Poor tactics from Pulis in the first half
When Tony Pulis revealed his starting XI to play at the Emirates, there were two noticeable changes. First, the manager decided to pick three holding midfielders in his side – Sandro, Yacob and Fletcher.
This meant that he had picked a defensive team which was modified to stop the Gunners from playing their passing game, but also that his side were short of attacking options.
Second, there was no Salomon Rondon in the XI and Saido Berahino was picked to play upfront. This meant that the latter was given the role of breaking on the counter. But throughout the first half, it was Arsenal, who typically dominated possession.
Pulis might have tried to emulate Crystal Palace’s tactics from last the weekend, but deciding to sit deep and wait for the Gunners to give away possession is suicide. His side played in a 4-5-1 formation but his players failed to stop Sanchez from scoring twice.
It was poor tactics from the manager as his striker did not even get a chance and his midfielders failed to close down the Gunners. However, when the manager brought on the changes at half-time, the Baggies got enough decent chances.
