Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
LEARN YOUR LESSONS
Slaven warns his struggling Baggies: This is not school.. this is a battle for survival
SLAVEN BILIC has urged West Brom to show more aggression tonight and be “crazy” about trying to survive in the Premier League.
The promoted Baggies are still searching for their first win this term and Bilic is desperate to break their duck. The Albion boss was furious they rolled over too softly last time out at Southampton in a 2-0 defeat on the south coast.
It followed the
Baggies blowing a 3-0 half-time lead to draw at home to Chelsea
(Semi Ajayi and Darnell
Furlong dejected after the final whistle, right).
After seeing his side concede 13 goals already, Bilic gave them a stark warning ahead of Burnley’s visit.
The Croatian said: “This is not a school, this is a competition. In the first three games, I was very happy with the aggression.
“Against Southampton, that was lacking big time, so I wasn’t happy with that. I can’t accept it.
“The biggest lesson we could have learnt so far was against Southampton. You can lose every game in the Premier League, but you can’t enter the game li ke that, otherwise you have absolutely no chance. We analysed that, had a couple of meetings and I have seen improvements in training.
“We have to help each other more. It is hard to stop world-class offensive players, one against one, so we have to work as a team.”
Albion’s return to the Premier League began with a 3-0 home defeat by Leicester before losing 5-2 at Everton, ahead of the Chelsea and Southampton matches.
Bilic said: “The first w win for a team who got p promoted can help your c confidence. We will give e everything for that to h happen as soon as p possible. We have to a c c e p t e v e r y ga me, w whoever we play against, t that we enter that game a as a massive challenge.
“Not being scared, but knowing we will have to outrun them, out-focus them and be better than them in motivation, determination and craziness, in a positive way.”
Burnley are also struggling after a slow start to the season despite coming 10th last term. But Bilic is wary not to underestimate Sean Dyche’s visitors, who have been quiet in the transfer market.
He added: “They have zero points and are not in a good position. But they have a know-how and are not panicking. They are not happy with their situation, nobody would be.
“But I don’t think they are too worried, they have been there before.”