Exclusive: Kevin Phillips fumes over West Brom incident, claims Baggies dealt ‘Blow’ v Newcastle
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 believes Premier League referees are making a spectacle when they go over to the VAR monitor after West Brom playmaker Matheus Pereira was sent off on Sunday.
Pereira, 24, was shown a straight red card after being adjudged to have kicked a leg out at Crystal Palace left-back Patrick van Aanholt.
Paul Tierney then consulted the pitch-side monitor before showing Pereira an extremely harsh red card when it was not at all clear whether the Brazilian had kicked out.
Albion had just equalised to take the game to 1-1 before Pereira’s sending off but went on to crumble and lose 5-1.
Phillips has blasted Tierney’s decision to send off the former Sporting CP midfielder and claims Albion will miss the influential playmaker when they take on Newcastle at St James’ Park on Saturday.
“It was naive,” Phillips told West Brom News. “For me, it was never a sending off. It was very, very harsh.
“Nowadays, referees like to give a bit of a spectacle when they go over to that monitor.
“When you’re down towards the bottom of the league, these things go against you and they cost you badly.
“Everyone’s under pressure now. Not only the manager but also the players.
“They’ll miss Pereira for the next match and that will be a blow for them.”
West Brom will definitely miss Pereira.
According to stats by WyScout, the Brazilian ranks joint-10th in the Premier League for the number of key passes he’s completed this season [8]. Andrew Robertson and Sadio Mane are among the players who rank lower than the Baggies star.
Albion have struggled for goals this season and have the lowest xG in the top-flight [7.5].
They’re bound to struggle even more without their main source of creativity, who’ll be missed a lot over the next three games after the club’s appeal against his red card was turned down by the FA [Express & Star].
In other West Brom news, Bilic faces a make or break weekend when the Baggies take on Newcastle.
Be sure to follow West Brom News on Facebook and Twitter for 24/7 updates on the Baggies and more exclusive interviews with Kevin Phillips.