West Brom blog: Baggies pay for inconsistency
West Brom were simply not consistent enough over the course of the season and it’s hard to argue that relegation to the second tier wasn’t deserved, writes Baggies blogger Nathan Carr.
The campaign is 38 games, not five, and frankly the team failed to show enough quality and fight across those 38 games to warrant another year in the Premier League.
One of the biggest tuning points was the 2-2 draw at home to Watford in late September, when Richarlison headed in that stoppage-time equalizer which set the tone for what was to follow.
Losing to the likes of Brighton, Southampton, Huddersfield, Swansea, Stoke, West Ham and Bournemouth was always going to prove costly.
These are all sides with similar targets that needed to be beaten for us to stand a decent chance of staying up.
The period between January and March was a crunch period with a relatively favourable run of fixtures both home and away, yet we wasted opportunity after opportunity to build some momentum and climb up the table, losing eight in a row.
And it’s a great shame, because I still hold the view that the current squad is, on paper and when everyone is fit, the best we’ve had in the Premier League era. It’s a top 10 squad which is what makes it so more painful to have witnessed what we witnessed this season.
Ultimately, the players, the management and the board are all to blame for underperforming and making the wrong decisions.
We have to put this season behind us and look forward to 2018/19 – a clean slate and an opportunity to rebuild and come back stronger.
