Nigel Quashie shares what people say about Jake Livermore behind the scenes at West Brom
Nigel Quashie has paid tribute to Jake Livermore after the midfielder made his 200th appearance for West Brom at the weekend against his former club Hull City.
Livermore, 32, has been widely criticised by fans and was dropped by Steve Bruce for the first time this season for Albion’s 5-2 hammering of the Tigers at The Hawthorns on Saturday (20 August).
Still, the Baggies captain is a player who commands a lot of respect, according to former midfielder Quashie, who has given his public support to the under-fire player.
“Everyone I speak to about him at West Brom says he’s first class,” Quashie said via his personal Twitter account on Tuesday (23 August).
“The way he is with the players, staff in and around the training ground.
“I’ve witnessed that with my family, always polite and respectful giving my son time.
“His knowledge and experience will be needed!”
Declining
You can sum up Livermore’s current predicament at West Brom with one very simple stat.
Albion have won two matches this season in all competitions.
Livermore didn’t start either of them.
Of all the games he has started, West Brom are winless, losing to Blackburn and Derby and drawing with Middlesbrough, Watford and Cardiff.
Sam Allardyce saw from the get-go that Livermore shouldn’t be starting for the club but Valerien Ismael and Bruce have persisted with him.
Hopefully, now, Bruce can see why Livermore shouldn’t be starting.
While we cannot speak highly of his professionalism and we do admit he has had some good days at The Hawthorns, he simply isn’t good enough and hasn’t been good enough for several seasons now.
West Brom aren’t getting anywhere because there’s a failure to revamp the squad every single summer.
Whether that’s down to the continual changing of managers who “want to see what Livermore can do first” or whether it’s down to the fact that Guochuan Lai has taken more money from transfer budgets than he’s added to.
It’s a mixture of both but it’s so clear that players like Livermore, Matt Phillips and Kyle Bartley have out-stayed their welcomes at The Hawthorns.
Next summer, it’s time for them to go.
In other West Brom news, Lai has left Bruce up the creek without a paddle.
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