Steve Madeley slams ‘Scrappy’ West Brom following Cardiff ‘sucker punch’
West Brom found themselves 1-0 down at half time against Cardiff City in their first game of 2022 on Sunday.
The Hawthorns witnessed some ‘scrappy’ football as the Albion’s first 45 minutes continued all too similar to the end of last year.
The Baggies enjoyed the best action of the half but failed to capitalise on their chances.
Cardiff then made matters worse through James Collins heading home from a corner before halftime.
Steve Madeley took to Twitter to share his frustrations: “Scrappy game from both teams. Albion went close once through Robinson but Cardiff, who weren’t great either, scored the only goal.
“A painfully familiar lack of fluidity from the home side, who are booed off. Poor game again.”
He later added: “Corner from the left and Collins gets in front of Clarke to head past Johnstone. Sucker punch for Albion, who had dominated the game without creating anything clear cut.”
Must do better
The defending has to be better from West Brom. It is all okay to think the Albion will be fine with the announcement of Daryl Dike who will surely help with goals down the other end.
But far too many times this season have Valerien Ismael’s men dominated the game and found themselves on the back end of a ‘sucker punch’ thanks to a lack of concentration in defence.
West Brom aren’t leaking an awful number of goals but at the moment we aren’t scoring that many either.
It is imperative the defence stands firm whilst the Baggies work on their primary issue of scoring which will be aided with Dike along with any further signings by the end of the January window.
One thing that will infuriate West Brom fans is if they start scoring, something we struggled to do at the best of times towards the back end of last year, but defensive issues cost us points.
Things must change and fast as the second half awaits.
In other Albion news, Where does Dike fit in at West Brom?