20 Premier League Previews In 20(ish) Days: West Brom
Stadium: The Hawthorns (capacity: 26,850)
Manager: Tony Pulis (second season)
Nickname: Albion, The Baggies
2014-15 Record: 44 points (11-11-16), 13th place in the Premier League
There are three certainties in life: death, taxes and Tony Pulis not getting relegated. Since Pulis began his coaching career at Bournemouth in 1992 he has never seen a team of his go down.
His most remarkable career achievement was his second stint at Stoke City from 2006-13 where he established the Potters as a Premier League side, as well as leading them to an FA Cup Final and the Europa League. The club finished between 11th and 14th place each year in the Premier League in Pulis’ time there.
After Stoke let Pulis go in 2013, he took over a Crystal Palace team that looked completely out of its depth in the Premier League after an awful start under Ian Holloway. Like all of the sides he’s managed Pulis quickly turned the Eagles into a tough, defensive-minded team and they finished the season in a remarkable 11th place.
While Pulis ultimately fell out with Crystal Palace management just before the start of last season, he landed on his feet in January of this year at another struggling club: West Brom. Under Alan Irvine the Baggies were sitting only one point above the relegation zone and struggling to win any games.
As usual Pulis made defending a priority and the Baggies kept nine clean sheets in his 19 Premier League matches in charge. They also scored upsets over league giants Manchester United (1-0) and Chelsea (2-0) en route to a 13th place finish that was comfortably clear of the relegation zone.
There will always be the critics that say Pulis plays a boring defensive style that’s prone to long passes and low scores, and this is somewhat true. But in Pulis’ lone season at Palace he did a masterful job of using the talent at hand to the best of its ability, as well as players like Joe Ledley and Scott Dann who were critical pieces to Palace’s survival. If Pulis had attempted to play the “beautiful, free flowing football” that every armchair manager gushes about (yet can’t entirely explain) it would have ended badly.
West Brom got the perfect manager to establish themselves as a lower mid-table Premier League side.
Now there are the more depressing questions like when, not if, Saido Berahino leaves the Hawthorns for a higher-profile club. But this is still poised to be one of the Baggies’ better teams in recent memory and they now have a manager who’s as sure a thing as there is to keep them in the Premier League.
New Faces: James McClean — left winger (Wigan Athletic), James Chester — centre-back (Hull City), Rickie Lambert — striker (Liverpool)
Pulis did not radically change the team or add a whole host of players during the summer.
The addition of Rickie Lambert makes a whole lot more sense with West Brom than when Lambert joined Liverpool last summer. Lambert only scored three goals in 36 appearances for Liverpool and epitomized the Reds’ disappointing 2014-15 season with his lacklustre play. And while Lambert is not young (33) nevertheless he is the same player who scored 117 goals in 235 appearances for Southampton from 2009-14.
If the Baggies get something closer to the Southampton version of Lambert it will be well worth it. Not to labour the point about Saido Berahino leaving, but Lambert can immediately step in Berahino’s position whenever he does leave.
James Chester has been a regular in the Hull City defence since 2010 and was part of the Tigers’ rise from the Championship to the Premier League in 2013 and their relegation from the Premier League last season. Chester made 172 appearances for the Tigers and also has six appearances for the Wales national team.
James McClean, a Republic of Ireland international winger, has 70 career Premier League appearances but none with his most recent club Wigan Athletic. McClean played his first English football for Sunderland from 2011-13 mainly under his current Irish manager Martin O’Neill. In McClean’s last two seasons at Wigan Athletic, he scored 10 goals in 85 total appearances.
Familiar Faces: Saido Berahino — striker (20 goals in 45 appearances), James Morrison — winger/central midfielder (four goals in 37 appearances), Joleon Lescott — centre-back/left back (1 goal in 29 appearances), Chris Brunt — left winger/attacking midfielder (three goals in 39 appearances), Stéphane Sessègnon — winger/attacking midfielder (one goal, 33 appearances), James Morrison — central midfield/winger (fiyr goals in 37 appearances)
There is no more promising young English striker than Saido Berahino other than maybe Harry Kane at Tottenham Hotspur. Berahino was the top scorer for the Baggies last year with 20 goals, including 14 in the Premier League. The only English players with more goals last season were Kane and QPR’s Charlie Austin.
As of right now Berahino is still with West Brom, but there are still the larger clubs looming and when he does go he will at least command a good-sized fee. The Baggies also have Nigerian strikers Brown Ideye and Victor Anichebe behind Berahino, plus this summer’s big signing Lambert.
But the bread and butter of any Pulis team will be the defence, as evidenced by the nine clean sheets after Pulis took over. But there were still defensive disaster in losses to QPR, Leicester City, Manchester City and Arsenal.
Joleon Lescott, who joined the Baggies last year, has made 246 Premier League appearances since 2006 and stepped in at both centre-back and left-back. Recently Lescott has expressed a desire to see his club buy a left-back so he can go back to playing at the centre of defence. Craig Dawson and Swedish international Jonas Olsson should also feature consistently.
The goalkeeper situation is interesting and somewhat fluid. Last year’s first-choice ‘keeper, Ben Foster, missed the end of last season with a knee ligament injury and will be out until at least October. In Foster’s absence Boaz Myhill did a fantastic job and kept clean sheets against Manchester United, Crystal Palace, Liverpool and Chelsea. There have also been persistent rumours that Pulis is interested in Palace’s Welsh international keeper Wayne Hennessey.
Pulis hasn’t changed very much in the midfield, other than releasing defensive midfielder Youssouf Mulumbu. That’s probably not a bad thing because of how experienced this midfield is and how long most of the players have played together.
Darren Fletcher, the long-time Manchester United central midfielder and Scottish international, joined the Baggies in February and wasted no time establishing himself as a force in the centre of the midfield. Despite joining the club fairly recently Fletcher was named club captain by Pulis. Fletcher will be familiar with his Scottish national side team-mate James Morrison. Chris Brunt has been a regular in the midfield as well, playing on the left wing.
Completely Unscientific, Somewhat Unbiased Prediction: 14th place
The striking options behind Saido Berahino. Not that many teams in the league have strikers of Berahino’s quality, but it will be a lot harder to score goals when or if he leaves. Sure Ricky Lambert is a decent striker, but he’s getting a little old now.
By the end of last season, West Brom were much better than the inconsistent team from the first half of the season under Alan Irvine. They were physical, defended well and almost impossible to beat once they got a lead. There is nothing more frustrating for a football fan than to watch a Pulis team take an early 1-0 lead and defend their way to victory with ease. The man has made an art form out of getting a lead early and then grinding out a positive result.
People attacking this kind of football is unfair, because it works. Sure it would be boring if all 20 Premier League teams and everyone in the Football League played this style, but they don’t. Pulis isn’t obliged to let his opposition, particular clubs chock-full of international stars, run all over him in the name of “beautiful football”. Admittedly there is not a lot of excitement on this team other than Berahino, but the Baggies will be a difficult team to face week in and week out.
