Isaac Price Aims for Test Against Newcastle in Carabao Cup
Isaac Price is not heading to Newcastle just to make up the numbers. He wants a test – and he wants it now.
Fresh from a match-winning brace in West Bromwich Albion’s 3-1 victory over Burnley, the midfielder is relishing the Carabao Cup trip to St James’ Park on Wednesday, where Championship high-flyers Albion will measure themselves against Premier League opposition in Newcastle United.
“All the lads are buzzing,” Price told BBC WM Sport. These are the ties players crave: a raucous away night, a top-flight scalp in sight, and a stage big enough to show exactly how good they think they are. “They are the games you want to be drawn in, in the cup – to go and play away at a Premier League team and at a place where we can go and show our quality. I can't wait.”
A fast start – with a warning attached
Albion travel north in confident mood. Under head coach James Morrison, they have taken maximum points from their opening two Championship fixtures and already navigated a potential banana skin in the first round of the EFL Cup, seeing off League Two Rotherham United to earn this shot at Newcastle.
They sit second in the Championship and look far sharper than the nervous, frayed side that limped over the line last season. But Price is not fooled by early-season optimism. He has seen this film before.
Twelve months ago, Albion also opened brightly. Then the form fell off a cliff under Ryan Mason. Performances dipped, results collapsed and, by the end, they were clinging to their Championship status rather than chasing anything more ambitious.
That collapse has left scars – and lessons.
“Every game in the Championship is tough and it doesn't matter who you play,” Price said. “We had this last year – we started really well and it went downhill pretty fast, so it is about keeping our feet on the ground, keeping a level of consistency in performances to make sure that doesn't happen again.”
He talks like a player who has replayed those bad days in his head. Soft goals conceded. Big chances missed. Points tossed away.
“You are always learning as a player, even the lads who have played 2, 3, 400 games. It's about managing games and moments – we conceded a lot of goals that we shouldn't have last season and we didn't score enough at the other end.
This year I want to be a key player where I show that that can't happen and I want to be a leader in this team to make sure it doesn't happen.”
Morrison’s quiet authority
If Price is trying to grow into a leader on the pitch, Morrison has already done it off it.
The former Scotland international was thrown into the fire in February after Eric Ramsay’s sacking, inheriting a side sliding towards League One. What followed changed the club’s direction: a ten-match unbeaten run that dragged Albion away from danger and earned Morrison the job permanently.
He knows the place better than almost anyone. Three hundred and forty-one appearances in a West Brom shirt give him a rare authority, yet he wears it lightly.
“It's helpful for all the lads,” Price said. “He knows the club inside out. He's really humble – you wouldn't know day to day how many games he played and how many goals he scored for West Brom because he doesn't talk about it, but he is a legend and the lads love him.
“He's good around the changing room and he understands what we need. We look really good on the pitch at the moment, so it is about building the consistency which is what he wants.”
The word keeps coming back: consistency. It is the thread that runs through Price’s ambitions, Morrison’s message and Albion’s season.
Newcastle, who opened their league campaign with a 2-2 draw against Liverpool at St James’ Park, will be heavy favourites on Wednesday. Premier League pace. Premier League power. Premier League expectation.
For Price and West Brom, that is exactly the point.
They go to Tyneside with momentum, scars from last season, and a manager who has already hauled them back from the brink. Now comes the question that will define whether this start is different from the last one: can they turn early promise into something that lasts when the lights are brightest and the opposition is at its fiercest?
