Five talking points from West Brom's defeat to Bristol City
Albion fans turned on the board during Tuesday's 3-2 defeat to Bristol City at Ashton Gate. Here are five talking points from the game.
1 BAGGIES BOARD FEELING THE HEAT
At 3-0 down there were chants of ‘sack the board’ from an angry away end. James Shan did well to stabilise Albion following Darren Moore’s sacking but now the rudderless Baggies are limping into the play-offs with no recognised manager in the dugout and in desperate need of some leadership from the top.
Even if their preferred candidates to succeed Moore aren’t available until summer, technical director Luke Dowling and chief executive Mark Jenkins need to find a short-term plan supporters can get behind.
2 JAMES SHAN UNFAIRLY IN THE SPOTLIGHT
He’s a bright coach who has exceeded expectations and on Tuesday, his tactical shift to a back three after 25 minutes did help stem the tide. But expecting a caretaker with eight months of first team experience to mount a promotion charge at the business end of the season is fanciful.
After the game, he found himself responding to questions with ‘that’s probably one for the board’ and admitted he didn’t know if he’d be in charge against Preston North End. That amount of uncertainty isn’t helpful during a promotion push. It's time to hear from the decision makers.
3 SLOW STARTS A DISEASE THAT CANNOT BE RID
It’s been a common theme this season, particularly in 2019. Albion have a nasty habit of shooting themselves in the foot early on and give themselves a mountain to climb. But this particular opening blitz took the biscuit.
Whether it’s a mental fragility, or arrogance, it shows now signs of stopping. The most concerning thing is Shan revealed afterwards he’d told his team to play ‘no-risk’ football at the back, and those instructions were seemingly ignored.
4 FRONT TWO SHOULD BE FIRING ALBION UP
Jay Rodriguez became the first Albion player to score 20 league goals in a season since Kevin Phillips, and yet there was little fanfare, and little to celebrate. Dwight Gayle is just two behind him after hitting his 18th.
Despite having two of the league’s top eight scorers, automatic promotion is now out of the question. That’s because too often this season the team has failed to convince, while individuals have bailed the Baggies out. Will that be enough to get Albion through the pressure cooker of the play-offs?
5 DEADLINE DAY BUSINESS YET TO FULLY DELIVER
Albion were widely heralded as having the best deadline day of the January transfer window, but Jacob Murphy and Jefferson Montero were nowhere to be seen on Tuesday and have struggled to cement a place in the team.
Stefan Johansen hasn’t always convinced either, although he was improved in the second half at Ashton Gate, and finally started to show the player he was for Fulham last season. There’s still time, but that business has failed to live up to expectation so far.
