Alan Pardew optimistic after West Brom draw with Crystal Palace
Saturday 2 December 2017 18:41, UK
Alan Pardew thinks West Brom "will have nothing to worry about" in their bid to avoid relegation if they perform as they did in their goalless draw with Crystal Palace on Saturday.
Pardew took charge of West Brom for the first time on Saturday afternoon against his former club, and while the Baggies were unable to record a first Premier League win since August, the new head coach was still delighted with how his players performed.
"I just think that everything was there in terms of application and attitude and maybe just a little bit of composure [is needed], which is understandable given the run of games we have had," said Pardew, whose side are three points above the relegation zone in 17th.
"But I was genuinely pleased with the drive of the team. We had a lot of quality missing today in terms of injured players and we lost Gareth Barry early, which was a blow.
"But the response I had from the guys was great and if we go forward like that, we will have nothing to worry about.
"Three games in a week for these guys, they give everything. They were at Wembley [last] Saturday, so real tough games and we have got three points out of those games and perhaps deserved a little bit more.
"But it was a shame we could not send the fans home with a goal and a win, but we pushed as hard as we could."
Pardew was particularly pleased with how his team coped with Palace's threat on the counter.
"We worked a lot on making sure they did not break on us on transition and locking the team in and that side was excellent," he said.
"I thought Claudio [Yacob] when he came on was absolutely tereffic in doing that with Jonny Evans.
"So some really good players here and it would be nice to pick from a full squad at some point. But the ones who played today were tereffic.
"And I also thought Salomon [Rondon] done such a sterling job up there against tough centre halves."
However, Pardew now wants West Brom to finally get back to winning ways, starting at fellow strugglers Swansea City next Saturday afternoon.
"It is going to be difficult (to stay up)," he said. "Everyone has match winners in the team and you need to get momentum and we obviously need a win quickly. And we go to Swansea now and see if we can get it.
