‘I’ve now got no sympathy’ – Michael Owen rips into West Brom after fresh setback
West Brom suffered defeat against Sheffield United on Tuesday and Michael Owen revealed his thoughts on Albion after the match.
It was a huge relegation six-pointer with both teams in the drop zone, and Owen did not hold back in his criticism of the Baggies.
In a tweet he wrote after the match, Owen said, “I’ve nothing against West Brom but to get rid of Slaven Bilic after the job he did……. I’ve now got no sympathy if they go down.”
Bilic won promotion last season before a run of one win in 13 league games led to his dismissal.
His replacement Sam Allardyce has just one win in ten matches, however, and West Brom are some way off safety with 17th-placed Brighton nine points ahead currently.
Bad move from the board?
Bilic earned a lot of credit around The Hawthorns for the work he did in getting us up last season.
Many fans were sad to see him go but the appointment of Sam Allardyce seemed like a sensible decision.
The former England boss is highly experienced and many would have expected him to steer us towards safety as he has done many times before, but that has not been the case.
So far he has failed to solve our key weakness in defence, with 29 goals conceded in his ten games in charge.
That is a dreadful return, and it is natural for Owen to wonder if getting rid of Bilic was the right move.
In truth, while both managers have failed to produce results, it is the squad that must be blamed for our predicament.
There are a number of players who are not cut out for Premier League football.
The lack of experience in the top-flight for players like Romaine Sawyers, Callum Robinson and Karlan Grant meant we were always likely to struggle.
That trio have managed WhoScored average ratings of 6.2 or less, which isn’t good enough, while experienced players like Branislav Ivanovic and Jake Livermore have scored 6.1 and 6.2 ratings respectively.
We left things too late in the transfer market for Big Sam to make an immediate impact, and we now face an uphill struggle.
Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Okay Yokuslu may make a positive impact but Albion now require a brilliant run to overhaul the points gap to Brighton.
It is unlikely that will happen, but the same would be true if Bilic was in charge.
In other West Brom news, ‘Release’, ‘Worst player on the pitch’ – These WBA fans tear into ‘liability’ vs Sheffield Utd.