Exclusive: Phillips surprised by Bilic player decision that went against West Brom prediction
We’re delighted to welcome former West Brom striker Kevin Phillips as our exclusive columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at The Hawthorns…
Kevin Phillips was surprised that Filip Krovinovic was dropped from the West Brom starting line-up for the 0-0 draw with Birmingham last week.
Krovinovic, 24, had started all nine of West Brom’s Championship fixtures leading up to the season being suspended in March and had proven to be one of Slaven Bilic’s most effective players in that run.
However, that didn’t stop Bilic from dropping Krovinovic on Saturday and reinstating Matt Phillips in the starting line-up as he switched back to a 4-2-3-1 formation.
That decision was a bit of a headscratcher for Phillips, who praised Krovinovic’s impact after he came off the bench in the second half.
“I was a little bit surprised,” Phillips told West Brom News when asked what his reaction was to seeing Krovinovic on the bench.
“I predicted that Bilic would go down the route of picking the team he’s looked at a lot this season.
“But he came on and he gives you that different dimension, that different style. He will definitely play a lot more minutes between now and the end of the season. It will be interesting to see what team he picks on Friday away at Brentford, which will be another tough match.”
Phillips wasn’t the only one who was surprised to see Krovinovic named on the bench against Birmingham.
In the lead-up to lockdown, the Croatian midfielder was one of West Brom’s best players and taking him out of the side was an odd call by Bilic.
We can only assume but maybe Krovinovic wasn’t at peak fitness and that led to Bilic putting him on the bench with the hope he’d make an impact as a substitute.
Bilic will have learned from that though and we hope that the midfielder is back in the side versus Brentford.
In other West Brom news, fans have said it’s “Berahino all over again” after this player update was announced.
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