MX23RW : Saturday, November 23 19:17:35| >> :600:119184:119184:

A look at Sam Allardyce's first outing as West Bromwich Albion boss

A look at Allardyce's first outing as West Brom boss
© Reuters
The Baggies were beaten 3-0 at home by Aston Villa.

Sam Allardyce's first game in charge of West Brom ended in a disappointing 3-0 derby defeat to Aston Villa.

Here, the PA news agency looks at the new manager's first night at The Hawthorns.

Team selection

Very few managers come into a struggling club and resist the temptation to change.

Allardyce, rightly, kept faith with the side which bagged an impressive 1-1 draw at Manchester City on Tuesday in Slaven Bilic's final game.

With nine substitutes he had options to switch during the game, but Jake Livermore's red card took away the luxury of being able to make his first-choice changes.

Tactics

Albion's shape and formation were not markedly different than under Bilic and Allardyce has only had three days with his new squad.

The Baggies were reduced to 10 men when Livermore walked after 35 minutes, meaning any gameplan was soon out of the window.

He switched to 3-4-2 for the final 10 minutes in a bid to salvage a point, but it was ineffective and Villa scored two late goals.

Performance

It was a nightmare start when Anwar El Ghazi opened the scoring just five minutes in and the Baggies never settled.

The display did not get much better and, while they had to play almost an hour with 10 men, the hosts failed to show up in the derby.

It was a disappointing performance after the battling point at Manchester City and Allardyce will need his men to improve drastically for Sunday's trip to Liverpool.

Outlook

If Allardyce keeps Albion up it will be his greatest rescue job. They do not lack effort or commitment, but the overall quality to survive in the Premier League just is not there.

He will surely make them more organised and disciplined at the back as time goes on, but a question mark remains regarding where the goals will come from.

Striker Karlan Grant has scored just once since his £15million move from Huddersfield, while top scorers Callum Robinson and Conor Gallagher have just two each.

ID:427417: cacheID:427417:1false2false3false:QQ:: from db desktop :LenBod:restore:3749:
Restore Data
Share this article now:
Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer looks dejected after seeing his side knocked out of the Champions League on December 8, 2020
Read Next:
Sunday's Premier League predictions including Manchester United vs. Leeds
>
rhs 2.0
Today's games header
Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Sunderland1695226121432
2Sheffield UnitedSheff Utd1610422191232
3Burnley168621961330
4Leeds UnitedLeeds158522491529
5Middlesbrough1683529191027
6West Bromwich AlbionWest Brom166821811726
7Watford168262524126
8Millwall166641914524
9Blackburn RoversBlackburn156451917222
10Bristol City165742020022
11Derby CountyDerby165562020020
12Stoke CityStoke165561920-120
13Norwich CityNorwich164752524119
14Swansea CitySwansea155461110119
15Sheffield WednesdaySheff Weds165471826-819
16Luton TownLuton165381826-818
17Coventry CityCoventry164572223-117
18Oxford UnitedOxford Utd164571924-517
19Plymouth ArgylePlymouth164571728-1117
20Preston North EndPreston163761624-816
21Cardiff CityCardiff164481524-916
22Hull City163671621-515
23Portsmouth152671628-1212
24Queens Park RangersQPR161871326-1311


Sports Mole provides in-depth previews and predictions for every match from the biggest leagues and competitions in world football.
Argentina's Lionel Messi kisses the World Cup trophy after collecting the Golden Ball award on December 18, 2022Sign up for our FREE daily preview newsletter direct to your inbox!