Express & Star

Watford 1 West Brom 0 - Player ratings

Albion fell to their sixth straight defeat on Saturday in a 1-0 loss to Watford at Vicarage Road. Here, we rate the players.

Published
Matt Phillips. (AMA)

Ben Foster

Made a sharp reflex save to deny Daryl Janmaat in the first half and little he could do about the goal after his defence parted like the red sea. 7/10

Craig Dawson

Won a match-high ten headers, including an incredibly important one in the first half that took the ball off Deeney’s head. Kept the dangerous Richarlison in check down his flank and even though he didn’t do anything flashy, he was one of the few Albion players who didn’t make a mistake during the game. 7/10

Ahmed Hegazi

Was nowhere to be seen when Deeney raced through on goal but had defended resolutely up until then. 5/10

Jonny Evans

Showed some nice touches on the ball but seems to be going through the motions at times. Tried, and failed to play offside for Deeney's goal. 6/10

Kieran Gibbs

Caught out of position in the first half when Janmaat bore down on goal, but set up Rondon with a right-footed cross and cleared one off the line. 6/10

Matt Phillips

Put the ball on Rondon’s head in the first half and whipped a dangerous delivery into the six-yard box for Rodriguez in the second half. 6/10

Grzegorz Krychowiak

Looked more comfortable on the other side of the pitch to Evans but was part of the mistake that led to Deeney’s goal. 5/10

Jake Livermore

A functional performance at the base of midfield. Won possession back and gave it simply. Improved on Gareth Barry’s performances from recent weeks. 6/10

Chris Brunt

Was Albion’s brightest spark in the first half, when he was dropping deep to pick up the ball and attempting to get them moving. But his mix-up with Krychowiak led to Watford’s goal and his set-pieces in the second half were poor. 6/10

Jay Rodriguez

Shuffled out to the wing, where he did ok. Created an early chance for Krychowiak with some fleet-footed work on the by-line and kept running, even if he struggled to get any chances. 6/10

Salomon Rondon

Missed four chances in total, including two headers, which are supposed to be his forte, and a one-on-one which he somehow managed to turn into a much harder chance by narrowing the angle and running through treacle. Battled hard, but lacked quality when it mattered. 5/10

Substitutes

James McClean (Krychowiak 81)

Brought on after the horse had bolted. 5/10

Sam Field (Livermore 87)

Too little time to make an impact. 5/10

Oliver Burke (Rodriguez 87)

Sniffed out half a chance but closed down. 5/10

Unused: Myhill, Nyom, McAuley, Yacob.