Paul Scharner remains popular with West Brom supporters – has he got it spot on when discussing why The Baggies are bottom of the Premier League?
West Bromwich Albion are a dead team walking.
After winning their first two games of the 2017/18 Premier League season, the Baggies have picked up three points just once in the 29 fixtures since. You do not need to be told that this is a rather poor record, which has West Brom bottom of the league and 10 points adrift from safety.
But Paul Scharner, the popular former player who represented West Brom between 2010 and 2012, is not laying the blame at the door of Alan Pardew, who has only hastened the slide since his appointment in November.
Instead, he believes the root of the problem is none other than Tony Pulis.
“The main problem is that, in nearly three years, he built his Pulis way, his Pulis structure, and it’s then difficult to unpick that way of working,” Scharner told the Sun.
“Whoever went in there was going to find it tough. It needed a magician.
“Was it necessary to give so much power to the manager? The board allowed Pulis to destroy the club’s DNA.
“Now it’s difficult because there is no playing philosophy left and there are virtually no players left who identify with the club’s philosophy.”
In the eyes of the Hawthorns faithful, who have been forced to sit through their fair share of dross in the last few seasons, the outspoken Austrian is pretty much spot on.
Pulis brought in his own players designed specifically to fit into his typically pragmatic way of working – the counter-attacking, more adventurous Alan Pardew was always going to find it tough to put his own stamp on a team built so clearly in his predecessor’s image.
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