West Brom boss Alan Pardew has admitted to a dressing room row with Chris Brunt last weekend but feels the outburst of emotion is a positive sign as the Baggies battle against relegation.

The 2-1 home defeat to Huddersfield left West Brom stranded seven points adrift at the bottom of the Premier League table and 10 points behind the Terriers.

The loss, Albion's fifth straight reverse in all competitions, prompted Brunt to question the tactics and the team's application after the final whistle.

But Pardew, who has come under increasing pressure in recent weeks, does not believe the heated exchange has damaged his authority and admitted he would be "foolish" not to listen to Brunt, who has been a West Brom player for more than a decade.

"The stuff which came out of the dressing room on Saturday was disappointing because what goes on in the dressing room should stay in the dressing room in my opinion," said Pardew.

"But we did have drug testers in there so we had people in there not normally associated with the dressing room.

"Having said that, I'm not sure if our fans will be disappointed in that. What do they expect us to do? Not have words? Not have conflict in the dressing room after a performance like that?

"It came out about Brunty but it was not just Brunty. The captain (Jonny Evans) and everybody else, myself and John Carver all had opinions on why that performance was such.

"I'd be foolish and not a good manager if I didn't listen to those comments and look at them in reflection and come up, hopefully, with some answers for this Saturday."

Asked if the dressing room row had undermined his authority, Pardew replied: "I don't think so.

"I've always been questioned as a manager. Of course you get players coming into your office and saying why am I not playing? That's questioning you.

"Your tactical gameplan is your tactical gameplan and you can live or die by that. There's many times after a game I'll hold my hands up and say I didn't set ourselves up right. I didn't actually see a lot wrong with our set up on Saturday, if I'm honest.

"Individual performances unfortunately weren't good enough and that reflects on the manager at the end of the day.

"But it's about dealing with it and frustration and anger in the dressing room is part of sport. I have no problem with it to be honest. The only disappointing thing was it came out of the dressing room."

West Brom face Watford tomorrow at Vicarage Road. Pardew has won just one of his 14 Premier League games in charge since replacing Tony Pulis in November.

Asked if he could survive another defeat, he said: "I don't know because that's not my decision.

"If you think I'm going to walk away with the experience I've got with a team that's probably isn't functioning very well, then you're wrong. I want to try and make it function as long as I can."