West Brom boss Bilic: We were second best at Fulham – we didn’t produce the goods

West Bromwich Albion manager Slaven Bilic admitted his side were clearly second best in tonight’s 2-0 loss at Fulham.

The match had been billed as a crunch one between two of the struggling clubs in the Premier League.

But a quickfire first-half double as Bobby Decordova-Reid and Ola Aina netted put the west London side in control and they never looked like relinquishing their advantage.

Bilic said: “I’m very disappointed. We’d looked really good in training and in the last couple of matches, but when we need to produce it on the pitch we simply didn’t do that.

“We were good for 25 minutes, after that they were stronger, sharper, quicker and better passing – better one against one. That’s what really hurts. You can’t say you were unlucky. You can’t say that you missed some chances.

“They were much better than us.

“The last couple of games we were aggressive, we got shape and belief – we were growing as a team. But tonight…everything starts with the workrate.

“I saw tonight a young kid – Conor Gallagher – and Branislav Ivanovic, an older guy, who had more commitment. That’s not good when you can see the players by eye who are doing more than the others. It can’t be the case.

“This is the league and we are the team that cannot rely on quality only. We have to dig in and work hard, like we’ve done in the last couple of games. If we don’t do that we have no chance.”