‘Madness’ – Phillips Exclusive: West Brom senior player status under serious threat
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 would not be surprised if Sam Allardyce strips Jake Livermore of the West Brom captaincy after being sent off against Aston Villa on Sunday.
Allardyce was furious after the 3-0 defeat at The Hawthorns and even suggested that he will re-think who will hold the captain’s armband.
He was quoted by the Independent as saying: “It depends who wants to be captain after this and who can handle the armband. If I consider they are good enough they can keep it.
“I won’t accept another sending-off, no matter what. We have to stop that otherwise we won’t have a chance of getting out of this trouble.
“It’s the first thing I asked the players do to, whatever you do, don’t get sent off. I’m upset, I couldn’t be anything else but upset.”
Allardyce’s anger was justified.
Livermore was initially booked for a lunge at Jack Grealish but after a pitchside review, it was upgraded to a red card and a three-match ban. For all VAR’s cons, we can’t have any complaints about that one.
When asked if Livermore’s captaincy is under serious threat, Phillips told West Brom News: “I would say so but who else is going to take over? [Branislav] Ivanovic is experienced but Livermore’s been there a while, he knows it was a moment of madness.
“There are bigger problems at the club than the captaincy. It doesn’t matter who’s captain when you’re in the situation you’re in at the moment, they should all be captains – they should all be leaders.
“But ultimately, managers might want to make a statement. It looks like there’s going to be no nonsense and no messing about from Big Sam. He hasn’t got time to be friends with people.
“If he did [strip Livermore of the captain’s armband], it wouldn’t surprise me but I don’t see it being a huge issue.”
Phillips makes a good point. If not Livermore, then who?
Ivanovic would make sense as he’s a 36-year-old defender with 269 Premier League appearances to his name as well as three titles. However, the Serbian has been woeful at times this season and has been dropped to the bench for the last couple of games.
Romaine Sawyers, a boyhood West Brom supporter and academy product who’s playing every week, would also make sense. Sam Johnstone, Semi Ajayi and Kieran Gibbs could be too but Livermore still seems like the obvious choice for captain despite his red card against Villa.
It was a ridiculous challenge for him to make and West Brom will be without him for three games now.
Let’s see how things look once that ban is over because by then, the midfielder might face a battle to get back into the team, let alone to keep the armband.
In other West Brom news, this Albion loanee has had his temporary contract terminated early.
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