View: Shades of Yacob – West Brom ace was the one bright spark v Tottenham
Sam Allardyce left West Brom fans surprised with his starting line-up ahead of the 2-0 defeat to Tottenham on Sunday and the decision to not start Okay Yokuslu seems as though it was also a bad one.
Conor Gallagher and Ainsley Maitland-Niles started in midfield instead, but only managed SofaScore ratings of 6.2 and 6.3 respectively.
Yokuslu should have started, as he showed he has a lot to offer this Albion side in his 15-minute appearance off the bench.
He is exactly what we have been crying out for, and we are looking forward to seeing how his ability to break up play benefits us.
Tottenham found a way through our midfield multiple times, with the second goal demonstrating a lack of protection for the defence.
That stopped when Yokuslu came on.
Spurs’ reduced intensity contributed to that but the Turk picked up clever positions and played a sensible game.
A return of three tackles (Sofascore) in just 15 minutes shows how strong he is in that department – Lee Peltier was the only player on the pitch who made more (WhoScored).
That is quite remarkable, and Yokuslu ended the match with five out of six total duels won, per SofaScore.
He looked good on the ball too as he only conceded possession twice and even had a shot.
We think he will provide the composure in the middle of the park that we have lacked for far too long.
In some ways, Yokuslu is reminiscent of Claudio Yacob, who managed 3.1 tackles per game during his career in England, according to WhoScored.
They have similar styles too as they look to keep things simple and ticking over in the middle, and as Yokuslu builds his fitness he should become an important figure for Big Sam.
Like Yacob’s Albion spell, Yoksulu looks like he will focus on helping out the back four, as he did not make a key pass against Spurs.
He rarely ventured forward despite us trailing 2-0 when he came on, so he might produce similar to Yacob’s average of 0.2 key passes per game at The Hawthorns.
We are keen to see Yokuslu start against Manchester United.
That will be a stern test but his role may help the defence improve, and that is vital ahead of clashes against Burnley and Brighton.
As Rio Ferdinand put it post-match on BT Sport: “West Brom need balance”, and Yokuslu will provide exactly that.
In other West Brom news, ‘Lazy’, ‘Useless yet again’ – Some West Brom fans slam one ‘Awful’ player at HT v Spurs.