I’m still the best man to save us from the drop, claims under-fire boss
A DEFIANT Alan Pardew says he is the right man to rescue West Brom from relegation after a disastrous week for the club. They are seven points adrift at the bottom of the Premier League going into ‘11 cup finals’ starting with Huddersfield at The Hawthorns next weekend. After yesterday’s FA Cup defeat by Southampton, the West Brom boss was asked if he is the best person to keep them up. He replied: ‘Yes, absolutely. The second half proved that. I hope I’m the right man. I’m experienced. I’ve got out of this situation before and I’m determined to do it here. There were some good things today. We can only salvage it by getting momentum. Three wins in this division changes your position massively.’
Now he must decide who will lead his side into the relegation battles after relieving Jonny Evans of the captaincy. Evans started yesterday but Pardew took the armband off him after he was identified as one of four players who broke a curfew and stole a taxi in Barcelona on Thursday.
Gareth McAuley deputised and Pardew said: ‘I needed to make a statement over the events — I’m far from happy. I have to look at that this week and see how we go. It was a problem in terms of selection to go with my strongest team given the events of last week but Jonny was actually very good given the circumstances.
‘I cancelled everything over Christmas, we didn’t do anything socially. We had this one crazy evening and it doesn’t really reflect the professionalism and work that we do. It’s massively disappointing.’