Saturday 2 January 2016 18:51, UK
Tony Pulis insists that Saido Berahino has trained well for West Brom and was left out against Stoke for tactical reasons.
The Baggies won the game 2-1 thanks to Jonny Evans' last gasp winner after Geoff Cameron had been sent off for the visitors.
Speculation has been rife that Berahino will leave The Hawthorns in January, but Pulis denied that such rumours were the reason the striker started on the bench.
"Saido has trained well and he was really disappointed I never started him today but I made the decision to go for Rick [Lambert]," he said.
"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."
As for the game itself, Pulis was pleased with the way his side dealt with the attacking threat of Stoke for much of the game and believes that ultimately his team were worthy winners.
"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," he said.
"When he 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."
The former Stoke boss was also pleased for Evans and expressed his delight that his side had recorded back-to-back wins.
"I'm pleased for Jonny, he's been outstanding in every position we've played him," Pulis added.
"We've played him in midfield, we've played him at centre-half, we've played him at full-back but wherever you play him he's just got so much quality and at times today he just takes the sting out of the game and puts his foot on the ball.
"It's a good performance again and back-to-back victories are very important in this league. To do it against Newcastle and Stoke, two good teams, I'm very, very pleased and delighted for the players.
"We needed to [win back-to-back games] because losing the game to Bournemouth and not getting the result at Swansea that we deserved was disappointing.
"But the lads have come back and six points from the last two games is very, very good in a season where goodness knows what it's going to take to stay up."
