Goldberg alarmed by one thing he saw from West Brom players despite first win v Sheff U
Liquidator podcast host Adrian Goldberg said that there were lots of things to enjoy about the first win of the season for West Brom against Sheffield United.
However, he said that he was alarmed at the apparent lack of fitness from the West Brom players.
Talking on the latest episode of The Liquidator Goldberg said, “In terms of performance I thought it was really good in parts. There were lots of things to enjoy but lots of things not to enjoy about it.
“The first five minutes were woeful… The big question mark I had against Romaine Sawyers and the rest of the West Brom side was fitness.
“I thought the last 15-20 mins we fell away alarmingly. Slaven Bilic made som negative substitutions in a bid to try and shore up the team, but I thought the way they fell away, and there were two great chances for Sheffield United, I’m pointing questioning fingers at not just Sawyers but all our midfield for not being able to last 90 minutes.”
Three points is what counts
Let’s get one thing straight first. Three points are three points, but these were absolutely vitally important for the Baggies.
The importance of getting the first win of the season can’t be overstated and it doesn’t matter how it was achieved.
However, Goldberg makes a really good point here. You can forgive players most things but fitness shouldn’t be one of them.
If West Brom don’t have the best players in the Premier League they can make sure they’re the fittest. That’s the one thing in their control.
Sheffield United fans will consider themselves really unlucky not to get anything out of the game and West Brom fans had to run the gauntlet of emotions at the end.
xG stats from Understat show the true nature of the game with West Brom losing 1.72 to 3.37. However, West Brom got the ball in the back of the net and Sheffield United didn’t and that’s the only stat that matters at the end of the day.
Everything else is for Bilic to analyse and improve on.
In other news, ‘It’s only up the M6’ – Exclusive: West Brom 23y/o tipped to join Stoke on loan in Jan