Pardew bears brunt of anger
into the dressing room and blasting some of his team-mates for their performances.
He then turned on Pardew and criticised his decision to stick with a 4-4-2 formation despite the plan bringing just one win in the past month – the FA Cup success at Liverpool.
Senior players believe the system leaves former England man Gareth Barry exposed in midfield and means the Baggies are often overrun.
Brunt was visibly wound up during his appearance at the weekend. He tried hard to rouse disgruntled fans after teeing up Craig Dawson for Albion’s goal and also yelled at team-mates during the game.
Brunt has been at The Hawthorns for 10 years and has been a key figure in keeping them in the Premier League for eight successive seasons.
Fans are unhappy he has been left out of the starting line-up of late despite laying on four of the club’s last six goals.
Supporters are also angry with Pardew’s decision to freeze out home-grown midfielder Sam Field in favour of Barry, one of the ‘Cab Four’ who were accused of stealing a taxi during a mid-season trip to Barcelona.
And Pardew has been criticised for axing striker Jay Rodriguez to make room for loan signing Daniel Sturridge, when Rodriguez had scored five goals in six games.
Pardew signed a two-and-a-half-year deal when he succeeded Tony Pulis but his contract has a break clause in the summer, meaning he could be axed fairly cheaply.
Pulis was sacked after taking 10 points from the first 12 games of the season and another two draws followed under caretaker Gary Megson before Pardew took over.
Pardew is averaging just 0.57 points per game, compared to 0.86 under the combination of Pulis and Megson.