Chris Sutton has criticised Slaven Bilic’s tactics and suggested West Brom need divine inspiration to stay in the Premier League. The Baggies returned to the top flight with a 3-0 home defeat to Leicester City at the weekend. The former Chelsea, Celtic and Blackburn striker also waded in on Jamie Vardy’s cupped ear celebration following his penalty double at The Hawthorns.
Chris Sutton said “Slaven Bilic’s formation of choice in the Championship was 4-2-3-1, but yesterday he opted for 5-4-1. It didn’t work, I have a friend who supports West Brom and asked him recently what it will take for them to survive. ‘Pray,’ he said. These players have a significant scrap on their hands. You’d be hard-pressed to find a bigger wind-up merchant than Jamie Vardy. Sunday was the latest example of him poking fun at the opposition. He put a penalty away then cupped his ears towards the empty seats at The Hawthorns. The thought of that is slightly odd to me – I can’t ever recall cupping my ears after scoring, even when supporters were there! But it’s good that Vardy, at 33, still has that fire in his belly. He’s pumped up.”