Tony Mowbray takes aim at West Brom players following defeat to Blackburn Rovers | OneFootball

The Baggies boss didn’t hold back in his criticism of the performance

Tony Mowbray had some harsh criticism for his defence following West Bromwich Albion’s loss to Blackburn Rovers.

The Baggies suffered the 2-0 defeat courtesy of a Makhtar Gueye double in the second half.

It was an important game, with both sides battling it out in the Championship play-off places.

Mowbray gave his thoughts on the performance after the full-time whistle, saving particular frustration for the defensive unit.

Tony Mowbray slams performance of West Brom defenders

Asked about the game, Mowbray said: “I’m having to say to the defenders that it’s got to hurt like hell if they lose a goal. It’s such a soft goal, as a corner comes along a big lad at the back heads it across and the centre-forward smashes it in. It’s too easy and it can’t happen.

“I know what drives me and makes me want to win every game — you have to take it personally. When I played, that’s what football was all about. That first goal would’ve never happened if I was playing. I shouldn’t talk about 30 years ago, but you have to take it personally.

“Today, if [Kyle] Bartley had played, they wouldn’t have scored the first goal in my opinion. It doesn’t happen to them [Blackburn], they get touches on it, they head it out, they throw their bodies in the way. Why aren’t we doing that? I need to get to the bottom of that and peel back the layers.”

West Brom don’t have long to take stock, with an away trip to Millwall coming up this weekend.

West Brom boss outlines what’s needed for play-off spot

Mowbray also went on to discuss with BirminghamWorld what he feels the Baggies need to achieve a play-off space.

“It feels like when the wheels stop turning in May, you’ve got to be on a good run to find yourself in the top six,”the West Brom boss said. “When I was at Sunderland, we had to rely on everyone else’s results. If you don’t win games, you won’t get there.

“You’ve got to get to 70 points or maybe more. It doesn’t matter which games you win, we’ve got to find a way from 14 games to win half of them. That’s where we are, and we have to accept it. We try to find consistency, we try to find the players who can do the job, and I do think we’ve got a good squad.”

West Brom currently sit in sixth place on 47 points, only one behind Blackburn Rovers ahead of them but 22 points adrift from league leaders Leeds United.

Kyle Bartley has his own culpability for defensive woes

Having been namechecked by Mowbray as vital for the performance of his defence, Bartley must take some responsibility himself.

He likely would have been playing, had he not received a five-match ban for a scuffle following their win against Sheffield Wednesday in the previous game.

There was no need for it, but the Baggies will now be without their key defender for the next four games, including a key clash against Leeds, something Bartley must take at least some responsibility for.

Nevertheless, it seems Mowbray will be counting down the days until Bartley returns, as he was clearly unhappy with the defenders he had to field.