Irvine admits Albion lacked tempo
ALAN Irvine reflected on Albion's defeat to Newcastle United and stated: "We simply weren't good enough."
The Baggies lost 2-0 to an-form United side that had claimed four consecutive victories before arriving at The Hawthorns.
Speaking at his after-match press conference, Irvine tackled a series of questions.
On Albion's performance:
"We didn't play well enough. We didn't play with the right tempo or intensity for long periods of the game.
"And then the periods when we did play we lost momentum.
"We gave away a few fouls in quick succession and then Newcastle scored before half-time.
"There wasn't much in the game at that point. I thoughr it would peter out and be 0-0 at half-time. Their goal was a big boost for them and a blow for us.
"But ultimately we simply didn't perform well enough. We didn't play as well as we can do."
On his decision to play Victor Anichebe up front and name Stephane Sessegnon as a substitute:
"I knew how Newcastle have been playing lately - to get a lot of players behind the ball.
"I felt there might not be enough space for Stephane where he can get into little areas behind their midfield.
"I felt it was going to be similar to Crystal Palace game and that there would be a lack of space for Sess to operate within at the start of the game.
"It certainly wasn't because I've been unhappy with Sess but anyone who saw Palace game will have seen impact Victor Anichebe made. We wanted something similar today."
On Berahino and distribution of goals from other players, Irvine added:
"Saido had his poorest game for us this season, but that can happen. People will ask the question of whether it's about what happened in the week but anyone can have a poor game.
"I'd like to think what happened in the week gave him a massive boost, more than anything.
"I want goals for all over the team. The only pressures on Saido should be for him to perform at his best levels as often as he can.
"He's done that throughout this season but it's vitally important goals come from players throughout the team. We have players who can do that so there shouldn't be a dependancy on him to do that."