Bilic claims only two West Brom players showed ‘proper commitment’ v Fulham
West Brom boss Slaven Bilic has said that Conor Gallagher and Branislav Ivanovic were the only players to show ‘proper commitment’ as his side suffered a 2-0 loss at the hands of Fulham.
The Baggies fell into the relegation zone as first-half goals from Bobby Decordova-Reid and Ola Aina left Albion winless in their first seven Premier League games.
Speaking to Sky Sports after the game, Bilic also said that ‘everything starts’ with how hard his side work in their games.
He said, “I told the guys that the young kid Conor Gallagher who came from Chelsea, he’s a kid, he’s a newcomer and I see in him and Ivanovic proper commitment that I didn’t see today from the other guys and that’s what hurts.
“We can’t be there to just play games, we have to be much better in everything, it starts with the work rate, everything starts with the work rate”.
The Baggies were run ragged in the first half and Fulham could have extended their lead further but Sam Johnstone kept numerous long-range efforts out of the Albion net.
Gallagher has now started and played every minute in West Brom’s last three games and he impressed again on Monday night. Admittedly the Chelsea loanee was the best of a bad bunch but he was absolutely everywhere for Albion and without him, the scoreline could’ve looked a lot worse.
The 20-year-old should start the Baggies next game when they welcome Tottenham Hotspur to The Hawthorns next weekend and he could be the key man again as Bilic tries to work out how to stop an attack of Harry Kane, Son Heung-Min and Gareth Bale.
The Baggies defence struggled enough against Aleksandar Mitrovic on Monday which doesn’t bode well for the visit of Jose Mourinho’s Tottenham.
In other West Brom news, here are our ratings from Monday’s disappointing loss to Fulham.
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