Outside Opinions

[stokeoptimist]

I work in the west bromwich area and am surrounded by Albion, Wolves, Walsall supporters etc. The general concensus i get from them is that we were extremely unlucky not to win the other night and completely battered Palace in the second half.

Surely their neutral assement carries more validity than a lot of the biased opinions that appear on this message board. Take away the inbuilt dislike of the manager and you acheive a true reflection of the nights performance.

[sheikhmomo]

It tells me that most managers sit back on leads particularly away from home and this is not a trait peculiar to Pulis. Palace did it and with a bit more luck for us it could have cost them.

I think most people's problem was with the fact that we had 5 cup finals left before kick off and the manager decided it was the time to not pick his best team in the first one of them. He made changes where they didn’t need to be made and ignored areas that did need addressing.

[Homzy]

I don't think anyone will argue that we were a tad unlucky with one or two things and I agree that we could well have won the game.

The reason people are so angry is because we all know full well we would not have fallen 2-0 behind had we put our best team out.

The first goal came from a mistake by a player we all know shouldn't be at left-back and another by a dreadfully out-of-form player that should be moved or dropped. The second was poor defensively as well and I wonder whether we'd have conceded that if the right back four was chosen.

And we looked far more likely to score once we bought Fuller on, who we all know should have started, and Bothroyd, who was without a doubt a better option than Cresswell, who every fucker knows isn't a winger, on the right.

That's why we're all so pissed off.

[Northy]

I spoke to my work colleague down south who is a palace fan, and he asked why Fuller didn't start as he totally changed the game when he came on. I couldn't answer it apart from ask Tony Pulis.

[dexter97]

liverpoolstokie1 said:

I don't think anyone will argue that we were a tad unlucky with one or two things and I agree that we could well have won the game.

The reason people are so angry is because we all know full well we would not have fallen 2-0 behind had we put our best team out.

The first goal came from a mistake by a player we all know shouldn't be at left-back and another by a dreadfully out-of-form player that should be moved or dropped. The second was poor defensively as well and I wonder whether we'd have conceded that if the right back four was chosen.

And we looked far more likely to score once we bought Fuller on, who we all know should have started, and Bothroyd, who was without a doubt a better option than Cresswell, who every fucker knows isn't a winger, on the right.

That's why we're all so pissed off.

I'm as pissed-off as anyone about what happened the other night, and Pulis has to take his share of the responsibilty for that. However,

- I think either of our options at left-back would have struggled against Sinclair, and I blame Griff more than Pugh for the first goal.
- We could not have started with Bothroyd or Gally on the right, as we already had four loanees on the pitch (Nash, Riggot, Pearson, Ameobi).

IMHO, the big mistakes were leaving out Ryan and Ricardo.

[Homzy]

Good point about Bothroyd Dexter! I don't think Dicko would have stood for Sinclair's tricks, though, and I don't think Wilko would have stood for Moses' on the other side either.

But I'm with you about Shawcross and Fuller, so what we can all agree on is that TP got his team wrong. My starting XI would have had five different selections!

[dexter97]

I agree that Dicko's approach to Sinclair would have been markedly different to Pugh's. My concern is that it might have got him sent-off!

[Homzy]

He got away with that tackle at Wednesday so he can get away with anything! ;D

[dexter97]

;D

[sheffieldstokie82]

Another thing I noticed about the 2nd goal on Monday was that with 11 men back (for a free kick not a corner!!) the ball was returned back into the box much more easily than it should've been. Fuller doesn't come back for free kicks/ corners as far as I know so would've been up the field and therefore the 2nd goal may well have been avoided if the right team would've been picked. So if dickinson and fuller would've played we would have won 1-0! Simple really!

[dexter97]

On the couple of corners that Palace had, Pearson stayed up. However he came back for that free kick. Not sure why - Maybe because it was so close to the end of the half?

[sheffieldstokie82]

Just another in the long list of baffling decisions made on Monday!

[peterhampton]

Funny you say that, I work with a Sheff Utd fan who lives down here and sees a fair bit of Stoke. He thought it was the best he'd seen us play for a while and thought we were very unlucky! A West Brom mate said broadly the same thing.

It wasn't a dreadful performance (I've seen far, far worse on many occasions) - but it wasn't good enough, it was predictable and it was MASSIVELY BLOODY DISAPPOINTING!

Someone else has said its down to mental attitude and bottle - for me, we just don't have it in the side. I pray that I'm proved wrong but the players looked very tense and scared on Monday

[wizzardofdribble]

We may have been a bit "unlucky" on Monday, but we weren't "unlucky"against Burnley, Blackpool, QPR, Watford etc etc the point being that our current-form, generally-speaking, isn't down to bad-"luck", but "not being very good"

[CalgaryPotter]

sheffieldstokie82 said:

Another thing I noticed about the 2nd goal on Monday was that with 11 men back (for a free kick not a corner!!) the ball was returned back into the box much more easily than it should've been. Fuller doesn't come back for free kicks/ corners as far as I know so would've been up the field and therefore the 2nd goal may well have been avoided if the right team would've been picked. So if dickinson and fuller would've played we would have won 1-0! Simple really!

Absolutely bang on Sheffield Stokie, Cresswell or maybe Pearson was legging it up the pitch when someone should have already been up there challenging for the ball in the centre circle. We were defending far too deep and looked like a team that was shitting itself of conceding a goal. Karma coming your way Sir!!

[sheffieldstokie82]

Thanks very much Calgary much appreciated....back where I started now! I had forgotten about this defensive tactic of Tony's because it hadnt happened much this year but its seems like it's back in all its glory! I may weep real tears if I see it at the Ricoh on saturday

[Boyceys been up the attic]

Bottom line
3 points dropped........................................again


nuff said