Sam Allardyce hits out at 'dreadful' West Brom display, praises Leeds United in victory

The Whites secured an emphatic victory over the Baggies at the Hawthorns.
West Brom head coach Sam Allardyce. Pic: GettyWest Brom head coach Sam Allardyce. Pic: Getty
West Brom head coach Sam Allardyce. Pic: Getty

Sam Allardyce hit out at a 'dreadful' West Bromwich Albion display on Tuesday night as 'tremendous' Leeds United ran out 5-0 winners in the top flight.

Marcelo Bielsa's outfit handed the Baggies a thumping defeat at the Hawthorns in Premier League action.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

A bizarre own goal from midfielder Romaine Sawyers opened the scoring before Leeds raced into a four-goal lead at the half-time interval.

Gjanni Alioski, Jack Harrison and Rodrigo made the hosts pay before winger Raphinha rounded off the scoring in the second half with a wonderful strike into the top corner.

Allardyce, who was taking charge of just his second game at Albion, was critical of his players afterwards but praised the visitors for a dominant display.

"Leeds are a tremendous side, I think they are brilliant," Allardyce said post-match.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"But we've seen a performance like that against Liverpool [at the weekend] and then tonight we can't do the defending right.

"Leeds overran us, won 5-0 and they deserved it.

"I was shocked to see such a poor performance and we have to work hard to put it right. Consistency is everything for us. We can't seem to get a consistency of attacking and defending right.

"When we lost the ball and tried to defend we were terrible, we have got to get that balance right in the transition. Life will get difficult if we cant get results quickly.

"[The own goal] is a mistake, Romaine [Sawyers] thought the keeper was there but he should have looked. It was a bizarre goal, the last thing we wanted. Before I came we were riddled with conceding early goals and this time we gave them a Christmas present.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"We need to make sure we don't dish up another performance like that. Liverpool was fantastic, but this was dreadful unfortunately."

He added: "Leeds took full advantage of us not closing down the opposition. When we attacked and opened up we didn’t get back in. When we lost the ball we didn’t have enough quality to put enough pressure on Leeds United because we were playing the wrong ball at the wrong time.

"But we have to try and win a game. We gifted Leeds too much and they eventually overran us.

"When you’re playing at home and playing someone else - not the likes of Liverpool - you’ve got a try and break out and score.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"Drawing a game is fine by me at the moment but we have to start winning soon, otherwise if that gap starts getting bigger and bigger - which he has done today - then it becomes a big, big task to pick those points up."