West Bromwich Albion are now well adrift at the bottom of the Premier League table.
Gareth McAuley
West Brom fans have taken to Twitter to comment on Gareth McAuley’s performance in their disappointing defeat to Southampton on Saturday – and as difficult as it was for many to criticise the defender heavily, it certainly appears that many feel that it is time to stop relying on the veteran so much.
Alan Pardew’s men went into the game with the Saints probably feeling that they had a bit of momentum with them. While they were beaten, heavily, by Manchester City last time out, they had gone into that game having won three of their previous four in all competitions, and few sides manage to take anything from Pep Guardiola’s side.
Alan Pardew
And it appeared that the Baggies may be about to start clawing back the gap between themselves and the bottom three as they took the lead inside the first four minutes against Mauricio Pellegrino’s men thanks to Ahmed Hegazi.
However, Southampton struck three times before the hour mark to turn the game on its head, meaning that Salomon Rondon’s late goal did nothing more than set up a tense finish.
West Bromwich Albion fans hold their scarves up in tribute to Cyrille Regis
A number of players attracted some criticism on social media after the game. And one of the squad members who the fans were not happy with was McAuley, who struggled in his battles with Saints’ Guido Carrillo and generally looked to be off the pace.
McAuley has been a brilliant servant for West Brom over the years, and it was difficult for some of the fans to criticise the 38-year-old too strongly, but there is a feeling that he may no longer be good enough to be relied upon to be one of the club’s main understudy options any longer.
Here is what the West Brom fans made of the performance…
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