Do Stoke not have a natural RB and LB was just wondering why you are having to play players out of position?
Stoke can't match the teams in the top half for wages. A club like Liverpool spend something like £120m to Stoke's £45m.
I tried to post it on the other teams boards also, but it would only allow me 2. Either way why do you care so much? Surely you have something better to be doing on a Sunday evening, than moaning about an article being on the Spurs board
Wilkinson is a right back. Higginbotham is a left back and we have Pugh and Collins who were left backs but rubbish there, they've gone out on loan. Higginbotham got injured in April and has only recovered in the last 4 weeks or so. So it should've been a priority to get one in but Pulis saw it differently to rest of us. One thing I missed out on the list was playing Marc Wilson, a CB/CM at left back.
OK thanx for that i remmember Higginbottom getting injured now.Well good luck anyway for the rest of the season.
ricfull thats a big call ! we battered man utd the other week ! its really a strange time to be a stoke fan ! and now its sun night avin bolton taken the piss outta us and we all know bolton r ****e and will be in the champ next year !!!!!!! heads up roller coaster riders
You need a very large squad and 4 quality strikers 8 quality midfielders and 8 quality defenders to compete in europe. Spurs have a big squad to do that, but it must be worrying for Stoke and Fulham if you keep getting beat after europe matches, yet Fulham have done it for about 3 seasons now. Stoke should change that high balls into the box system also.
If you don't have a deep squad (and sometimes when you do,) the Thursday game can be a royal pain in the arse. However, in our case, it gives young players invaluable experience and keeps players who would not get into the 18 on Saturday both reasonably match fit and happy they are playing. It is not where we want to be, but really, it serves a purpose.
Smither's I agree with what you say we are **** etc, etc. but.. I'm sure I heard Nigel Johnson Radio Stoke and Simmo was Co commentator said.." Only two of today's team stayed behind last Thursday" Begovic and Woodgate but I may be wrong.. NOT an excuse for the result today but WHY would they all travel to Tel Aviv is beyond me?
to be fair , with wilson and shawcross injured the only change i would've made to the defence line up yesterday would've been to drop woodgate ,have huth in middle with upson and start with higgy as left back (wilko at rb). I'd like to put it down to being a bad day at the office , but after exceeding expectations in AUG and Sept we're now deep in the ****e again. " massive games now versus QPR and blackburn .
I think it's worth it. Granted having to play on a Thursday and Sunday isn't ideal especially if it at times the midweek games can be in Russia/ Ukraine etc but at the end of the day it's an extra chance for your team to win silverware. I also think it's a cheap excuse to blame Europa for a loss. Granted although we did beat Fulham yesterday after fielding a completely different XI from the team that went to Rubin, where as Fulham had most of the same team, they didn't look a team suffering from fatigue. In fact, they bossed us in the second half and how they didn't manage to score about ten goals was simply down a goalkeeping master class from Friedal, last ditch defending and a goal line clearance from Luka . Fulham lost because of that, if anything we looked the team that had played Thursday night, we looked tired, our passing in the second half was abysmal and we just generally had to dig in to stop Fulham and all credit to them for really having a go at us. Europa was certainly not to blame for them losing, on another day I'm sure they would have hit another six or so like the QPR game. I also don't think it's fair Stoke blaming yesterdays loss on Europa, from what I saw (and yes, it was only motd highlights) Bolton just played brilliantly, Eagles looked a man possessed and their general play was what football should be played like - attacking and exciting (although their first goal was poor sportsmanship in my eyes). Lets not forget they had revenge on their minds too from the mauling they got in the FA Cup and rather blaming the defeat on a Europa game, would it not just be reasonable to say Bolton were too good on the day? We got stuffed 5-1 by City at home, like the Fulham game we near enough played a different XI on the Thursday before yet we lost to City because we were overrun in the midfield, having two attacking midfielders in Modric and Krancjar in the centre was suicidal against them and City took full advantage of that as Barry and Toure battered 'em in the middle of the pitch and it allowed Silva and that c*nt Nasri to create chances which Dzeko thrived on. We lost because we deserved too, City were better and hopefully we've learnt from that. We saw weakeness in players and in the team in general and we made changes because of it (Parker coming in to add steel has been, in my opinion, signing of the summer so far and if we had him I reckon the scoreline would have been a lot tighter). I'm sure Pulis will do the same, he'll see where the negatives are and hopefully change for the better. I do have a question for the Stoke fans though, I've seen Palacios has been on the bench a lot for you guys, is he not fully fit? Because with all due respects, I think he's far better than Whelan and Delap and you really could have done with him to try and break down Bolton's attacks which is what he was brilliant at with us. Still, I think Stoke will come good, they've got good players and you just seem to be in a blip, what Pulis has done is nothing short of brilliant with you guys, when they came up I had them down as certainties to go back down to the Championship and how wrong I was, I think it's fair to say Stoke now have one of the best squads in the league and I generally mean that.
I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that TP didn't take certain players to Europe who were playing at the weekend. However, if lugged the 4 or 5 who didnt make the bench or team all the way over there with no intention of playing them then more fool him!
Spurs of Sex TOO ******* right, Delap is way past it, Whelan is hit and miss... Palacios is ALWAYS on the ******* bench WHY the HELL he's there IF he isn't fit ask Tony Pulis. IF he's good enough for the bench he's good enough to start.. i.e. Smithers it correct.. is WHY we're all so P***** OFF with Tony Pulis. Palcios is quality, good a what he does do, Delap and the rest apart from Whitehead are IMO no where near the quality we do need. Which is WHY we're complaining about T.P. not so much the player's. He KNEW full well last summer, our midfield was weak, it still is and today was only one result and three pts lost. WILL he put things right. I hope he does and SOON.
Palacios went hugely off the boil at Spurs but if he can get back to what he was like when he first signed for us AND actually get game time then you'll not have to worry about relegation - he was fantastic to begin with: winning tackles that he had no right to even attempt, was neat on the ball, comfortable driving forward in possession. I didn't realise what the situation was there - he's really on the bench for no good reason? Seems very odd. Is he not even getting the odd 20-mins or so? Is Pulis saying he's not fit enough to start?
Yeah it's a strange one, hard to understand why a manager would pay £8m (or around that) for a player and not give him much game time. I'd understand if he was new to the Prem and wanted to ease him in but Palacios has been in the league for around 5 years now. Maybe he has got a niggle and it's just not been reported, otherwise it really is a strange decision to be leaving him out.
