Jake Livermore: West Brom moving in right direction
Albion are moving in the right direction and have made strong progress since the start of the season, skipper Jake Livermore believes.
The Baggies, who sit second in the Championship table, began the campaign playing a high intensity, high pressing, style of football.
But they have switched to a more possession-based, passing game in recent weeks following three consecutive draws against Millwall, Derby and Preston North End.
That change in style led to wins over QPR and Cardiff before Valerien Ismael's side fell to defeat at Stoke – their first Championship loss of the season.
But even if their last outing before the international break was a defeat, Livermore believes he and his team mates can be proud of the start they have made to the 2021/22 campaign.
"I told the boys after the Stoke game to keep their heads up because after 11 games we have had to overcome a lot of different styles of play," the midfielder said.
"Teams have made it very difficult for us. But on the whole we have reacted well.
"We will use Stoke as a big learning curve and when we come up against a team that plays like that again we will be more than equipped to deal with it.
"That was a tough night for us.
"But we won’t focus on the negatives, I think we have had so many positives from this block of games heading into the international break.
"I’ve said before, when we are winning games you can’t too get carried away – you can’t be scrapping us off the ceiling.
"And when results and performances go against us like they did at Stoke - we can’t be scraped off the floor either.
"We are learning in each and every game. Teams are coming at us and giving us different problems to solve. But overall we have reacted well."
Following their underwhelming display at the bet365 Stadium Livermore says it's now important the Baggies respond with an impressive performance against Blues on October 15.
"It’s all about the response now," the 31-year-old said.
"We have got a nice long period now to regroup, to look over the games – to look at the games we have done well and to look at the games we can learn from.
"It’s good we have got two weeks to do that."
