Football
9y

West Brom's Tony Pulis says his 'mad' pre-match rant paid off with victory

Tony Pulis gave his players the hairdryer treatment at Old Trafford and the move paid off as West Brom recorded a famous and vital victory against Manchester United.

West Brom earned successive victories at United's home for the first time since 1959 thanks to Chris Brunt's free kick, which flew past David De Gea courtesy of a deflection off Jonas Olsson.

After results went against them earlier in the day, the Baggies looked set to be dragged back into the relegation dogfight, but the 1-0 victory means they are now seven points above the drop zone with three matches left.

At the place where the 'hairdryer' phrase was coined because of Sir Alex Ferguson's dressing-room rants at his United team, Pulis let rip at his players before the match for talking about victories for relegation rivals Sunderland, Aston Villa and Leicester.

The Baggies boss wanted his players to focus solely on their objective of beating United and the dressing down seemed to work.

"I went mad before the game because one of the lads had his phone out and was looking at the results," Pulis said.

"It's a very difficult time of day to play because results are coming through and lads get a bit distracted. They had enough on their plate without knowing results. We worry far too much about things we can't affect.

"You should concentrate on what you can affect."

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