And joint-assistant head coach hails squad's 'togetherness'
KEVIN Keen insists Albion should fear no-one at home as they prepare to try and extend their 100 per cent Hawthorns record against QPR on Saturday (ko 3pm).The Baggies have already disposed of Liverpool, Everton and Reading at The Hawthorns in the Barclays Premier League this season, scoring six times and conceding none in the process.
And Steve Clarke’s joint-No.2 says the atmosphere generated by the supporters is key to the players’ performances on home turf.
“I think anyone at home we can give a game to,” said Keen.
“I felt that when I was at West Ham and I feel it the same here.
“We can give anyone a game, with the support we have and the atmosphere that creates, and just the mentality of being at home.
“Playing certain teams away is a struggle but, as we showed at Tottenham, we can go to Tottenham and play well – and you have nothing to lose at those places.
“We can do anything here, we can beat anyone at home - Steve has said it in the dressing room on numerous occasions.
“We don’t fear anyone at home.
“When you go away to places like Man Utd, Man City, they are tough tasks.
“You can’t hide that – that’s how it is, it’s just a fact of life.
“But at the same time, we’ll go into those games thinking we can go and get results there.
“Tottenham away is not an easy game and neither is Villa away.
“We came away on Sunday a little bit disappointed, especially after leading the game and playing quite well.
“Which shows us, as the gaffer keeps saying, how far we’ve come.”
The togetherness at the club is another ingredient Keen believes is allowing the sixth-placed Baggies to thrive.
And the joint-assistant head coach has highlighted the contribution of Albion’s substitutes in recent games as an example of that.
“One of the most impressive things for me since we've come in is how the squad are so together,” he added.
“There are no egos where a player is saying 'I should be playing' or 'he shouldn't be playing' as I've maybe seen at other clubs.
“There is none of that here.
“Everyone wants to do their best for the club, whether they are playing or not.
“They want the players who are in the team to do the best and you can see that with the impact our substitutes have had on our season so far.
“From game one where Marco came on and was fantastic, Graham Dorrans and Shane's influence for the goal against Reading, the two boys who came on on Sunday, Peter's cross against Everton, and the game against Tottenham where Markus Rosenberg put in a great ball into the box from which James Morrison eventually scored.
“Everyone has contributed.
“There is a real togetherness.
“There are no egos, that really impresses me - more than anything.”