West Bromwich Albion manager Alan Pardew has suggested his side lack ambition in their task to escape the Premier League relegation zone.
The Baggies fell to another defeat on Sunday evening as they lost 2-1 to Manchester United at the Hawthorns. Romelu Lukaku and Jesse Lingard did the damage in the first-half with Gareth Barry notching a late goal for the Baggies. Pardew suggests Albion need to show a little more fight if they are to remain in the top-flight of English football.
'We've now got to make it up'
He said: "We’ve got 18 games to get our season really up and running. We’re on catch-up with some of the teams above us. We’ve now got to make it up."
"We’re not going to make it up playing like that in the first half. Play with a bit more conviction in what we’re doing and ambition. You don’t win games unless you have ambition. It was only really when Gareth Barry and Brunty [Chris Brunt] came on today that we had the ambition to go and get something."
"And a lesson for the other players to have confidence in what they were doing. I think the first time he [Brunt] got it on the left hand side, he just smashed the ball in with the ambition that I want to see in players and we lack that a little bit," Pardew continued.
'I thought we defended quite well'
Despite the disappointing loss to the Red Devils, Pardew did however find solace in the fact that the Baggies had contained their opposition throughout the majority of the match.
He said: "They have some fantastic forward players which I thought we dealt with quite well. Even though we conceded two goals in the first half, I thought we defended quite well."
"As much as we didn’t put pressure on them, it didn’t look like they were hurting us too much. There were some crumbs of comfort in the first half even though I’d like it a lot better than it was."
'We didn't get any pressure on them'
The 56-year-old though admitted that the packed fixture schedule had taken a lot out of his squad and did admit that he could have got some key decisions wrong in the build-up to the match.
He said: "We were disappointing in the first-half. I think I picked the wrong team today really. The boys gave so much at Liverpool.
"Obviously, I’m getting to know them but I didn’t think we had that energy in the first half that we need against Manchester United. We didn’t get any pressure on them. "
'We could have snatched a draw'
One controversial incident that could have changed the course of the match was a collision between Chris Brunt and Ashley Young in the Baggies penalty area. Pardew conceded that the result could have altered if referee Anthony Taylor had pointed to the spot.
The Baggies boss revealed: "We might have had a penalty, I think it was a penalty actually and we had a couple of chances towards the end against a competent United side."
"They looked composed and got themselves in a good position but we could have snatched a draw."
"I think [Ashley]Young is anticipating the goalie and then he's thinking I’m not sure he’s going to get there and then he just takes him out. I mean it’s a penalty whichever way you look at it."