The secret of staying in Premiership

How can a club survive in the Premier League, West Brom, Hull and Stoke managements wondered last year? Wolves, Birmingham and Burnley managers and presidents ask the same question today. You may say that the answer to this old question is always the same: MONEY. The answer is only partially true. We all know that titles or success is not achieved solely by money. The best example is Chelsea from the last few seasons, since Roman Abramovich took over, or Manchester City and Real Madrid.

Same goes for survival in the Premier League, for the teams that managed to get hold of it; money is not enough, that is to say quality players bought only on the basis of their experience in the higher rank. That is just one step. The second step is a system that must primarily focus on securing the net, that is to say DEFENSE. A good example of this are Stoke City and their manager Tony Pulis. Besides making a good first step by bringing established but not too expensive Premiership players (Abdulaye Faye, Matthew Etherigthon, James Beattie, Dave Kitson,…) after promotion, the manager continued with his football philosophy – protect your net first. Ever since he came on Potters bench three years ago, they play tough, not particularly attractive, perhaps somewhat old-fashioned even, but very forceful. They are almost always on the brink of a foul and some of Championship managers even complained that their players constantly get beaten in one-on-one duels on the ground and in the air.

Stoke’s defense can’t boast attractive names: experienced Senegalese, Abdulaye Faye, accompanied by Ryan Shawcross with German Roberth Huth, who joined them in the last few games. However, Pulis treats them, first of all, as a TEAM, so they are well-organized, strong and leave nothing to chance. Well-balanced defense and stable back line give the additional confidence in the attack, so they easily recorded many minimum wins in the last season using a simple principle: Rory Delap’s set-piece – James Beatie’s or Ricard Fuller’s header – goal. I am sure that they will survive this season using this tactics that definitely works, as never in Tony Pulis’ coaching career a team he lead have ever been relegated ( Bournemouth, Gillingham, Bristol City, Portsmouth, the first period in Stoke City and Plymouth Argyle)

West Bromwich Albion are a negative example of a good team that didn’t master the lesson called DEFENSE last season and thus failed to pass the most difficult test. Lead by manager Tony Mowbray, WBA played offensive and attractive football in season 2007/08. They scored a lot of goals, dominated on top of the standings and playing with a lot of passes on the ground seemed as if they didn’t come from mother England. When a team dominates in ball possession in the Championship, then they have no pressure in the back line and don’t have to defend. But then episode Premiership followed, where want it or not, one must hold on to the ball and defend. Even though they too bought some good signings for the higher rank, they were doomed to fail as it was obvious from the very start that WBA can’t defend, in spite of the indisputable individual quality of their defenders. Unbalanced play and manager’s inability to completely change the style that worked perfectly in the Championship lead them to rock bottom, where they spent most of the league, before they were relegated.

We have the same example this season. After summer preparations practicing and few opening rounds, Hull City decided to sell their best defender, Michael Turner to Sunderland. Ever since the pillar of Tigers defense left, Hull’s net is always full, and their agony is not ending. Last season the defense was solid but this year they can’t be recognized, precisely because Turner left. That is why manager Phil Brown or his heir on the bench will have to learn the lesson this season. But it will be too late for them.

Still, let us get back to the Baggies. This excellent team confirmed their quality in the Championship, where they are on top of the standings lead by new manager Roberto Di Mateo. If the Italian leads them to promotion, we wish him to be smart enough and learn this tough lesson for the next season.

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