‘It’s not good enough’ – West Brom player makes honest WBA admission, vows to improve

Conor Townsend claims that defensive performances at West Brom are costing his side points and that the Baggies will work on their rearguard play over the international break.

Townsend played the full 90 minutes in the Baggies’ last two Premier League games, in which they conceded five goals in a draw against Chelsea and a loss away at Southampton.

These games followed losses to Leicester and Everton, in which Slaven Bilic’s defence conceded eight goals. Speaking to the Express and Star, Townsend has admitted that this record needs to improve if the Baggies are to stay in the Premier League.

Townsend said: “We have to shore up the goals we are conceding, we’ve now got an international break, a bit more time to work on things. And tightening up at the back is the big thing we need to work on and we will be working on it.

“You look at the Chelsea game, we had to score three to get a point. It’s not good enough. We know that and we are all trying to pull together to improve. If we can start keeping clean sheets, we know we have got good players on the pitch.

“We are confident we can score goals. But it’s down to us as a full team to keep clean sheets. It’s not just the defenders, it’s the defenders all the way through to the strikers.”

The Baggies have shown that they can score goals, during the very impressive first half against Chelsea in which they went 3-0 up, and away at Goodison Park when Grady Diangana and Matheus Pereira scored two brilliant goals.

But on both those occasions, points have been dropped due to the defence, not helped at Everton by a stupid red card from Kieran Gibbs. It is the Baggies backline that will need to improve if their side are to avoid the drop this season.

Bilic has brought Cedric Kipre and Branislav Ivanovic to the Hawthorns in a bid to improve his defence. But Ivanovic is yet to see Premier League action and he is the man who can bring some much-needed experience to Bilic’s defence.

Of course, it is worth noting that games against Leicester, Chelsea and top of the table Everton weren’t the easiest games to try and keep a clean sheet in. So perhaps we will see a better defensive display when the Baggies take on Burnley after the international break. A side who are yet to register a point in the league this season.