West Brom are improving step by step, says manager Tony Pulis
Sunday 21 May 2017 19:16, UK
Tony Pulis says West Brom are improving "step by step" but admits he is disappointed by their end-of-season form.
The Baggies squeezed into the top 10 on goal difference ahead of West Ham with 45 points to secure Pulis his first top-half finish as a manager in the Premier League.
While the Baggies head coach says his side have improved on last year - where they finished 14th on 43 points - he is not happy with their run of nine Premier League games without a win in the closing weeks of the season, which finished with a 2-1 defeat at Swansea.
"It is disappointing [the form] and I'm disappointed now but the club have moved on again," he told Sky Sports.
"We're better this year than we were last year and better last year than we were the year before and that's what we have to do. We have to remain positive and try and improve it step by step. They are small steps at this football club.
"The important thing is making the club stronger and better. The players have been brilliant this year. We've had a squad of 16 or 17 players and they have been absolutely fantastic. If we had got a point today, we would have finished eighth.
"In the last third of the season, we have been in good positions and we've either not taken the opportunities we've created or we've given silly goals and chances away. Their goal is really a third division goal that we should defend it."
West Brom had gone ahead in the first half of Sunday's match at the Liberty Stadium, but Jordan Ayew scored his first goal for Swansea in the 72nd minute to level things up.
Fernando Llorente's 15th goal of the season in the 85th minute condemned the Baggies to defeat and Pulis again lamented his side's lack of cutting edge in the final third.
"We're disappointed. I thought we had control of the game for long spells," he added.
"The difference is the final thirds. We had opportunities and chances to score more than one goal today and we didn't take them and they are always going to get opportunities.
"They have real quality with Gylfi Sigurdsson on set plays and their first goal is some absolutely disastrous defending from us from a set play. Two players switch off, they get level on 1-1 and then they get their tails up."
