James Morrison watched on as his West Brom team bowed out of the Carabao Cup against Newcastle United.
However, the Baggies boss was still very upbeat about the experience overall.
James Morrison saw his team take the lead at St James’ Park, only for United to equalise just before half-time.
After a pretty even opening half, Matthias Jaissle’s team were dominant after the break and had the chances to win comfortably. In the end a 3-2 victory thanks to two Harvey Barnes goals.
However, they did show great character to bounce back late on when West Brom equalised after Lewis Hall conceded a(nother) penalty.
James Morrison reflecting on what he witnessed: “I’m really proud of the lads. We matched Newcastle United at times and we caused them a lot of problems at times. Going to places like Newcastle, you have to manage momentum. They came out of the blocks really quickly in the opening ten minutes and we had to get through that period. We grew into the game after that. I was a bit disappointed with the timing of the second goal, right at the start of the second half. However, we came back into it, we competed and we played some nice stuff. I’m really happy with the performance.”
West Brom had won their opening three matches of the season and had scored nine goals.
James Morrison: “Going into the game, I was confident that we could cause them some problems. I gave the players the belief and I showed them that we could go there and cause those problems. I don’t want us to go to places and sit back. I want us to go and impose ourselves and play the game that we’ve been playing and that we’ve been working on. Credit to the lads tonight for sticking to our game plan and executing it. The lads were all disappointed in the dressing room after the game, but I told them that nobody should be disappointed with the effort and the quality that they’ve shown tonight.”
West Brom now play at Middlesbrough on Saturday and look to make it nine points from three Championship matches, James Morrison: “It’s a three-game week and our eye was on Saturday as well, but I’m happy with the lads who played tonight. They deserved to play because they work hard every day in training. There’s competition, which is what I want. They showed tonight that they’re knocking on the door and that they’re ready to play. We can take the confidence and belief from tonight into a huge game on Saturday. I was after a performance to keep that good feeling going and I got it. Now it’s about preparing properly and getting ready physically for Saturday.”
As well as fifty thousand backing Newcastle United, around two thousand West Brom fans made the trip, James Morrison: “We had an unbelievable level of support tonight. I can’t thank our fans enough. They are certainly playing their part. I want them to stick with us, which I know they will do.”