Pulis vs Pep – clash of cultures

MANCHESTER, England (AP): NE COACH will be wearing a baseball cap, a tracksuit, and sneakers. The other is usually sharply dressed in a suit, tie, and shoes. One team will be defensively robust, direct, and, likely relying on goals from set pieces. The opponent is highly technical, obsessed with possession, and easy on the eye.

Tony Pulis vs Pep Guardiola. West Bromwich Albion vs Manchester City.

Get ready for the Premier League’s ultimate culture clash.

Upon arriving at City this off-season, Guardiola said one of his big challenges was to prove to himself and the world that his new team could play beautiful football no matter what time of year, no matter who the opposition.

Today, then, might be his most interesting test so far.

OThe 58-year-old Pulis is part of the furniture in the Premier League, a coach who has taken charge of more than 1,000 first-team games in England and has proved to be the closest thing to a guarantee against relegation after spells at Stoke, Crystal Palace, and now West Brom.

Using a pragmatic strategy, he knows how to get performances from limited players and results for teams. At West Brom, he has often played a defence containing four centre backs and his side has the biggest aerial threat in the league, with four of its 10 league goals this season coming from set pieces. Tall central defender Gareth McAuley has already scored three.

Unbeaten Tottenham needed a last-minute goal to draw 1-1 at The Hawthorns two weeks ago, while West Brom were completely dominated in a 2-1 loss at Liverpool last weekend, only to score late – from a corner – and set up a tense finish.

“West Brom use Pulis’ style marvellously,” Guardiola said yesterday. “I saw them against Tottenham – they use the long ball and they defend (deep). We have to adapt.”

That’s just what Guardiola is doing as he gets to grips with the relentless demands of the English football calendar, which is different to what he experienced at Barcelona and Bayern Munich.

The Spanish coach started with 10 straight victories at City, but a League Cup loss to Manchester United on Wednesday took the team’s win-less run to six games, the worst streak of Guardiola’s managerial career.

“They are struggling at the moment, from what everybody tells me,” Pulis said sarcastically, referencing that City are still first in the Premier League after nine games. “They are top of the league. They only just got beat by Man United by playing their second team on Wednesday.

“They will play their first team against us definitely. It will be a tough game.”