Graham Potter said Albion must be critical of themselves after their 2-0 defeat by Aston Villa. But he was pleased with much of what they did until Ollie Watkins’ late strike turned the match. Albion had 63% of possession but only two efforts on target, by Leandro Trossard and Tariq Lamptey in the first half.
Graham Potter said: “I thought up until 83 minutes we did pretty much everything you can here apart from score in terms of controlling the crowd. We knew the environment we were going to face and how difficult that is. I thought we controlled the crowd, we controlled the game. I thought we attacked better. I thought we created better chances. Probably that feeling going up to the first goal was we are going to score, we are going to score. Then we leave ourselves exposed a little bit and the turnover happens and 1-0 down. The last seven minutes are disappointing.”
Watkins capped a counter attack for the first goal after a low Albion cross had been cleared.
Graham Potter added: “We have to be critical of ourselves. We gave ourselves a chance to win the game but, ultimately, if you don’t score, you don’t win. We need to do a little bit better. I think we can be better.But that’s something for us to work with and keep trying to work with and keep trying to improve.”