Alex Mowatt makes West Brom claim after latest setback | OneFootball

West Bromwich Albion midfielder Alex Mowatt believes the Baggies are still on the right path despite recent inconsistency, speaking to the Express and Star after their Tuesday night draw against Blackpool.

Valerien Ismael’s men have suffered from a chronic lack of cutting edge in the final third in recent months after a positive start to the campaign, going unbeaten in their opening 10 league games of 2021/22 before falling behind in the automatic promotion race.

Being cut even further adrift from the top two at the weekend after suffering a 1-0 loss at Huddersfield Town, they had an opportunity to redeem themselves and pick up a vital three points at Bloomfield Road in midweek.

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In hindsight, this would have been the perfect opportunity to reduce the deficit with both league leaders Fulham and second-placed AFC Bournemouth dropping points last night.

But despite having 21 shots in total against Neil Critchley’s men, they were only able to guide three on target (stats via Wyscout.com) and failed to show enough quality in front of goal to claim what would have been a deserved victory in Lancashire.

Winning just three of their last nine league matches and at risk of slipping down the table from their current third position if they fail to turn their fortunes around, the West Midlands side’s current direction under manager Ismael has been questioned by a section of the club’s fanbase.

One man that still has complete confidence in the project though is midfielder Mowatt, who enjoyed a successful time with his current boss at Barnsley last term as they reached the top six against all odds before their arrival at The Hawthorns in the summer.

The 26-year-old said to the Express and Star: “Definitely (still have belief in the project). I don’t think the performances have been bad – it just comes down to taking chances.

“On another day we would have beaten both Huddersfield and Blackpool and there would be a different feeling around the place.

“Things haven’t fallen for us, we haven’t got that lucky break. But we just need to keep going and the results will come.”

Sometimes it’s hard to believe the Baggies are still in third position considering how inconsistent they have been, but they can’t afford to keep wasting chances because it will come back to haunt them at some point.

They should be encouraged by the fact Fulham and Bournemouth have dropped points this midweek, just going to show there’s still a possibility they can close the gap and take the automatic promotion race right down to the wire.

The fact they haven’t been caught by others in the promotion mix yet also just goes to show how inconsistent teams below them have been, in a season where the only consistency and has been inconsistency from most sides in the division.

But that can’t allow them to get complacent. Instead, they need to view it as a real opportunity to cement their place in the top six and push on, because they have enough quality on paper to do so after spending last season in the Premier League.

It does feel as though they need a goalscorer, however, because they haven’t been clinical enough and at this stage, Jordan Hugill doesn’t look like the striker that could fire them back to the top tier.

Ismael can be held accountable for many things, but not for their inability to take chances, so he should only take a very limited amount of the blame for Tuesday’s draw.