Saturday 31 March 2018 19:05, UK
West Brom manager Alan Pardew admits his side were "too tentative" during the first half of their 2-1 home defeat by Burnley, which leaves them still 10 points adrift of Premier League safety.
Goals from Ashley Barnes and Chris Wood helped the Clarets to a sixth away league win of the season to keep their European hopes alive, but the Baggies are staring the Championship in the face.
Salomon Rondon scored his third goal in four games against Burnley to set up a nervy finish, but the visitors absorbed the pressure to consign the hosts to an eighth successive league defeat.
"We came up against a good side today," said Pardew, who has collected just 12 points from a possible 84 in his last 28 Premier League games as manager of both Crystal Palace and West Brom.
"In the first half it looked like a team coming from a 3-0 win at West Ham and another who came off the back of a defeat at Bournemouth. One very confident and one very nervous.
"We didn't engage with them in the first half. We tried to change the shape and get a little bit more pressure higher up the pitch after the break.
"I thought we were slightly unlucky at 2-1, we had two big chances. But they're a good side, Burnley."
West Brom have failed to come from behind to win a Premier League game since February last year, and despite showing battling qualities in the second period, they remain rooted to the bottom with just six games remaining.
Pardew's side saw much more of the ball during the early stages of the second half and Jay Rodriguez twice nearly got on the end of dangerous crosses into the penalty area.
But Wood's fourth goal in his last three games sparked a mass exodus of home supporters. Those who stayed saw Rondon give the hosts a glimmer of hope but the Venezuelan's strike proved in vain.
Pardew admitted he had to find a balance between using harsh words and looking at ways of injecting confidence into his players during the interval, but having hauled off Kieran Gibbs and brought on Matt Phillips, West Brom improved in the second period.
"We were so tentative in what we did (in the first half)," Pardew added. "It wasn't the team I saw in training this week. We didn't cope with the pressure from the fans and the media, but in the second half we did much better.
"We need a result, and we did everything today but we couldn't get one. We've got another tough game here next week at home (against Swansea), and we're learning some players can deal with the situation and other players perhaps not. I've got to gauge that as well.
"We've got to stand up to the opposition and ask them questions. We did that in the second half but the first 45 minutes we weren't good enough."
