He has shown he can do it Europe, so why not in the Prem? Firstly, i think this Europa cup is ****ing us up, he has started to rotate the team too much, in my opinion. Secondly Last years player off the season is being shunted from pillar to post, our ONLY 2 WINGERS, are miles off last years pace & to me look either unfit or constantly carrying a knock, he cannot decide which fullbacks to play game by game same as the C/B pairings, the midfield duo away from home (no matter which 2 he picks), look like they only met each other 5 mins before the game starts, so can TP adapt with the squad he has? For me if the wingers aint ok, do not shove replacements in that cannot play the wing role, get the best back line available & stick with them, then pack the midfield with midfield players, forget the wing, pack the midfield & force them outwide (like we do with playing 4-4-2). So for me away from home without the 2 fit wingers we should play as follows: ..............................Begovic.......................... ..........Huth...........Shawcross.........Upson........ Shotton...........Palacios......Delap..........Wilkinson ...............................Whelan............................ ....................Crouch................Walters............. People playing in the right places, good defensive cover, plus chance too attack. Edit: i aint put wilson in as he is becoming as injury prone as the 2 wingers. Thoughts about what team (formation) on current form you would play away from home?
I quite like that formation Huthy, the 3 at the back looks good. Not sure about Delap though, I would prefer Wilson. Can you send your selection to TP before the next away game?
I would have put wilson in as defensive cover by Palacios, but like i stated he is also becoming a bit injury prone.
I like that and it allows TP to stick with 3 CB's. ----------------- Begovic------------------------- -------Huth------Shawx----------Upson ------------------Palcious----------------------- -----------Whelan---------Wilson-------------- Pennant ---------------------------------Ethrington ------------Walters-------------Crouch-------- I'm not a manager so my basic and uneducated logic is that when fit our wingers play like wing back anyway, so would in affect play a forwad full back position. The three CM would operate in the cage and break up play, keeping the central area congested and forcing the ball out wide. I would hope that the strength of our CB's would be able to effectively deal with any crosses coming from the wide areas. Moving forward, either Wilson or Whelan could move forward but would keep the spine of the team defensive, Pennant and Ethrington would effectively be playing their normal role and the 2 upfront speak for themselves. My subs would be Jerome on upfront, with Walters droping into 1 of the wing positions if needed (I.e. neither wide man can last 90 mins at the moment) or alternatively Shotton could cover for either of teh wing players! Delp and Whitehead could be used to rotate with Palcious. Probably a load of crap but it makes sence to me.
Smithers That is exactly the team i WOULD use when we have BOTH WINGERS FIT & FIRING especially away from home, superb balance between attack & defense, like i did say when the wingers are injured, my team would be the one i choose too play without the WINGERS.
Adaption? I dont really understand how we have adapted to anything?. We just smash the ball 60 yards 90% of the time and play the odd good game. Lets try get the freaking ball on the deck and pass it once in a while. Under Pulis we will NEVER play any other way and after 3 years of wishing we will I give up expecting anything else. Im starting to revert to Nickys way of thinking again after trying to be patient for the first 7 games. Oh and by the way did we ever find out what the 3 year plan was?. oh yeah, it was to play Whitehead, Delap, Diao and Mama (who is coming back soon). Oh wait didnt we do that last year..............and the year before............and the year before. I know im going to get slated again but I really dont give a **** anymore. Away from home he is negative and tactically useless!!!. I feel better now ive got that off my chest!!.
Everyone on this board would agree that this is the best setup, its just a shame that Delap and Whitehead HAVE to play, so there is no way this will happen!!.
Smither's THAT team is about perfect, given the squad we have and of course all are fit.. With that formation Etherington and Pennant could spend more time attacking defenders not defending their attacker's.. get my drift
Agreed Potts and spot on Smithers, if Etherington and Pennant are fit! Does anyone know how they both are? I know others have said it too; they do not appear to be firing on all cylinders at the moment. As for three at the back, TP has done this a couple of times last season I think, second half against Sunderland and Liverpool at home? To my eyes it turned us into a much more positive attacking force. But he always starts four at the back and I don't see this changing unfortunately. When we go three at the back we push forward and have the ammo to batter most sides. Ok, in general, I am happy, as we have only lost two out of our last 14 games, but I do agree that our away performances (for whatever reason) have been dire and that's me being kind! Need Higgy back fully fit so we can play two proper fullbacks with Huth and ShawX in the centre where they belong (with Upson and Woodgate as decent back ups). And we have all said this I know....come the Jan transfer window bring in decent (real) fullback and wing back up. UTP!!!!
Mighty Huth I think your set up is sound too when our two game changing wingers are not around(!) I just don't see TP ever going that far re three at the back, I will eat my Stoke shirt if he starts with that.
Oatcakes We we're chatting about this three centre backs some time ago over this system.. over a few pints. IF, and we don't have TWO good full backs fit.. WHY NOT! As my mate said.. so often we bypass the midfield away from and I'm sure we would be better to just play Palacious, Whitehead whever as an extra midfielder i.e. Wilson? Can't myself see T.P. doing this though.. we live in hope of course... KTF that our home form will keep us up there.. I can fault us at home this season. Which, is why we are all so frustrated..
Yeah agreed Potts. Our home performances have been stunning at times and we would we have nothing to lose away if we tried a different system.
Damn well better continue PTO, cos looking at Smither's stats the other day our away form IS relegation form - pure and simple!! Last season, what were we 6 points above the drop!!! 2 home games eh!! No I am not being defeatist/negative, just realistic. I can see it being just as close from 10th position down this season and all we need is a couple of more games like Fulham and Blackpool THIS season & guess what?? Whilst taking his coaching badges, Pulis studied and admired the Italian League where a high scoring game was 1-0, and as said previously on here AND by Pulis himself - that is has favourite scorem Oh and I agree with Huthy, the rotation system is NOT giving us our usual understanding and stability at the back. My humble pie is still in the freezer, don't feel inclined to move it to the fridge yet!
So if our away form was relegation form over the last three years why weren't we relegated? 6 points is not two games to a relegation side - they usually finish with less than a point a game.
comparing last seasons results againt this seasons results ( promoted 3 teams results v relegated 3 teams results ), we are actually 1 point ahead of last years total (man utd home draw), so top 10 it is then.
Steve, with all due respect READ THE POST again. What kept us up was our HOME form, we were 6 points above the drop zone, or 2 additional games at home lost, of course that depends on other teams...............oh what's the point, just to reiterate, our home form this season in the league has been IMO: Chelsea - lucky to get a point Liverpool - say no more Man U - absolutely FANTASTIC, should have won. Before the season kicked off, would I have taken 5 points from those 3 games: ABSO BLOODY LUTELY But let's just put things in perspective, top 6 - nope, top 10 - unlikely, 10 - 15 - hopefully.
Nick I think the League this season is as tough, if not tougher for everyone UTD included! We MUST try and pick up more pts away from home and as we've all agreed, AWAY we are woeful results wise and in perfomaces.. this is what we touched on the other day? We simply can not IMO keep hoping we win our home games. I said tougher because even Utd look beatable and, I'm sure IF ONLY we could have been more clinical the other week. We would be sitting with two extra pts right now. It's simple basic passing that is costing us, not so much the tactics emplyed by Tony Pulis. I've seen dozens of games away from home where, we simply do not keep the ball eg give it away and I mean give it away. THAT has to change and HOW we do it, I don't honestly know unless, as a TEAM we learn to pass it simple. We did this v Utd and Chelsea. But v Sunderland we just didn't seem to do that.. Is it that the team is always "Alway's up for the bigger games" because that's how it looks to me personally. I just wish I knew why this is! Am I the only Stokie who is totally baffled as to why we can hold Chelsea and Utd.. but not even give Sunderland a decent game? Same v Norwich, at least that's the way it came across on the radio.. Steve I just had a quick look and it does seem that, teams like Blackburn, Wigan, Stoke, Sunderland all rely on HOME games as they don't pick up too much away. There are others but it's a trend and no offence but.. it does state the obcious as to why we've survived for three season's and counting. Teams like Fulham, Baggies seem to pick up the odd away win here and there.. Is it now just TWO away wins for us since Jan? West Brom being the only one this season of course. Even after this rant.. I NEVER expected us to be sitting on 9pts given our home games which again say's.. NON of us seem's that confident about us winning away.. we are always happy with a pt, any manager will tell you that. It's the WAY we lose that bugs me... now I need a cuppa and fourty winks in a dark room!
Potts, that's 100% correct -one game we can outpass UTD the next game A Swansea fan on here t'other day summed it up for me: ”It wasn't that Stoke didn't pass, they did not even TRY to pass” Now then, I wonder why??
Nick I went onto the Swansea board just after the game... One fan said Quote.." I can not believe/understand WHY Stoke are a different team at home" Sum's it up IF even other fans notice this? May even be the same fan you mentioned.
