John Swift: West Brom struggles a reality check

A return of just 14 points from the first 17 games of the season, including 11 from 13 games under Steve Bruce, left the Baggies mired in the bottom three.

Swift, though, reveals expectations were much higher upon his move from Reading. He said: “When I joined my mind was straight on we need to at least make the play-offs.

“And when we were 10 games in and down the bottom of the table it was a reality check for everyone, to be ‘just because we’re West Brom, it doesn’t mean you automatically deserve to be in or around the play-offs’.

“Obviously everything changed (under Carlos Corberan), performances got better but in reality we were still underachieving no matter where we were or how much we won, we were still underachieving.

“It would’ve been good to get into the play-offs to make up for the beginning of the season, I know that’s what everyone wanted, to prove to everyone watching us we are still the same team as the beginning of the season, but we are just a better team.”

Albion’s transformation under Corberan was stark and in less than a couple of months the Baggies had redirected their eyes at a play-off push.

Form levelled out, though, and a string of injuries to key regulars told, albeit Albion were able to take their play-off push to the final day of the campaign, but ultimately missed out.

Swift, 27, was a regular in Corberan’s side and the squad’s most prolific creator – but a lack of goals was telling as the side came up short.

The attacking midfielder explained how the switch from Berkshire to the Black Country meant a shift in mentality – and recalled how he and other players would raise their game for a trip to The Hawthorns.

“When I was at Reading quite a few season we were down the bottom of the Championship,” he said.

“So when you come up against a team down that way and you’re a team higher in the league, you almost do think it’s an easier game, but no game is easy.

“When you come up against West Brom, every single game is going to be tough, everyone wants to beat West Brom, Sheffield United, Burnley.

“Especially me, when I was at Reading and it was West Brom away I’d be really up for the game because it’s a massive stadium, there’s always a lot of fans watching.

“Every game we go into, we know it’s going to be really tough, players will want to prove themselves and ultimately beat you on the day. I don’t think ‘this player will turn up against me today’, I try to take up the same positions, play the same passes, some days they come off, some days they don’t.

“The days they don’t I’ve got to try to find something else in my game to try to put that right.”