Ally Robertson: West Brom have lacked creativity since Pereira left

Mathematically there is still a chance of the play-offs.

And I’m sure Steve Bruce and the players won’t give up – after all it is possible in this league to win four or five games on the spin.

But the reality is a place in the top six is now almost certainly beyond us.

And that means we can start to look ahead.

Once again we massively underperformed against Stoke.

On the one hand you have to give Michael O’Neill’s side some credit.

They were compact and organised and difficult to break down.

But we didn’t have anyone who could make something happen.

We didn’t have anyone who could change the game.

And the truth is we haven’t had that player ever since Matheus Pereira left.

Adding more flair to the squad is absolutely imperative this summer.

I think we need more creativity in central midfield and also in the forward positions.

We need players who are better on the ball and who make better runs.

To be fair to Andy Carroll, he battles for every ball.

How many headers did he win against Stoke?

But there was nobody within 10 or 15 yards of him picking up those flick-ons and second balls. All his good work went to waste.

Carroll is a striker who, on the one hand, I would have liked to play against. I’d have enjoyed the physical battle. And he isn’t a runner.

But on the other hand I wouldn’t have enjoyed playing against him because he is very, very, good.

He is so strong in the air but how many crosses did we put in for him to attack against Stoke – one, maybe two?

We needed to get the ball wide and whip it in for him. But we just didn’t do it. We have to start playing to Carroll’s strengths more because the boy really is a threat.

Now the play-offs look out of sight, there has been some suggestion Bruce will play Alex Palmer in the final five games.

The manager is in a difficult position because he will still want to win as many games as possible.

But I wouldn’t be against that.

We all know Sam Johnstone is going to leave at the end of the season.

He has been fantastic for us and I wish him all the best for the future.

He will, understandably, feel he needs to be in the Premier League.

It’s a massive disappointment he’s leaving on a free transfer – the club needed to get him tied down long ago.

But with his future elsewhere, I don’t think there is any harm in looking at Palmer – or even David Button – in the final few games.

It can only help long-term in my opinion.

Finally this week, I just want to say how much I enjoyed being part of Foundation Day at the Albion on Saturday.

We raised thousands of pounds for the club’s brilliant powerchair team.

I’d like to talk about the foundation a lot more in this column over the next few months. I’ve started working for them three days a week.

And that has really opened my eyes to all the fantastic work they do. It really is incredible.

It’s an absolute honour for me to be a part of it.

I love getting out there and speaking to the fans.

Since I’ve started working there, my wife says I have become a different bloke.

She says I always come home smiling after getting to see, first-hand, the wonderful work they have done.

I’ll be out with bucket again on Friday so don’t forget to bring your change!