Club News

Pulis: PSG friendly will be great workout

Baggies boss says focus is on fitness

TONY Pulis has called on his players to remain focussed on their fitness ahead of Albion’s pre-season opener against Paris Saint-Germain in Austria tonight (ko 6pm, 5pm UK).

The Baggies take on the French champions at the Schladming Arena in the northwest of the Austrian state of Styria.

And Pulis says he is far more concerned with the condition of his players than the outcome of the game against last year’s Champions League quarter-finalists.

“Results during pre-season mean very little to me,” he said.

“I’m more concerned with getting everyone through the games without picking up any injuries.

“Then when we get to the first game of the season everyone should be available for selection and in good shape.

“We obviously need friendlies for match fitness but I'll be far from worrying about the results.

“The most important thing is that they keep driving forward and it’s not about the results, it’s about the fitness and the strength of the players and the shape of the team.

“I’ve been coming out to Austria for a long time and the teams I've been with have played a lot of games against big teams like Roma and Real Madrid.

“We’ve played big clubs out here and there’s normally a decent amount of supporters and they’re normally good games.

“PSG have a fabulous team with fantastic players so we’ll be chasing the ball a bit but that’s good for us at this stage.

“I’ll mix and match it, we have five or six Academy players out here so we’ll try to give them some game time as well.”