Sam Allardyce bemoans missed West Brom chances
Boss Sam Allardyce once again bemoaned Albion’s lack of cutting edge after his side were held to a goalless draw by Newcastle.
The Dudley-born chief had previously described the visit of Steve Bruce’s men as a “must-win” game with the Baggies now running out of time to pull off a great escape.
But while they were the better team over the course of the 90 minutes, they again failed to score with Mbaye Diagne and Matt Phillips both missing good chances.
It means in their last five games, Albion have done enough to beat Manchester United, Burnley and Newcastle - but failed to do so.
They were also unfortunate to lose to Everton on Thursday.
And Allardyce admits those dropped points means his team now has a mountain to climb.
“We could easily be sat on 27 points based on our performances, “ the 66-year-old said.
“That’s not pie in the sky, we have been in better positions than the opposition to win games but we have failed to do so.
“I sound like a broken record where the needle is stuck.
“I look back at the chances we have missed in the last four or five games.
“The chances we missed against Burnley, the chances we missed against Manchester United, the chances we missed against Everton.
“And the chances we have missed against Newcastle.
“I can’t knock the lads too much because of the effort.
“They played on Thursday and against all the odds they then have to produce again against Newcastle in such a massive game for us.
“But it’s a big disappointment we didn’t finish Newcastle off.
“We’ve given ourselves a great platform to win games because we have started to master the defensive side of the game.
“But at the other end, we are getting into the final third, we are crossing the ball but our finishing and final pass should be better.
“We created enough chances to score against Newcastle - but we didn’t take one.”
The Baggies travel to take on Crystal Palace next weekend - a side, like Newcastle, who are looking over their shoulder.
And again, Allardyce has described the game as a must-win.
“We have to win the next game to stay alive,” the boss added.
“If we don’t win the next game - everybody will be saying it’s not mathematically impossible (to survive).
“But we’ll eventually get to a stage where we have to win every game that’s left.
“We all know that would be nothing short of a miracle if it happened.
“It is possible, it could be done. But it would need a humongous effort to achieve it.
“We have slipped up so many times when it comes to not converting our overall performance into three points.”
