Speculation persists that Tony Pulis’ West Brom reign will soon come to an end. Here is a look back at 5 of his worst games as West Brom Head Coach.
1) Aston Villa 2-0 West Brom (FA Cup Quarter Final – March 7th, 2015)
Tony Pulis had a golden opportunity to take West Brom to Wembley. Albion fans went to Villa Park for the second time in a week, following a late 2-1 defeat four days earlier. Expectations were still high that the Baggies could get revenge and progress against an out-of-sorts Aston Villa side. But it wasn’t to be, as goals from Fabian Delph and Scott Sinclair put Villa through to face Liverpool in Semi-Final. A sending-off for Claudio Yacob and a shocking miss from Ideye Brown underlined a humiliating week for Baggies fans.
2) West Brom 1-4 QPR (Premier League – April 4th, 2015)
West Brom were comfortably beaten by relegation strugglers, QPR, at The Hawthorns. QPR took a surprise 0-3 lead at half time after goals from Eduardo Vargas, Charlie Austin and a wonder strike from Bobby Zamora. Pulis’ side were easily rolled over by a side featuring current Baggies player Matt Phillips. A late red card for Yossuf Mulumbu only compiled a miserable afternoon for West Brom.
3) Newcastle 1-0 West Brom (Premier League – February 6th, 2016)
On the face of it, a 1-0 defeat away at Newcastle doesn’t sound like the worst result, but relegation battling Newcastle could have hit double figures. Albion never got going and were dominated by a dire Steve McClaren side. West Brom turned out an embarrassingly poor performance for their travelling fans, not registering a single shot on target. Pulis relieved the pressure on him with a fortunate away win against Everton the following week.
4) Reading 3-1 West Brom (FA Cup Fifth-Round – February 20th, 2016)
Albion were dumped out of the FA Cup with a humiliating defeat against Championship side Reading. Pulis’ side had struggled through earlier rounds against Bristol City and Peterborough, and another friendly draw created optimism that the club could make it all the way to Wembley. Instead, the Baggies delivered an uninspiring performance and left their sold-out travelling support infuriated. The post-match discussion was dominated by the Chris Brunt coin-throwing incident, but another cup failure left a bad taste.
5) Northampton 2-2 (4-3p) West Brom (EFL Cup Second-Round – August 23rd, 2016)
Pulis fielded a relatively strong side for West Brom’s trip to League One Northampton. Even still, West Brom failed to dictate the game and were matched throughout by Rob Page’s team. Alex Revell scored a late equalizer for the Cobblers to take the game into extra-time; as frustration in the stands grew. Penalty misses from Saido Berahino and James Morrison ended a shocking night at Sixfields. West Brom fans anger only grew when Pulis tried to defend his side’s defeat.
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