Slaven Bilic demands energy, desire and passion from West Brom

The Baggies sit second in the Championship but they have made an underwhelming start since football returned following the coronavirus outbreak.

A goalless draw against Blues was followed by a 1-0 loss at Brentford – two games where Bilic’s side struggled to create goalscoring opportunities.

And that led to the boss calling a meeting with his players.

“I wanted to have a meeting with the players this morning before training,” Bilic said.

“I wanted to tell them how I feel, how I see the situation now, how I see the game against Brentford and how I see the game in front of us which is the most important thing.

“We have to play with more energy, with more passion and desire. That is what was missing and the guys know that.

“Everything is in our hands.

“It all starts with desire, it all starts with passion. It all starts with basic things and we need that back.

“We weren’t awful against Brentford. We were average. That’s the best thing you can say about our performances in the first two games - that they were okay.

“It was okay, it was average. But we don’t want to achieve average things. We want to achieve exceptional things.”

Bilic said he got the reaction he expected and wanted from his players following the meeting – with his side next in action at Sheffield Wednesday on Wednesday.

“We are hurt – we are hurt,” he continued.

“But at the same time I expected and I have seen a very positive reaction from the boys.

“It’s not a cliché, we can’t wait for the game on Wednesday.

“The reaction from the guys has been very positive.

“I can see that in their eyes and in training.

“But we have looked good in training since we came back from lockdown.

“Now we have to do it on the pitch.”

Meanwhile, Bilic said Albion don't appear to have any major injury concerns ahead of the trip to Hillsborough.

But the boss revealed some players are undergoing scans today.

While he also hinted he is considering making changes to his starting line-up.

“Nobody is really injured,” Bilic added.

“We are going to have a couple of scans today, to see if they are knocks or niggles or if they’re something more.

“We’ll find out tonight, or tomorrow morning before we have a training session, before we go to Sheffield.

“Maybe there are going to be some changes. It’s a combination of a few things. Everybody did really good in training and the games before.

“Now is the third game, and now we’re going to start to play a game every three days.

"Also there are some players who maybe deserve to start now, who haven’t started already - it’s a combination of those three.

“We’ll see what the situation is for one or two players with the scans.”