old isn't just reflecting on his disappointment, he's also looking to how they need to respond with their next fixture at home to Birmingham City on 10 October.

"It's our worst performance of the season," Townsend added. "To come in this game, it's hard to take.

"The dressing room was really despondent after as you'd imagine but we've had a good start to the season in general.

"There's a lot of positives, it's a young dressing room and now is the point where we need to stick together as a team, as a club."

Listen to the full interview above or on BBC Sounds here.

We asked for your thoughts after Wolverhampton Wanderers' 1-0 win over West Bromwich Albion in Sunday's derby encounter.

Here are some of your comments:

Wolves fans

Dave: Absolutely battered the Baggies, rock solid at the back and although we didn't dominate possession, we created almost all of the chances. They never looked like scoring, even from set-pieces. Only their GK kept the score respectable. Convincing victory even without two of our best players (Raul and Krejci).

Brian: Much better, hard work, tough tackles, making chances. This is exactly what the fans want to see and needs to be the standard every week.

Robert: Wolves were brilliant for the vast majority of the game. Every player was on the money from the kick-off. Need to repeat this level regularly to win promotion though.

Simon: Great high pressure performance which provided the right result. However Wolves, at home, need to convert their chances when they're on top, to avoid nervy final minutes. They also need to learn to stop playing too deep when going ahead, instead continue persevering with the high tempo football to reap the rewards they deserve.

James: Wolves did well. Limited Albion threat to a minimum. Scored the important goal that wins the tight local derby.

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West Brom fans

Jonathan: Derby loss hurts but response is more important. O'Leary superb. When facing high press defenders need to know when to get rid. Quicker interplay up front needed to create chances. Potential is there for rest of season.

Paul: We were never in the game, you could say we froze. Our young players will learn from this game and hopefully will return to how we have played this season.

Mac: Poor passing, no person with any aggression for a derby, no passion, no-one with any idea how to score a goal, if it wasn't for O'Leary or could have been 4-0.

Peter: We were the better side and lost by a stupid mistake by Phillips. But that's football for you.

Stephen: Midfield needs sorting, Price corner kicks are not good enough, need to play a winger. You can't play Price and Whitwell in the same team. Styles need to be down the left, makes room for Price, gives him room to operate. Totally out-played and out-fought.

Ged Scott
BBC Sport England

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West Bromwich Albion boss James Morrison summed up the defining moment of the 2026 Black Country derby by admitting: "You can't gift goals like that."

But he then threw a protective arm round the shoulder of the culprit, defender Nat Phillips, whose poor backpass let in Wolves frontman Fer Lopez for the game's only goal..

"He owned up to his mistake," said Morrison. "But Nat's been immense over the last couple of weeks.

"We had loads of time. There was a gap to play the ball forwards and we turned it down. That's what I'm disappointed in.

"In games like this, you have to be able to deal with the pressure. We just didn't have that belief. We went backwards and we did that too many times.

"We caused our own anxiety and that gave them a lift. They had the belief they could come after us and get success from it.

"I was delighted to get to half-time at 0-0. Max O'Leary made some fantastic saves and I thought we can have a reset. But we went backwards. Maybe it was just a bit of being safe rather than getting forwards and imposing ourselves.

"We made too many mistakes and you can't do that in a game like this.

"We didn't have the quality at the top end of the pitch and that's something we're going to have to address. But mistakes happen. Now I want to see a reaction."

The only frustration for the Albion boss after suffering only his second defeat in eight Championship games this season - and only their third in 19 league games going back to February - is that they must now wait until 10 October after the extended international break before they host their next game, another derby against Birmingham City.