Pundit identifies ‘alarming’ issue at West Brom | OneFootball

Pundit George Elek has discussed how West Brom will fare for the remainder of the Championship campaign.

Championship pundit George Elek has admitted West Brom have been on an ‘alarming’ dip in recent times and could start to slip down the standings as the season progresses.

The Baggies are currently stewing on their 1-0 defeat to Wolves in the Black Country derby over the elongated international break, a performance all connected with Albion will want to forget in a hurry.

James Morrison’s men will look to respond on another derby day when domestic action returns, hosting Birmingham City at The Hawthorns on the 10th October (12:30 KO).

After defeat at Molineux, it leaves the Black Country fifth in the Championship standings with 14 points from their opening eight league games, and the Baggies will want to get back to winning ways as quickly as possible and keep an early promotion charge intact.

But there has been some concern thrown West Brom’s way by Championship pundit George Elek, who has discussed how Albion’s season might unfold on the ‘Not The Top 20 podcast’.

It is grim reading for the Albion faithful, with the club predicted to be looking over their shoulders rather than up after their recent display at Molineux.

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After battling their way to survival under James Morrison at the back end of last season, West Brom fans will find it refreshing that they’re placed back towards the top end of the second tier table after an impressive opening eight games.

Albion claimed a very impressive 2-1 win on the road at Norwich City to kickstart their term and then followed it up with a 3-1 victory at The Hawthorns over recently relegated Burnley to win their opening two matches.

A first defeat of the campaign was away at promotion-contenders Middlesbrough, but they arrested the slide by drawing at home against Charlton Athletic and then securing back-to-back victories over Watford and Derby County.

The Baggies then went onto draw 1-1 draw against fellow high-flyers Queens Park Rangers, before a bitterly disappointing display and result against Wolves, meaning Albion have taken 14 points from a possible 24.

Championship pundit identifies ‘alarming’ West Brom issue

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Despite West Brom having an overly positive start to the new season, a tepid display at Molineux has raised questions over whether they will remain in promotion contention when league football gets back underway in two weeks’ time.

And Championship pundit George Elek shared his concern about the Baggies when speaking with Ali Maxwell on ‘Not The Top 20’ podcast (36:06 – 36:35).

Revising their Championship predictions based off the eight league games they’ve seen so far, Elek has shared an ‘alarming’ issue surrounding Albion, which could lead to them slipping down the league standings the longer the term goes on.

Elek said: “I’m a little bit concerned about West Brom.

“I don’t think they’re going to go down, but having started the season so well and been quite positive about them early in the season, there’s been a pretty alarming dip, I’d say, in their playing level.

“They’re not creating anything, looking quite stale in possession. Jimmy-Jay Morgan had an amazing start to the season, but probably won’t sustain it and they couldn’t really lay a glove on Wolves.

“I’m sure they’ll be fine, but this is a club who needed to be safe at the back end of last season, so something to point out at the end, sorry Baggies fans.”

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West Brom, quite rightly, have received fierce amounts of criticism for their hugely underwhelming performance in the Black Country derby, with Baggies supporters wanting to see a reaction when they host Birmingham City, in what will prove to be another raucous occasion.

All connected with the club will be hoping that it was just an off day, but many from the outside will be beginning to think that Albion are in for yet another dip after such a promising start to the season.

It was seen last term under Ryan Mason when they went unbeaten in their first four league games and eventually fell into a relegation scrap, and James Morrison will not want to see a repeat of that this term.

Good teams find ways to turn it around in adversity, and the group has to make sure that they put a horrible day at Molineux out of their minds as quickly as possible and focus on putting in a positive performance back at The Hawthorns in front of their home crowd.

While there’s a lot of making-up to do after the defeat to Wolves, the Albion players can start by grabbing three points and winning the bragging rights over Blues.

If they can do that, then the doubts around a fall down the table will ease, but Albion are right to be questioned at this moment in time given their previous slides.