Pardew future so bleak after Huddersfield loss
WEST BROM 1 Dawson (64)
HUDDERSFIELD 2 Van La Parra (48), Mounie (56) West Brom and their beleaguered manager Alan Pardew are heading in a taxi to the Championship after another disastrous day at the office.
Defeat at home to the team who started the day in 17th place leaves Albion rock bottom of the Premier League and seven points from safety with only 10 games remaining.
Pardew has overseen just one victory in 14 games since taking charge in December and West Brom have only one League win since August.
Somehow they will have to produce a minimum of five wins from their remaining games to have any chance of survival.
Having sacked his chairman and chief executive after the last Premier League game, West Brom’s Chinese owner Guochuan Lai will have to decide whether Pardew can turn it around, although the manager was trying to remain defiant about his and his side’s prospects.
“I hope I get the chance to see this through, but obviously that decision is not with me,” he admitted.
“This team has won three games out of 37 and that says everything. We have to try to find a way of somehow winning a game.
“My job is to get the team up as best we can and try to win away at Watford and that’s what I’m going to try and do.
“This was our opportunity to get us rolling and we’ve let it slip. I would love to wind the clock back, but we now have to go to the next game, show a bit of pride and try to win a game of football.”
With the Baggies adrift at the bottom of the table, nothing less than three points was imperative. The match programme had a picture of their Great Escape under Bryan Robson in 2005 on the front cover, so the reference was clear that something similar is required this season.
After a very scrappy opening in which possession was constantly squandered, the game came to life 10 minutes before the break when the visitors were close to taking the lead.
Alex Pritchard’s goalbound shot was blocked by his team-mate, Steve Mounie, and when the ball broke loose, Ben Foster made a smart save to deny Rajiv van La Parra.
James McClean then had Albion’s first chance when he was picked out by a neat cross from Matt Phillips, but the Irishman volleyed wastefully over.
West Brom needed a big 45 minutes, but instead two goals in nine minutes pushed them closer to relegation.
The first was terrible from a defensive point of view as Collin Quaner was allowed to look up and find van la Parra with not a single home player making a challenge and the Dutchman placed his shot low past Foster.
Then when Grzegorz Krychowiak sloppily gave the ball away in midfield, it was worked to Pritchard and his clever reverse pass released Mounie, who broke the offside trap and gave the goalkeeper no chance. It was too much for some Baggies fans who headed for the exits, while there were loud chants of: “You’re not fit to wear the shirt”.
But the deficit was halved shortly after when substitute Chris Brunt’s in-swinging corner was headed home by Craig Dawson after hesitancy from Terriers goalkeeper Jonas Lossl.
The game became stretched and Danny Williams brought a flying save out of Foster at one end, before Brunt’s free-kick was tipped over at the other by Lossl.
West Brom almost grabbed a point with an identical corner to the one that produced their goal, but this time Dawson couldn’t keep his effort down, and the final whistle was greeted with boos as the Baggies’ fate becomes ever more desperate.
Huddersfield’s win moved them from 17th to 14th in the congested bottom half and manager David Wagner knew the importance of their first back-to-back League wins since August.
He said: “I’ve seen nicer, better technical football matches but this was a massive result and a fantastic afternoon for us.
“We had momentum after three good performances where we played well and scored goals, and we’ve carried that on.”