West Brom boss Tony Mowbray is already looking to try and earn promotion back to the Premier League after seeing his side relegated with the 2-0 loss to Liverpool at the Hawthorns.
The Baggies started brightly, with Reds keeper Jose Reina having to pull off a fine double reaction save to deny Jonathan Greening early on.
But the game changed when Shelton Martis hesitated on the ball and Steven Gerrard took full advantage to coolly beat Dean Kiely on 28 minutes.
Dirk Kuyt then doubled the advantage on 63 minutes with a fine shot from the edge of the box, although the Baggies refused to go down without a fight, with Luke Moore hitting the post before Marc-Antoine Fortune had a goal disallowed for offside.
The Baggies then received a standing ovation on their lap of honour after the game and Mowbray was full of praise for the support his team have received throughout the season.
He told Sky Sports News: "Well it's a reflection of the way this season's gone - the performance level of the team I think has reflected today - I think that's pretty much what the supporters see every week.
"I don't know how we didn't score today - we created chances, we do every week - and yet invariably the opposition seem to take theirs.
"Ultimately it comes down to the quality, the Premiership experience and yet I feel as if we do give good value for money most weeks, home and away.
"I think the supporters have been there before over the last seven/eight years - up and down - and they've almost hardened to it, but I have got to give them great credit for the support they give the team.
"And hopefully we can reward them next season with another promotion. We know it's always tough but we have got to focus on that - we've got to keep going, we've got to keep trying to build this team.
"I think, as you can see today, there's some good players here, we've got to try and add more good players and keep pushing on with the football team."
Asked about his future at West Brom following relegation, he said he was not the person at the club to make those sort of executive decisions.
"I'll continue working hard with the team and try to improve it, try to push it on, try to entertain and be successful with the group of players and I'll keep going until told otherwise like every other football manager," he said, adding both himself and the team had learned a lot from this season.
"We've all learned lessons this year, we've all improved I think in what we do, we've got to take that into next season," said Mowbray, who was "pretty confident" that the players that the club want to keep will remain at the Hawthorns next season.
"I'll be looking for some loyalty and to give a good shot next season to try and get back."
0 comments:
Post a Comment