Albion defender Paul Robinson today called on his team-mates for a show of character after their lead at the top of the Championship was wiped away.
Albion lead the table on goal difference only after their 2-0 defeat at Ipswich allowed Watford and Bristol City to draw level on points.
And fans’ favourite Robinson has challenged the Baggies squad to show their mettle by putting the loss behind them and moving on with their challenge for a return to the Premier League.
“We need to bounce back as soon as possible,” said Robinson. “We have to show our character now, take this result on the chin and move on. This result will be a test of our character.”
Albion responded to their last two defeats in impressive fashion with significant wins to keep their promotion campaign on course.
They bounced back from a 4-2 home loss at the hands of Coventry by winning with a depleted squad at Leicester.
And the 3-1 defeat at Stoke before Christmas was followed by back-to-back home wins and a total of nine goals against Bristol City and Bournemouth.
And Robinson believes a similar response is needed to the disappointing loss at the hands of the Tractor Boys.
“We have to prove that was a one-off,” said Robinson. “This is a league where everyone beats each other.
“If we keep performing and hit good form then not many clubs will live with us.
“We’ve responded before. We need to show our character now.”
Robinson backed the existing Baggies squad to respond to the defeat as speculation continues regarding possible transfer activity following the opening of the January window.
Manager Tony Mowbray has suggested a quiet January is in store with the Baggies keen to retain their key players and not desperate to make wholesale changes.
And Robinson believes the current players are good enough to see through the job of winning promotion.
We’ve shown from August how we can perform,” said Robinson. “If the gaffer wants to add or move people on and bring a few new faces in then that’s up to him and the chairman.”
20 Comments
happy new year baggies,what is the opinion on the fa cup, should we field a “second side” and concentrate on the league or use it to keep that winning feeling,as happy would say ..loving it!!
Forget about the FA cup - it’s pointless distraction as last season proved. Send out a second eleven. The league is all that matters.
Pretty sure we’ll be seeing Steele, Martis, Barnett, Hodgkiss, Beattie, Chaplow et al getting a run out! No bad thing if you ask me!!
we need to be more consistant in the league,forget the ‘worth sweet F.A CUP’. We need to open up a gap on the pack at the top and push on for promotion…
Dissapointing start to new year, oh well onwards and upwards, defiently play second strength team, as the fa cup was one of reasons we missed out on automatic promotion last year, i think we need to bring in a new keeper and good commanding centre half, my team for charlton would be steele, hodgekiss, albrechsten, barnett, clement/martis, teixera, chaplow, Greening, brunty, beattie, mcdonald - still a decent team.
Mark
Good points ref: FA cup.
Doubtless, whichever team TM selects
for this game he will be vilified
by the “Leighton” types amongst our ranks.
Play the fringe players and lose,
it will be a case of,
we should have tried to keep the momentum and winning mentality going.
Play what is perceived to be our first team,
and it will be a case of,
we should not be risking injury to
players in what could be viewed as
a meaningless fixture.
A genuine catch 22.
Personally i would prefer us to use as many fringe players as possible,
and TM should fear no fans repercussions should it fail.
Another point to this,
is Charlton have identical aspirations to ourselves, so i would envisage a substantially weakened team from them also.
I hope we field a team of reserves. I will become a charlton fan on saturday. The FA cup is OK for premiership teams as they play less games,but there are already too many midweek games in the championship.
A long cup run will ruin our promotion challenge as it did last year.
Chance to improve the match fitness of returning players and give the fringe a chance to push for the first team or put themselves in the window. Steele, Hodgkiss, Barnett, Albrechtsen, Martis, Texiera, Brunt, Chaplow, MacDonald, Beattie, Slusarski (his loan expired yesterday). That should still be strong enough to beat Charlton.
Need to make sure we don’t cup-tie anyone we want to sell though as it will decrease their value and make them less attractive to clubs (unless they’re already out!)
I completelty agree on the FA cup. Yes its nice to be in it but we aint going to win it.
I would send a team of some first teamers and the fringe players . Give serjil a start, give beattie a start give alby a start for match fitness that type of thing.
The league is the main priority come may I still think it will be real close . We are by far the best the footballing team in the division yet level with 2 other teams and personly think it will be nip and tuck all the way till the end
Cantello
Couldnt agree with you more matey, I’m not at all bothered about it, it is indeed a pointless distraction. I hope we place a second string in for the match really.
Agree with you Spuggy, use this match to rest some of the ever presents and give the players currently out of the reckoning a chance to prove themselves. Don’t agree with some who say don’t worry about winning. if we are the Arsenal of our division let’s be like them and expect our second string to compete and win games.
I agree wholeheartedly with all comments! Mogga should keep his powder dry for the proper battle.
Personally i love the FA Cup, ok we are probably not going to win it, but i would like us to stay in it for as long as possible. Remember when we went up with Megson?? Yes we had a cup run then 1/4 final loss to Fulham.
So even if we do rest some of our players there is still no reason not to think we cannot beat Charlton. I was really disappointed with the draw, all i wanted was to play a team not in our league. Oh well.
“time to dig in” - John Hartsons 4 favorite words !!
our second team will probably go and win at charlton cos i cant see them playing a full first team either,,,bring on the villa next round.
Agreed with all, play the fringe players (even tininho - but not Hartson!!)a wins fine by me, don’t particulary care if we lose… but please lets not have to replay!
Steele, Hodgkiss, martis, barnett, clem, chappy, brunt, tex, morro, beattie, macdonald
subs, gera, millar, alby, tininho
Years ago it was possible to get promotion and win the FA cup (we did it),but what chance these days when the premiership ‘big 4′ can even put out a multi million pound top class second eleven?I used to love the competition,but now all the respect,money and focus goes to premiership clubs,so we should give 100 per cent to going up this term,sadly the cup is now a novelty.
I agree with all of the above comments, forget the FA Cup let’s get promoted.
I’d love it if our second team beat charlton’s second team - and we get Chasetown in the next round !!
TM won’t be picking too many first teamers - although some of the players that lost against cardiff in the cup have now got some first team games under their belts…
I’m hopeful of beating Charlton, but not bothered either way - just no injuries or suspensions to key players please.
lets do the double,:-)boing boing