View: Krychowiak 2.0 – West Brom flop who has ‘upset’ Big Sam must be axed v Spurs
Many West Brom players have underperformed this season but perhaps none more so than Jake Livermore.
He is Albion’s captain and one of our most experienced Premier League players so he is expected to lead by example.
He simply has not done that, and even the arrival of Sam Allardyce has not brought about a change.
That was evident in Big Sam’s first game in charge as Livermore was sent off.
His dismissal left Allardyce “upset” and questioning whether Livermore deserved the captain’s armband, and his performances since show that Big Sam was right to hold that view.
The midfielder was picked out by fans for criticism in our crucial game against Sheffield United in mid-week – a match in which he scored a WhoScored rating of 6.3.
That is not good enough, and with news that Okay Yoskulu is available against Tottenham Livermore ought to be dropped.
An in-depth look at his passing stats indicates just how bad he has been.
As the image above shows, Livermore is dead last when it comes to passing efficiency.
His ball retention score of 0.88 is significantly below the average and worse than Josh Brownhill and Isaac Hayden, who play for relegation rivals Burnley and Newcastle.
It is no wonder we have struggled so much, particularly as he has not done well defensively either.
A return of just 0.3 blocks and 1.1 interceptions per game (WhoScored) proves that, and is reminiscent of a certain Grzegorz Krychowiak.
Krychowiak is regarded as a flop and he was terrible when we were last relegated from the Premier League in 2018.
His stats are worryingly similar to Livermore from that campaign, as he achieved 0.2 blocks per game and 1.7 interceptions (WhoScored).
He managed a better pass accuracy though, with 78% compared to Livermore’s 71%, per WhoScored.
That underlines just how bad our skipper has been, and he must be dropped in favour of Okay Yokuslu or Ainsley Maitland-Niles on Sunday.
Hopefully, both of the new signings start in midfield.
That would be a bit of a risk but they need game time to build fitness ahead of vital games against Brighton and Newcastle in the next few weeks.
Livermore has proved that he is not Premier League standard, and we are concerned if Big Sam does not realise that.
In other West Brom news, Albion ace could become best-paid player in history of Euro league – report.