Sky Sports pundit Liam Rosenior raved about Jay Rodriguez for his pass to Jacob Murphy in the first-half of West Brom’s 3-1 defeat to Derby at Pride Park on Sunday.
Rodriguez put Murphy in on goal with a beautifully placed through ball, but unfortunately for the Baggies, the on-loan Newcastle winger’s attempt at goal was poor and his shot went wide of the far post.
Rosenior acknowledges that Murphy should have done better with the shot, but that did not stop him from heaping praise on Rodriguez in the build up.
“From here, an element of luck with Rodriguez. Wonderful pass, the timing on that’s fantastic,” said Rosenior at half-time on Sky Sports Football on Sunday [01:26pm].
“And with Murphy, the quality of player that he is, you’re expecting him to tuck that away. He’ll look back disappointed that he didn’t finish it.”
OPINION
Rodriguez may have scored a lot of goals for West Brom this season but overall he has left most fans disappointed with his performances. He did look quite composed in the first-half against Derby on Sunday and he should have registered an assist for his pass to Murphy. It was well-weighted, deceived the home side’s defenders and managed to find Murphy in a lot of space inside the penalty box. Unfortunately the Newcastle loanee has been a major flop for the Baggies and if that had fallen to Dwight Gayle or someone who has actually played well this season, they might have scored. West Brom now go into the play-offs where they will play against Aston Villa over two legs. Rodriguez scored a controversial goal with his hand against Villa earlier this season and also netted against them away from home. It will be interesting if he can keep up his goalscoring streak against Albion’s bitter rivals.