Journalist Lewis Cox unleashes scathing assessment of West Brom defence after opening day defeat
The defensive display by West Brom in their defeat to Blackburn Rovers on Saturday 05 August has been described as “terrible”, “horrible” and “dire” by Express and Star Journalist Lewis Cox.
Cox was damningly critical in his column on 7 August, of the defending which saw the Baggies fall to two early goals in their opening Championship fixture, claiming the mistakes made were completely avoidable, insisting that a lot of work still needs to be done on this squad.
Despite his highly critical assessment, Cox also shared his view that no drastic conclusions should be reached on the first day of the season, with most people aware that new recruits could make their way to the club before the transfer window closes.
Writing in his analysis column for the Express and Star, Cox ranted: “There is no getting away from it, the totally avoidable individual errors that gift-wrapped Jon Dahl Tomasson’s men their goals were dire stuff. It is the kind of defending that Albion cannot allow to plague their season.
“The manner of the second goal was horrible. Instead of regrouping to take their medicine at 1-0 having been the better side, Albion – via Kipre – handed the hosts a second on a platter. It was a terrible way to respond.
“No drastic conclusions need reaching from day one of the league season. Most people are aware – should Corberan and Ian Pearce manage to pull off a couple more decisive new recruits – Saturday’s starting line-up is not how Albion will ideally look this time next month.”
A harsh assessment, but a correct one
While Cox is certainly harsh with his analysis of the Baggies’ opening-day defeat, he is right to be critical of completely avoidable defensive errors which led to unnecessary goals. To go two goals down so early on through your own errors is a terrible way to begin a new season.
If West Brom are hopeful of making the playoffs this season in their bid to secure promotion back to the Premier League, after narrowly missing out last season, they will need to eliminate these errors from their game.
It will be a case of back to the training ground as far as Carlos Corberan is concerned, with plenty of work still to be done on what is an inarguably weakened squad from that at his disposal last season.
New signings will certainly be needed at the Hawthorns, although they may be difficult to come by due to the Baggies’ sell-to-buy status as they look to balance the books. Should Premier League loans become available towards the end of the transfer window, they will need to capitalise.
In other West Brom news, new rules have been described as ‘farcical’ as Corberan couldn’t speak to media.