Tony Pulis, the West Bromwich Albion head coach, maintains that the Stoke City team who visit The Hawthorns tomorrow still have his fingerprints all over them.
Stoke head into the duel against their previous manager in a comfortable mid-table position, unlike troubled West Brom, who need to add to their tally of 30 points. Pulis, however, maintains that the backbone of Mark Hughes’s side consists of his signings.
“Look at the players who are still there,” Pulis, who was sacked by Stoke in 2013 to be replaced by Hughes, said. “They are the backbone of that club: Asmir Begovic, Glenn Whelan, Ryan Shawcross, Steven N’Zonzi, Peter Crouch, Jon Walters, Marc Wilson, Geoff Cameron, they’re just a few to mention.
“The great thing when you leave a club is that you leave it in a position where it can grow and get better and better. They’re wonderful people and it’s really nice when you take over a club with good professionals like that.”
Pulis believes it demonstrates how strong a side he had at Stoke that so many of them have survived under Hughes. “The majority of the lads who were there before still seem to be picked week in week out,” the West Brom manager said.
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“How many players has Mark brought in? I don’t know. That’s testament to them as individuals to win over a new manager. Whelan and Shawcross are the still there from when we got promoted from the Championship. They’ve been brilliant.”