Slaven Bilic: Thrive under West Brom pressure

The Baggies are yet to find their stride since football returned following the coronavirus outbreak – with Bilic’s men putting in lacklustre displays against both Blues and Brentford.

Those performances prompted the head coach to hold a meeting with his players on Monday.

And one of the big things the boss wanted to speak to his squad about was dealing with the pressure that comes with being in a promotion race.

“Some people would have you believe this is a jolly-up and we have champagne on ice in the locker room,” Bilic said.

“That’s not true. There’s a lot of pressure.

“Everybody is waiting for us to make mistakes. Everybody is trying to say negative things.

“We are prey! There are nine games but they are not normal games – they are nine cup finals.

“Nobody is going to do it for us – it’s down to us.

“Every defeat puts a question mark in your head, but it shouldn’t harm us.

“We know what we have to do. I’ve spoken to them and what makes me positive is my own team.

“We’ve been down before and we reacted amazingly.

“You want to help them. They need help. We have to help them cope with that pressure.

“But unfortunately nobody ever achieved anything without coping with pressure.

“Now is the time to show what we’re made of. It’s there for us, but nobody is going to give it to us.

“We have to take it.”