Ryan Mason calls on players to “take responsibility” after West Brom’s defeat to Swansea

Ryan Mason calls on his players to “take responsibility” after West Brom’s 1-0 defeat to Swansea on New Year’s Day.

A spectacular 25-yard strike from substitute Jay Fulton just a minute after he came on continued Swansea’s turnaround in form.

It gave Swansea a fifth win in seven games, lifting them to 15th in the Championship, while West Brom suffered a ninth consecutive away defeat, dropping to 17th and increasing pressure on manager Ryan Mason.

West Brom head coach Ryan Mason, per BBC Sport:

“Obviously a lot of anger, a lot of frustration. It’s a tough game to analyse. We are not able to make changes because of our squad at the moment. We came up against a team who made four changes and I think in the first half you could feel the energy difference.

“But they didn’t really create anything in the first half and then second half I thought we grew into it, we were by far the better team.

“We had chances but the reality is a lot of our games this season have hinged on moments and being clinical and we weren’t clinical today.

“If you don’t take them, you open yourself open to conceding a worldie from 25 yards. That was the difference.

“The run we have been on is incredible, it’s embarrassing. But if you actually go through those games, we have had a lot of opportunities – probably a lot better than we had today in fairness.”

He told BBC Radio WM: “The message from the club was to make people understand our situation and why we are where we are and why in January certain things might not materialise because of the situation we inherited.

“Andrew has sent a message to the fans explaining why we’ve had to sell some of our better players in the summer and why we’re not able to make certain signings in January.

“I don’t think anyone’s immune to anything… there shouldn’t be any.

“It certainly isn’t that [the statement from Nestor] when you represent a big club you need to feel the responsibility and we all need to own that.

“I think for some of the players at the minute, not being able to change, I think you need people to push you.

“The situation we’re in is disappointing but that’s the reality.”

On the losing run: “We should’ve come out on top in quite a few of them, and that’s the difference.

“Football’s a game of such small margins. As players and coach you have to take responsibility.

“We are creating and putting ourselves in positions but you’ve got to be able to take the chances and for some reason we aren’t and there are many different reasons for that.

“But we’re not a million miles away. Sometimes you need a bit of brilliance, need a bit of quality, a bit of luck, sometimes when you’re on a run it doesn’t always go your way.”

Mason says he won’t be asking the fans for patience, adding they are right to feel unhappy with current results.

“We’ve lost too many games. I’m unhappy and it hurts me.”

Mason, per Sky Sports: “I wouldn’t be sat here if I didn’t think I could turn this around. As a coach, you can do a lot right and not necessarily get the rewards. That’s the beauty of football.

“But no-one, or nothing, is going to stop me believing in how I want the team to be and how I want them to look.

“It’s a game of fine margins and too many times this season we’ve come out on the wrong end for different reasons.

“The run we’ve been on, in terms of the games we’ve lost, it’s incredible. It’s embarrassing. As I’ve done all season, I’ll take responsibility for everything.

“But, as a player, also, we have to have men who take responsibility. Regardless of where you are, what league, what country you play in, to lose that amount of games, it’s not good enough.”

Swansea head coach Vitor Matos:

“I think it was a balanced game in the first half. We were in control but not a lot of chances. West Brom were trying to take an advantage from a second ball or a counter or a mistake.

“We had he control and the dominance but only one clear chance I would say.

“Second half West Brom had a spell of seven minutes where we needed properly to defend deep.

“Then this kind of game, with the amount of games in a short period of time, simple things can make a difference and that’s what happened.

“It was a brilliant counter press from Ronnie (Ronald) and even more brilliant from Jay. He can score like this a lot in training. I was really happy for him – he is an important character for us who has a lot of values I like.”

Matos, per Sky Sports:

“I am really happy for Jay and I think it was a great game where we had to be patient.

“The goal was a brilliant counter press from Ronald and then an even more brilliant one from Jay.

“We are moving up the table, but we are not yet looking upwards. We just have to concentrate on the next game.”

Twitter users reacted as Ryan Mason calls on his players to “take responsibility” after West Brom’s 1-0 defeat to Swansea on New Year’s Day…

@TheRainbowStand: Are the owners still exempt from criticism or not? Asking for a mate

@matthewdmarsden: Can’t even be bothered to watch my beloved Albion anymore. We knew this would be the result and that the football would be crap. The club is in a crisis and waiting to fire him is making it worse.

@AndyfromNewHamp: Possession is something to value and we simply don’t. The number of mistakes, basic in their level are horrific, led to five yellow cards. In a team devoid of energy and strength in the central striking role, Dike again offers us so much, and again the last throw of the dice..

@JoeTalbotWBA: Rotten that, don’t even do the basics well. He has to go, how can 9 straight away defeats be justified?

@JDWBA2: Refuses to use youth because hes scared of trying something different.

@RhysBusby: So would rather put players on the bench that can’t play than trust youth players. Get him gone

@antsjames84: That aint a West brom of the old coming down here. Weve had some proper battles down here with you lot and still to this day some of the best fans to come hete. But that was honking from you today. That aint WBA of old.

@Fozza11_: Last season, when it became clear our objectives weren’t going to be met, Bilkul pulled the plug and sent Mowbray on his way. They need to show that ruthlessness now. They won’t. But they need to.

@Davepricescaff: 😂😂 can say moments all you like, I’ll pick one of a million things. You’re playing MJ out of the position he’s been our only shining light lately. The only good thing we have with your team selections was MJ on the right & now you think he needs to play somewhere else. 👍🏻

@BurgerSight: What on earth does this do to the mentality of the youngsters that your coming out and saying we would rather waste a place on the bench than reward you for playing well at u21 level! And how does it explain all the other games he won’t make subs!