Burgess Backs Ideye To Shine, Says Anichebe Is Not Good Enough

Daryl Burgess believes critics have been too quick to judge West Bromwich Albion record signing Brown Ideye.

The Nigeria international who arrived from Dynamo Kiev has failed to find the net in the Premier League and hasn’t impressed since his return to the team against Villa and QPR.

Burgess made almost 400 appearances for Albion in a 14-year career before moves to Northampton, Rochdale and Kidderminster.

And it was at Rochdale a decade ago where his career crossed with a centre-forward who would go on to score a bag-load of goals in the Premier League and earn a loan move to Villa.

“I remember when I was at Rochdale, we made a signing and the player came in on the day of a game at Darlington,” Burgess recalls.

“He had a stinker. Everything he controlled ended up around his head. That player was Grant Holt, so you have to give and take a bit sometimes.”

Ideye has taken Saido Berahino’s place in two of the last three games with Victor Anichebe starting the goalless draw at Hull beforehand.

Burgess admits Baggies boss Alan Irvine is facing a dilemma over whether to return to Berahino or stick with Ideye.

“Okay, they’ve not settled in but I thought Brown Ideye was a gamble at best for the price we paid for him. For the little bits… he has been injured and hasn’t played… he needs game-time but we are not in a position to give him game-time because we are in trouble,’’ said Burgess. “So we can’t take a chance on him, although we need to take a chance on him.

“It is a circle. Do you risk him and then he doesn’t do it?”

Burgess says Albion are struggling for goals whoever they turn to.

“Anichebe, for me, doesn’t do enough,” he said. “Stephane Sessegnon – I’ve never seen the point in us signing him for the money… so we haven’t got a match-winner and when he was brought in he was going to be our match-winner.

“My point with Sessegnon is that he doesn’t do enough. It’s okay if he does one or two things a game – that’s not enough. You need him to be in 70 to 80 per cent of the game not two or ten per cent. That’s my argument.

“He’s got ability, he can score goals, we don’t see enough. As a footballer it is okay being able to change a game once very ten games – it is not enough, especially in the position we’re in at the moment. We do need more width and whether we need to change the way we play that’s down to the manager.”

Burgess rejects calls of a shift in formation to 3-5-2 to allow Albion more width ahead of tough games against Manchester City, Stoke and West Ham.

“I think we over complicate things.” he said. “The three midfield boys are very similar. You need someone who is going to make a run and break the frontline and give the opposing defenders something to think about. At the moment we don’t give the opposition enough to think about.’’

Irvine is backing Ideye to break his Premier League duck.

“I think he’s progressing,” he said. “He is getting sharper and sharper, and better with each passing week. And I feel it’s only a matter of time before he gets his first Premier League goal.”