Nigel Quashie blames West Brom players for terrible form under Steve Bruce
It is the responsibility of the West Brom players to improve their performances after yet another defeat, according to ex-Baggie Nigel Quashie.
Despite finally scoring a goal, Steve Bruce’s men went down 2-1 at Middlesbrough last night to leave the new boss winless and the club stuck in 11th place in the Championship.
Former midfielder Quashie believes there is too much focus on the man in charge, rather than the underperforming playing staff, who he slammed for their lack of competitiveness at the Riverside Stadium.
Writing on his personal Twitter account he said: “We can all go on about managers.
“It’s players responsibility to compete, have the right mindset & attitude to fight for every ball.
“The willingness to win 1st & 2nd balls tonight all over the park was frightening.
“[Steve Bruce] has a rebuilding process for next season”.
In a subsequent reply, responding to a fan who blamed Bruce, he added: “When things are not going well it takes leaders to get a grip of players around them and demand from each other on the pitch not the managers.
“You can’t teach players to get their foot in, compete and fight for balls all over the pitch.
“That’s the minimum in this game”.
Miserable run
There is plenty of blame to go around for the rapidly deteriorating situation at the Hawthorns.
The removal of Valerien Ismael has yielded one point and a solitary goal in the four matches since, with newly-installed Bruce so far having little affect.
That is either a damning indictment of his ability to get his ideas across, or the players’ ability to implement them, or both.
For a club that was third in the table as recently as mid-December, it is an alarming drop off for them to be struggling so badly game after game.
It is hard to see where a spark is going to come from currently, with the chance in manager doing so little and the mood among the squad apparently so poor.
This is a manager and a group of players who have proven they can perform in the Championship before so returns should be far greater than they are.
The return of Daryl Dike may be the boost that they are relying on at this point, unless the manager to unearth a free agent from somewhere.
For now it is up to the available players, and Quashie clearly believes it is a mental issue, with the level of commitment to turn things around not being shown.
In other West Brom news, the player ratings from last night’s match saw one receive a dreadful 3/10.