Five West Brom areas Alan Pardew needs to fix

1) Nervousness when in front

Albion have lost 10 points from winning positions already this season – and it’s looking increasingly like a systemic problem within the team.

All five leads have been let slip in the latter stages of games, and while you’d expect Tottenham to roar back at Wembley, the other four were eminently avoidable.

Whether it’s fitness, lack of concentration, or nerves setting in because of the 13-game winless streak, it’s something Pardew needs to sort out.

Albion are not being hammered, they are on the cusp of winning games, but are regularly falling at the final hurdle.

They could be level on points with seventh-placed Burnley had they held on to those points, but ifs and buts get you nowhere.

2) Salomon Rondon

The much-maligned striker has looked a shell of a player for several months now, but there have been some encouraging signs in the two games since Tony Pulis left.

Rejuvenated under Gary Megson, who played a secondary striker alongside him, there are tentative signs that the £12m man can be the all-action target man Albion hoped they’d signed.

If Pardew can get a tune out of him, then all of a sudden the strike options look a bit more healthy.

Jay Rodriguez has looked leggy recently, but before he was rested against Newcastle he had played more minutes than anyone else.

Used correctly, and he will reach double figures. Hal Robson-Kanu, who was excellent on Tuesday, will keep them honest.

3) The mood at the Hawthorns

Attendances dwindled under Pulis to their lowest ever in the Premier League, and a disillusioned fanbase started to find other things to do on a Saturday.

The Hawthorns has only been 83.7 per cent full on average this season – which is the second-lowest rate in the league behind Tottenham, who have a 90,000 stadium to fill this season.

But those Baggies have not been lost forever. This week’s game with Newcastle was the biggest gate of the season, and even though that was helped by the die-hard Geordies, the Kids for a Quid offer, and Sir Gary Megson in the dug-out, it proved there is a post-Pulis appetite returning.

Pardew can help get bums on seats by playing an attacking brand of football, but the most important lure will be winning games.

4) Nacer Chadli and James Morrison

Albion have plenty of wingers (and Kieran Gibbs has proved he can get forward too) but these two offer a different type of creativity that’s a bit more cute and unique.

Both endured tough times under Pulis, and both thought about leaving.

Morrison nearly went 18 months ago and Chadli wanted out in the summer. Under the previous regime, the Belgian looked destined for the exit door in January but maybe Pardew’s famous man-management skills can talk him round to staying.

Because on their day, not only can these two make Albion tick, but they also make them fun to watch.

5) The midfield battle

Pardew has a plethora of options at his disposal in central-midfield with five genuine contenders for just two or three positions.

Grzegorz Krychowiak started well but has tailed off, Claudio Yacob proved his worth against Chelsea, Jake Livermore has improved in recent weeks,

Gareth Barry played supremely against Spurs, and young Sam Field was man of the match against Newcastle.

Being unable to get the central midfield to click and his stubborn insistence on playing the same three players was one of the main catalysts for Pulis’s downfall, but Megson proved this week by dropping Field into the starting line-up that there is a solution out there.

Pardew needs to find it.