Conor Townsend: West Bromwich Albion defender says squad content with league place
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West Bromwich Albion defender Conor Townsend says the squad are feeling okay about where they are in the championship heading into the international break.
The Baggies are seventh in the table, only outside the play-off places on goal difference, following Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at in-form Southampton.
The loss was Albion’s first in their last five matches.
“We played some good stuff and will take the positives,” Townsend said.
“We created a lot of chances in the second half but everyone could see what type of game it was and, in my opinion, looked the more likely to score but that’s the Championship.
“We lost and that’s all that matters but we’ve got a bit of a break now and come back and look to put it right.”
Albion’s defeat at St Mary’s put an end to their run of three straight wins and means they have now lost all three matches before this season’s international breaks.
But after defeats by Huddersfield at the start of September and West Midlands rivals Birmingham City in early October, the Baggies took points from their first games back when the Championship resumed.
And Townsend is confident they can do the same this time when they take on early title-contenders Ipswich Town at The Hawthorns on 25 November.
“We’ve lost every game before the international breaks, which is obviously not great, but we’ve got good results in the first games back,” the 30-year-old added.
“We should not be unable to make the playoffs if we can recover from the break and continue to play like we already do.”
Albion’s impressive surge up the table under boss Carlos Corberan, with three wins and a draw before the trip to Southampton, has been achieved without the firepower of top-scorer John Swift, who has been out since October with a calf injury, and the unavailability of Daryl Dike and Josh Maja.
Townsend says the return of Dike and midfielder Adam Reach, who are recovering well from quad and Achilles injuries respectively, as well as Swift and Maja, who may be back to full training during the next two weeks, will be “massive” for the team.
“The squad at one point was threadbare. We believe in what we have in the locker room and in what the manager wants us to do, so I think that really gives us a boost,” he remarked.
“We are satisfied with where we are and hopefully we can go on another run like we did and push ourselves right into it. We have seen a lot of good things this season, and some things to improve on.”
