Paul Merson doubts Alan Pardew will be transforming West Bromwich Albion’s playing style anytime soon.
Pardew looks set to be confirmed as Tony Pulis’ successor at The Hawthorns, with The Sun reporting that an appointment is likely to be confirmed by the club at some stage after they face Newcastle United in the Premier League on Tuesday.
After Pulis’ uninspiring style of play came in for a significant amount of criticism from the West Brom supporters – especially when it was no longer picking up results – the Baggies fans would be forgiven for wanting the next manager to encourage a much more exciting brand of football. But Merson insisted that Pardew does not have the tools at his disposal to make that happen right now.
“His job is to go in there and make sure they stay up,” he told The Debate on Sky Sports (broadcast on 28th November 2017 from 22:00). “I think they’ll be calling him and thinking they’ll want to play better football and all that. I don’t think that’s going to happen in a hurry. I don’t think they’re good enough defensively to go and play expansive football, leave three at the back and have players running left, right and centre. He will have to go in and make it very tight.”
In fairness to West Brom, their squad is arguably a lot better than their current position in the Premier League suggests, and they undoubtedly have a number of players who can adapt, and perhaps may even thrive, if asked to play a more exciting style of football.
The likes of Grzegorz Krychowiak, Oliver Burke and Sam Field struggled to thrive under Pulis, and they may be just three of the players within the squad who may benefit from his departure, provided that the club get the next appointment – which looks more than likely to be Pardew – right.
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