Albion Analysis: Change is needed

Sami Hyypia is absolutely right. Something has to change.

Albion are at a junction, with four routes to choose from.

Carrying on straight ahead will only mean continuing downhill.

They can turn left and change the manager, turn right and change some of the players.

Or Hyypia can go into reverse and change tactics.

The man who has to drive the change, one way or another, is Albion's chairman and owner, Tony Bloom.

Multi-millionaires are only human. They are not immune from mistakes, misreading the signs and travelling in the wrong direction.

There has been a malfunction between the man in charge of the team at Albion and the recruitment of players for some time, long before Hyypia's appointment.

It began in the latter stages of Gus Poyet's reign, continued with Oscar Garcia and is evident again now with Hyypia in charge.

He has not got enough of the type of players he would have liked to implement his style: full-backs operating like wingers, players switched on to fill in the gaps behind, a mobile and clinical strike force.

Albion presumably did their due diligence when they appointed the Finn, were aware of his vision, the sort of side he would seek to produce? If not, why not?

They have fallen well short with the players signed in an almighty flurry, 11 of them in total, the majority once the season had started.

It is not too late to make amends, or at least try to. The loan window is open until the last week of November for a temporary fix, then they can regroup and assess the situation again in January.

The alternatives? Shift blame, abandon Hyypia and turn to a manager with a proven record in the Championship, somebody like Chris Hughton or Brian McDermott.

Or for Hyypia to conclude the players at his disposal, not of the same calibre as those he was alongside at Liverpool or had under his command at Bayer Leverkusen, would benefit from a more orthodox system. The latter is probably unpalatable to Hyypia but may be the best hope, in the prevailing circumstances, of keeping his job.

A point is reached where results dictate a decision, irrespective of mitigating considerations.

That point could be the ten-match run without a win in the Championship stretching to an unlucky 13 before the next international break at Bournemouth and at home to Wigan and Blackburn.

It is increasingly difficult to excuse Albion's dismal home form. Middlesbrough at least looked like the top six side they are in winning at the Amex a week earlier. Rotherham are new to the Championship and below halfway.

Rather than falling behind yet again, the Seagulls led this time. Scoring just before half-time should have been a tonic, a platform to kick on.

Instead they fell away and would have lost without goalkeeper David Stockdale's best performance since his summer move from Fulham.

Stockdale has already made more obviously goal-costing mistakes than Tomasz Kuszczak in the whole of last season. Hyypia is not surprised it has taken him a while to hit form.

"When he came here I don't think he was in good shape and we needed to work on him quite a lot," Hyypia said.

"I knew that in the first few games he wasn't at his best and he could improve. Now he is doing the work he needs to be quicker and make better saves, so I think it's paying off a little bit that he is in better condition as well."

Stockdale got down well to save at full-stretch low shots in each half from Paul Green and Craig Morgan.

He saved his best until last, with a similar stop to thwart substitute Jonson Clarke-Harris in stoppage time, then a leap and paw away to prevent an own goal by Gordon Greer when the captain miscued from a cross.

Thank goodness the Albion defenders know where the goal is, otherwise they would be in deeper trouble.

Just before the break on-loan Joe Bennett drove in from an acute angle after initially miscontrolling a cross from Aston Villa team-mate Gary Gardner. Eight of the 13 Championship goals have now been provided by the back four.

The Seagulls continue to look lightweight and shot-shy in the last third. Jake Forster-Caskey and Adrian Colunga were bright in the opening 45 minutes but Rotherham, direct and robust, were the stronger side in the second half and well worth their point.

Alex Revell should have headed them in front late in the first half with a header straight at Stockdale. The former Albion forward made no mistake early in the second, capitalising on a yawning gap between Greer and the recalled Rohan Ince from Ben Pringle's cross to stroke in his third goal in as many games.

It was another sucker punch, akin to Middlesbrough's lead doubler on the counter-attack at an equivalent stage a week earlier.

Hyypia said: "It maybe better not to say anything (at half-time) and they (the players) will just figure out what to do. We could almost use the recordings from last week. That's how I feel it is going at the moment and maybe that's the optimum quality we have.

"We need to try to work hard to make the individuals better and that way we can maybe be collectively better as well. That is the only thing to do at the moment, or then we need to go to the transfer market to try to find a few players who bring quality to the team."

Tottenham are lurking next in the last 16 of the Capital One Cup at White Hart Lane on Wednesday, where another patchy performance could leave Albion vulnerable to a heavy defeat.

Then it's the Sky cameras away to Bournemouth, eight-goal wreckers of managerless Birmingham, the team immediately below Hyypia's strugglers. The search for that elusive win is getting harder and harder.