Conor Townsend knows West Brom have to stop shipping goals
Conor Townsend says Albion are well aware they have not defended well enough since returning to the Premier League.
The Baggies have conceded an alarming 13 goals in their opening four matches back in the top tier.
Incredibly, four other sides are also in double figures when it comes to goals against – with Fulham, Manchester United, Brighton and Liverpool having also looked remarkably shaky at the back.
Albion have taken just one point so far this season – with their clash against Chelsea ending in a 3-3 draw.
And Townsend knows they need to start keeping clean sheets if they are to have a genuine shot at staying in the Premier League.
“We have to shore up the goals we are conceding,” the defender said. “We’ve now got an international break, a bit more time to work on things.
“And tightening up at the back is the big thing we need to work on and we will be working on it.
“You look at the Chelsea game, we had to score three to get a point.
“It’s not good enough. We know that and we are all trying to pull together to improve. If we can start keeping clean sheets, we know we have got good players on the pitch.
“We are confident we can score goals.
“But it’s down to us as a full team to keep clean sheets. It’s not just the defenders, it’s the defenders all the way through to the strikers.”
While they were beaten by Leicester and Everton and drew with Chelsea despite being three goals up, there were positives in Albion’s first three games of the season.
But that wasn’t the case at Southampton with Ralph Hasenhuttl’s men securing a comfortable 2-0 win at St Mary’s.
Immediately after the international break, the Baggies host Burnley at The Hawthorns – with Sean Dyche’s side yet to win a point this season.
Slaven Bilic’s team then take on Brighton and Fulham. And Townsend admits all three are massive games.
“All the lads were really down after Southampton,” he continued.
“We went into the game on the back of a good week’s training and believed we could get a result.
“It was very disappointing. But we’ve got to dust ourselves down because while we’ve now got an international break – we’ve got three really big games coming up after that.”
In his playing career, Townsend has played in the National League, League Two, League One the Championship and now the Premier League.
But now he’s made it to the top tier, he wants to stay there.
“It’s nice to say I’ve done it,” the full-back said when asked how it feels to have played in the top five divisions.
“But I’m here to make a difference.
“I’m not here to play a few games, I want to play every game and help us stay in the league.
“We are all determined to do that.”
