Adam Webster revealed after the 1-0 victory over Aston Villa that a desire to bounce back from two bad results were the impetus behind Sunday’s first win since March.
The 3-0 loss away to Bournemouth seven days earlier was one, while the other was the 6-1 defeat at Villa Park in September. Everything went against Albion that day in Birmingham, including a Pervis Estupinan own goal, a clear-looking offside not awarded, and a huge deflection as Adam attempted to block a shot from Ollie Watkins.
Head Coach Roberto De Zerbi admitted that he had reminded his players of that game in the build up to the return match - not that it was necessary. “I remember that game very well,” Adam said.
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“It was a really tough game for us. We lost 6-1 and it was never a 6-1 game, ever. But it looks terrible, so I really wanted to get some revenge and get the three points and we managed to do that.”
Watkins was credited with a hat-trick that day as the England striker continued a phenomenal scoring record against the Seagulls. So to shackle him as effectively as the defence did on Sunday was a cause of great satisfaction.
“We know about opposition players, we know their strengths and we do a lot of work on them in the build-up to the game,” Adam said. “His movement is probably the best in the Premier League, or right up there. He has got a bit of everything as a striker and is probably one of the toughest you can face, so for them to have an XG [expected goals] of 0.06, I think it was, is really pleasing for us.”
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The previous weekend’s trip to the Vitality Stadium was also fresh in the players’ minds. “Nobody wants to lose games and you want a reaction from that,” Adam said. “Bournemouth played well and we weren’t at the levels we know we can get to and we wanted to put that right in front of our own fans. We really want to finish strongly and although we have got some tough games, we have nothing to lose and we will be trying to finish as high as we can.
“From the start [against Villa] we had a clear game plan and I think that really worked. We changed a couple of things and you can see that it really helped us at the back and we looked dangerous as well. We had some good opportunities and the keeper made some good saves as well. But we kept believing and finally got the goal.”
The change of formation, with Billy Gilmour sitting in front of the back four, was an effective answer to suggestions that Albion have only one way of playing under the head coach. “We know as players how adaptable he [De Zerbi] is,” Adam said. “We have got so many options in possession, an option for everything the opposition are going to do. It’s just about us trying to execute and take it out onto the pitch.”
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The Sussex-born defender had one of his best games against Villa despite a stop-start campaign in which he has started only eleven games.
“I have not played that many games this season. JP [van Hecke] has been outstanding and when I have come in, I’ll be honest, I haven’t hit the heights that I’m capable of. When you don’t have the rhythm of playing week in, week out it can be really tough to find your feet. So it has been a frustrating campaign personally but I’m just looking to finish as well as possible.
“We have had a lot of injuries this season so it has been a frustrating campaign for not just me, but for a lot of the lads. I’m just really pleased to be back out there from the start and to get a win and clean sheet is massive.”
He also revealed details of a team-bonding day that helped relax the players ahead of the Villa game. “It was go-karting and clay pigeon shooting. Joel Veltman won both, he took it away. He was very competitive. At go-karting I was second-last, I was terrible, but at clay-pigeon shooting I was decent.
“It was good for everyone to take our minds off football for a day and have a bit of team bonding with the players and the staff as well. Sometimes that is really important for what it can do - give you a bit of a break mentally and then you are ready to go again and it has worked for us.”