Sam Allardyce: Fresh faces vital to West Brom survival bid
Sam Allardyce says Albion had to ‘attack the situation’ by bringing in new blood because it was clear the existing squad had no chance of Premier League survival.
Speaking in the wake of Albion’s defeat to Premier League basement boys Sheffield United on Tuesday night, the Baggies boss said fresh faces are crucial if they are to have any chance of avoiding a return to the Championship at the first time of asking. The reverse meant the Baggies picked up just one point from their last two games against fellow relegation favourites Fulham and the Blades.
Albion signed Arsenal utility man Ashley Maitland-Niles and Turkey international Okay Yokuslu on loan deals on transfer deadline day on Monday. That was in addition to Robert Snodgrass, Andy Lonergan and Mbaye Diagne, who joined earlier in the window.
And Allardyce is looking forward to integrating the new additions into the side – and believes they are key to helping others maintain belief that they can pull off an unlikely escape.
Asked how he can help the squad maintain belief in the fight, Allardyce said: “When you have decided to attack the situation by bringing new players in – if I didn’t think there was a chance (of survival) I wouldn’t have pushed as hard as I did to get those players in.
“What I did know was that we weren’t going to get better and survive with the existing squad. No disrespect to them, but that’s a fact.
“My expertise are in assessing players very quickly and saying to the board and owners that we need help. That’s no disrespect to them because I’ve done that wherever I’ve been.
“When I’ve brought the players in at those clubs we’ve turned a corner, but we need to turn the corner very quickly now and those players need to make a big impact almost straight away.
“The distance between games played and points we have is very big and that’s why we have only ourselves to blame for not acquiring four points at least in those two very important games.
“We haven’t done it and now we find ourselves with one point.”
Allardyce hopes to have Maitland-Niles and Yokuslu with the squad shortly, adding: “”Okay (Yoksulu) hasn’t arrived yet, we’re still waiting on a visa. “Ainsley will be popping up later in the week and we will give the lads a day off because obviously fatigue is big for everybody.
“The lads who haven’t played will do some training tomorrow and we’ll build up for Tottenham on Sunday. “
