Pulis: We’ve been our own worst enemies
ALBION have been the architects of their own downfall during a decline which has left them perilously close to the Premier League drop zone.
That’s the view of under-fire head coach Tony Pulis, who knows results must improve – and fast – for him to remain in a job.
Albion sit just one point above the bottom three after nine league games without a win and an unwanted habit of conceding late goals. With champions Chelsea visiting The Hawthorns on Saturday, there’s every chance the Baggies will slip into the relegation zone by the end of the weekend.
It’s a precarious position Pulis believes he, and his players, should never have got themselves into.
“We’ve been our own worst enemies,” he said. “We could be sat here with an extra six points easily and nobody would be criticising the three in the middle, the five at the back, the one up front or whatever.
“Looking back at the goals we have conceded, and how late they have been, it has been concentration or individual errors. That’s what has cost us. Even games, you look at Leicester, we have had opportunities to score more goals and we haven’t taken them, and then got punished. That’s what happens. It sometimes goes for you, sometimes it doesn’t, but you have to make sure players keep a level head and do the right things. We have left a lot of points on the pitch. I don’t think the performances have been that bad, no-one has given us a hiding.
“Even at Brighton they scored just before and after half-time, which killed that game. We shot ourselves in the foot more than anything else.”
Supporters bitterly criticised Pulis during the defeat at Huddersfield before the international break.
Public opinion does seem to have turned against the Welshman, as it did in the final throes of his second spell in charge of Stoke.
Albion’s Chinese owner, Guo- chuan Lai, is flying in for the Chelsea game. He will assess for himself the strength of fan fury as much as the performance of the players. Pulis is “desperate” to return to winning ways and knows a couple of victories could make all the difference.
“You win back-to-back games and you jump up the table about six or seven places – that’s the league,” he said. “Even when we win I don’t relax on a Saturday night. I’m thinking of the next game.
“Yeah, I want wins, I’m desperate for the players more than anything else. Confidence ebbs away and you don’t want them to be in a situation where they lose confidence.”