and listen to the garbage spoken by Neville and Redknapp junior???I was livid and have hardly calmed-down now!We all know that Tony Pulis has done a great job at Palace.Their comments started off by stating that both Palace and us were certainties for relegation after both clubs started badly!Fair comment....but to then say that Gus only saved us in the last games was rubbish.....they said that we only finished in 14th place,a position we should have finished in,so Gus had not done anything extra-ordinary!!They praised TP,quite rightly,but drove-down what Gus has done this season.I pay a ton-plus for Sky services every month,but they can now go forth and multiply..I'm packing it in!!!
Reading between the lines of that, I think they were implying that 14th would have been our level whereas Palace were newly promoted and Pulis' achievement in getting them to safety much earlier was the clincherr.
I think it's fair to say that our team is better than Palace's But that being said Poyet inherited a team with 0 team spirit and 0 confidence, and to keep us up with a game to spare considering the position we were in is amazing Edit: Also if they said that we were certainties to go down then surely they can't say Poyet didn't do anything extra-ordinary by keeping us up?
Nasty pundits say something bad about sunderland. Stamos feet, cancels subscriptions... Nose of to spite face.
Neville's been saying how impressed he's been with Poyet this season, he probably didn't mean to belittle your achievement in any way, I think it's safe to say we can all agree that you lot had a fantastic finish to the season. He's a top pundit and so is Carragher nowadays as well, but Redknapp is a f**king idiot. I watched the end of season review and his opinion really didn't hold any gravity in that room, almost everything he said was dismissed by Nev and Carragher, he's a f**king chump just like his old man.
To be fair both pundits mentioned are usually fair minded, and I suppose they do have a point, both managers did well, but Pulis has edged it this season, lets see what happens from now, that is going to be the real test for both managers and I wish them both well.
I think Gus has edged this season personally - Pulis did not take over a club where the manager had destroyed all confidence - he took over a club where the manager admitted he could do no more and stepped aside. Gus took over from an idiot who had destroyed all team spiriut in the camp and had to basically build from scratch
I wouldn't agree with that Marcus, I think Pulis has done a better job on the whole with a squad full of players with little to no Premier League experience and he was never really given the full backing of the owner either. Poyet in my opinion stumbled across a winning formula in the end, bringing Wickham into the side was a last roll of the dice for him and it miraculously worked. Wickham deserves more credit than Poyet for your survival in my opinion, especially given the negative pressers Poyet was giving after every defeat prior to the City result, it was as if he'd given up himself, completely the wrong vibe to send out to the fans. Poyet masterminded an incredible cup run which is what he made a name for himself at Brighton doing, he seems to be able to do this well. Pulis made sure his team were never in danger, safe weeks and weeks ago, that's more admirable from my point of view considering they were nailed on for the drop, more so than Sunderland and other clubs below them were for months of the season, according to the bookies.
Different opinions mate - I believe Gus worked miracles at Sunderland - he took over a side who were heading for beating Derby's low points record and kept them up relatively comfortably. to say he "Stumbled" upon a winning formula is bullshit though - he brought Wickham back because Wickham discovered he was an adult and acted like one - loads of reports said he was last to training and first away and wanted to play with his ferrari rather than play football. He now wants to play football. What Poyet said about the miracle we needed was the exact words the players needed to hear. Until the Spurs game, Poyet was updbeat in EVERY conference - always saying we could get out of it - it's still possible. The "Miracle" conference was the important one - it was negative but it was what the players needed to hear and you saying he "stumbled upon a formula" in the end gives no credit at all to a manager who actually performed miracles. Team confidence & team spirit, not bookies odds, are much more important to staying up and that is what Gus brought along.
I do believe he stumbled across the team that won him the points to keep his team up, like you say it's difference of opinion. You lot cannot seriously think he had planned those results at the end of the season, he seen that Wickham was doing well and decided that he was going to give him a shot as a final roll of the dice after some awful results left him with nowhere else to turn. Hitting rock bottom forced Poyet's hand in my opinion, it worked and you survived. The 'Miracle' speech wasn't necessary on television either, you can say that sort of thing to your players but never should he show signs of giving up on television. Di Canio was shredded to bits for ripping into players on camera, equally unnecessary, it's just bad management. No professional would agree with publicly giving up, not one. He inherited a team that forced Di Canio out, many on here were saying he had a squad of bad eggs, he managed to do well and pull them all together in time and survive. I'm not saying he's a bad manager at all, he's done a ****ing great job no matter how you look at it but in terms of turning the ship around, Pulis all day for me.
So what should he have said? Those were exactly the right words at exactly the right time. The results and manner of those results prove that. It might not be what it says to do in 'Football management for dummies' but it was bang on.
The team got the points they needed after that game, are you suggesting that they all of a sudden just snapped out of some trance they were in because he used the word "Miracle"? come on mate, at least construct some form of logic to your debate. Grown men can't play football to save their lives and Poyet uses the word Miracle and they all start to play like machines? The reason I'm saying it was unnecessary is because it doesn't give anybody apart from the media any ammo, the players come together but not because he used that word on tele mate, that's juts ridiculous.
I read about a week ago that one of our players (cant remember who) said that after the 'miracle' interview he believed that the pressure came off the players because the squad also believed that they were doomed! They got 2 good unexpected results then the confidence returned when they believed that they could stop up! Whether this was Poyets intention or not I don't know, but it might have helped!
But there is also no logic in your argument. It was much more than just Connor Wickham keeping us up - the whole team performed differently after that day - they played like they knew each other - like they wanted to show the gaffer they could perform that miracle - there is logic in our arguments but you don;t see it - I know for certain that, had he come out and said "We can still stay up mathematically" that those players would be looking at a 40% wage cut playing in the championship now I think most fans on here would agree with me on that
That's completely fair enough if you believe that mate, it just seems a bit fairytale to me. The logic in my argument isn't about whether or not the interview hindered your players, but what it did help create or at least add to was the uncertainty surrounding Poyet's future, undeniably the media are all over it. I'm convinced that what happened after that game was much more than just a simple case of the players watching what he said. It's been proven time and time again that when team's backs are against the wall the pressure comes off and they play with more freedom, it's how Wigan survived for years, that word in the presser for me will have done nothing and if your players have responded to that then it's not inspiring it's pathetic that they couldn't have played like that earlier, all season. Mourinho was saying all season "We have no chance" publicly, it's mind games and it's trivial stuff for him in his head, the media thrived off his words all season. Anybody who thinks he wasn't going behind closed doors and pushing his team on and telling them they could win it is deluded.
Did he reference the interview or just the game? I'd imagine he was referring to the game where you were off the back of about 6 straight defeats with City and Chelsea away, it's fight or flight kicking in, in it's most primitive state, absolutely nothing to lose. Poyet's done great by the way, please don't think I'm trying to derail his achievement at all. Anybody who's tracked what I've written will see that I was suggesting you'd turn us over at Old Trafford before any of you lot believed it, I could see it happening without the need for a 'Miracle', as you lot had nothing to lose and we had no direction.
