Three things we learned from Liverpool’s victory over West Brom

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Tony Pulis’ West Brom aren’t quite Tony Pulis’ Stoke

It may be predictable, but this was the perfect demonstration of how Tony Pulis has failed to rebuild his defensive strength at Stoke with his new club. Whilst Johnny Evans was missing through suspension, the Baggies failed to deal with the attacking threat of Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane and Phillipe Coutinho.

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In the Stoke era, Ryan Shawcross and Robert Huth physically dominated a number of forward lines, with strong defensive set-ups preventing some of the Premier League’s best attackers from beating them in their hunt for goals. Whilst the Baggies stood firm for much of the game, it wasn’t quite the same.

Rather than intimidating the Liverpool attack, the West Brom defence looked shell-shocked by their pace and movement at times, with a poor error from Ben Foster giving way to Coutinho adding the second goal, something that cannot be afforded up against players of the quality of this Liverpool side.