West Brom finished tenth in the Premier League table, but Tony Pulis is actually holding them back.
West Brom manager Tony Pulis before the match
The 40-point mark has long been the agreed total that teams needs to acquire to avoid relegation from the Premier League (there have of course been exceptions to this unwritten rule).
Unfortunately for many sides in England’s top tier that has now become the only target, which has lead to lack of ambition and acceptance of mediocrity. Nowhere has that been more prevalent than at West Bromwich Albion.
After 26 games the Baggies had secured 40 points after a 2-1 win over AFC Bournemouth, sat eighth in the table and seven points ahead of ninth-placed West Ham United. With the team in form and 12 games remaining, they should easily have bettered their highest ever Premier League points tally of 49 points from 2012/13.
Instead they won just one of those 12 matches, drew two and lost nine to end with 45 points in tenth place. Without further investigation that seems to equate to a solid season, but manager Tony Pulis and his sole target of avoiding relegation is holding West Brom back.
West Brom’s Salomon Rondon afer missing a chance to score
The statistics speak for themselves:
Over the past six seasons, once his teams (Stoke City, Crystal Palace and West Brom) have reached 39 points he has won just three games. To put that into context, from 37 matches Pulis sides have picked up 24 points, losing 19 and drawing 15.
Never has the phrase “the players are on the beach” been more pertinent. Unfortunately, though, it seems the manager is on the beach and when that happens what hope is there of the players performing?
Maybe the Baggies would be worse off without Pulis in charge, but as long as the Welshman is at the Hawthorns then the 40-point target is as good as it gets.
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