West Brom confidence is ‘everything’ to changing fortunes – Steve Bruce
Things haven’t quite gone to plan for Steve Bruce at West Brom since he took over from Valerien Ismael at The Hawthorns earlier in January.
Three defeats and one draw in his four games so far isn’t exactly what you’d call ‘new manager bounce’ and the goal drought has continued too.
It took until that fourth game for Bruce’s Baggies to find the net thanks to a deflected Jayson Molumby strike away at Middlesbrough and even then they went on to throw away a one-goal lead.
It’s a tough task ahead for Bruce but the boss knows that there is just one key component missing that’s stopping Albion from turning things around.
“I thought we played okay for an hour at Middlesbrough but that has been a trait of ours that we have done okay in bits and pieces,” Bruce said, as quoted by the Express and Star.
“There have been parts of the games that I have been pleased with; the first half at Luton and Middlesbrough, and the first 35 minutes at Sheffield, we were okay.
“But you have to be able to sustain it. As soon as we come under it, the confidence just seems to drain away and we have to repair that.
“Confidence is the big word, it is everything.”
Perfect Opportunity
You could have excused the opposition for the first four games of Bruce’s reign at West Brom with every team they’ve faced to this point on the up and challenging for promotion or the playoffs.
On Monday, however, this is not the case and the 61-year-old will get his best chance yet at securing that first win as Baggies boss.
Swansea City are the visitors to The Hawthorns and are one of the few teams to have a worse goal-scoring record than Albion in the Championship this season.
They also haven’t won on the road since a 2-0 triumph over Barnsley in November having lost 2-0, 3-0 and 4-0 in their past three games away from home.
There are no excuses now, this is quite simply a must-win game for Bruce and West Brom if they are to stop the freefall down the second tier.
In other West Brom news, two first-team regulars are out of Monday’s clash with one falling ill.
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