West Brom defeat v Luton ‘not acceptable’ for Bruce
West Brom suffered yet another defeat in the Championship yesterday as they were comfortably beaten by Luton Town at Kenilworth Road.
Second-half goals from Cameron Jerome and Allan Campbell put the Hatters beyond the reach of the Baggies despite a number of chances for Steve Bruce’s side throughout the contest.
Luton move above West Brom as a result and manager Bruce was furious at his side’s lacklustre display on the road.
“The one thing I won’t be doing is trying to [swear] anyone,” Bruce said, as quoted by the Express and Star.
“I won’t accept the second half from a team of mine. We need to instil that into them because I won’t accept the second half.
“I thought we should have been in front in the first half, but I have to say our reaction to conceding a goal was not enough.
“To say I’m disappointed with it is an understatement and I can only apologise to the people who followed us. As soon as we went a goal behind we didn’t do anything to redeem it.
“In the first half, we had one or two big opportunities where we must score to give everybody a lift. But second-half, in particular, was not acceptable.”
Not just a lack of attack anymore
A lot has been made of West Brom’s woeful attacking record in recent weeks with eight blanks in their last 10 games in the Championship but it isn’t all in the goal-scoring department where the problems lie.
The two Hatters goals on Saturday were largely down to poor defending with Campbell’s long-range shot, in particular, showing a complete lack of closing down.
It may have been a great strike but more pressure needed to be put on the former Newcastle midfielder to stop him from getting that shot away.
It was more good old-fashioned forward play from Jerome for the first but that too was preventable.
If the attack is struggling as much as it is, then the defence can’t afford any lapses in concentration because they can’t rely on out-scoring the opposition at the moment.
There are big questions for Bruce to both ask and answer with still no goals and only one clean sheet in his three games so far.
In other West Brom news, an academy player at The Hawthorns is wanted by some of the country’s biggest clubs.