OPINION
West Brom named an unchanged side from the team that beat Swansea last week, but fans wanted to see Dwight Gayle in the starting XI and they couldn’t believe that both Jay Rodriguez and Hal Robson-Kanu were preferred over him.
And their fears were realised in the first-half with both strikers labouring and Rodriguez coming in for the brunt of the fans’ barbs after a couple of shocking misses.
They flocked onto Twitter to berate the striker who has got a pretty decent record this season – nine goals in 19 Championship games.
However, one fan said this didn’t tell the whole story, saying that Rodriguez – reportedly on a massive £60k-a-week – can only score from penalties or from two-yards out.
In the end it fell to West Brom’s best player Harvey Barnes to break the deadlock, in the 77th minute. He picked the ball up in the Brentford penalty area and took two chances to blast the ball into the roof of the net.
However, there was a sting in the tail for the Baggies fans as Lewis Macleod popped up with an equaliser in the 91st minute – meaning all those missed chances in the first-half really did come back to haunt them.
Here are the best reactions from frustrated West Brom fans:
Cannot believe we've gone in goalless. Morrison and Phillips excellent. The less said about Rodriguez the better. We should be out of sight. #wba
— Jacko (@JACKO_BRAND) December 3, 2018
I've got a feeling, it's going to be one of those nights… Rodríguez' miss was as bad as Kanu's almost 15 years ago! #wba
— TheJackal (@Jackalbion) December 3, 2018
https://twitter.com/mrdeykin/status/1069685655486255104
https://twitter.com/leeirv14/status/1069684753589329920
How has Rodriguez not scored that? This is what I was saying about Gayle. That's 1-0 if it's Gayle. Can't blow them kind of chances v Villa they have some firepower #WBA
— Andrew Beech (@beechyboy90) December 3, 2018
https://twitter.com/_howesy/status/1069684129602658304
How the hell has Rodriguez missed that!? #WBA
— Danny Wright (@dannyw_92) December 3, 2018
https://twitter.com/Mitch_WBA/status/1069683779747373057
https://twitter.com/huntywbafc/status/1069698411379769345
https://twitter.com/RedmondRoleV2/status/1069695606170550272
How are JRod and HRK keeping Gayle out of the starting 11 ??? #WBA
— Adam Boden (@24adam09) December 3, 2018
HRK competing with J Rod for shocking miss of the night #WBA
— nightwba38 (@nightwba38) December 3, 2018
J Rod having a mare
— Toxic Troglodyte (@GREENBAYUK_) December 3, 2018