Sam Allardyce: Lack of top-flight nous costing West Brom

The Baggies surrendered a first-half lead to basement boys Sheffield United on Tuesday night, going down 2-1 in a demoralising defeat that leaves them just a point and a place above the Blades.

The reverse means Albion have conceded 26 goals in nine Premier League games under Sam Allardyce. They have also played at least one game more than most of their sides they need to leapfrog to get out of the drop zone.

Asked if Albion’s problems stemmed from players not taking instruction on board, Allardyce insisted a lack of Premier League nous was more to blame.

Of the side who took to the field at Bramall Lane, only a handful have experience of top-flight football.

“I’s concentration,” said Allardyce. “You have to look at the situation and see that very few of our players have played in the Premier League.

“We have Robert Snodgrass, Jake Livermore. Robson-Kanu came on and has some Premier League experience.

“The rest of the team are finding out what the Premier League is all about and they’re suffering for it because we’re getting punished for the small errors that you don’t get punished for in the Championship. Particularly defensively.”

Second-half goals from Jayden Bogle and Billy Sharp sealed the points for the hosts and Allardyce bemoaned the fact that neither player faced much opposition when it came to grabbing their chances.

“Sam Johnstone hasn’t had any difficult saves to make but he didn’t have much chance with the two goals,” added the boss. “The two goals were very avoidable from our defensive point of view because they weren’t clear cut chances. We had enough bodies in that area to have blocked those shots.”