West Bromwich Albion Football Club News

• Nickname:The Baggies
• Founded:1878
• Manager:Roy Hodgson

• Ground:The Hawthorns
• Capacity:25,400

Defensive woe for Mowbray

22 Sep 2008 - 09:19:22

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West Bromwich Albion boss Tony Mowbray warned his side to improve their defending, after seeing the Baggies beaten 2-1 at home by local rivals Aston Villa.

Albion were hit by two Villa goals in two first-half minutes and failed to recover, despite James Morrison pulling a goal back before half-time at The Hawthorns.

Mowbray said: "We started very well and before they scored, most of the play was going towards their goal but it was a bit like the Everton game.

"We gave away two goals in a short space of time and it was all uphill after that.

"I can't fault the effort and the desire and, at times the quality, but some very poor defending really and the bottom line is, if you are going to defend like that, you are going to lose games.

"That is what this league is all about and we have got to eradicate those mistakes.

"It was disappointing that (Abdoulaye) Meite got injured in the warm-up and it is easy for me to say that if he had been playing, those goals wouldn't have happened.

"But you have got to have your quality on the pitch. You can't concede goals like that, they were very poor goals.

"It has been an Achilles heel for us since I've been here."