‘All over the place’ – Exclusive: Phillips slams two West Brom players after big loss v Man City
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 has slammed Romaine Sawyers and Jake Livermore after being defensively “all over the place” in the 5-0 defeat to Manchester City on Tuesday.
Albion suffered yet another heavy home defeat with Sam Allardyce in charge when Pep Guardiola’s Kevin De Bruyne-less Man City rocked up at The Hawthorns and showcased just how bad Big Sam’s squad of players are.
Sawyers and Livermore are two players who bore the brunt of a lot of criticism in the wake of the defeat with the two central midfielders doing next to nothing to help the defence deal with Man City’s constant flow of attacks.
Phillips admits that the Citizens are a force to be reckoned with in the form they’re in but believes Sawyers and Livermore delivered worrying displays in the match.
“It’s hard to judge against a Man City side in the form they’re in at the moment. For me, [Ilkay] Gundogan is the best midfielder in the Premier League. He was outstanding and gave them a tough time,” Phillips told West Brom News.
“West Brom didn’t play particularly great but for me, the defending was terrible. Some of it was awful.
“You can’t blame Sawyers and Livermore, they’ll give you a shift but defensively, they looked all over the place. That’s a worry for me and I think Sam’s already said it, you’ve got to keep clean sheets.
“He’s played with two there to protect that back four but they’re getting cut open.
“It’s hard to criticise them too much because it’s Man City but some of the defending for the goals, the back-four is all over the place, there are gaps. It was just not acceptable.
“It’s a big, big worry for West Brom. If they don’t bring anyone in over the coming days, it’ll be a really tough second half of the season.”
Not one West Brom player can hold their head up high and say they performed with 100 per cent commitment against Man City.
Yes, we expected to be outclassed but we didn’t expect to see every man in blue and white stripes down tools and simply let the away side act as though The Hawthorns was their own training ground.
Some of the defending was so embarrassing we don’t know how to describe it with players simply giving up at times before the ball had ended up in the back of the net.
Livermore is supposed to be the club captain who leads by example but his performances have been pathetic lately. He’s been capped by England and has plenty of Premier League experience but does that show? Absolutely not.
As for Sawyers, he’s a good mid-table Championship player and there’s a reason why he was released by the Albion all those years ago.
He wasn’t good enough for the Premier League then and he isn’t now.
In other West Brom news, there’s been a big update on the ownership mystery at The Hawthorns.
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