Odemwingie delivers Slaven Bilic verdict in West Brom defeat v Spurs
Peter Odemwingie saw encouraging signs from West Brom despite them falling to a late defeat against Tottenham at The Hawthorns on Sunday.
Ahead of kick-off at The Hawthorns, speculation was rife about Slaven Bilic’s future in charge of the Baggies with the Mirror reporting that Lee Bowyer has been earmarked as a possible replacement.
However, despite losing Matheus Pereira and Branislav Ivanovic to positive COVID-19 tests, Albion managed to turn in an impressive display against Spurs and were incredibly unlucky to be beaten due to Harry Kane’s late header.
Speaking at half-time, ex-West Brom striker Odeminwinge said that he was happy with what he saw in terms of Bilic’s tactics as he kept Tottenham’s attacking players quiet for large periods of the match.
“These are encouraging signs because Bilic still believes they’re not fighting a lost cause,” Odemwingie told Malaysian broadcaster Astro Supersport 3 on Sunday.
“Today, the way he lined up his team, doesn’t let Gareth Bale to have the space he needs to pick up the ball to go one-v-one.
“I’m happy with what I’m seeing tactically from Bilic. The best way to reduce your opposition’s strength is to let the players with quality have less of the ball.
“Gareth Bale doesn’t know what to do. He goes alone in the middle but because it’s so condensed in the middle he can’t really do anything and Harry Kane is not the kind of player who runs in behind.
“They’re not letting Spurs play and all credit so far goes to Bilic’s side.”
Stats by WhoScored show how well West Brom did against Tottenham.
Albion had 12 shots at goal throughout the game compared to Spurs’ 19 while the Baggies’ possession tally was 41.4 per cent.
West Brom completed more dribbles, more tackles, won more aerial duels and had more corners than Jose Mourinho’s side.
As Albion were in such poor form going into the game, to turn in a display like that against high-flying Tottenham was very good.
We hope Bilic doesn’t get the sack off the back of it because there was enough there to suggest we can pick up some big results after the international break and into the festive period.
In other West Brom news, Albion fans are furious with this update on the manager situation at The Hawthorns.
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