I am watching a team with nothing mathematical to play for, with a similarly technically able squad to ours, playing against one of the best teams in the league who had to win, and if we had give a 50th of the effort they are putting in right now we would have got enough points to stay up against the teams we have played who aren't a scrap on liverpool. Kudos palace....
A lot of people may not like him but you have to give Pulis credit here he has done a fantastic job at Palace. I think he would almost certainly have kept you up if you had gone for him as a Malky replacement.
I personally believe we would have stayed up if Malky had seen the season out without interference from above Glam, but as a credible alternative at the time this club missed a great opportunity in Pullis in favour of a naieve belief that our owner could turn us into Tanchester United. Pullis has been nothing short of fantastic but was not a glamorous enough name.
That's a fair opinion Bob, but it seems far more easily justified saying it now rather than at the time of Malky's removal. We were above the bottom 3 (just) and were going nowhere but downwards particularly after the Southampton game. Villa, Palace and Stoke just before that bore all the hallmarks of a manager running out of ideas and time. Tan went for the stars and thought Solskjaer was the guy to take us there through more attractive play - wrong!! Not only was he the wrong guy to steer the club away from it's downward trajectory for the second half of the season, he was brought in for the wrong reason by an owner who thought we could play our way out of this. Pulis would have been ideal, and I agree wholeheartedly that he did not fit the bill for the "flair" manager that would produce the attractive stuff so beloved by Tan and his brigade of followers. How wrong can a guy be, and he has only himself to blame for our demise this second half of the season, but the rot had already set in before Christmas.
Entirely hypothetical debate I know, but I am not sure how accountable Malky can be held for the SOuthampton game, when every man and his dog knew he was on borrowed time. That sort of inevitability must have transferred down to the players. Not saying he was blameless mind - the Palace away game was poor, there was a feeling that our style had been found out somewhat and we weren't exactly taking the league by storm. Though impossible to say, I do however believe he would have had us in a better position than we are in. I certainly dont think we would have been so easily beaten by the teams placed 13-17 in the table. I dont think it is Ole's fault, but I do think (and isnt hindsight a wonderful thing) that Ole's management style with Malky's players was a match made in hell. That was a squad built with the aim of surviving, it was never meant to entertain.
for the ambitions that big spending foreign owners have, a manager like pulis will only ever be a short term move, people get tired of boring football even if it means good league positionings. anyway, no-one on here was calling for pulis to be our manager, when the jacks poked fun saying he'd be a good move people laughed it off. i agree, we probably would have scraped 16th or 17th as malky was the best manager for that group of players.
I'd have thought you would have found the second half of our season incredibly entertaining! I know I would have if the roles were reversed...
I'm with Popbank, Ole had the right idea with the wrong players. I think it's far too easy to say that MM would have kept us up, although the possibility is there, certainly if he could have bought in January, assuming he had any idea how to stop the spiralling motion he was in just before he left. It seems Pulis was able to get the right game play and motivate his players into that frame of mind, Ole couldn't, and I'm not at all certain MM would have kept us up if given the chance. All will be revealed come the next season when Ole has control from word go, the budget will be interesting though.
Sorry to go off topic, but I'm very worried. Is it something about me on here or am I just getting a bit paranoid? I've got two Dragons breathing down my neck and am getting the "stalked" feeling - do I need counselling or is it just my imagination?........ The first one called Phil I can live with - an old poster, he's always had an attraction towards me and I understand his hormone imbalance can be a problem for him on times. Otherwise he's harmless enough at arms length, though I wouldn't want to be stuck in a lift with him. The second one is more of an enigma. Recently "born" as we are led to believe, he provides no traceable track record and is therefore the more dangerous - about as dangerous as Dangerous Brian......... Phil - give it up pal or I'll get you banned for stalking and sexual harassment with menaces..... As far as the other one goes - unless he bothers anyone else (please let me know), he's not worth a ****.
Juts giving my view Dave - I like other are sceptical of our chances of going through the season with no managerial change if Monk gets the job
That don't wash with me, If and a big if your know anything about football you will know that pullis signed with Palace long before Malky was sacked. So your statement "I think he would almost certainly have kept you up if you had gone for him as a Malky replacement." was either a two faced wum or from someone who knows fukc all about football.
Malkey's only job in your first season was to keep you out of the bottom 3,nothing else mattered and he was doing that when the lunatic sacked him for not being his puppet. all this rubbish with moody was a smoke screen and the only manager he could entice was a rookie who looks like a 12 year old who jumped at the chance of a premiership club, Nobody else was interested to join tan and his barmy ways and as you finished in last place then they were right to snub tan. I bet malkey has a big smile on his face and rightly so. Not to the fans or the club but to tan i know better...as malkey had a lot of affection for the club and he knew what he was doing...
fking hell dai your a boring fkr.........play another tune ffsake or just simply bore off 2 your own forum.
You know that is the case and so does everyone else. Tan can try and pass the blame and con a few on here but we all know it was tans actions that ruined what was promising to be a successful season...
Yes you are correct Dave, Malky did indeed leave after Pulis joined Palace but it was clear to all that Malky's days were numbered quite a time before last December. So the point I am making is that if Tan was going to remove Malky (which I have always thought was a mistake by the way) he could have been lining Pulis up to take over before that whilst Pulis was a free agent. I still believe that either Maslky or Pulis would have kept you up but its all hypothetical now.
