Kevin Phillips defends Okay Yokuslu after West Brom defeat v Leicester
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 Okay Yokuslu had one of his worst West Brom performances in the 3-0 defeat to Leicester City on Thursday night.
Albion found themselves three goals down before the break with Brendan Rodgers’ side running rampant around Sam Allardyce’s midfield and defence.
Jamie Vardy, Johnny Evans and Kelechi Iheanacho all scored for the Foxes at the King Power to put a major dent in any survival hopes the Baggies still had.
It was a particularly off night for Yokuslu, who failed to look anything like the player Allardyce had relied so much on in recent matches.
However, Phillips claims a bad game like that is expected every now and then but adds it’s unfortunate his teammates didn’t step up around him.
Speaking to West Brom News after the game, Phillips said: “I suppose at this stage of the season he’s been good and you’re going to have one of those games where it’s just not going to happen.
“They’ve all had them but you kind of don’t want those performances at this stage – especially coming off the back of two wins.
“Of course, it was always going to be a tough game against Leicester but it wasn’t the right time for him to put in not one of his best performances.
“I’m not going to criticise the player, he’s done very well since he’s come in. It’s going to happen.
“All I would say is that when one player is having a bad game, you can’t afford the rest of the players to have a bad game and unfortunately, it wasn’t to be for West Brom, they were all pretty poor.
“You can’t really single him out because he’s been decent since he’s been there.”
Yokuslu’s introduction to the West Brom squad in the winter is one of the major reasons as to why the Black Country club doesn’t have a big red ‘R’ next to their name in the Premier League table.
He’s been absolutely fantastic, helping break down opposition attacks when Albion are out of possession and also looking cool, calm and collected when he has the ball at his feet.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t at the races at all on Thursday night in the East Midlands.
He needs to improve against Aston Villa on Sunday.
In other West Brom news, John Percy has shared a big update on the potential Albion takeover.
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