Tuesday 12 December 2017 23:29, UK
West Brom boss Alan Pardew has attempted to get inside his players' minds as they look to end their winless run against Liverpool on Wednesday night.
Crystal Palace's last-gasp 2-1 win at home to Watford saw Roy Hodgson's side climb out of the relegation zone at the Baggies' expense.
Failure to record a victory at Anfield would extend West Brom's winless run to 16 games in all competitions, the longest in their 139-year history.
They have not won since August and Pardew, who replaced Tony Pulis in The Hawthorns hotseat last month, is trying to instil a positive mindset in his players.
"I'm the psychologist - I've told them and I'm sure they've got the message," he said.
"I can't play, though, and your experienced players and younger players need to understand where the game is and how will we see it through.
"This group is intelligent enough to grasp that - and over the years this team's been very good at it actually - it's only in the last three months that they've found it a problem.
"I think it's important you have a dialogue with players, try to know how they're feeling and what emotions they're going through in certain situations.
"It's important to try to address certain players' mistakes that they have made and not bury your head in the sand about it and ignore it - you might as well face it.
Pardew also hinted he may be interested in a January move for Liverpool striker Danny Ings, who has just returned to Jurgen Klopp's side following a second serious knee injury.
Ings made a first top-flight appearance for 19 months in the 1-1 draw against Everton on Sunday, although Pardew was keen to stress he has not yet had the chance to look in detail at possible new year transfer targets.
"I'd be foolish to say I don't like Danny Ings because I quite like him," added Pardew.
"It's a shame about his injury - he's had to battle back and everyone wishes him well.
"I haven't even looked at January this week because of the tight schedule of the games. But I have seen Nicky Hammond [sporting director] to pencil in a meeting to talk about that this week."
