‘All time low’ – Exclusive: Pundit makes Big Sam claim ahead of West Brom FA Cup fixture
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 claims Sam Allardyce faces a “tough decision” when it comes to choosing his West Brom starting line-up to play Blackpool on Saturday.
Albion make their way to Bloomfield Road this weekend in a bid to reach the fourth round of the FA Cup. They will also be looking for their first win since Allardyce took charge at The Hawthorns last month.
West Brom’s run of form in the Premier League has been rotten and Phillips claims that a win against League One Blackpool will serve as a major boost to morale.
However, he’s warned that if Allardyce plays a strong team who suffer a shock defeat, it could have a catastrophic impact on the atmosphere in the dressing room.
“It’s always a difficult one because confidence is so low at the moment,” Phillips told West Brom News.
“Do you go strong and hopefully get a good performance and breed confidence? But, on the flip side of that, you go strong and don’t get a result, confidence could be even lower going into another Premier League game.
“It’s juggling plates. It’s a tough decision for Big Sam.
“If I was in his shoes, I would probably try and go as strong as possible without risking players who have niggles.
“Obviously he’ll assess the squad. There are a lot of games coming up and the Premier League is more important so I expect a kind of mixed side. But, no matter what side they field, they need to get a result.
“It’s as simple as that because at the minute, I can only imagine what the confidence in and around the place is like. It’s at an all time low and if you lose at Blackpool, it will only get lower and with some tough matches coming up, things won’t look great.”
It will be interesting to see what team Allardyce names this weekend because it could say a lot about how he’s trying to manage the Baggies.
If he names a similar starting line-up to the one that started against Arsenal then you know he’s not messing about. He’s going to drill his system into these players as much as he can and there’ll be no days off until they’re up to speed.
However, if he does chop and change it will be interesting to know what fringe players he wants to look at, what youngsters have caught his eye and for those left out, there’s a hint about their future at The Hawthorns.
In other West Brom news, Paul Robinson is blown away by this latest Albion transfer news.
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