Step for Sam
Davies so sure his friend
quick free-kick which caused Lee s ability to be questioned again, the were also awarded two penalties with Gross and sub Danny Welbeck ng both efforts against the woodwork. ever, their fatal undoing was their n to every ball that was hoisted into x in the opening 45 minutes. It proved chink in their armour. flected Conor Gallagher shot enabled helsea loanee to swing over an nute corner. Kyle Bartley steamed on unimpeded, thumping home a ards header into the net from six yards. Brom struggled next in the air. A Gross orced Okay Yokuslu into leading with his arm. Referee Mason made the correct call, pulling up the midfielder. Gross smashed the spot-kick against the crossbar. Next came the bedlam that followed Dunk’s quick set-piece from the edge of the area.
It was disallowed, then awarded, then ruled out again after a consultation with Stockley Park. No one was any the wiser at the time as to the decision or the rationale behind it.
Another defining moment arrived with a quarter-hour to go. Conor Townsend’s desperate lunge at Gross caused Mason to point to the spot for the second time.
Sub Welbeck stepped off the bench and hammered his shot equally emphatically into the foot of the upright. West Brom managed to hold firm.
Potter said: “With the penalties, Pascal has missed and Danny felt like he could take it. I had no problem with that.
“We’ve lost two matches now and we’re scratching our heads as to how we have done that.”
WEST BROM: Johnstone 7; Furlong 6, Bartley 8, O’Shea 7, Townsend 6; Yokuslu 7, Phillips 6 (Diangana (72nd) 5), Gallagher 7, Maitland-Niles 6, Pereira 5 (Ivanovic 79th); Diagne 5 (Robson-Kanu
83rd)
BRIGHTON: Sanchez 5; White 6, (Moder 84th) Dunk 6, Burn 6, Bissouma 6; Veltman 7, Gross 6, Trossard 6, Connolly 5 (Welbeck
(61st) 5), MacAllister 5 (Lallana (45th) 5); Maupay 6
STAR MAN: Kyle Bartley
REF: L Mason
West Brom’s next game:
OFF THE POST: Welbeck shanks wide after missing from the spot
BEN DAVIES is convinced that “incredibly tough” Gareth Bale has the strength to cope with all the flak that has come his way this season.
The on-loan Real Madrid star has been criticised for his performance levels since returning to Tottenham in September in a blaze of publicity.
And a fortnight ago, Spurs boss Jose Mourinho took a public swipe at him over an injury that the Portuguese said was not “clear and obvious”.
He was also upset by claims on the Welshman’s Instagram account that he had had a “good session today”.
Mourinho claimed “there was a contradiction between the post and reality”.
Since then, Bale, 31, has scored in both legs of Tottenham’s Europa League victory over Wolfsberg and was impressive as a second-half substitute against West Ham.
Spurs full-back Davies said: “When you have got players of his quality, the levels he has reached in the game – whether it be Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi – everyone has a story about them being great now or poor the next day, or not reaching the heights they have reached. “Gareth has come in for a lot of criticism, probably unjustly, when he was at the top of his form.
“He is a tough person to have to deal with some of the stuff he has had to deal with off the field and still perform the way he has had to throughout his career.
“Even after four Champions Leagues victories, what he has done for the national team, what he did for Real Madrid, he still gets questioned about his ability. That must be tough to take but he deals with it pretty incredibly.
“But we all know the quality he has and we are going to have a lot of games where he is going to be vital for us.”
September 19, the day Bale returned, was a mixed one for Davies because Real left-back Sergio Reguilon (right) was also on board the private jet from Madrid to complete his move to Spurs.
Davies, 27, said:
“You expect at this level there are going to be two players for every position, given the amount of games we have got this season and given where the club wants to be.
“You have to have that
element of a challenge between players across the park.
“It was expected in the window that someone would come in to the club and it was fine.
“That was a challenge and one I was looking forward to
– with the added bonus of
Gareth Bale coming.”
Spurs need to get back to winning ways in the Premier League against Burnley today, after five defeats in their last six top-flight outings.
Davies, who has played alongside Bale in the Welsh red for much of the past decade, said: “It’s a big game for us. We need to pick up points.
“We’ve got a potential run of three games where we’d be expected to win now and it has to start with the Burnley game, regardless of how it comes.
“Football can seem tough sometimes. “There seem to be problems cropping up everywhere.
“You can’t get too caught up in all the reasons why.
“We’re really not doing anything different to what we were doing when we were flying at the start of the season. “But now it’s about showing pride, showing a bit of guts, and going to these games against Burnley and standing up, ready to face the challenge that we are up against at the moment.”