I won’t overfeed the Baggies, says Pardew
WEST Bromwich Albion boss Alan Pardew has no plans to overload the players with fresh information in the first few weeks of his tenure.
Pardew has made no secret of his desire to play in a very different way to his predecessor Tony Pulis, who was sacked last month for presiding over a run of just two wins in 21 league games.
He wants to make a positive impression on a team struggling for confidence and results after last Saturday’s draw with Crystal Palace extended Albion’s winless run to 13 league matches.
But the former Newcastle and Palace boss will not force his methods on the players from the off and wants to impose his style and philosophy gradually.
“My experience is that you have to put your marker down as a manager,” said Pardew.
“When I’ve gone into football clubs, I’ve managed to do that and had a good response initially. I’d like to think I’ll do that here.
“You need a bit of luck, of course, and just try and cover as much as you can, without overfeeding the players.
“You can overfeed them with information and detail; it’s about getting the balance right, get the right detail in them.
“I don’t want to overload them, but give them just enough to give them the confidence that we’ve ticked a lot of boxes and are ready to go.”
Pardew is known to stick key instructions, tactical notes and warnings about the opposition on the walls of the dressing room before matches.
If ever there was a time to over-analyse the opposition it was last weekend when Albion faced a team Pardew knew better than his own.
But he kept the directives straightforward on Saturday as West Brom earned a point that might have been three had chances been taken.
“We made sure the players were on message with what we wanted to achieve: concentration on transition was really good,’’ said Pardew.
“We’ve got 23 games left. It was a good start but we’ve got to win nine or ten of them.
“We have to start turning these draws wins.” into