Search icon

Football

10th Mar 2018

Alan Pardew launches extraordinary attack on his own players as West Brom manager faces sack

Matthew Gault

This is surely only going to end one way.

West Brom manager Alan Pardew turned on his own players after they fell to a 4-1 defeat at home to Leicester City.

The Baggies, who are beginning to look increasingly adrift at the foot of the Premier League table, took the lead through Salomon Rondon but soon capitulated, with the Foxes scoring four times to pile the misery on Pardew.

During his post-match press conference, Pardew chose not to be magnanimous as he tore into his players, accusing them of giving up towards the end of the game.

Speaking to assembled media, Pardew said he is facing talks with the club’s board and while the writing appears to be on the wall for the former Newcastle and Crystal Palace boss, he insists he will not walk away.

“Before you even ask me the question, will I speak to those upstairs? Yes, I will, of course, I will, because it’s getting difficult. My pride on the sidelines is such that I don’t want to stand and watch that last 15, 20 minutes.

“My teams are better than that and I want my team here to be better than that. For me, it’s about planning for next week and getting ready for a difficult game at Bournemouth and that’s what I will do.

“But I will still talk to them and get a feeling of what they think because they might think a change is a better thing for the club, I don’t know.”

“I can’t be proud of that last period of the game because we lost our belief. We need to respond better to disappointment, there’s no doubt about that. Today knocked the stuffing out of us for whatever reason and we can’t let that happen.”

The FootballJOE quiz: Were you paying attention? – episode 10