If reports are to be believed, West Brom boss Slaven Bilic has just a couple of games left to save his job at the Hawthorns…
What’s the word?
According to the ever-reliable John Percy at the Telegraph, the Croatian’s position is under further scrutiny following Monday’s shocking defeat to relegation rivals Fulham.
It’s claimed that this weekend’s match against Spurs is potentially pivotal in deciding his fate with the international break to follow suit. After then, it’s the small matter of Manchester United at Old Trafford.
Albion are yet to win in seven attempts and find themselves third-bottom on just three points.
Cowardly move
It’s no secret that frustrations have reached a boiling point in the west Midlands.
Bilic and the board didn’t see eye-to-eye all summer and that hit a climatic and bitter end when they decided to sell Ahmed Hegazi to Saudi side Al-Ittihad behind his back last week – outside of the English window.
The Baggies only had about £20m to spend, as per the aforementioned report, with the bulk of the spending going on Grady Diangana and Karlan Grant.
But that failed to deal with several issues across the squad. There’s a serious lack of experience of playing at the top right across the pitch, notably in core positions like central defence and in midfield.
It would be an awfully cowardly move to even consider sacking Bilic this early on in the season, considering he wasn’t properly backed and it’s the club who made them weaker through Hegazi’s sale.
Getting rid of the former Hammers boss would be an even more inexcusable mistake from Lai and the board.
Albion need to get to the January transfer window, which is less than two months away, and use it to give Bilic what he needs – fill in those gaps. Go get that centre-back who can come in and have a Virgil van Dijk-like impact; go upgrade the right-wing position to free Matheus Pereira centrally.
Lai won’t have a leg to stand on if he stabs his manager in the back once again.
AND in other news, West Brom must steer well clear of £45k-p/w liability this January…