McAuley – More Improvement To Be Made

Centre half Gareth McAuley has said that West Brom need to do all they can to click quickly following another disappointing showing against Watford at the weekend.

Speaking to the Birmingham Mail following the game, our Northern Ireland international explained.

‘We`ve got a lot of improving and a lot of work still to do on the training ground and a lot of bodies still to bed in. If we can do that as quickly as possible we can move on and start getting wins.’

McAuley went on to say that clearly we’ve got to do ‘better’ and we need to be braver on the ball as well, and key to all that improvement is clicking properly as a side now but also making sure we set better standards than we did last season and ensure that we live up to them.

‘Any point away from home in the Premier League is a good point. We haven`t played well and we haven`t got going yet in the two games we`ve played but if we`re looking for positives it`s a clean sheet away from home and it`s a point. This league is ruthless and any point is a good point but we want to get better.’

Making his return from injury, he went on to talk about the performance against Watford and he knows defensively there were positives.

‘The instructions were to get a positive result from the game. It was pretty basic. We had to get the basics right because we knew it would be a battle and we had to deal with the atmosphere with it being Watford`s first home game back in the Premier League. We knew there would be an atmosphere and there would be a big performance and we knew we had to deal with that. In the first half we weren`t great but we dealt with that threat. In the second half we tried to play a bit more and when big Salomon (Rondon) came on he gave us a threat in behind and helped us get up the pitch a little bit more. It gets us going and gives us a clear week now to work on things with Chelsea coming to The Hawthorns.’

With the reigning Champions having their own form issues so far this season, whether it’s a good time to play them or a bad time as they look to bounce back remains to be seen, but it will be another tough game regardless.

‘It`s a difficult start but we`ve taken points off the big teams before so we`ve got nothing to be afraid of in the games and sometimes that can be an advantage. Every game in the Premier League is a difficult game, especially against the teams at the top. Now we can get our teeth into it and that`s what this week is about.’

Vital West Brom on:

Vital West Brom on: