West Brom Fan View: Defeat to Southampton puts Baggies' survival in doubt

After an impressive run of results in January, in which the Baggies beat Brighton, Liverpool and drew with Everton away from home, Alan Pardew’s side should have been full of confidence heading into Saturday’s game against Southampton.

Sure enough, Albion started just as you would have expected, with an early spell of pressure leading to the games first goal, a towering header from Egyptian defending Ahmed Hegazy. You would have thought that an early goal in a game as important as this one would have given West Brom encouragement to go and get one or two more.

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Instead, Pardew’s men seemed overwhelmed by the occasion, and duly let Southampton have as much ball possession as they wanted. The decision to sit back put some nervousness into the team and the Saints took full advantage of their possession by turning the game on its head before half-time.

When James Ward-Prowse made it 3-1 in the second-half, it looked like game over. Even with the introduction of Oliver Burke and Jay Rodriguez, West Brom barely threatened the Southampton goal. The last fifteen minutes were made interesting after a sensational cross by Chris Brunt was met by the shoulder of Salomon Rondon, but few chances followed after that.

It was worrying that after such a great start, the team seemed to suffer mentally and found it difficult to play their normal game after going a goal up. There are going to be a lot of important games coming up, especially now Albion are four points from safety, and Pardew’s team will need to do a lot better in these types of games if we are to stay up.

I was confident of survival after the arrival of Daniel Sturridge on loan from Liverpool, but after this result, I’m not so sure anymore. Whatever happens, let’s get behind the team and keep positive.