Having suffered defeat in his last two games against his former clubs, Bournemouth and Palace, Stoke City visit the Hawthorns for the first game of 2016 with the Welshman looking to make it three from three in against the Potters since he’s been at the Hawthorns.
Fifty percent of the season is completed and Albion sit on 23 points, a total only bettered by their best ever season in 2012/13 when they sat on 33 points in 6th place.
Steve McLaren has been a manager under pressure pretty much ever since he took over at St James’s Park in the summer, whereas his adversary on Monday, Tony Pulis, is in that situation for perhaps the first time in his tenure at the Hawthorns following a run of five games without a win.
After the Liverpool game two games ago, Albion were comfortably in 13th place, a point behind Southampton and four points ahead of 14th-placed Bournemouth. This evening, Albion remain in 13th place but are now four points behind 12th place and ahead of Bournemouth on goal difference.
Being the committed football manager that he is, you can imagine that as he tucks into his turkey and pigs in blankets on Christmas Day, Tony Pulis’s mind is more likely to be mulling over his Boxing Day team selection than the festivities going on around him.
AFC Bournemouth claimed their first ever victory at the Hawthorns on Saturday and, while many will blame the idiocy of Salomón Rondón and James McClean, or the incompetence of referee, Mike Dean, I believe that the Albion manager should take responsibility for the result. Albion remain safely in mid-table and I recognise that, with Tony… Continue reading Pulis should take responsibility for Bournemouth defeat