Be more like Chris Brunt, Alan Pardew tells his West Brom players

The long-serving Baggie made an impact off the bench in the 2-1 defeat to Manchester United, despite having just 20 minutes on the pitch.

He set up Gareth Barry’s goal 13 minutes from time, wreaked havoc with another corner, and laid on chances in open play for Salomon Rondon and Jay Rodriguez too.

“We looked threatening from the moment he entered the pitch,” said Pardew. “It was a lesson for the other players in having confidence in what you’re doing.

“The first time he got the ball on the left hand side he just smashed the ball in. It’s that ambition I want to see in players and we lacked that a little bit.

"I learnt a lot, I hope the team learnt a lot from what I said to them at the end of the game. And I was pleased that we ended like we did.

"It would have been disappointing if we didn't turn in a better performance than than the first half."

Brunt hasn't started any of the last 11 games, and has only come on as a sub in three of those matches.

“I need to get more time on the pitch to get that match sharpness back but I’m pleased I managed to add little bits and pieces to our game," he said. “Hopefully I’ve done enough to put myself in the manager’s thoughts.

“The run we’re on, it’s tough going. There’s a few of us in the dressing room who have seen the highs and lows.

"We’re in a bit of a low one at the moment and we want to get out of it. If I can do something to help that then I’ll be delighted.

“We’re all here to play football matches and no matter how old you get, I’m no different, you always want to play."

Albion haven't won any of their last 17 games in all competitions, although they scored the first goal of Alan Pardew's reign on Sunday.

"That goal was psychologically important," said Pardew. "You don't want to have those runs, with the media the way it is, you get pendants hanging round your neck and it becomes a problem.

"Against a very competent United side who looked composed we could have snatched a draw."

Albion found themselves 2-0 down at half-time after goals from Romelu Lukaku and Jesse Lingard opened up a gap for United.

“For the first goal maybe the cross shouldn’t have come in and maybe Olly (Burke) could have done a little bit better," admitted Pardew. “The second goal took a big deflection and that was tough.

“But they had other moments, Man United, and they’ve obviously got some fantastic forward players that we dealt with quite well.

“Even though we conceded two goals in the first half we defended quite well in that half.

“As much as we didn’t put pressure on them, they didn’t look like they were hurting us too much so there were some crumbs of comfort in the first half even though I’d like it a lot better than it was."

And Brunt reckons Gareth Barry's scrambled goal, which was Albion's first in nearly four matches of football, will be a huge boost going into next weekend's match with struggling Stoke.

“We went through a few spells like this last year and we came out of it," he said. “The goal might be the catalyst to try and get us out of this.

“We have a big game now next week away to Stoke. They’re not in great shape either so it’s going to be a big game.”