Slaven Bilic praises West Brom character despite Newcastle FA Cup defeat
Slaven Bilic praised the character of his players after Albion missed out on a place in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup by losing a thrilling tie against Newcastle.
A brace from Miguel Almiron and a Valentino Lazaro goal put Steve Bruce’s side three goals up after just 47 minutes at The Hawthorns last night.
But Albion battled back and created a host of chances from that point with goals from Matt Phillips and Kyle Edwards eventually seeing the tie end 3-2.
And Bilic believes the way his side rallied stands them in good stead for the remaining 10 games of the Championship season.
“We are not a club that should ever be happy or proud or in a good mood after a defeat,” the Croatian said.
“But this was one of those games.
“I am very disappointed with the result. But very happy with the performance, especially in the second-half.
“We started the game by giving them way too much respect, especially their midfield players.
“With the pace and quality they have up front, those midfield players had too much time to feed the three or four up front.
“After their first goal we had a really good spell and we were really unlucky to concede the second one. At half-time it wasn’t a 2-0 game.”
Bilic continued: “I told the guys at half-time to unleash themselves because I knew there was more, there was more.
“Then the second half started in the worst possible way, conceding a third.
“But the reaction afterwards was magnificent.
“We had more than enough chances. We had enough chances to score the first one earlier.
“We had more than enough chances to score the second way earlier - let’s say with 15 minutes to go, with 10 minutes to go.
“But unfortunately we scored the second one too late and ran out of time.
“We shouldn’t be proud or happy when we lose a game, but the character and quality we showed was excellent.
“We are very disappointed to lose. But at the same time, this will give us a boost for the crucial remainder of the season.”
Bilic made nine changes for the cup with only Dara O’Shea and Rekeem Harper retaining a starting spot following Saturday’s defeat to Wigan.
But despite the loss, the head coach still felt it was the right call to rest a host of his star names.
“The league is the priority,” he added.
“We were greedy - we wanted both. That is not wrong.
“But some of the players needed a rest, they needed the break considering the league situation we are in.
“And I have a very strong belief in the players that played. They deserved their chance.
“I am not disappointed with anyone. There are no disappointments.
“Some of the players came out of the game with a big, big plus, some players came out of it with a small plus. But nobody disappointed.”
