Was it beauty that killed the beast?

With just four games at most left for teams to prolong their stays in the top flight another season at least, it is West Brom, Stoke City and Southampton that currently occupy the bottom three, with the trio arguably sharing one unifying factor; their desire to improve their style in recent years.

- Hughes' failed experiment - 

Stoke City's appointment of Mark Hughes and the subsequent signings of the likes of Xherdan Shaqiri and Bojan were seen as defining moments in the club's recent history, as they shedded their "not a nice place to go on a cold Tuesday night" status in favour of a more expansive style of play.

Tony Pulis had previously earned the 'Potters' promotion and stability off the back of a combative approach, utilising physicality and set-pieces to the max to get the very best out of his side as they spent a decade in the top flight.

Hughes, a huge name as a player with plenty of experience in management, was largely seen as the harbringer of a new era, but that era looks to end on a bum note, with relegation from the Premier League.

Whilst the desire to "play more football" is an admirable quest, it is hard to imagine Pulis' side of Rory Delap, Robert Huth and co. going down with quite such a whimper, particularly given the quality currently in the Stoke squad.

"It will take time - on occasions we'll make mistakes but if we want to play in a certain way that's what we have to do," Hughes told 'BBC Radio Stoke' back in August 2013, but as time passed, those mistakes only served to become more frequent as the Stoke backline lost its robustness, despite Hughes spending big on the likes of Bruno Martins Indi and Kevin Wimmer and bringing in Kurt Zouma on loan from Chelsea.

 

January 2, 2018

Current Stoke boss Paul Lambert admitted upon his appointment that the change in style may not have been wise for Stoke, saying: "I think they went away from the identity I knew under Tony Pulis, when it was built on a lot of hard graft - 70 or 80 per cent that with a little sprinkle of gold dust, I think sometimes a club should have an identity of sheer hard graft. That's got to be set in stone.

"There are certain football clubs where the team should mirror the supporters and this is one of them. The supporters are vital to it and if you go away too much from that structure you end up losing your way a bit.

"I love it here because it's not too dissimilar to Glasgow, where I was brought up and where I came from. It's a hard-working area and Dortmund is the same, it's a pure steel industry, pure hard work, and as long as they see you working your backside off that's fine."

Relegation would confirm once and for all that the Hughes expirement failed, miserably.

- Saints' sorrow - 

The same criticism that flowing football was preferred to results could also be levelled at Southampton, though the 'Saints' do still look the most likely of any side in the bottom three to save themselves.

Just last summer Southampton finished the season eighth in the Premier League and having undeservedly lost to Manchester United in the final of the EFL Cup, their first major final since 2003.

Hence why it came as a surprise to many onlookers when manager Claude Puel was dismissed, as the club looked for someone "in line with the long-term vision of the club."

A quick look at the stats demonstrates why Puel was not a popular figure at St Mary's despite his relative success, with the club scoring just 17 goals in 19 home games that season, winning just one of their last eight league games and losing 16 games over the course of a 38-game season.

Among 'Saints' fans, the 55-year-old quickly became known as "Fraud Puel", with his dour personality and pragmatic approach at odds with Southampton's vision of themselves as purveyors of purism.

 

June 15, 2017

Former Alaves boss Mauricio Pellegrino was ushered in on a three-year deal, insisting during his unveiling that "my philosophy and the culture of the club will work well."

The club's executive director Les Reed also referred to their desire to play "exciting, attacking football, taking the game to our opponents by playing a high-intensity game.”

Almost a year later, Southampton are 18th, with just five wins to their name all season and a goal difference of minus 20.

 

March 12, 2018

However, given their reputation for playing good football in recent years, perhaps a fairer criticism of the club would be that they did not shift their approach after years of asset-stripping from rivals saw their best players depart, taking their class with them.

- Bungling Baggies - 

On first reflection, it seems strange that a West Brom side that began the season being managed by Tony Pulis is included in this article, however, there is method to the madness.

The thinking lies behind the decision to sack Pulis, with fan discontent at the club's negativity on the pitch a factor in the experienced boss' departure.

'BBC Sport' journalist Simon Stone wrote of Pulis "The Welshman is a victim of his own football philosophy. He is a results man. The pretty stuff is not his style; Pulis does functional. Supporters don't find it easy on the eye and even his players tire of it. It means when results go wrong, there is no bank of goodwill to buy him time."

That seems a fair assessment of his time at the Hawthorns, which saw three years of solid work undone by one nightmareish run of form.

 

November 19, 2017

In this case, the club's struggles on the pitch (going 10 games without a win leading up to his dismissal), lead fans to forget about the 10th-place finish achieved just a season earlier.

It is worth pointing out though that Pulis had started the season with just two defeats in their first eight games and left West Brom a point above the drop zone, suggesting that despite his side's "negativity", they would have stood a better chance of avoiding the drop with him in charge.

Fan favourite Paul Scharner was among those to criticise Pulis's style, saying: “The main problem is that, in nearly three years, he built his Pulis way, his Pulis structure, and it’s then difficult to unpick that way of working.

“Whoever went in there was going to find it tough. It needed a magician.

“Was it necessary to give so much power to the manager? The board allowed Pulis to destroy the club’s DNA.

“Do you remember the ­football West Brom played before he came? It was about keeping the ball, possession football. That was their DNA. It didn’t matter whether the club went up and down, that was how they played.

“Now it’s difficult because there is no playing philosophy left and there are virtually no players left who identify with the club’s philosophy.”

The appointment of Alan Pardew was considered the first step in returning to this philosophy, though that didn't turn out well, with the 56-year-old claiming just one win in 18 games and sufferring eight traight defeats before being given the boot in April.

 

April 2, 2018

It could then be said that a desire for flashy football in what remains a cut-throat reuslts-based business led to the decline of Stoke, Southampton and West Brom.