West Bromwich Albion are secure in PL status, but like any Pulis team lack spark

Greg Lea writes that Tony Pulis is practising his proven craft of reliability at West Bromwich Albion, but with it comes the typically dispiriting lack of spark or spice.

West Bromwich Albion manager Tony Pulis has the team 14th in the Premier League, and only four points off the top half. Lindsey Parnaby / AFP

76 per cent possession to 24 per cent. 33 shots to five. Six efforts on target to one.

Nil goals to one.

In many ways, it was the archetypal performance from a Tony Pulis team. Despite most of the statistics suggesting West Bromwich Albion had come off second best, they still found a way to leave Goodison Park with all three points last weekend.

That smash-and-grab win at Everton lifted Pulis' charges eight points clear of the bottom three, with Premier League survival now looking likely.

Not everyone at The Hawthorns is happy, though. While West Brom look set to fulfil their pre-season objective of staying in the top flight for another campaign, the style of play they have employed to do so has been the opposite of thrill-a-minute.

The question being debated among the club’s fanbase is whether the end justifies the means.

To many, the answer would be an unequivocal yes.

West Brom have only recently shed their ‘yo-yo’ club reputation, with four promotions and three relegations between 2002 and 2010 evidence of how common it had become for them to bounce between the first and second tiers.

The financial benefits that come with competing in the Premier League year after year are huge for a club like West Brom, with many supporters of the belief that Pulis’ stabilising effect is exactly what they need right now.

Others, though, are beginning to tire of the negative tactics and dull football.

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West Brom have failed to score in nine of their 26 Premier League games this term and have not netted more than twice in the same match on even one occasion.

They have also been unable to register a single shot on target five times and have tested the opposition goalkeeper – by either scoring or forcing him into making a save – just once in a further three league encounters.

West Brom have turned in some dire displays at times, with the goalless draw at home to Aston Villa and away defeats at Crystal Palace and Newcastle United particular lowlights.

There have been some more positive performances, including 1-0 away wins at Villa and Stoke City, 2-2 draws at both Liverpool and Chelsea and a 2-1 triumph at home to Arsenal.

Such showings have been the exception rather than the norm, however. A squad largely devoid of pace, creativity and any sort of spark has inevitably produced some pretty lacklustre stuff.

Pulis sympathisers will point to recruitment failings that pre-date his arrival as a major factor in the current tediousness, but the manager must take the lion’s share of responsibility for the football his side have offered up.

Pulis has never been relegated in his managerial career and is as close to a guarantee of keeping teams out of the bottom three as is possible, but West Brom fans are still entitled to expect a little more enjoyment from their biweekly trips to The Hawthorns, particularly in a season in which Leicester City, West Ham United, Stoke and Watford have all had success while playing exciting football.

A run into the latter stages of the FA Cup – West Brom take on Reading in the fifth round on Saturday – would help to placate some of the dissenters, although on the flip side a defeat could make them even more hostile.

Pulis has fulfilled his remit as West Brom boss thus far, so it would be unfair to criticise him too harshly.

While the club’s followers will be happy to see their side nearing Premier League survival once more, they would probably have hoped for a bit more fun along the way.

Rethinking replays

Premier League title contenders Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City are also all in action in the FA Cup this weekend, with managers Arsene Wenger, Mauricio Pochettino and Manuel Pellegrini all hoping to avoid a replay.

Whereas table-topping Leicester City – out of the Cup and not involved in European competition – have just 12 games left to play, the above trio could still take to the field upwards of 25 times between now and the end of the campaign in May.

As such, the debate over whether FA Cup replays should be retained or abolished has arisen once more.

Those in favour of keeping them rightly point out that lower-league clubs would suffer most from their removal. A hard-fought draw at home to a Premier League outfit currently results in a money-spinning rematch away, with the television and matchday revenue gained from unexpected cup runs often helping smaller sides to develop their stadiums or improve other infrastructure.

On the other hand, there is a growing realisation that English clubs are playing too much football in relation to their European counterparts, with issues of fatigue and burnout exacerbated by the lack of a winter break.

Scrapping FA Cup replays would be a favourable solution compared to alternatives such as trimming the Premier League or getting rid of the League Cup.

There is merit in both arguments, so perhaps a compromise is the answer: rather than ditching replays at the semi-final stage as is currently the case, they could be dropped after the fourth round.

There tend to be far fewer lower-league teams still involved at this stage – Shrewsbury Town are the only side from the third division or lower who are still in this year’s competition, for example – with replays far more of a hindrance than a help to those higher up the food chain.

It may also lead to the bigger clubs taking things more seriously in the knowledge that each round from the fifth onwards consists of 120 minutes at the most.

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