View: 28y/o stakes his claim to Bilic – Three things learned in West Brom loss v Newcastle
West Brom crashed out of the FA Cup on Tuesday night in a 3-2 defeat against Newcastle United at The Hawthorns.
Slaven Bilic, as expected, rung the chances to his starting line-up prior to kick-off with his priority still being securing promotion from the Championship.
Dara O’Shea and Rekeem Harper were the only two players to retain their spots in the side but Newcastle were basically at full-strength and had little issue in tearing apart the Baggies defence in the first half when Miguel Almiron scored a brace.
Valentino Lazaro put Newcastle three ahead just after the break but Matt Phillips ensured that Albion wouldn’t finish the game goalless with a firm strike past Karl Darlow in the 74th minute.
Here, West Brom News has rounded up three things we learned about the defeat:
Brunt and Barry could have played final match
We haven’t really seen a lot of Chris Brunt and Gareth Barry this season. The pair, aged 35 and 39 respectively, are both out of contract in the summer and are likely to move on. Neither of them were particularly effective against Newcastle in the heart of Bilic’s midfield and based on their lack of appearances, age and recent injury problems, that’s not a surprise. With Bilic preferring other options in his midfield in the league, that could have been Brunt and Barry’s final appearance for West Brom unless promotion is wrapped up early.
Phillips stakes his claim
While it wasn’t an amazing display by West Brom, Phillips still stood out as one of the best players on the pitch for West Brom. The 28-year-old had been a mainstay of Bilic’s starting line-up in the Championship up until recently. He hasn’t started any of the last six league games due to Matheus Pereira taking up his position on the right-wing. Pereira’s been fantastic – bar a poor display against Wigan – so Phillips’ absence hasn’t been much of a surprise. But the Scotland winger did well against Newcastle and he’s definitely going to be on Bilic’s mind ahead of the clash against Swansea on Saturday.
Most important thing is promotion
Would it have been nice to reach the FA Cup quarter-finals? Absolutely. But winning promotion to the Premier League is the most important thing for West Brom this season and there’s no doubt that Bilic would have been told that from the club’s hierarchy. West Brom’s first-team would have beaten Newcastle. While the Magpies won 3-1, their goals could have been dealt with and a full-strength Albion attack, on their day, would have torn their defence to shreds. We’ll go again in the FA Cup next season, hopefully in a more comfortable Premier League position.
In other West Brom news, Kevin Phillips has shared his exclusive thoughts about Matheus Pereira’s imminent permanent move to the club.