I'm sorry but as a non-Stoke fan this all sounds ridiculous. Please remember teams like Charlton, who thought that Alan Curbishley had taken them as far as he could. Pulis has done wonders for Stoke.
He has worked wonders but we cannot improve further under a man who continues to: Pick the likes of Delap and Whelan ahead of Palacios Woodgate ahead of Huth Pick centre halves at right back Pick right backs at left back Refuses to see that Crouch isn't a target man Refuses to buy a proper left back Refuses to make getting backup for your wingers a priority Refuses to see his own mistakes
At least Charlton played proper football and had tactics instead of hoofing the ball 70 yards and hoping for a set piece.
One of the things that derailed us last season was trying to play full-strength teams for midweek Champion's League games and weekend Premier League games, which caused a myriad of problems, such as... i.) Injuries ii.) Players being knackered iii.) In order to play a full-strength team, some players in the first team (i.e. Defoe, Pavluychenko) had opportunities restricted in both competitions iv.) In order to play a full-strength team, squad players (i.e. Kranjcar, Bassong, Dos Santos) weren't getting any chances, nor were youngsters Because of iii and iv, i and ii happened. And I'm starting to wonder if Sandro will soon be a iii given his limited cameos in the Premier League and Europa League.
I think that we'll see a stronger team in the Europa League now that some of our injured players are returning, Croydon. Corluka and Gallas were on the bench today, so I'd expect to see them, plus Sandro, Pienaar and hopefully Kranjcar for the next game.
As a neutral, I think it wouldn't be a good move to sack Pulis. He hasn't had a great start to this season, but think of what he has done overall. It doesn't matter who the manager is, teams go through bad spells, even the best of them all SAF has had poor runs, but sooner or later they turn it around. I think Pulis has cocked up with his team selections, in the Europa League, but every manager makes mistakes. I disagree that he can't take you any further, you are around the mid table places, and it is incredibly difficult to progress further up the table, without a massive cash injection. It is hardly Pulis's fault that you don't have the resources to get further up the league. You could bring In any manager you like, and they would have the same problem
We have plenty of money actually. Pulis has spent £70m+ on transfers since promotion and still we lineup with the same centre mids that took us and a centre back at right back and a right back at left back.
That is not alot of money, in comparison to some of the other top 10 sides, for instance Liverpool finished 7th last year, and have splashed 170 million+ since Dalglish took over. Whilst you are not poor, you cannot compete with the spending power of alot of the other top clubs. Just out of interest, if you want Pulis sacked, who would you want to replace him? Be realistic though
Roberto Martinez. We'd play better football and I think he's a seriously underrated manager and once he gets a side with better players in he will show everyone that he is a very good manager.
No offence, but if he didn't want to join Villa, I very much doubt he'd want to go to Stoke - you're pretty level with Villa IMO.
Money talks and we have plenty of it to tempt him with, which Villa didn't. Who do you consider to be "Stoke's level"?
I remember Bolton under Sam Allardyce, playing physical long ball football, one season they finished 5th. When Sam Allardyce left, and they played in a more expansive way, they slipped down the table quickly. When you play expansive football you need to have the quality players, if you don't have top quality players, you will get ripped apart. With all due respect to Stoke, I don't believe you guys have the players, or the resources to bring in top players, and if you were to play in a more expansive manner under Martinez, you would slip down the table. Look were Wigan are at the moment under Martinez, I would fancy that a Pulis or an Allardyce would get much better results, with the way they approach management
Yes I know where Wigan are but he has no transfer budget and mostly crap players to work with. We'd offer him a better squad, bigger budget and players would start to come to us. It is clear to me that players are put off by Pulis and our style. I have no doubt that with the right manager we would progress further. Pulis holding us back with his constant picking of Delap ahead of players of much better quality. Any other manager would've ****ed him off long ago. You'd be surprised at what we can do if we play expansive football, when we bother attacking teams we can play expansively and still win games but Pulis doesn't think we're good enough, he's always putting us down. He's refusing to let us improve. If we continue playing the way we have been lately, we WILL go down.
Please not Poll Personally I am very unhappy with Tony Pulis right now and it's nothing to do with our hammering v Bolton today. We have been totally inept away from home since promotion. Our HOME form has kept us in the league but I fear that the Europa cup could really cost us this season. Nicky B above another Stoke fan said it all. OUR team v Tel Aviv was indeed a stronger all round team than the one that played Bolton today. BEFORE this season our two C/Hs Huth and Shawcross were the best we had, they still are. But, Pulis insists on playing Huth at Right Back? Wilson is a Midfielder he plays Left back? T.P. is trying to rotate the squad, that's fair enough. But, too many square pegs in round holes is the problem. What's more gauling we didn't HAVE to win in Tel Aviv so why IMO play those player's knowing that we had another game at Bolton today? Would I give up the Europa League for a top half finish. Yes I would. IF and it's pretty sure we will get through to the next round of the Europa it will only get harder. Because, we don't have enough quality to rotate like Pulis is doing. In the league I think you should ALWAYS play your best team The oppinion of many Stoke fans is like mine.. Pulis does'nt do that becasue he's stubborn, trying to prove a point and it isn't working. Today and Monday's game v Newcastle were results I have expected to happen before now. I heard Tony Pulis aftermatch today say.. " we didn't compete" Well IF we didn't I blame Pulis,it's his job to make sure they are motivated.
Potts I didn't hear the Radio Stoke interview but apparently he got asked about the "Huth at right back" problem and he dodged the question. Quelle surprise!!
The Europa teams seem weaker and of a lower standard and pace to the prem - which is one of the reasons why we have had such a good run. Half of the team that played today either didn't play or travel, so the Thursday game is irrelevant! We are just playing crap both home and away in the league at the moment, and I for one would gladly not play another Europa game and trade every win fr a point in the prem.
So would I. I would happily have us knocked out if it meant us picking up the odd point here or there.
Yes he did dodge it Sgt.. cos he know's he's ****** UP big time. Really hacked me off when he said, the others and I assume he means Ryan, Woodgate and Upson had done well together.. NO they have not Tony. LOOK at our G/D it's obvious today as v Newcastle we were all over the place. Bad enough when our defence is struggling.. we KNOW our midfield is crap hence. We got well and truly mullered today.
Potts the damning statistic is (which I have already posted a thread about) is that we have conceded 3 or more 4 times this season. And that is something that would NOT have happened had Pulis kept with the winning formula of Huth and Shawcross.
