‘Amazing’ – Exclusive: Phillips blown away by improvement of West Brom outfield scapegoat
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 admits Romaine Sawyers didn’t play well against Wolves on Saturday but was impressed by the West Brom midfielder’s improvement against West Ham.
Although Sam Allardyce’s side lost 2-1 at the London Stadium on Tuesday, the overall team performance was a promising one and Sawyers, 29, stood out as someone who played a lot better in London than he has done at other points in the Premier League.
Phillips is a fan of the former Brentford and Walsall playmaker and hopes that his display at West Ham can prove to be a turning point in his season.
“I’ve always liked Romaine,” Phillips told West Brom News.
“It’s the first time he’s played in the Premier League so let’s not forget that. Sometimes it takes a while to bed in and when you’re playing in a team that’s struggling at the bottom of the league, it can be even more difficult.
“It’s amazing what a win at the weekend – perhaps it wasn’t one of his greatest performances – but then Tuesday night was a lot better.
“Hopefully he’s a player who will grow with confidence as the remaining games come thick and fast.”
Sawyers has found himself to be the biggest scapegoat among West Brom fans this season.
Even though he improved a lot against West Ham, the midfielder was branded as “awful” and “useless” by a number of Albion supporters on Twitter.
However, when you look at the stats, Sawyers’ performance was a lot better at the London Stadium and he definitely deserves credit for that.
According to Wyscout, the midfielder completed 91 per cent of his passes, which is up on his season average in the Premier League of 87.9 per cent.
He completed all six of his passes into the final third and found a team-mate with 85 per cent of his forward passes when his season-average is 76.6 per cent.
Sawyers is widely criticised for not passing the ball forwards enough but as you can see from the image below, he played plenty of attack-minded passes at West Ham, spraying the ball out to both flanks for the attackers to feed on.
Sawyers had a shocker at Wolves, we’ll admit that.
But some fans have become so blinded by their frustration with the 29-year-old that they cannot appreciate when he actually plays well.
In other West Brom news, fans are furious with this player and one even wants him fined after what happened in the loss to West Ham.
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.