West Brom boss James Morrison after derby defeat at Wolves: We were too anxious

Disappointed boss James Morrison felt his Albion players had too much “anxiety” in their Black Country derby no-show defeat at Wolves.

The Baggies fell to a 1-0 defeat at Molineux as Fer Lopez struck a winner five minutes after the interval following a Nat Phillips error.

Albion did not make home goalkeeper Jose Sa make a save of any note in a limited display throughout, where visiting goalkeeper Max O’Leary made several stunning stops to deny a Wolves landslide, particularly in the first period.

The head coach felt his players lacked belief on the big stage in the highly-anticipated derby.

Morrison said: "We need to get into half-time (level) and we were happy at half-time coming in at 0-0, that we were able to survive without conceding.

"I thought Max made some big saves and that we could get to half-time, regroup. Momentum of games is massive in this league. To concede like we've done and give them the opportunity is really disappointing.

"But we didn't threaten the goal well enough. I can't really remember one opportunity. Set-plays were not good enough again.

"We just didn't have that belief today that I've seen. Maybe that was a bit of anxiety through giving the ball away early? Even though they were putting us under pressure, in games like this you've got to be able to deal with a little bit of pressure and take the ball and play forward.”

Albion did not get going and failed to show the quality that had shone in a bright start to the Championship campaign, with three points more than arch-rivals heading into kick-off.

"I didn't feel that (stage fright), I just thought we caused our own anxiety by not being clean with the ball and giving it away,” the head coach said.

"It gave them a lift. They had a belief to come after us and get some success through it.”

Morrison hoped his troops would not be as poor again after the break as an extremely poor first half. Albion saw more of the ball after Lopez’s 50th-minute winner but did precious little in the final third.

"Yes (not be as bad again in the second half),” the former midfielder agreed. “I was delighted with 0-0 at half-time being under that much pressure with their chances.

"I felt the players would've regrouped, but gifting them the goal the way we didn, when we had clear possession, we could've just gone forward with the ball but we just went backwards.

"Maybe that was a bit of anxiety through the game of just being safe? I asked us to be clean and have the believe to go forward and impose ourselves.

"I didn't want to see us change the way we've been going.

"I was disappointed to watch my team. Recently I've enjoyed watching us.

"Maybe it was a few of our younger players' first time with the experience, maybe I needed more experience? But I had experienced players on the pitch with my back four and two midfielders and probably needed a bit more from them.”