‘Quality is miles apart’ – Baggie star makes Premier League admission
West Brom goalkeeper Sam Johnstone said that the difference in quality is “miles apart” between the Championship and Premier League.
The Baggies have endured a tough start to the season, picking up just three points from their opening seven matches.
Slaven Bilic’s side now sit 18th in the table and Johnstone admitted that the transition between the two leagues has been tough.
“Fulham wasn’t good enough but the previous two games we had played well and built some momentum,” he said (via Express and Star).
“People have to understand that our team is adapting to the Premier League having just come up from the Championship. The quality is miles apart – it’s so much better.
There is a lot of learning and improving to do. But it’s early days and we have to dig in and keep on fighting. There is a lot more to come from us.”
No time to waste
While the leap in quality between the two divisions is undoubtedly a big one, the Baggies do not have time to waste in adapting. Seven matches in and without a win, the difficult fixtures will continue to pile up and there is little respite.
The defeat against Fulham was a huge blow, given that Scott Parker’s team are most likely going to also be battling to stay up. Unless Bilic’s side are able to beat those struggling around them, it is hard to see where the wins can come from.
What makes the task harder is that West Brom are struggling at both ends of the pitch. No side in the league has conceded as many goals as the 16 that Johnstone has let in so far this season (via WhoScored). Against Fulham, they gave far too much space to the Cottagers’ attacker for the opening goal.
Going forward, the debate revolves around the use of Matheus Pereira and his usage, while Romaine Sawyers’ poor form and subsequent exclusion from the starting 11 has impacted their ability to control possession. Whichever way you look at it though, they have only scored six goals so far, from an expected goals metric of just 3.9 (via FBRef).
All in all, Bilic has plenty of issues to resolve and not much time to do it.
In other West Brom news, View: Bilic must make wholesale changes after dismal West Brom display v Fulham