It’s another rollover by abysmal Albion
ALAN PARDEW criticised Gareth Barry’s decision to go to a Birmingham nightclub less than 24 hours before the latest defeat in West Bromwich Albion’s miserable season.
Barry is injured and did not break any rules, but the pictures that emerged yesterday of the 37-year-old midfielder will not have gone down well with fans after the Barcelona escapade.
It is another story that gives the impression West Brom have given up on this season. Fans stayed away from yesterday’s game and players failed to show up too. Pardew is having little effect as manager. Yesterday was an eighth successive loss for West Brom, obliging participants in their relegation.
The result never looked in doubt from the moment Ashley Barnes put Burnley in front with a spectacular volley — his fourth goal in as many games.
After Chris Wood added a second with 15 minutes left, the home fans who had turned up started streaming out.
Salomon Rondon pulled one back, but it was far too little and far too late. Barry was the subject of unsavoury chants from home fans and though Pardew said there was no curfew for players not involved yesterday, he agreed the choice of pre-match routine was poor.
‘I know he was in for treatment this morning and he was on time,’ Pardew said. ‘His engagements off the football pitch in his personal life are his personal life. He was under no jurisdiction with us. Was it wise to do that on the eve of a game? Probably not.’
With West Brom 10 points from safety, Pardew admitted motivating his players was ‘tough’. He added: ‘Anybody who is a football person would see that the team were trying, they were just nervous. I have sympathy with them a little bit, but there’s also part of me saying, “Come on then, you’ve got to be stronger than that”.’
At the final whistle Burnley manager Sean Dyche strode on to the pitch with the same sure-footed style his team had employed to applaud the visiting fans and perhaps allow himself to contemplate the prospect this fine season could get better. A third win in a row means Arsenal in sixth are only two points ahead of Dyche’s team. The antithesis to West Brom, they are a team who know what they are about and, increasingly, how to earn Premier League wins. The travelling supporters chanted about going on a European tour.
‘The fans were singing that after the first away win at Chelsea,’ Dyche said. ‘Our focus remains in the camp. The lads are enjoying what they’re doing, but they know the realities.’
Barnes’s 22nd-minute strike was special. Aaron Lennon took his time to pick out a clipped cross and, showing fine feet to drift into space, Barnes connected brilliantly on the turn in mid-air, bringing to mind Andy’s Carroll’s volley against Crystal Palace last season.
Familiar West Brom failings allowed Burnley to double their advantage with 17 minutes to go.
Matt Lowton seized the second ball from Nick Pope’s clearance and, as West Brom’s defence frayed, he threaded a pass to Wood, who cut inside Jonny Evans to shoot. Ben Foster saved with his chest, but Wood followed up to nod in.
West Brom got on the board when Evans strode out of defence to cross and Rondon nipped in ahead of James Tarkowski to rifle home.