Allardyce’s comments about Grant and Robinson show he has been failed by Guochuan Lai
Sam Allardyce is not impressed with West Brom attackers Karlan Grant or Callum Robinson – and we can understand why.
The pair have contributed just three league goals this season and do not possess the quality required to perform in the Premier League.
That has been clear for some time, yet Guochuan Lai and Luke Dowling failed to address the obvious weakness in the January transfer window.
We knew our strikers were not good enough.
Hal Robson-Kanu had failed to start a league game under Slaven Bilic while Charlie Austin had zero goals in five games, and was shipped out on loan to QPR.
Despite our struggles, Mbaye Diagne was the only forward signed as a solution.
Allardyce must have made it clear that we needed reinforcements.
He suggests Grant and Robinson would have more game time if they possessed better goalscoring records, which hints that he would have wanted an upgrade on the pair in January.
His reported pursuit of Ahmed Musa [Express & Star] and Haris Seferovic [Express & Star] is evidence that signing forwards was high on his agenda.
The fact he was limited to only bringing in Diagne – a cheap and unreliable option due to his lack of Premier League experience – says it all about Lai.
It is his fault that we failed to strengthen quickly or effectively in the last window, and it is he who should be bearing the brunt of criticism currently, not Big Sam.
If we are to progress after our inevitable relegation then Allardyce (or whoever is in charge) must be given sufficient backing.
There are eight players in the squad whose contracts expire in the summer and they must be replaced with signings the manager wants.
We cannot afford to go with the cheap option once again.
Allardyce knows what it takes to get out of the Championship at the first time of asking and recruited brilliantly for West Ham when he achieved promotion in 2011/12 – Kevin Nolan was perhaps his best signing.
If we are to see the best of Big Sam at West Brom he will need to be given control of transfer strategy.
The additions of Okay Yokuslu and Mbaye Diagne shows he has an eye for talent, and if those two stay on next year we would have a great foundation for promotion.
In other West Brom news, Adrian Goldberg believes Allardyce’s continued faith in one Albion star is baffling.
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