James Morrison was left incredibly impressed by the level of intensity in Albion’s performance against Burnley on Sunday lunchtime.
The Baggies picked up their third straight win at the start of the 2026/27 campaign, following on from victories over Rotherham United and Norwich City by beating recently-relegated Burnley 3-1 in what was the club’s opening home match of the new term.
Callum Styles’ own goal handed the Clarets the lead, but Harry Whitwell’s calm finish and Isaac Price’s second-half double ensured Albion maintained their 100 per cent record.
The boss says he “really enjoyed watching” the display and believes his team “ran all over” the visitors.
Morrison said: “I’m very happy with that today. I really enjoyed watching the performance. I thought the intensity was exactly where it needed to be because Burnley are strong opponents.
“I thought we ran all over them and they struggled to deal with that. At the top end of the pitch we showed our quality. I’ll enjoy that tonight.
“I thought it was a 50-50 game. I thought there were some sloppy moments at the start of the game where we would give the ball away and then they’d counter.
“We missed a few tackles on the counter, but then we had a spell where we were keeping the ball really nicely and we were waiting for the spaces to open up, which is where the goal came from. The first goal came at a good time for us and I’m really pleased for Harry because he deserved that.
“Our intensity pleased me and so did doing the basics well. We fought for our team-mates and we ran back and won plenty of tackles. At the top end of the pitch there were plenty of combinations and we got balls into the box.
“We had to respect the opponents today because they’ve just come down from the Premier League and they’ve got some top players. There were times where we had to defend, and we did that really well.
“To concede the first goal was a knock. It happened, so we had to regroup. We talk about momentum in games and we had to swing it back our way and we did that by moving the ball around. When the opportunity came around, it was a composed finish from Harry.
“Isaac Price made it 2-1 and he was knocking on the door with that type of strike last week – I think it’s his signature finish, that curler into the far corner. At the break, I could smell the game was there for us so it was just about getting the belief into the players in terms of a fast start through intensity and the work we’ve been doing in pre-season. The lads applied that intensity and I feel like Burnley struggled with it.
“They didn’t manage to create too many chances in the second period and we’ve got to take pride in clean sheets. We’d conceded in the last two games and I wasn’t happy about it, so, having conceded in the first half, I thought it was really important to keep a clean sheet in the second half.”
