What will Pulis bring?

[albion1]

Sorry to see the Bojan news, seems a likeable guy and couldn't of happened at a worse time for him with the football he had been playing.

Also seen a suggestion of Sinclair on this board. From what we saw of him last year you would be better bringing Trevor Sinclair out of retirement. One of the most disappointing signings we have made in along time, offered absolutely nothing and barely made the squad let alone starting 11 for the second half of the season. By all accounts just couldn't be bothered any more.

Anyway, Pulis is already splitting a lot of us fans. Nobody really doubts that when it comes to purely keeping us up this year he was the best option available so I'm not looking for input on the results side of his management, but there's a few other things that I assume you guys will know about him more than anyone else.

Is his style as bad as is made out? Honestly, without wishing to cause offence, I'm one of those you could probably label in the rather 'rather get relegated that watch that every week' camp. I have no problem with what he did with you in your first season or 2 in the PL, and if someone had done that with us when we first came up I would have felt the same. But after the novelty of being in the PL wore off did the football remain as bad to watch?

Will he ever look to progress a team? Again one of the main arguments is that ideally Pulis will come in, keep us up by any means and then progress us in the summer to a better style of play. I never saw any of this at Stoke (feel free to correct me) and your results, points tally's, finishing positions, goals score etc all seems to suggest things stayed pretty much the same.

How good/bad is his transfer record? When we had Dan Ashworth in charge our transfer policy was probably the main reason for our success. Since he left for the FA our record has been appalling so in this regard it can't get much worse I suppose. I think the set up now is probably similar to yours when Pulis was there, with a Director of Football in similar in place (did you guys have Rudge in that role?) but in reality Pulis calls the shots. I know every manager has good/bad signings and Pulis seems to have done much better with his lower cost buys than his big money deals. In short if Pulis came back to Stoke woudl you rather him or a DoF or similar in charge of bringing players in? 

Will we end up with 4 centre backs in defence? We've already seen Lescott shifted to left back last week and another CB bought in. Wisdom supposedly is a centre back although he always played right back or Liverpool and has played there all season for us for I'll let that slide for now. I seem to remember you guys crying out for proper full backs for a few years and not getting them. Pocognoli was one of our few decent summer signings and in many fans views was one of our better players before Christmas. Since Pulis came in he cant get a look in either in league or cup games with Lescott and Chris Baird preffered instead of him. Can we expect more of this?

Will he sign/trust foreign players? Or at least foreign players who come from abroad, rather than someone who had already been playing in the PL for a few years. There's a view that he's come in and without even looking like players like Varela, Blanco, Gamboa, Pocognoli has decided they dont fit. You could argue he went with the previous coaching teams views on them but they left as well so I would assume everyone had a blank slate. All the players we have been linked with are either British or have played in the PL before. Is there much point in his having a foreign scouting department with Pulis here?

Did Pulis 'throw' away games against certain sides? His record against the traditional top sides seemed acceptable at home, although mainly down to the points taken off Arsenal. However for a manager/side famed for making things so difficult for sides your away record from what I can see was (and again, no offence) woeful. Now most managers will naturally have a poor record away at the big 4 but his seems particularly bad with a team that normally keeps things so tight regularly shipping 3+ goals a game. Is it a case that his style simply didn't work against those sides away from home and he refused to try to adapt it, or was there a feeling amongst you guys he didn't believe his sides could win these games?

Good luck for the season, from an ironic point of view it would be pretty funny to see you come to the Hawthorns, dominate possession and then us score from a set piece. It seems a decent number of our fans (although not all) now reckon they always rated Pulis and never liked Mowbrays tippy tappy stuff in the first place :-)

[KevinWhimper]

I'll say one thing r.e transfers. He's good with no money, i.e Whelan (500k), Ricardo Fuller (500k). Give him a few million and there's a chance he might spunk it on the likes of Dave Kitson (5.5 mill), Palacios (8 mill, yes thats right 8 million).

[Deleted]

You haven't got a clue what you have just started.

[penkvillepotter]

Oh fuck. Here we go, time to go out.

[Trouserdog]

Is his style as bad as is made out? There are two versions of Pulisball- the good one and the bad one. If he has pace on the flanks and a quick striker to lead the line, then the direct style is actually good to watch. Once he starts putting slow midfielders or strikers on the wing because they "work 'aaaaaaard" and/or picking a slow player like Crouch to lead his attack then the whole thing becomes unwatchable.

Will he ever look to progress a team? Not really. He builds a resilient, hard to break down side that gets effective results and then doesn't know what to do with it other than start meddling to try and shoehorn big names or favourites in.

How good/bad is his transfer record? Very mixed. He was a genius when he hadn't got any money. However, with a big budget he just lost the plot, got starry eyed at times and blew a lot of money on unsuitable, or in some cases just downright bad, players.

Will we end up with 4 centre backs in defence? Quite possibly. We had to suffer Huth at right back for god knows how long. The best you can probably hope for are two proper full backs who are well-drilled but won't go over the halfway line.

Will he sign/trust foreign players? He'll never sign a foreign player from abroad without someone forcing him to do it. Tone likes to ring one of his old boys and get the lowdown on a players character before he signs them- "do they work 'aaaaard, Reidy?" "Is he a good kiddie, Harry?"

Did Pulis 'throw' away games against certain sides? I wouldn't say he 'threw' them- he just parked the bus and failed to learn that it was a hopeless strategy. We got a jammy 0-0 draw at Liverpool once and he seemed to use that as the blueprint for every top 6 away game, even though it was obviously a fluke result.

He'll do very well for you I'm sure, but he's a short-term manager who can get a team organised and grind out results. If you expect nothing else then you'll be delighted with him!


Read more: oatcakefanzine.proboards.com/post/new/239983#ixzz3QCYYU3kF

[Jamo on the wing]

This could get interesting/boring/predictable/amusing.

(Delete as appropriate)

[albion1]

Jan 29, 2015 9:38:51 GMT theonlooker said:

You haven't got a clue what you have just started.

Well I had a slight inkling to be fair   It's already pretty much started amongst the same lines on our boards and I can't see it stopping whilst he's with us. Seems to be a pretty even split (at the moment at least) between 

Sod what it looks like staying up is all that counts
He will keep us up this season playing ugly but the football will be decent next season
He will keep us up, but the the football will be bad to watch every year.

If it helps I'm not looking for you guys to get in to a debate about this with each other (is there any chance of that not happening?  ) but just simply reply with your own thoughts on the questions or anything else you think is relevant.

[liam007]

I reckon this is a least a 10 pager this thread,unless it get's locked.Off to the shop to get some popcorn.

[Stafford-Stokie]

You really are best off just waiting to see and make up your own mind. The opinions on here are poles apart at times so I guess you are better off reading the many threads and looking for somewhere in the middle. Good luck.

[cobhamstokey]

Welcome always nice to have good fans from other teams on here.

Is his style as bad as is made out? Honestly, without wishing to cause offence, I'm one of those you could probably label in the rather 'rather get relegated that watch that every week' camp. I have no problem with what he did with you in your first season or 2 in the PL, and if someone had done that with us when we first came up I would have felt the same. But after the novelty of being in the PL wore off did the football remain as bad to watch?

If anything it got worse to watch the longer he was here. The early days were great.


Will he ever look to progress a team? Again one of the main arguments is that ideally Pulis will come in, keep us up by any means and then progress us in the summer to a better style of play. I never saw any of this at Stoke (feel free to correct me) and your results, points tally's, finishing positions, goals score etc all seems to suggest things stayed pretty much the same.

Who knows? He seemed to want to at Palace. However he does have a habit of buying flair players and not knowing what to do with them due to his defensive mentality.


How good/bad is his transfer record? When we had Dan Ashworth in charge our transfer policy was probably the main reason for our success. Since he left for the FA our record has been appalling so in this regard it can't get much worse I suppose. I think the set up now is probably similar to yours when Pulis was there, with a Director of Football in similar in place (did you guys have Rudge in that role?) but in reality Pulis calls the shots. I know every manager has good/bad signings and Pulis seems to have done much better with his lower cost buys than his big money deals. In short if Pulis came back to Stoke woudl you rather him or a DoF or similar in charge of bringing players in? 

50/50 some great bargains like Shawcross, Etherington, Beattie, Huth, Faye and Fuller as well as some real howlers Palacios, Kitson, Olofinjana, Collins, Tuncay and Woodgate / Owen. He's better on a budget.



Will we end up with 4 centre backs in defence? We've already seen Lescott shifted to left back last week and another CB bought in. Wisdom supposedly is a centre back although he always played right back or Liverpool and has played there all season for us for I'll let that slide for now. I seem to remember you guys crying out for proper full backs for a few years and not getting them. Pocognoli was one of our few decent summer signings and in many fans views was one of our better players before Christmas. Since Pulis came in he cant get a look in either in league or cup games with Lescott and Chris Baird preffered instead of him. Can we expect more of this?

Very likely he likes his big men at the back especially using them at set pieces.



Will he sign/trust foreign players? Or at least foreign players who come from abroad, rather than someone who had already been playing in the PL for a few years. There's a view that he's come in and without even looking like players like Varela, Blanco, Gamboa, Pocognoli has decided they dont fit. You could argue he went with the previous coaching teams views on them but they left as well so I would assume everyone had a blank slate. All the players we have been linked with are either British or have played in the PL before. Is there much point in his having a foreign scouting department with Pulis here?

He doesn't like taking risks I guess a lot depends on your chairman. He likes solid British players and not massive on youth. Don't be surprised if he goes for the likes of Walters, Crouch, Whelan and even Whitehead.



Did Pulis 'throw' away games against certain sides? His record against the traditional top sides seemed acceptable at home, although mainly down to the points taken off Arsenal. However for a manager/side famed for making things so difficult for sides your away record from what I can see was (and again, no offence) woeful. Now most managers will naturally have a poor record away at the big 4 but his seems particularly bad with a team that normally keeps things so tight regularly shipping 3+ goals a game. Is it a case that his style simply didn't work against those sides away from home and he refused to try to adapt it, or was there a feeling amongst you guys he didn't believe his sides could win these games?

He likes to park the bus away like he did v Everton. The better teams usually get past that tactic which usually gets them comfortable wins.

TPs a great manager and results wise did some magical stuff however there'll always be an issue re his playing style. He'll keep you up.

Finally how good is Odom?

[chiefdelilah]

Jan 29, 2015 9:49:34 GMT albion1 said:

Jan 29, 2015 9:38:51 GMT theonlooker said:

You haven't got a clue what you have just started.

Sod what it looks like staying up is all that counts

Wash your mouth out and go and say 10 Hail Mowbrays right this minute.

[Deleted]

[mosquito]

Jan 29, 2015 9:55:28 GMT cobhamstokey said:

Welcome always nice to have good fans from other teams on here.

Is his style as bad as is made out? Honestly, without wishing to cause offence, I'm one of those you could probably label in the rather 'rather get relegated that watch that every week' camp. I have no problem with what he did with you in your first season or 2 in the PL, and if someone had done that with us when we first came up I would have felt the same. But after the novelty of being in the PL wore off did the football remain as bad to watch?

If anything it got worse to watch the longer he was here. The early days were great.


Will he ever look to progress a team? Again one of the main arguments is that ideally Pulis will come in, keep us up by any means and then progress us in the summer to a better style of play. I never saw any of this at Stoke (feel free to correct me) and your results, points tally's, finishing positions, goals score etc all seems to suggest things stayed pretty much the same.

Who knows? He seemed to want to at Palace. However he does have a habit of buying flair players and not knowing what to do with them due to his defensive mentality.


How good/bad is his transfer record? When we had Dan Ashworth in charge our transfer policy was probably the main reason for our success. Since he left for the FA our record has been appalling so in this regard it can't get much worse I suppose. I think the set up now is probably similar to yours when Pulis was there, with a Director of Football in similar in place (did you guys have Rudge in that role?) but in reality Pulis calls the shots. I know every manager has good/bad signings and Pulis seems to have done much better with his lower cost buys than his big money deals. In short if Pulis came back to Stoke woudl you rather him or a DoF or similar in charge of bringing players in? 

50/50 some great bargains like Shawcross, Etherington, Beattie, Huth, Faye and Fuller as well as some real howlers Palacios, Kitson, Olofinjana, Collins, Tuncay and Woodgate / Owen. He's better on a budget.



Will we end up with 4 centre backs in defence? We've already seen Lescott shifted to left back last week and another CB bought in. Wisdom supposedly is a centre back although he always played right back or Liverpool and has played there all season for us for I'll let that slide for now. I seem to remember you guys crying out for proper full backs for a few years and not getting them. Pocognoli was one of our few decent summer signings and in many fans views was one of our better players before Christmas. Since Pulis came in he cant get a look in either in league or cup games with Lescott and Chris Baird preffered instead of him. Can we expect more of this?

Very likely he likes his big men at the back especially using them at set pieces.



Will he sign/trust foreign players? Or at least foreign players who come from abroad, rather than someone who had already been playing in the PL for a few years. There's a view that he's come in and without even looking like players like Varela, Blanco, Gamboa, Pocognoli has decided they dont fit. You could argue he went with the previous coaching teams views on them but they left as well so I would assume everyone had a blank slate. All the players we have been linked with are either British or have played in the PL before. Is there much point in his having a foreign scouting department with Pulis here?

He doesn't like taking risks I guess a lot depends on your chairman. He likes solid British players and not massive on youth. Don't be surprised if he goes for the likes of Walters, Crouch, Whelan and even Whitehead.



Did Pulis 'throw' away games against certain sides? His record against the traditional top sides seemed acceptable at home, although mainly down to the points taken off Arsenal. However for a manager/side famed for making things so difficult for sides your away record from what I can see was (and again, no offence) woeful. Now most managers will naturally have a poor record away at the big 4 but his seems particularly bad with a team that normally keeps things so tight regularly shipping 3+ goals a game. Is it a case that his style simply didn't work against those sides away from home and he refused to try to adapt it, or was there a feeling amongst you guys he didn't believe his sides could win these games?

He likes to park the bus away like he did v Everton. The better teams usually get past that tactic which usually gets them comfortable wins.

TPs a great manager and results wise did some magical stuff however there'll always be an issue re his playing style. He'll keep you up.

Finally how good is Odom?

This is bang on the money for me

[upthefud]

Albion.

It's not always pretty to watch in the same way it's not always dull either. Beating Bolton 5-0, Arsenal 3-1 amongst others were certainly fantastic to watch. You know the players will play for the shirt as well.

He took us from a championship side heading to league one to a cup final and Europe, that's progression even if the style didn't change. The style changed at Palace though.

If he stays with you relegation is no longer a worry, and as a man he will do a lot for your area. I'm not sure if you've heard but he's rowing from London to Paris to raise money for a local Stoke hospice.

Whatever your thoughts on the man he's a winner and will strive to do the very best he can for you.


In terms of transfers they're usually British, or foreign players with football league experience. There are a few expensive duds in there but he also brought in Begovic, Shawcross, Huth, Whelan and Walters in for peanuts which is the foundation for our current success

[flinteastwood]

How good/bad is his transfer record?
don't get me wrong hes made some great signings all cheap and are doin great things at our club like shawcross and glen but then hes made some proper fucked up singings like Palacios £8M Kenwyne £8M and he wasted so much money im surprised uncle peter let him get away with it. and then he signs players then you don't hear from them ever again cos there in the reserves like brek shae now that was £3M spunked up the wall.

[albion1]

Jan 29, 2015 9:55:28 GMT cobhamstokey said:

Finally how good is Odom?

On his day, really good. An to be fair his day was pretty consistently rather than someone who is brilliant 1 game then vanishes for the next 3. Sides like us were not going to get much better and certainly not for the £2m we paid for him. If he was in his early 20's he would probably of gone to a Spurs or Everton after his 1st or 2nd season but I think due to him being late 20's and the fee we would of wanted they didn't peruse it. 

His attitude was questioned a few times with us but nothing major and I dont remember seeing any of it on the pitch. Obviously the QPR thing and the comment after were poor, although (not absolving him of all blame) I do feel he was stitched up slightly by other parties.

Sadly for you guys with his age and injury now I don't think you will see the Odemwingie we had at Albion, maybe the odd game or moment here or there but not on a consistent basis.

[KevinWhimper]

God yeah, forget about young players. I wouldn't be surprised to see him pie Berahino off at the first opportunity. Anyone below 25 is often a "kiddie". With a few exceptions. Having said that I fucking love the bloke for putting my team on the map and I'd happily buy him a pint if ever the opportunity arose. He's a cracking manager for clubs like you/us and you will not go down with him in charge.

[RAF]

Is his style as bad as is made out? PulisBall plus was great to watch unfortunately we only got to see it a few times a year at best. 5-0 in the semi-final against Bolton, beating Liverpool over the Christmas period. Unfortunately just when you thought he had turned a corner , he would revert to type. Long balls, square pegs and round holes and turgid arse gravy football.

Will he ever look to progress a team? He always talked a good game, although his 3 year plan became a 5 year plan which in turn became another plan. That said when he got sacked he said he had just finished some kind of footballing thesis which took the best of German and Spanish football.
One thing I will say is , he has no time for academies.

How good/bad is his transfer record? Always better with little or no money than when he was given a shit load.
Fuller, Whelan, Shawcross, Begovic, compared to Dean Whitehead 5 mill and Palacios 8 mill.

Will he sign/trust foreign players? In the main he prefers proven Prem players, but don't be surprised if he spends 4-5 mill on a complete waste of time and effort from abroad on the recommendation of the lively and inventive Dave 'Kempo' Kemp.

Did Pulis 'throw' away games against certain sides? I don't think he would ever intentionally throw a game, although he did have his 'Bonus Games' which were just him getting his excuses in early when he planned to park the bus against teams who would pressure us from the off, and he deliberately sent an under strength squad to Valencia after a war cry to the fans because he was frightened of getting into a relegation battle.

On the whole he did a great job for us, but it was time to move on for both parties. He'd taken us as far as he could.
A great fire fighter with a 'never been relegated' tag, but I doubt he will take you any further than he took us.
Saying that his favourite saying is 'Naaaaah I've been proving people wrong all my life' and to be fair he did at Stoke.

H

[lagwafis]

I was quite happy with him from 2006 up until the 2011 FA Cup Final. He'd built us into a solid team (the defence was always a given) while we had pace down both wings (Matthew Etherington and Jermaine Pennant). We could be a handful up top (Mama Sidibe, despite his lack of goals, had worked well alongside a talisman player Ricardo Fuller. Kenwyne Jones and Jon Walters also played a big part in getting us to Wembley).

For me the problem came midway through the following season. He fell out with Pennant while Etherington was never really the same player following a pre-Wembley injury. We immediately lost a lot of threat from out wide. Up front Fuller and Sidibe were picking up either niggling (Fuller) or long term (Sidibe) injuries. Jones looked starved without service from the wings and Walters came across as mentally drained despite being physically fit to play week in, week out.

Pulis was gifted with the support and backing of a chairman the like of which many clubs will never see. He was financially backed and never forced to sell our better players. Despite this it never felt like we had a long term succession plan for the most important players that need to make a Pulis formation work (the wide men, the pace up top and the hold up player who sits just behind). Those last 18 months were depressing and a change was best for all concerned.

[werrington]

He'll split your fan base straight down the middle as it's what he does at every club

Me.....I'm just pleased he's fucked off from here with his turgid rancid anti football

It took him just 2 games to show it at Everton for you lot but wait until it starts in the home games v WHU etc etc

Good luck

[albion1]

Jan 29, 2015 10:07:23 GMT KevinWhimper said:

God yeah, forget about young players. I wouldn't be surprised to see him pie Berahino off at the first opportunity. Anyone below 25 is often a "kiddie". With a few exceptions. Having said that I fucking love the bloke for putting my team on the map and I'd happily buy him a pint if ever the opportunity arose. He's a cracking manager for clubs like you/us and you will not go down with him in charge.

Meant to ask about academies. Every club likes to see a youngster come through the ranks, for years at Albion we criticised managers for not giving youngsters a chance, and then in fairness it turned out none of them were good enough - I think it's been a similar situation with Stoke, with Shotton being the only one to make a half decent career elsewhere so far? So it could (I'm hoping anyway) be argued he didnt play them because they weren't good enough rather than just young?

The problem is touch wood our academy looks to have some exceptional talents coming through. Obviously Berahino is the main one, Nabi looks like the next talent to make the first team and maybe Daniels at some point next year. Below that the players aged around 14/15/16 are meant to be up there with any other academy in the country. Obviously anything can happen between the age of 14 and making it and even 16 to pro is a big leap but would you feel it's fair to say these players chances of making it with us have reduced under Pulis?

We have also been linked with Demarai Gray from Blues, young exciting 18 year old winger for around £4m. Again may be wrong but I just dont see this as the type of signing Pulis makes when he could sign Matt Jarvis to do a solid job instead (I wouldn't actually mind Jarvis signing for the record)

[chiefdelilah]

He'll keep Albion up in his sleep with that squad, which contains a strong spine of Pulis-type players already.

If he can avoid falling out with Peace over the transfer budget and stay there for a while, there's every chance he could build what he built here, a strong, hard-working side that is great at home, poor away but capable of playing some very enjoyable direct football and bloodying a few noses here and there. The tight leash on the funds might even suit him as he tends to be better the less he has to spend and it should keep expectations nice and manageable.

Expectation is the price of success however and if the fans start to demand more or if the football and results take a backwards step despite significant expenditure, as was the case here, then things will probably turn ugly.

[stokiejoe]

Jan 29, 2015 10:01:59 GMT mosquito said:

Jan 29, 2015 9:55:28 GMT cobhamstokey said:

Welcome always nice to have good fans from other teams on here.

Is his style as bad as is made out? Honestly, without wishing to cause offence, I'm one of those you could probably label in the rather 'rather get relegated that watch that every week' camp. I have no problem with what he did with you in your first season or 2 in the PL, and if someone had done that with us when we first came up I would have felt the same. But after the novelty of being in the PL wore off did the football remain as bad to watch?

If anything it got worse to watch the longer he was here. The early days were great.


Will he ever look to progress a team? Again one of the main arguments is that ideally Pulis will come in, keep us up by any means and then progress us in the summer to a better style of play. I never saw any of this at Stoke (feel free to correct me) and your results, points tally's, finishing positions, goals score etc all seems to suggest things stayed pretty much the same.

Who knows? He seemed to want to at Palace. However he does have a habit of buying flair players and not knowing what to do with them due to his defensive mentality.


How good/bad is his transfer record? When we had Dan Ashworth in charge our transfer policy was probably the main reason for our success. Since he left for the FA our record has been appalling so in this regard it can't get much worse I suppose. I think the set up now is probably similar to yours when Pulis was there, with a Director of Football in similar in place (did you guys have Rudge in that role?) but in reality Pulis calls the shots. I know every manager has good/bad signings and Pulis seems to have done much better with his lower cost buys than his big money deals. In short if Pulis came back to Stoke woudl you rather him or a DoF or similar in charge of bringing players in? 

50/50 some great bargains like Shawcross, Etherington, Beattie, Huth, Faye and Fuller as well as some real howlers Palacios, Kitson, Olofinjana, Collins, Tuncay and Woodgate / Owen. He's better on a budget.



Will we end up with 4 centre backs in defence? We've already seen Lescott shifted to left back last week and another CB bought in. Wisdom supposedly is a centre back although he always played right back or Liverpool and has played there all season for us for I'll let that slide for now. I seem to remember you guys crying out for proper full backs for a few years and not getting them. Pocognoli was one of our few decent summer signings and in many fans views was one of our better players before Christmas. Since Pulis came in he cant get a look in either in league or cup games with Lescott and Chris Baird preffered instead of him. Can we expect more of this?

Very likely he likes his big men at the back especially using them at set pieces.



Will he sign/trust foreign players? Or at least foreign players who come from abroad, rather than someone who had already been playing in the PL for a few years. There's a view that he's come in and without even looking like players like Varela, Blanco, Gamboa, Pocognoli has decided they dont fit. You could argue he went with the previous coaching teams views on them but they left as well so I would assume everyone had a blank slate. All the players we have been linked with are either British or have played in the PL before. Is there much point in his having a foreign scouting department with Pulis here?

He doesn't like taking risks I guess a lot depends on your chairman. He likes solid British players and not massive on youth. Don't be surprised if he goes for the likes of Walters, Crouch, Whelan and even Whitehead.



Did Pulis 'throw' away games against certain sides? His record against the traditional top sides seemed acceptable at home, although mainly down to the points taken off Arsenal. However for a manager/side famed for making things so difficult for sides your away record from what I can see was (and again, no offence) woeful. Now most managers will naturally have a poor record away at the big 4 but his seems particularly bad with a team that normally keeps things so tight regularly shipping 3+ goals a game. Is it a case that his style simply didn't work against those sides away from home and he refused to try to adapt it, or was there a feeling amongst you guys he didn't believe his sides could win these games?

He likes to park the bus away like he did v Everton. The better teams usually get past that tactic which usually gets them comfortable wins.

TPs a great manager and results wise did some magical stuff however there'll always be an issue re his playing style. He'll keep you up.

Finally how good is Odom?

This is bang on the money for me

Works for me too, you will have to get used to his constant shouting to players. He is an excellent manager it's effective but not good to watch.

[Miles Offside]

Jan 29, 2015 9:38:51 GMT theonlooker said:

You haven't got a clue what you have just started.

He will have after Tone's been there a while.

[Olgrligm]

No offence, but please go away. We've just gone a record two days without a Tony Pulis thread.

Style is subjective. Sometimes it was better than others. He hit Pulisball perfection in 2011 and then got completely obsessed with Peter Crouch and let Fuller go on a free.

I think he does look to progress, but his idea of progression is 'same thing, better players'. At the end of the day, he looks for deluxe versions of the players that fit into his standard moulds. He'll never lose the cage, he'll just try to get better defensive midfielders. He won't get rid of the Mama role, he'll just put somebody more expensive in it. Sometimes this results in the non - deluxe version (Mama, Whelan, Delap) keeping out the ill fitted deluxe version (Kitson, Whitehead, Palacios).

Begovic, Shawcross, Pennant, Lawrence, Fuller, Whelan, Delap for less than ten million says his transfer record is superb. 8 million for Palacios and 5 million for Kitson less so.

Four centre backs in defence will probably happen but don't worry - your wingers are actually the full backs. Tone calls it his 'back eight'. Don't worry too much about the defence. Occasionally he'll buy a Danny Collins - a terrible signing responsible for giving away 1 or often 2 goals per game - but you'll be on solid ground. He can spot a good goalkeeper, too.

Not unless they're American or he has to. He likes players with experience of playing in England. He doesn't like the risk that players won't acclimatise.

He did once or twice. We went to Man City once with a reserve team set up to play with eleven men in our own area. We lost 3-0 and never changed approach. Don't even ask about Valencia away. Generally though, his approach is that if you stop the opposition scoring, you only need one flukey goal.

I was a fan of Pulis, but I've tried to be as fair and impartial as possible here.

[fca47]

All I would say he is a better manager than most of the wankers you have had there, apart from Woy, but is not an old woman like him.

[Deleted]

Jan 29, 2015 9:49:34 GMT albion1 said:

Jan 29, 2015 9:38:51 GMT theonlooker said:

You haven't got a clue what you have just started.

Well I had a slight inkling to be fair   It's already pretty much started amongst the same lines on our boards and I can't see it stopping whilst he's with us. Seems to be a pretty even split (at the moment at least) between 

Sod what it looks like staying up is all that counts
He will keep us up this season playing ugly but the football will be decent next season
He will keep us up, but the the football will be bad to watch every year.

If it helps I'm not looking for you guys to get in to a debate about this with each other (is there any chance of that not happening?  ) but just simply reply with your own thoughts on the questions or anything else you think is relevant.

Every time he farts it turns into a debate so we've got no chance here...

[Fenparkpotter]

Is his style as bad as is made out? Initially, no - he will work with what he's got and you'll never see a more determined effort - he likes out and out wingers, and there is room for a tricky forward in a Pulis side - but they will all have to put a shift in, stick to their roles and defend from the top. The problem comes once he sinks his teeth in to the transfer market and brings in his "types". Then you get a very solid team, but very limited in terms of flair. When he first came to Stoke, he was highly reluctant to give the likes of Kris Commons and Peter Hoekstra much freedom, despite them being our most creative players, so they didn't last long.

Will he ever look to progress a team? Once he has built his team, he will improve the players that you have, but they will essentially be upgrades of what you had. For us, the likes of Jon Walters for Richard Cresswell, Peter Crouch for Kenwyne Jones (who himself was a replacement for Mama Sidibe), Danny Collins for Danny Higginbotham (though it didn't really work out that way), Dean Whitehead for Delap/Whelan (again, didn't really come in to fruition).

How good/bad is his transfer record? Overall good - can't argue with the likes of Shawcross, Begovic, Whelan, Delap, Fuller, Lawrence, Etherington, Beattie, Crossley... all for next to nothing essentially. As mentioned, problem is when you give him money, and he has his heart set on someone, he will pay over the odds for someone really not worth that much.

Will we end up with 4 centre backs in defence? At some point, yes, but don't be surprised to hear him say that it's actually his natural position. Did you know that Ryan Shotton (the Derby centre half on loan from Stoke) is actually a right winger? Neither did we until Pulis informed us of this!

Will he sign/trust foreign players? He seldom delves in to the foreign market, foreign players that he may go after are either Premier League-based (or recently in the PL) or perhaps from the USA.

Did Pulis 'throw' away games against certain sides? He will certainly prioritize home games. I'd bring up Valencia away, but i'm sure a chance to play a 2nd string in the Europa League would be a fine thing!

[roylandstoke]

I think I'll leave this thread until it reaches a dozen or so pages.

The vitriol will be running freely by then.

[KevinWhimper]

Jan 29, 2015 10:43:50 GMT Fenparkpotter said:

Is his style as bad as is made out? Initially, no - he will work with what he's got and you'll never see a more determined effort - he likes out and out wingers, and there is room for a tricky forward in a Pulis side - but they will all have to put a shift in, stick to their roles and defend from the top. The problem comes once he sinks his teeth in to the transfer market and brings in his "types". Then you get a very solid team, but very limited in terms of flair. When he first came to Stoke, he was highly reluctant to give the likes of Kris Commons and Peter Hoekstra much freedom, despite them being our most creative players, so they didn't last long.

Will he ever look to progress a team? Once he has built his team, he will improve the players that you have, but they will essentially be upgrades of what you had. For us, the likes of Jon Walters for Richard Cresswell, Peter Crouch for Kenwyne Jones (who himself was a replacement for Mama Sidibe), Danny Collins for Danny Higginbotham (though it didn't really work out that way), Dean Whitehead for Delap/Whelan (again, didn't really come in to fruition).

How good/bad is his transfer record? Overall good - can't argue with the likes of Shawcross, Begovic, Whelan, Delap, Fuller, Lawrence, Etherington, Beattie, Crossley... all for next to nothing essentially. As mentioned, problem is when you give him money, and he has his heart set on someone, he will pay over the odds for someone really not worth that much.

Will we end up with 4 centre backs in defence? At some point, yes, but don't be surprised to hear him say that it's actually his natural position. Did you know that Ryan Shotton (the Derby centre half on loan from Stoke) is actually a right winger? Neither did we until Pulis informed us of this!

Will he sign/trust foreign players? He seldom delves in to the foreign market, foreign players that he may go after are either Premier League-based (or recently in the PL) or perhaps from the USA.

Did Pulis 'throw' away games against certain sides? He will certainly prioritize home games. I'd bring up Valencia away, but i'm sure a chance to play a 2nd string in the Europa League would be a fine thing!

Or a striker!