Tony Pulis makes ‘absolutely shocking’ Arsenal claim as West Brom point raised
Tony Pulis had identified the way his West Brom side used to play as the catalyst behind stopping Arsenal in the Premier League this season.
The Gunners have been labelled as the new Stoke City for the way they use set-pieces to their advantage in each and every encounter.
Very few teams have been able to prevent the threat that they pose from corners and free-kicks, but Pulis was reminiscent of his West Brom days when the Baggies had a very specific set-up that allowed them to deal with that threat.
Speaking on talkSPORT (11 December), the ex-Baggies boss said: “What we used to do and what we used to work on, especially at Stoke and when I was at West Brom as well where we had a fantastic record, if people man for man mark you, then we’d play a numbers game, so we’d go our top six against their top six.
“We knew their best headers would go against our best headers, but we always thought our sixth man would be stronger than their sixth man. If they mark zonally, we would do what Arsenal are doing. A standing jump will never beat someone on a running jump. So we would move back and then run across the face of defenders.”
Pulis added: “I think the biggest difference today is the marking. The marking is absolutely shocking. We used to get up and in people’s faces and really physically contest a ball that was coming in.
“Players today, they’re not even looking at the corner kick, they’re looking at the player, they’re trying to block the player off. Any movement away from that player leaves you in space and a chance to score.”
Defending is a strength for West Brom this season
Quite remarkably, West Brom have the joint third-best defensive record in the Championship this season but their frailties lie in front of goal.
Just 21 goals have been scored by the Baggies, almost half of which have come from Josh Maja, who has been crucial.
Set-pieces haven’t been a concern for the Baggies either, having scored 33 per cent of their goals from dead-ball situations – a feat only bettered by two Championship sides according to WhoScored.
In fact, their percentage of goals from set-pieces is actually considerably higher than that of Arsenal this season, albeit in a smaller sample size. Maybe the Baggies are the new Stoke?
Pulis’ comments on how to defend corners seem relatively straight forward yet so many teams fail to adhere to it.
Thankfully, possibly down to the influence from Pulis all that time ago, West Brom have conceded just once from a set piece this campaign.
In other West Brom news, Don Goodman has made a promotion admission on the Baggies.
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