Darnell Furlong’s consistency proving key for West Brom’s play off push

An 8 point buffer now for the Baggies.

Transcript

00:00 Don El-Furlong is a player that we've picked out to discuss today. As a defender, he's

00:10 become incredibly consistent and it's something that we spoke about earlier on in the season

00:16 that West Brom needed to improve, was certain players becoming more consistent in terms

00:21 of defending as well as getting their goals. How impressive has he been for West Brom so

00:26 far?

00:27 He's been brilliant. Just his consistency, as you mentioned, wasn't quite there last

00:32 season maybe and at the start of this, but the last few months, I think there isn't really

00:37 much you can fault Don El-Furlong for. Going forward as well, we've always known he's got

00:41 those long throws that can launch into the area. That's a threat, but his crossing ability,

00:45 getting down to the byline, linking up very well with the likes of Jed Wallace or Grady

00:50 Dean-Garner now in the number 10 position, getting on that overlap, it's been impressive.

00:54 And then his defensive positioning, getting better and better. This is a player who's

00:58 been in the Premier League, he's played consistently for a number of seasons now in West Brom colours,

01:03 but he's never really been that star man and he's not going to be. He's never going to

01:06 get to that position, I don't think. You're not going to as a right back, are you? But

01:10 just to be that unsung hero, I think he's becoming one of those players in this side.

01:14 Seb Trickett-Praes really stepped up this season as well. The likes of Kyle Bartley,

01:19 Samir Jaya alongside as well. I think they need another centre-back just to solidify

01:23 things a bit. But these are the kind of players that you need to be performing week in, week

01:27 out to have an underlying core to your team. And Furlong, I think, is really impressed

01:32 to get West Brom in the position they are.

01:33 Yeah, obviously you mentioned their position there. What's been that key to becoming slowly

01:40 approaching the play-offs at the back end of this season? And they are looking like

01:44 your bankers to ensure that they are going to be in that top six.

01:47 Yeah, they've now got an eight point buffer to Hull City in seventh, West Brom in fifth.

01:52 You've got Norwich below, you've got Coventry City, Preston North End as well in the fight.

01:56 There's no catching up for Southampton and Ipswich and Leeds and Leicester. They're well

02:01 and beyond now. But West Brom fans won't care about that. They're never going to get automatics

02:05 this year. It's just about securing those play-offs. And I think what it is, is just

02:08 taking a game at a time, being really professional with it, having that core to the team that

02:13 I mentioned. Carlos Corbren as well as a manager, tactically brilliant. And defensively, I believe

02:19 they've got the third best or fourth best defence in the league in terms of goals conceded.

02:25 That is so important to be in a position they are and not having that many strikers fit,

02:30 even more so. Just having one goal in the game, if they can keep a clean sheet, is obviously

02:33 enough for a win. And they've been doing that consistently. We saw that with Corbren at

02:37 Huddersfield Town as well, when they got into the play-offs. It was one nil, two nil here

02:42 and there, two ones. It's that core, it's that base defensively that's so important.

02:47 It might not be that attractive at times, it might not be that exciting, but if it gets

02:51 them in the play-offs, gets them a chance in the Premier League, then they've got to

02:54 do it.