West Brom boss Tony Pulis hopes to move on from Saido Berahino saga

12 September 2015 21:47

Boss Tony Pulis hopes the Saido Berahino saga is over after the striker made his West Brom comeback.

A forgettable 0-0 draw with Southampton saw the 22-year-old return after his strike threat following a blocked move to Tottenham on deadline day.

He failed to shine, though, as the Baggies had to settle for a dull draw at The Hawthorns.

Berahino had missed the last three games with Pulis concerned about his state of mind during the saga as Albion rejected four bids from Tottenham over the summer.

He threatened on Twitter never to play for the club again b ut after many home fans sung his name, despite some booing, Pulis wants to draw a line under the affair.

He said: "I'm pleased he had such a great reception, that's wonderful and it shows the quality and the depth of our supporters to have given him such a reception.

"He's a young boy. He's made mistakes and everybody in this room has made mistakes in their life.

"What he's got to do is learn by them, move on and make sure he doesn't make them again.

"I just hope and pray he does that because he is a talent.

"When we brought him on in the second half you saw glimpses and bits and pieces of what he can do.

"I was not surprised by the reaction, n ot from this crowd. T he crowd here have been wonderful, absolutely wonderful."

Callum McManaman felt he should have had a penalty in the first half after going down under Matt Targett's challenge but Albion failed to seriously test Maarten Stekelenburg.

Jay Rodriguez wasted Southampton's best opening, in a game of few chances, when he headed wide from six yards in the first half.

But Southampton kept their third straight clean sheet with new signing Celtic Virgil van Dijk impressing on his debut.

Boss Ronald Koeman said: "Virgil was in my opinion impressive. He looks very comfortable with his new team-mates and good in defending and we know also one of his qualities is in his passing from the back. He played perfectly today.

"That's positive (clean sheets), because in my opinion it starts always at the back and a clean sheet normally makes a winning game. We have to realise that we have to create more.

"I think the best chance maybe was in the first half for Jay Rodriguez, and we were not good enough in the final part in attacking, not clinical enough. Sometimes we make too difficult choices in our final pass. If you can't win, don't lose."

Source: PA