Well, there is nothing as bad as relegation in football, for sure. Going down a division just highlights the fragility, incompetency and often has a devastating impact on the fans and the club.
The Baggies have been utterly disappointing this season and currently sit bottom of the table. They are eight points adrift of safety and have failed to muster any sort of fight so far.
Alan Pardew was given the responsibility of avoiding relegation midway through the season but the Englishman has failed so far.
As West Brom prepare for life in the Championship now, they look set to lose some of their best players. One of the latest names being touted to leave the club is goalkeeper Ben Foster, according to the Sun.
Foster, Forster and Southampton’s case
Southampton themselves have been pretty woeful and sit just a point above the relegation zone. The Saints have had a season where they’ve been disappointing defensively after the departure of van Dijk and their attack just hasn’t found the back of the net frequently enough.
Often failing to defend well as a collective unit, the club’s first choice keeper, Fraser Forster, has made some silly errors at times. That prompted Mauricio Pellegrino to replace Forster with Alex McCarthy between the sticks. Forster has been shaky at times, has shown moments of unawareness, and has often been guilty of letting in some easy goals.
He was downright abject in the Boxing Day defeat against Tottenham and it was a bit of a shock as he was one of the best keepers outside the top six clubs in the last few seasons. McCarthy too has been inconsistent and hence the problem seems to have persisted for Southampton even now.
What next for Ben Foster?
The West Brom goalkeeper is 34 years old and has only a few years of professional football left in him. He has been fairly reliable, as it is his team’s defence that needs to take most of the blame. This season, Foster has made 2.7 saves per game on an average.
Foster has managed to keep seven clean sheets in the Premier League this season, a number that could have been higher had the West Brom defence been more solid. Keepers tend to get better with age so maybe he could have at least a couple of good years left in him.
Stats via Whoscored