So a second succesive home draw and another 2 points dropped - what is it with Wigan, do Pulis and Martinez have a pact? It all seemed very frantic towards the end. I await with great anticipation to hear from all on here who actually attended the Brit this afternoon
Stupid, stupid, stupid second goal to give away. Wigan given all the time in the world to pick a pass into the area, and then Ryan puts his hands all over their forward. Just after we'd gotten back into the game as well.
Just look how far we have come, do me a favour, I NEVER want to hear that pathetic excuse for another abject display again. It seems to be the mantra on the Oatcake and on here!! Yup - JUST look how far we have come, £100 million spent and ANOTHER fantastic result against Wigan, and NO disrespect to them, indeed 2-1 down with 10 men at the fortess Brit, they STILL get a penalty and a draw, albeit a soft penalty. Tell you what, first season back in the Prem and some £90 million pounds ago, we could have hung onto a lead against 10 men. Progress - yea right
Well I actually sat through that pathetic display thinking more like "mugged by Pulis again" Wigan were by far the better side in the first half and they had 3 good shots on target even before they eventually scored. We never had one shot on target the whole of the first half except for Crouch's offside over head kick. We were absolutely rubbish again playing a system that does not work. Because Pennant and Ethers are told to get the ball in the box they never do anything differently. I for once would love to see them take on players and have a run on goal themselves instead of looking constantly for the high ball into the box. When Jerome came on for Matty that's exactly what he did he ran at them and it worked. Palacios looks lost in midfield and constantly looks up to lay on a pass and the only person there is Decrap that when he gets the ball he looks as if he is saying what the **** have you give me this for I don't want it and hoofs it somewhere. It was completely horrible to watch again and only got exciting in the last 20 minutes or so when the game was virtually over. Again I watched Martinez turn around and applaud his faithful coming into the field, leaving the field and same again at half time and full time. Well done Martinez top bloke. Pulis never once acknowledged any of his fans and I sat there thinking that he has total contempt for the Stoke City fans and his recent rants in the media and now starting to show this. I personally think he is on borrowed time with the Stoke fans as his mask is well and truly starting to slip and the cracks are showing. I can't see even the most stupidest of Stoke fans putting up with this rubbish for too much longer. Unless midfielders are brought in January we will still be watching this tosh in 10 years time if he has his way! He always leaves it too late to try and turn a game around or takes off the wrong player only to replace him with a worse one. Tony Clueless!
Now then Waddo, at least I didn't watch it 'live' - on stream was dismal. I've seriously had it with Pulis !!!
When we were awrde the penalty after 75 minutes, I made that our first on target attempt in 255 minutes of football. Not bad eh? Apparently hitting the frame of the goal does not count as being on target. An earlier post stated that we have had the least shots on target (less than 50) in the Premier League - clearly this does not reflect on the adventurous nature of our play? Wigan never once (other than for set plays) asked Moses or Rodellega to play at wing back, yet we as the home side had Pennant and Etherington starting from 10 yards outside our own box. Etherington clearly had wellington boots, and not football boots on his feet today. Super Jon's 28th marathon of the season has clearly caught up with him, but TP will flog him until he drops no doubt. Blackburn ( ateam featuring 6 playerr produced through its own system) went to one of the teams where our illustrious leader would say "we can't compete, look at where we have come from blah blah blah" and scored for the 3rd time this season, 3 goals away from home. Can anyone remember the one game in our 4 years where we scored 3 away? No doubt when we visit Ewood Park, it will be another "batten down the hatches" and "hope for a set piece" routine. My New Years Resolution is to try and give TP a bit more of a fair crack of the whip, if his New Years reolution is that we will try and scor a goal in at least 8 of our remaining away games. I just cant see that entering his rather defensive approach to things. By the way, does anyone else think that with a bit of money, Martinez could turn Wigan into a comforatble mid table team that would have a good cup run every so often and play something other than hoofball? That's all that I am asking TP to do. After all, that
8th. In. The. Premiership. It mightn't always be pretty, but Stoke have always gotten the results. You don't survive three seasons in this league through luck.
Peadar that's more down to the fact that the prem this season is so poor. If Pulis used his players properly that he has at his disposal we could be 4th or 5th in the prem and going for Europe again! I don't mind losing so longas we have give it a go but to keep parking the bus trying not to lose and hoping for a lucky goal or set piece has now become tiresome mate!
I don't buy that. We've also been getting the results against teams from Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, and Israel. I'd love to see Stoke playing more exciting football too, but firstly, it's not as bad as some people like to make out. Look at our second goal today, two good passes, a perfectly weighted through-ball, and a good finish. Secondly, I'd prefer to see Stoke draw every game from now until the end of the season 0-0, than see us get relegated, which I think is a huge danger if we start trying to play like West Brazil Albion.
Macca Tel Aviv!! FC Thun!! Well done the the Barca's of Burslem. I've said it before and I will say this 'only ze once' I will NEVER accept Pulis as manager of Stoke City. Managing expectations, what a patronising, arrogant, self-aggrandising fool he is.
Oops, yes we did do well against Dynamo Kiev and have played well a couple of times this season! 8th position, true, that is because of the standard of half the teams in the prem, NOT our excellence! Last season - 6 points above the drop zone! I am seriously happy for you Peadar, Pulis is certainly managing YOUR expectations, however limited they are, 0-0 draws eh!! Bet you go to every game!
The Premier League could be better this season, sure, but 8th place is never to be sniffed at. We're still getting the results against Spurs, Man U, Liverpool, and Chelsea. And ask Alex Ferguson about how easy it is to beat Swiss teams in Europe. I've always said if you want something pretty and elegant, go and watch the ballet. I want to see Stoke City win football matches, and I don't particularly care about the aesthetics of how we do it. Pulis is far from perfect. Every game I'm screaming at the players to get the ball down and keep possession, he's too slow to make changes when plan A isn't working, and his team selections are sometimes baffling. However, he's not the antichrist, and the abuse he attracts from some people here and elsewhere is completely unwarranted.
Peadar Pulis brings the abuse on himself with his utter contempt for the Stoke faithful. Like I have said many times my season ticket seat is right by the tunnel and he never ever raises his eyes to even look at the fans yet alone applaud us for our undying support. Yeah I'm grateful where he has bought us and yes he has set many records for Stoke so I won't take that away from him but my argument is that if he was not so stubborn and pig headed we could be doing so much better even without playing the pretty footaball you refer to. I've stopped watching Stoke play away because it's the same old tripe, park the bus and hope for a lucky goal. All the good prem managers have Pulis's number and you can see that in their post match interviews when they say they knew what to expect. This is why we have done well in Europe because those sides did not know what to expect and got a bit of a shock. He wimped out against Kiev at home too and fielded a ****e side when we could have easily won that game, topped the group and playing lesser oposition in the next round instead of Valencia. It's those kind of decisions that infuriate the Stoke fans along with his poor tactical choices. His more recent rants in the media having a pop at Stoke fans are not going to help him either. I would say the average Stoke crowd of 26,000 fans about 16,000 of those can't stand the way we play or like Pulis as a manager! What do I base these facts on? Listening to the conversations as I walk 1 1/2 miles to where I park my motor after the games!
Happy New Year everyone. Peadar makes some very relevant points - Pulis is not the antichrist, and I am firmly in the camp of the dark side, regarding TP. The thing is, he does nothing to make you love him. Yes we are 8th in the Prem, and if we hold that position by the end of the season, then Peadar's assertion that results are what counts, is probably the correct one. However, for my sins, I am going to make the trek to Ewood Park, in the hope that we will have a go at beating a team that (despite it's result yesterday) could not beat Bolton in its last home game.Deep down, I know what I will get. A bank of 5 midfielders who can not hold the ball as there will be no one to pass to in the Blackburn half, four defenders who will be worked overtime, but will still concede at least one goal and meanwhile one lone striker who will have no suppoert and 3 Blackburn defenders fir company. At the end of this TP will tell me to remember where we came from, how it is not possible for Teams such as Stoke to expect anything from tough games (contrast Blackburn at Man U, Villa at Chelsea, Wolves at Arsenal, Swansea & Norwich at Liverpool with Stoke at Bolton and Sunderland) and that it takes time to evolve in the Premier league. We appear to have given up any hope of scorinf from open play - quite difficult when 9 stoke outfield players are usually camped in our own half. If you assume that our away form may just get us another 5 points this season, then we shoul manage 12 or so at home to keep us quite safe -on that basis , mission accomplished; but I ask you, is there really any sign of progression in what we do. More long throws more hoof in the direction of a big target man, who has little or no support? Marinez, O'Neill, Moyes,Lambert would all achieve what TP has done given the money that has been made available, and may have done it with a little more excitement.
Happy New Year guy's Let's get this straight. First half Wigan totally F****** outplayed us fact! Peadar, with the greatest of respect to you and Wigan.. it ain't good enough and true Wigan has three shots ALL on target. IF YOU or anyone else thinks that is good enough fair enough. YES we've got the pts currently 26 but there is ONLY ONE person we can blame that we're not sitting on 30pts today. TWICE in a week I've sat through absolute/utter/total GARBBAGE football for the first 45mins of both games. Having just won four on the bounce we lose at Citeh fair enough. But sorry, Villa nor Wigan are ABOVE us. it seem's to me that Tony Pulis actually enjoys KNOWING that he is pissing me off big time. WHY he can NOT motivate 11 player's to actually ATTACK at home is BEYOND reasoning. I'll be back after the Blackburn game and let's be honest. Tony will NOT go there and even TRY and WIN that game we ALL know it! Great result for them v Utd BUT, they and Mr Kean are still under massive pressure and IF we went for it we HAVE the player's to WIN. I honestly believe that Tony Pulis does not believe like we, the Stoke fans do. Just WHAT we are as a squad actually capable of achieving. Yesterday that first half was PATHETIC and PAINFUL to watch. The only consolation for me.. i used New Year to drown my sorrows thank God!
