PULIS THANKS LUCKY LUCA!
Four-year-old grandson of West Brom boss ‘helped out’ with scouting mission
TONY PULIS plotted his first win of the season with the help of two new assistants — former Albion boss Gary Megson and his fouryear-old grandson Luca.
The Welshman, whose family home is in Bournemouth, made two trips down the road to check out his side’s first-day opposition in pre-season friendlies and took little Luca with him on both occasions.
‘I got him to write out the reports,’ he laughed after new Egyptian defender Ahmed Hegazi’s header from a classic West Brom set-piece had earned three points.
‘Luca’s come to watch our game today too and I can’t wait to see him to know what he thinks about it.’
After 13 years at different clubs with the recently retired Dave Kemp as his sidekick, his partnership with 58-year-old Megson will bring a new dynamic to the Welshman’s management.
The pair were both barking orders on the touchline during a masterclass in defending in a second-half where Bournemouth had all the ball but created only one real chance.
‘Meggy is different to Dave in lots of respects. Kempy is a bit older and is more reserved on the touchline, although he looks a lot younger than Meggy does!
‘After so long together, Dave was wonderful in knowing me, what I was feeling and what I needed. I’ve spoken to Gary at length about what we need to do together and the most important thing is that he will say what he thinks.’
And on match-winner Hegazi, Pulis said: ‘I watched two games in the Africa Cup of Nations and I liked both the Egypt central defenders.’
‘We followed it up and found he was the one who was most likely to be a success here, so we took a chance on him. Hopefully it will be a chance that will pay off.’
On a weekend that began with both Arsenal and Liverpool letting in goals from set-pieces, Pulis isn’t ashamed to stress good defending. ‘Bournemouth can pull you all over with their rotation and we spent the week working on making sure we didn’t lapse in concentration,’ he said.
It left Cherries boss Eddie Howe searching for crumbs of comfort in the debut of Bournemouth’s £20.5million record signing Nathan Ake and the second-half display of substitute Jordon Ibe.
The former Liverpool winger had a poor first season following his £15m move, but Howe said: ‘That was the best 45 minutes we’ve had from him and he can kick on from here.’ SUPER STAT: West Bromwich have won successive opening league fixtures for the first time since 1992. WEST BROMWICH ALBION (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 72min, 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. Scorer: Hegazi 30. Booked: Rodriguez, Robson-Kanu. Manager: Tony Pulis 6.5. AFC BOURNEMOUTH (4-2-3-1): Begovic 6; Francis 6 (A Smith 79), Cook 6, Ake 7, Daniels 6; Surman 5.5, Arter 6; Fraser 5.5, King 5.5, Pugh 5.5 (Ibe 45, 6); Afobe 5 (Defoe 64, 6). Subs not used: Boruc, Gosling, Mings, Mousset. Booked: Arter. Manager: Eddie Howe 5. Man of the match: Ahmed Hegazi. Referee: Bobby Madley 7. Attendance: 25,011.