Kyle Bartley was terrible for West Brom

West Bromwich Albion slipped to one more defeat final night time, that means they’ve solely received one in all their final eight in all competitions.

Regardless of dominating the sport on the statistics, boasting 64% possession and 18 pictures, a Scott Hogan hat trick was sufficient to see Birmingham Metropolis run out 3-2 winners on this Championship conflict.

The Baggies have been pegged again early however confirmed preventing spirit to equalise simply seven minutes later by means of Jed Wallace. An exquisite staff purpose that slipped the winger by means of to complete by means of the legs of the keeper.

Ought to Kyle Bartley be dropped for West Brom?

Nonetheless, one other two objectives meant that Brandon Thomas-Asante’s late penalty, his second purpose in as many video games, was merely a comfort.

Regardless of there being numerous poor performers for Steve Bruce, one which stands out is a person they’ve been so reliant on through the years.

Solely three of his teammates acquired a worse SofaScore ranking than Kyle Bartley, with goalkeeper David Button receiving the worst as a result of not making a single save.

Nonetheless, Bartley’s 6.3 SofaScore ranking is indicative of a person who provided little safety to the person in between the sticks. The 31-year-old made zero tackles all through the sport, outlining his uselessness in defending his purpose.

One may anticipate his expertise to shine by means of for West Brom throughout this powerful interval, nevertheless, he badly let Bruce down with a defensive catastrophe class that price his facet.

This efficiency prolonged additional to the truth that he blocked no pictures and made no interceptions both, while the 6 foot 1 light-weight additionally misplaced possession 13 instances from simply 59 touches earlier than being hooked within the 77th minute.

He misplaced Hogan for the primary purpose which allowed him to chop in and rating and never solely did he give the ball away initially, however he was overwhelmed as soon as once more by the striker for the third purpose.

A person who has been famend throughout the Hawthorns for his no-nonsense defensive angle, he might be dissatisfied by the façade unravelled final night time, leaving the Midlands facet 20^th within the league with simply 9 factors from 9 video games.

Bruce will definitely be feeling the strain, as he was introduced in to steer the facet to a playoff push. As a substitute, they appear to be slumping in direction of the unsuitable finish of the desk, and performances like Bartley’s is not going to assist him in any respect in altering their fortunes.

They may now journey to second-placed Norwich Metropolis within the hopes they will pull off a miracle and topple one of many favourites for promotion.