GAME IS UP FOR PULIS
Albion manager’s fate surely sealed after mauling by Hazard and Chelsea
AS Cesc Fabregas floated over a set-piece, West Brom’s defenders stood motionless along the six-yard box. Chelsea players darted and weaved but all alone at the back post stood Marcos Alonso, where the Spaniard coaxed the ball into the goal. This, in a snapshot, epitomised West Brom’s malaise. When a Tony Pulis team are unable even to concentrate at a set-piece, you know the game is up. This, sadly, felt like the end for Pulis. His side were 3-0 down by half-time and the game played out to a soundtrack of discontent from the terraces. The supporters do not expect West Brom to beat Chelsea but they come to these games to see a contest, to see their team in the
game and with a fighting chance when the whistle blows at the start of the second half. Many supporters of middling Premier League clubs will empathise — too many are going down too meekly on these occasions. As darkness fell on a bleak Midlands evening, Pulis headed for his car and made the 140-mile drive to his home in Bournemouth. He spent Saturday night catching up with family friends down from Bristol and he may have been relieved to escape the football. An hour or so before leaving the stadium, West Brom chairman John Williams was mingling in the home dressing room and mulling over a 10th Premier League match without a win. This is normal practice at West Brom but there were few reassurances. ‘What me and John spoke about is private,’ Pulis said. ‘He’s a good man.’
On Friday, Pulis met the club’s Chinese owner Guochuan Lai — who was seen with Premier League chief Richard Scudamore at Saturday’s match — and it may well be the final time.
In his post-match press conference, he spoke with the detachment of a man resigned to his fate. He joked he was ‘too young’ to manage Wales and also made clear he will need to be pushed from the job rather than walk. But he knows what is coming. Pulis said: ‘Listen, the big thing is that this is not about me, or about the chairman or the owners, it’s about the football club and what is the right decision for the football club and WBA. This club will be here well past your time, when you’ve gone, I’ve gone. So it’s about doing the right thing for the football club. They have to make a decision. The Chinese owners are wonderful people but I know as well as everyone else, you have to get results. Let’s see what happens.’
The decision may come as soon as today but West Brom are still to identify a replacement. Talk of the Northern Ireland manager Michael O’Neill is being played down. Alan Pardew is another contender.
Defenders of Pulis will argue that he is a good manager who has stabilised West Brom and improved the club. Detractors will counter that he struggled to advance the team’s style of play. In contrast, Chelsea are a side with a spring in their step and in Cesc Fabregas, Eden Hazard and Alvaro Morata, Antonio Conte’s side have a trio of players who are a joy to watch.
Morata scored the opener and Hazard scored emphatic goals either side of Alonso’s third. David Luiz, however, remains confined to the substitutes’ bench and the form of Andreas Christensen in defence means Conte is unlikely to grant an instant reprieve to the Brazilian.
Conte said: ‘I have always answered that it was a tactical decision. Christensen is playing very well but we have to play a lot of games and I need all the players.’