Sky Sports pundit Andy Hinchliffe slams shocking West Brom defending during 2-0 loss to Hull City
Sky Sports pundit Andy Hinchcliffe has slammed the “shocking” defending by West Brom, which led to Hull City’s second goal in the loss on Friday night (3 March).
The Baggies left the MKM Stadium with their tails between their legs after an uninspired performance resulted in a 2-0 loss in the Championship clash.
After Benjamin Tetteh’s eye-catching opener, Carlos Corberan’s side fell two goals behind when Dara O’Shea inadvertently diverted an inswinging corner into his own net.
Commentating live on Sky Sports (Friday 3 March, 21:21pm), Hinchcliffe tore the Baggies’ defence to shreds after Sean McLoughlin was able to rise unopposed to get the initial touch on the corner.
“Some shocking defending. It’s far too easy,” he said.
“It’s a decent ball in, it’s inswinging, it’s pacy, but really you have got to attack the ball better than that. It’s just helped on its way. Maybe it comes off Dara O’Shea eventually, he just tries to attack the ball in behind McLoughlin.
“It’s because there’s a lot of pace on the ball, it’s drifting back towards the target. Any touch – attacking touch or defensive touch – and it’s going to flash past the goalkeeper.
“It’s just not convincing defending from West Brom, and they’ve got a mountain to climb now.”
Frustrating
West Brom weren’t at the races on Friday night in what could prove to be a crucial clash in their promotion chances.
Corberan’s side haven’t been at their fluent best over the past few weeks, and in a match when they had a chance to close the gap to their promotion rivals before they even took to the field, they unfortunately, couldn’t take home the three points.
Consistency has been an issue for the Baggies recently, and they still haven’t been able to record consecutive wins since the turn of the year. It seems to be a case of one step forward and two steps back in their chase for promotion this season.
If they are going to launch a realistic promotion push this campaign, they will need to cut out the sloppy defending that was on show for this corner and try to recapture their terrific defensive record from Corberan’s early days as manager.
In other West Brom news, the fans are demanding a meeting with the owner as questions about a £5m loan refuse to go away.