Pundit slams West Brom defender Kyle Bartley for shocking defensive display v Birmingham
Kyle Bartley had a night to forget as West Brom suffered a 3-2 defeat to local rivals Birmingham City on Wednesday night.
West Brom’s poor start to the season drags on, with the Baggies now sitting 20th in the Championship after a Scott Hogan hattrick sunk Steve Bruce’s side at The Hawthorns.
Defensive mistakes were too common throughout the match, with Bartley in particular making a number of mistakes before being hooked off in the 77th minute.
The 31-year-old was singled out by Dean Ashton during ITV’s EFL Highlights Show (16m 40s) for his poor defending in Birmingham’s third goal of the match.
“This is too easy,” said Ashton.
“Once he [Hogan] gets into this position there’s no way he should end up at the goalkeeper’s feet.
“Given too much space and when you’re confident and on a hattrick then you make those finishes look easy.”
Time for change
Wednesday was not Bartley’s first horror show in West Brom colours. The experienced defender is terribly low on confidence after a dreadful start to the season, and he needs to be taken out of the spotlight by Bruce.
Bruce was forced to take him off against Birmingham after jeers and boos by the West Brom faithful, and the fans’ voice should act as enough reason to see him dropped for this weekend’s trip to Norwich City.
After such a poor start to the Championship campaign, West Brom simply can’t afford to allow Bartley to keep making mistakes, and it’s hardly a surprise that the side improved after he was taken off on Wednesday.
While most of the fingers are being pointed at the management of the side, Bartley is certainly not blameless for West Brom’s dire start to the season. If he’s not dropped on Saturday then Bruce is asking for the chop.
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