Sunday 20 August 2017 20:58, UK
Tony Pulis was effusive in his praise for West Brom debutant Gareth Barry after the veteran midfielder helped his new side hang onto a 1-0 lead against Burnley at Turf Moor.
Barry, 36, made the move to West Brom on a free transfer from Everton earlier this week and was thrust straight into the starting XI alongside stand-in captain Jake Livermore and teenager Sam Field in central midfield.
West Brom had looked on course to hang on to their slender one-goal advantage until their goalscorer Hal Robson-Kanu was sent off with six minutes of normal time remaining.
But the West Brom defence stood firm to thwart Burnley's aerial bombardment in the closing stages and Pulis was delighted with the impact of his latest recruit.
Speaking post-match, Pulis said: "Burnley put us under enormous pressure in the second half especially after Hal [Robson-Kanu] had left the pitch and they really tested us but the players responded and it is a wonderful result for us."
"As the game got more difficult there was a fella playing in the middle of the pitch who actually got better, Gareth Barry was absolutely fantastic for the last 20 minutes."
Despite making 33 Premier League appearances for Everton last season, Barry was allowed to leave the club following the big-money signings of Davy Klaassen and Gylfi Sigurdsson.
It looks as though he will play a significant role for West Brom, though and he is on course to surpass Ryan Giggs' all-time appearance record in the Premier League if he features in just four more matches this season.
Alongside Barry, West Brom's two other signings, Ahmed Hegazy and Jay Rodriguez also started at Turf Moor and Pulis admitted that he is keen to add more players to his squad before the transfer window closes.
"We're still working very, very hard to get players into the football club and we need to, if you look at the team we had today we had young Sam Fields, a teenager, playing and we had another three on the bench so we need to get players in," he said.
"But we need to get good players in and fingers crossed we'll be able to do that."
