Kevin Phillips: West Brom should ‘expect more’ from Jake Livermore after red card
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Kevin Phillips believes the West Brom senior players must ‘step up and lead by example’ after Jake Livermore’s red card against Sheffield United.
The Baggies suffered a fifth defeat in six games against the Blades, with Livermore given a straight red card in the first half for a lunging tackle.
He’ll now miss the next four games but Phillips says the club should ‘expect more’ from their senior players, although he shares their frustration at the current situation at the club.
“It’s a tough one to be honest because, you know, when you’re not going through a great time and you’ve just lost your manager you want your senior players to step up and lead by example,” he told West Brom News exclusively.
“Sometimes they can get carried away and make rash decisions and it can go against you.
“Obviously it’s going to cost the club now because he’s going to be missing for a few games, so without actually seeing the incident it’s hard but you’d expect your more senior players to have more discipline and lead by example and try and stay on the pitch.
“It’s a tough one to answer, because he clearly cares and you know he’s disappointed and frustrated, but you’ve got to remain calm as well and disciplined because it’s going to cost the team.”
West Brom currently sit in ninth place in the Championship, and a win over Blackburn on Monday night will see them move up to seventh just one point off the playoff places.
They’ll have to do it without Livermore though, whose appeal against the decision was denied by the EFL.
In other West Brom news, View: The West Brom puzzle that Steve Bruce must solve to earn promotion