Pulis sphinx it’s all over thanks to Hegazi’s winner
IN a week when Danny Rose moaned about signing players you have to Google, Ahmed Hegazi would have sent most West Brom fans straight to their computers.
Who? The Egyptian central defender, they would have learned, was part of the team of the tournament as his country reached the final of the Africa Cup of Nations.
Fortunately for them Albion boss Tony Pulis had already done his homework the old-fashioned way by going to watch the 6ft 5ins man mountain in action. And that old-school scouting was rewarded as Hegazi headed the goal that set West Brom’s season off to a flying start as he secured the club’s first home win in nearly six months.
The loudpeakers were booming out the Bangles’ old hit Walk Like an Egyptian seconds after the final whistle and you get the feeling it might be a regular theme tune.
Pulis has taken the 26-year-old on loan at the moment but has a price agreed to buy him from his club, Al Ahly. The fee will be just £3.5million, and when you put that against the £60m tag put by Southampton on Virgil van Dijk, Pulis has got a bargain.
‘I watched two games in the Africa Cup of Nations and I liked both the Egypt central defenders,’ said Pulis.
‘We followed it up and found he was the one who was most probably likely to be a success here, so we took a chance on him. Hopefully it will be a chance that will pay off.’
Hegazi had already looked like the sort of central defender Pulis would love even before he got his goal. He bullied Bournemouth striker Benik Afobe out of the game, winning headers and tackles.
Then he forced his way through a crowd of players to reach Chris Brunt’s free-kick and head home from a few yards.
‘The delivery we have at set pieces from both Chris and Matty Phillips is top quality,’ said Pulis.
‘But what we also have is players who are determined to put themselves on the end of those good crosses to score goals. If Ahmed wants to get into the team and do that on a regular basis then he will have to continue doing the same.’
Ironically Hegazi was only in the team because captain Jonny Evans dropped out at the last moment to protect an injured hamstring.
But he grabbed his chance and will give Pulis some options in a squad that is still far too thin — the bench had three youngsters on it and another academy product, Sam Field, was in the starting line-up.
West Brom should have led before Hegazi’s goal, but their other new signing, Jay Rodriguez, missed a point-blank header and also sent a curling effort just wide with Asmir Begovic beaten.
Instead it was left to a defender to show him how to finish, and Albion then shut the game down in the second half with a superbly disciplined display of defending.
Despite dominating the second half possession after bringing on former Liverpool winger Jordon Ibe at half time, Bournemouth never looked like breaking them down.
It was deep into injury time before goalkeeper Ben Foster had to make anything like a proper save, reacting quickly to keep out Ryan Fraser’s shot.
And even the introduction of Jermain Defoe after 64 minutes made no difference, with the veteran striker getting little in the way of service from midfield.
‘Jermain had not got enough fitness work in pre-season for him to start,’ said Cherries boss Eddie Howe.
‘I was disappointed in both the result and our performance. We were too slow in possession, and needed to do far more to get behind their lines. There’s a lot for us to work on.’ west BRoM (4-1-4-1): Foster 6.5; Nyom 6, Dawson 6.5, Hegazi 7.5, Brunt 7; Yacob 6.5; Phillips 6.5 (Robson-Kanu 72, 5.5), Livermore 6, Field 6.5 (Harper 70, 5.5), McClean 6.5; Rodriguez 7 (Rondon 87). subs (not used): Myhill, Chadli, Leko, Wilson. Booked: Rodriguez, Yacob, Robson-Kanu. BoURneMoUth (4-2-3-1): Begovic 6; Francis 6 (A Smith 79), S Cook 6, Ake 7, Daniels 6; Surman 5.5, Arter 6; Fraser 5.5, King 5.5, Pugh 5.5 (Ibe 46, 6); Afobe 5 (Defoe 64, 6). subs (not used): Boruc, Gosling, Mings, Mousset. Booked: Arter. Referee: Bobby Madley 7.