Has The Premier League Finally Moved On From Pulis-Ball?

Has The Premier League Finally Moved On From Pulis-Ball?
10:26, 22 Nov 2017

Tony Pulis doesn’t do failure. Or more accurately, he doesn’t do relegation. Much is made of the Welshman’s record of never having been relegated from the Premier League, underlining his standing as English football’s go-to-guy for security. Get Pulis and you are safe for another season at least. 

Well, that was presumption up until this season. With Pulis in charge, West Brom have won just two of their last 21 Premier League games. At present, the Baggies sit just a single point above the bottom three, with their current trajectory sucking them closer and closer to the foot. After the weekend’s dismal home defeat to Chelsea, the club’s Chinese owners would argue that they had no choice but to sack Pulis this week.

So was this the end of Pulis-ball? Was this a case of an individual simply losing his way at a club or reflective of something more significant in a wider sense? Are the Welshman’s ways and methods just as relevant in 2017 as they were a few years ago? To put it simply, could he succeed at another Premier League club?

Of course, Pulis is considered a great of the English game, but he was also reflective of a certain time in Premier League history. His direct style set a precedent, washing away snobbiness across the top flight, even paving the way for David Moyes to be named Manchester United manager and Sam Allardyce England manager. Without Pulis, those two might not have been handed such jobs.

The Premier League is changing, though, and Pulis is at threat of being left behind. At his last three clubs - Stoke City, Crystal Palace and West Brom - the Welshman’s style of play ultimately wore down the tolerance of his own fans. The latter’s decision to sack Pulis on Monday was as much to do with the dreary nature of what was being served up as it was the results. That is a common thread throughout his career.

But there is reason to believe that Pulis is becoming a relic of a bygone age. The likes of Pep Guardiola and Mauricio Pochettino have raised stylistic standards in the Premier League in recent years, with more expected of coaches in England’s top flight. Even Jose Mourinho has been forced to adapt and change his traditionally conservative ways, as highlighted by Manchester United’s free-flowing, attacking display against Newcastle on Saturday.

Pulis failed to show that he could adapt in the same way. He should have spent the summer adding to his attacking options at West Brom. Instead, he allowed the squad to stagnate and ultimately paid the price for that. 

The problem for West Brom is that whoever comes in to replace Pulis will be expected to impose a more attractive style of play with a squad built in a very different mould. It’s feasible that the Baggies could find themselves in a similar situation to the one Palace experienced earlier in the season, when Frank de Boer failed to implement fundamental change at a club set firmly in its own ways. The Dutchman didn’t last long before a return to default at Selhurst Park.

The challenge for West Brom will be to ensure their ideological overhaul sticks. That they aren’t back where they started in a matter of months, like Crystal Palace. Pulis wasn’t just a significant figure for the Baggies, but for the Premier League as a whole. His demise, therefore, transcends the Hawthorns. Pulis, not for the first time, can be used as a coaching barometer, with his sacking saying a lot about where the English top flight is heading.

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