Pulis: Berahino absence down to tactics

Posted Monday, January 04, 2016 by foxsportsasia.com

West Brom boss Tony Pulis has played down suggestions that he left Saido Berahino out of the 2-1 win over Stoke for anything other than tactical reasons.

The 22-year-old striker was the subject of four failed bids from Tottenham during the off-season and even saw the Baggies reject his own transfer request.

Berahino has been linked with a move away from the Hawthorns again this month after he started just eight Premier League games for Pulis' side in the first half of the campaign.

The England international found himself on the bench once more on Saturday for the visit of the Potters, Pulis' former team, and the manager revealed after the game that his decision was purely down to tactics.

"Saido has trained well and he was really disappointed I never started him today but I made the decision to go for Rick [Lambert]," the 57-year-old said in his post-match interview.

"The way [Stoke] set up and work as a team, they don't let teams in behind them at all, they drop off and there is certainly a little bit more space in front of their centre-halves than normal.

"So we thought Rick on the angles and into his feet - he's a very good leader of the line - would be the ideal choice today. That's what you do as a manager, you make decisions."

A late winner from Jonny Evans secured back-to-back victories for Albion, who had taken the lead through Stephane Sessegnon on the hour mark, but saw Jon Walters restore parity for Mark Hughes' men nine minutes from time.

Commenting on the latest win, Pulis said: "Stoke are a good side and they've got some really exciting players going forward and we knew they'd be a threat all game.

"When we got the first goal we just had to take it on, we had a couple of opportunities we never took, but with their front players they're always liable to get a goal.

"Jon [Walters] came on, and he's a great lad, a wonderful character but I could have killed him when he scored that goal. We kept going though and the second goal was worthy of the team that eventually deserved to win."