Slaven Bilic: Villarreal were the better side
Slaven Bilic admitted Villarreal were the better side in yesterday's 3-0 defeat in Spain, and was disappointed with the goals Albion conceded.
The Baggies were comfortably beaten by the La Liga outfit in La Nucia on Saturday evening, and there was little to cheer for the hordes of travelling fans who made the trip.
The official attendance at the game was 1,900, and the stadium's general manager estimated around 1,400 of those were Baggies fans, making it the largest following for a pre-season game in memory.
The fans started off serenading their new boss with chants of 'Super Slaven Bilic' but Villarreal's technically superior game stifled the party atmosphere.
The Spanish side took the lead nine minutes in with a header from a corner before doubling their advantage on the stroke of half-time from the penalty spot.
Eight minutes from the end, Carlos Bacca added a third after a rare mistake from Dara O'Shea, who had looked composed up until then.
Afterwards, Bilic told the Express & Star: "Considering everything, I'm happy we made good training. Ok, I'm not happy, I don't like losing of course.
"They are a good team, we know that, Spaniards can play some good football even when they're not fit because their game doesn't depend on physicality. They find those pockets, they were the better side.
"I'm just disappointed with the way we conceded the goals. We conceded a corner, like the first game (behind closed doors against Telford), then a penalty, and a mistake from a player who did really well up until then, Dara.
"I'm happy because some of the guys played 60 and 70 minutes, most of them played at least 45. Our main thing this week here and in West Brom for the first week was on conditioning.
"We are exactly in the condition where we hoped we would be. We've got no injuries, it was very hot, but it was a good training game.
"Now we have three weeks to go (until the season starts), we have to work on tactics, team shape and all that."
Bilic started with a 4-4-2 formation with Oliver Burke and Matt Phillips up front but switched to a 4-5-1 at half-time with Hal Robson-Kanu as the lone striker.
The Croatian revealed he's keen to play with two up front if possible, but admitted it depends on which players the Baggies can sign in the remaining four weeks of the transfer window.
Robson-Kanu is the only recognised senior striker left at the club after Dwight Gayle returned to parent club Newcastle and Jay Rodriguez was sold for £10million.
"It depends on the players who we get and which roster I'm going to have," said Bilic. "I would like to play with two up front but then again, it depends."
