Tony Pulis has always been a manager of habits. He arrived and departed from Selhurst Park on Saturday wearing a tailored suit, having masterminded West Bromwich Albion’s victory over his former employers in his familiar shellsuit and club-crested cap.
“I’ll leave it for all the sophisticated lads,” said Pulis when asked if he has ever considered changing his obligatory touchline uniform to something smarter. “I’ve always done it, from my days at Bournemouth. I don’t see a reason to change. I’d never take my cap off during a game.
“I watched the first game for Albion and sat upstairs in a suit. I came down after 10 minutes because I’d had enough of sitting there. That’s just the way I am. I want to be close to the action.”
Guiding another team to Premier League safety in the age of multi-billion-pound TV deals is another reason for him never to change his successful formula. Against the manager who walked out on them 48 hours before the opening day of the season, Palace’s attempt to match last season’s feat of five successive victories under Pulis was thwarted inside the opening two minutes when a textbook corner routine was converted by James Morrison. From that point, the current manager, Alan Pardew, admitted his team were always going to struggle to break down a well-drilled defence led by Joleon Lescott.
Some industrial challenges on the hosts’ creative sparks Yannick Bolasie and Wilfried Zaha went unpunished by the referee Jon Moss but Craig Gardner’s brilliant strike meant Pulis could enjoy his day in the sun, shielded by his cap of course.
Victory all but assures West Brom a sixth successive season in the Premier League, although their head coach – to give Pulis his official title – is taking nothing for granted with matches against Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United still to come.
“I’m not sure how many points we’ll need,” he said. “We’ve talked about 40 points all season but there was a lot of talk on social media and other places that 33 might be enough and you can become complacent. We’re not good enough as a football club to become complacent at this level.”
Pardew could only acknowledge that he had been outmanoeuvred by his predecessor. Jason Puncheon struggled to have his usual effect on the game in a deeper central midfield role, while the captain Mile Jedinak was withdrawn at half-time on his first appearance at Selhurst Park since the Boxing Day defeat against Southampton that prompted Neil Warnock’s sacking.
The remarkable transformation since then under Pardew means a top-half finish remains a possibility, although much will probably rest on Saturday’s home match against Hull, given his side also have yet to play Liverpool, Chelsea and United.
“Of course we regroup now, try to attack Hull as best we can and get a result,” he said. “It’s a disappointing result for us, a disappointing result on the back of many good days. That’s football. We were committed, we tried a few things that didn’t work. We tried a few things that did work. We’ll take the negatives and positives out of the game.
“When we’ve had setbacks we’ve really bounced back well. Now we have another one and we need to bounce back again. I’ve no doubt we will.”
Pulis was named Premier League manager of the year for his part in guiding Palace to 11th place last season, after taking over in December with the club struggling in the relegation zone. Pardew could also be a contender for the prize he won in 2012 with Newcastle, having arrived with Palace in a similar predicament and earning 25 points from 13 matches since returning to south London.
“We’ve played above ourselves at times since I’ve been here. They’re a terrific group to manage,” he said. “We’re not a top team where we can dominate and expect a result like you could at Man City or United at home. We have to really focus and concentrate. We have weaknesses we try to cover and strengths to build on and that’s what we’ll continue to do. Standing here I’m really proud of the players. They should be proud of their season.”
Man of the match Joleon Lescott (West Brom)
