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Post by Gods on Dec 19, 2017 22:26:11 GMT
I can understand fans not liking tp's Brand of football I totally get it But hughes has shown as tp's players leave... Huth, nzonzi, begovic... He will bring in even worse players.. Wimmer imbula haugaard/ grant If tp is bad, what does that make hughes?? Someone who took Tone’s players and finished higher in the table than he ever could? What do I win? For sure Hughes got a tune out of Tone's players for 3 seasons, encouraging good players to be more expansive, and it worked, very well in fact and I salute him for that. Trouble has been the squad building/regeneration/attempts to move to the fabled 'next level'. This January will be his 10th window, in that time I'm guessing we have signed an average of 3 players per window and a few on loan too so I guess we are looking at a minimum of 30 signings and perhaps 8 or 10 players on loan. Hand on heart, how many of those can you honestly say have been an unqualified success? I'm struggling to come up with one! Shaqiri, the Moses loan, perhaps the Zouma loan, arguably Joe Allen, anyone else? All managers get a few hits and a few misses but our miss rate must be the highest ever recorded?!
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Post by The Toxic Avenger on Dec 19, 2017 22:47:03 GMT
Someone who took Tone’s players and finished higher in the table than he ever could? What do I win? For sure Hughes got a tune out of Tone's players for 3 seasons, encouraging good players to be more expansive, and it worked, very well in fact and I salute him for that. Trouble has been the squad building/regeneration/attempts to move to the fabled 'next level'. This January will be his 10th window, in that time I'm guessing we have signed an average of 3 players per window and a few on loan too so I guess we are looking at a minimum of 30 signings and perhaps 8 or 10 players on loan. Hand on heart, how many of those can you honestly say have been an unqualified success? I'm struggling to come up with one! Shaqiri, the Moses loan, perhaps the Zouma loan, arguably Joe Allen, anyone else? All managers get a few hits and a few misses but our miss rate must be the highest ever recorded?! His signings have been mostly poor no question, but the ‘he’s only doing it with TP’s players’ brigade can never, ever answer why he could finish higher in the league than surrogate daddy.
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Post by riponstokie on Dec 19, 2017 22:53:10 GMT
Someone who took Tone’s players and finished higher in the table than he ever could? What do I win? For sure Hughes got a tune out of Tone's players for 3 seasons, encouraging good players to be more expansive, and it worked, very well in fact and I salute him for that. Trouble has been the squad building/regeneration/attempts to move to the fabled 'next level'. This January will be his 10th window, in that time I'm guessing we have signed an average of 3 players per window and a few on loan too so I guess we are looking at a minimum of 30 signings and perhaps 8 or 10 players on loan. Hand on heart, how many of those can you honestly say have been an unqualified success? I'm struggling to come up with one! Shaqiri, the Moses loan, perhaps the Zouma loan, arguably Joe Allen, anyone else? All managers get a few hits and a few misses but our miss rate must be the highest ever recorded?! During his first two seasons Hughes dined out on the foundations left him by TP. To begin with he added a little flair, however each and every time we were in the shit he went back to TP's old boys to get us out of it and it's worked until now. I always questioned whether Sparky could build his own spine, his own core? Answer - NO! His attempts to to replace Robert Huth have been embarrassing, Whelan still has been replaced and Jonnie Walters goals, commitment, desire certainly haven't been replaced and now predictably we have a manager who is clueless with a team (his team!)bereft of organisation, commitment, energy, flair, guts, pride as well as a team that can't score goals and can't defend! We need to act quickly or else the Championship beckons. Coates needs to bring in a manager who can hit the ground running and get a grip of the shambolic mess MH has created .And if it is TP then I for one will welcome him back with open arms.
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Post by The Toxic Avenger on Dec 19, 2017 22:55:53 GMT
For sure Hughes got a tune out of Tone's players for 3 seasons, encouraging good players to be more expansive, and it worked, very well in fact and I salute him for that. Trouble has been the squad building/regeneration/attempts to move to the fabled 'next level'. This January will be his 10th window, in that time I'm guessing we have signed an average of 3 players per window and a few on loan too so I guess we are looking at a minimum of 30 signings and perhaps 8 or 10 players on loan. Hand on heart, how many of those can you honestly say have been an unqualified success? I'm struggling to come up with one! Shaqiri, the Moses loan, perhaps the Zouma loan, arguably Joe Allen, anyone else? All managers get a few hits and a few misses but our miss rate must be the highest ever recorded?! During his first two seasons Hughes dined out on the foundations left him by TP. To begin with he added a little flair, however each and every time we were in the shit he went back to TP's old boys to get us out of it and it's worked until now. I always questioned whether Sparky could build his own spine, his own core? Answer - NO! His attempts to to replace Robert Huth have been embarrassing, Whelan still has been replaced and Jonnie Walters goals, commitment, desire certainly haven't been replaced and now predictably we have a manager who is clueless with a team (his team!)bereft of organisation, commitment, energy, flair, guts, pride as well as a team that can't score goals and can't defend! We need to act quickly or else the Championship beckons. Coates needs to bring in a manager who can hit the ground running and get a grip of the shambolic mess MH has created .And if it is TP then I for one will welcome him back with open arms. Yet TP couldn’t finish higher at any stage with his own ‘boys’. How damning is that? If he was so good why couldn’t he manage it? Bit of a failing, no?
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Post by cheeesfreeex on Dec 19, 2017 23:30:42 GMT
We've been in far worse/lower positions at this stage. In the absence of N'Nonz yes midfield ain't so hot, but still better, or at least {considering make-do options Zouma, Afellay, Cameron, I'd put Ramadan in too} on a par with Van Ginkel, Whelan, Adam, Ireland, Sidwell etc. Far better full back/wing back potential than we've ever had, with the 'old guard' still here, bar Bards, not such a great miss. I do lament Muni's glass hams a bit. I wouldn't recall him to save us. Just getting a bit fed up of the foregone conclusion rhetoric mate. We look like a full on, disciplined display, maybe a scrappy goal, or coming back from behind to lift the mood. Done both this season, didn't seem to be able to do either much before. I'm keeping the faith unless I have to send him to Coventry. We haven't been 'in far worse positions at this stage' Mind you you have also said that there's no chance we'll go down so I do think your optimism is somewhat misplaced Lower in the League, granted the goal difference is shocking. Doubt if we've taken on the Top 6 {or so} so early, {and got 4 points}. Maybe so mate, can't say for sure he definitely will keep us up. If as it seems he'll keep the key members of the squad, and has still got their support, then on balance I don't think my optimism is hollow. Loads of potential for far better: finishing and fuck ups, {symptomatic of lack of confidence},can be a self perpetuating spiral, but have been broken. It's not all rosy, by any means. None of us know for sure. Seen so many different aspects of football under Hughes, from a fantastic {but losing} nine man display WBA, a 6-! in our favour, 7-1 against. Shit against those that sit back, sweeping aside Manchesters, looking fools against Chelsea, beating Chelsea in a Cup shoot out. Barcelona in one half, Berwick Rangers in the other {Sunderland last season}. etc etc. Grind outs, capitulations and that. But on balance I reckon he's shown enough at the helm that he'll at least do enough to keep us up. Still setting us up to get on the front foot imo. One off Joe Allen's shin, and one off Saido's wallet early doors on saturday could get the ball rolling.. Brom have had their run against us. First encounter. Tony Pulis: "It was disappointing. For all their possession I didn't think that they created all that many clear-cut chances. "These things happen. They bring Crouchy on and without him doing anything his presence unnerves defenders. That is what Peter has done again today. I didn't see them scoring. As soon as we scored I thought we would win the game." Mark Hughes: "I think (a point) was the least that we deserved in terms of performance. I thought that we knocked on the door all afternoon. "It wasn't a great game I have to say. I didn't particularly enjoy it as a spectacle or even being involved at management level. It was frustrating to say the least but I never expected anything different."
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Post by thegift on Dec 20, 2017 4:03:21 GMT
Funny pugs, bit like your knowledge about mark Hughes going? More BS When anyone talks about the football with you sunshine you ignore them. You're good at sniping. I know for a fact I'm 1 million percent correct on what I said about what he thinks about other people. Like you were on Hughes leaving? Lets face it, you have absolutely no contacts at all
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Post by Pugsley on Dec 20, 2017 8:19:32 GMT
When anyone talks about the football with you sunshine you ignore them. You're good at sniping. I know for a fact I'm 1 million percent correct on what I said about what he thinks about other people. Like you were on Hughes leaving? Lets face it, you have absolutely no contacts at all OK.
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Post by werrington on Dec 20, 2017 9:39:18 GMT
For sure Hughes got a tune out of Tone's players for 3 seasons, encouraging good players to be more expansive, and it worked, very well in fact and I salute him for that. Trouble has been the squad building/regeneration/attempts to move to the fabled 'next level'. This January will be his 10th window, in that time I'm guessing we have signed an average of 3 players per window and a few on loan too so I guess we are looking at a minimum of 30 signings and perhaps 8 or 10 players on loan. Hand on heart, how many of those can you honestly say have been an unqualified success? I'm struggling to come up with one! Shaqiri, the Moses loan, perhaps the Zouma loan, arguably Joe Allen, anyone else? All managers get a few hits and a few misses but our miss rate must be the highest ever recorded?! During his first two seasons Hughes dined out on the foundations left him by TP. To begin with he added a little flair, however each and every time we were in the shit he went back to TP's old boys to get us out of it and it's worked until now. I always questioned whether Sparky could build his own spine, his own core? Answer - NO! His attempts to to replace Robert Huth have been embarrassing, Whelan still has been replaced and Jonnie Walters goals, commitment, desire certainly haven't been replaced and now predictably we have a manager who is clueless with a team (his team!)bereft of organisation, commitment, energy, flair, guts, pride as well as a team that can't score goals and can't defend! We need to act quickly or else the Championship beckons. Coates needs to bring in a manager who can hit the ground running and get a grip of the shambolic mess MH has created .And if it is TP then I for one will welcome him back with open arms. Your posting history in regards Hughes from day one tells people all the need to know You are that far up Pulis arse you need a fucking oxygen mask
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Post by thegift on Dec 20, 2017 9:47:38 GMT
During his first two seasons Hughes dined out on the foundations left him by TP. To begin with he added a little flair, however each and every time we were in the shit he went back to TP's old boys to get us out of it and it's worked until now. I always questioned whether Sparky could build his own spine, his own core? Answer - NO! His attempts to to replace Robert Huth have been embarrassing, Whelan still has been replaced and Jonnie Walters goals, commitment, desire certainly haven't been replaced and now predictably we have a manager who is clueless with a team (his team!)bereft of organisation, commitment, energy, flair, guts, pride as well as a team that can't score goals and can't defend! We need to act quickly or else the Championship beckons. Coates needs to bring in a manager who can hit the ground running and get a grip of the shambolic mess MH has created .And if it is TP then I for one will welcome him back with open arms. Your posting history in regards Hughes from day one tells people all the need to know You are that far up Pulis arse you need a fucking oxygen mask You just don't like Pulis, and will disagree with anyone the second they mention his name, even though 99% of the time they are right.
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Post by scfc75 on Dec 20, 2017 9:58:58 GMT
For sure Hughes got a tune out of Tone's players for 3 seasons, encouraging good players to be more expansive, and it worked, very well in fact and I salute him for that. Trouble has been the squad building/regeneration/attempts to move to the fabled 'next level'. This January will be his 10th window, in that time I'm guessing we have signed an average of 3 players per window and a few on loan too so I guess we are looking at a minimum of 30 signings and perhaps 8 or 10 players on loan. Hand on heart, how many of those can you honestly say have been an unqualified success? I'm struggling to come up with one! Shaqiri, the Moses loan, perhaps the Zouma loan, arguably Joe Allen, anyone else? All managers get a few hits and a few misses but our miss rate must be the highest ever recorded?! During his first two seasons Hughes dined out on the foundations left him by TP. To begin with he added a little flair, however each and every time we were in the shit he went back to TP's old boys to get us out of it and it's worked until now. I always questioned whether Sparky could build his own spine, his own core? Answer - NO! His attempts to to replace Robert Huth have been embarrassing, Whelan still has been replaced and Jonnie Walters goals, commitment, desire certainly haven't been replaced and now predictably we have a manager who is clueless with a team (his team!)bereft of organisation, commitment, energy, flair, guts, pride as well as a team that can't score goals and can't defend! We need to act quickly or else the Championship beckons. Coates needs to bring in a manager who can hit the ground running and get a grip of the shambolic mess MH has created .And if it is TP then I for one will welcome him back with open arms. I've already posted this once, can't remember which thread it's on... The so called 'strong foundations, tough backbone, 100% committed squad' that Pulis left for Hughes to dine out on won just 3 of their final 19 games under Pulis. That's a worse record than Hughes has this season even if we get beaten by WBA. He left a squad in relegation form. This dewey eyed vision that Pulis built this team of storm troopers who battled, were tough to beat and who Hughes was lucky to inherit is bullshit. When Hughes took over he inherited a team that had gained fewer points in their final half season than he has so far this season, yet we're supposed to think that Tone is God, and that Hughes is awful and not fit to clean Pulis' baseball cap? If anything Hughes should be praised for getting a squad low on morale playing and winning again, but no it's only down to Pulis that we went on to get consecutive 9th place finishes. You really couldn't make this shit up.
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Post by werrington on Dec 20, 2017 10:42:37 GMT
Your posting history in regards Hughes from day one tells people all the need to know You are that far up Pulis arse you need a fucking oxygen mask You just don't like Pulis, and will disagree with anyone the second they mention his name, even though 99% of the time they are right. You are never right In more ways than one
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Post by mickmillslovechild on Dec 20, 2017 10:52:07 GMT
Your posting history in regards Hughes from day one tells people all the need to know You are that far up Pulis arse you need a fucking oxygen mask You just don't like Pulis, and will disagree with anyone the second they mention his name, even though 99% of the time they are right. You've proved time and time again on this thread, you clearly know fuck all about the man you're rimming in the first place, and the logic you yourself have used to slag off Hughes proves that Pulis has been even worse this season.....leading to the conclusion that you're either thick as pigshit or just a fucking crackhead. I'm going for a combination of the 2. There are some that have made coherent and cohesive arguments regarding Pulis so even though i don't agree i at least respect their opinion, all you've done by agreeing with them is ruin the credibility of that post for the person that made it. You've just been an embarrassment really and have been destroyed so many times now by so many different people, i'm starting to wonder if you're Katie Price!
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Post by thegift on Dec 20, 2017 10:53:03 GMT
You just don't like Pulis, and will disagree with anyone the second they mention his name, even though 99% of the time they are right. You've proved time and time again on this thread, you clearly know fuck all about the man you're rimming in the first place, and the logic you yourself have used to slag off Hughes proves that Pulis has been even worse this season.....leading to the conclusion that you're either thick as pigshit or just a fucking crackhead. I'm going for a combination of the 2. There are some that have made coherent and cohesive arguments regarding Pulis so even though i don't agree i at least respect their opinion, all you've done by agreeing with them is ruin the credibility of that post for the person that made it. You've just been an embarrassment really and have been destroyed so many times now by so many different people, i'm starting to wonder if you're Katie Price! Tbh mate i don't even read what you put anymore.
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Post by mickmillslovechild on Dec 20, 2017 10:56:43 GMT
You've proved time and time again on this thread, you clearly know fuck all about the man you're rimming in the first place, and the logic you yourself have used to slag off Hughes proves that Pulis has been even worse this season.....leading to the conclusion that you're either thick as pigshit or just a fucking crackhead. I'm going for a combination of the 2. There are some that have made coherent and cohesive arguments regarding Pulis so even though i don't agree i at least respect their opinion, all you've done by agreeing with them is ruin the credibility of that post for the person that made it. You've just been an embarrassment really and have been destroyed so many times now by so many different people, i'm starting to wonder if you're Katie Price! Tbh mate i don't even read what you put anymore. I rest my case!
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Post by Davef on Dec 20, 2017 11:13:43 GMT
During his first two seasons Hughes dined out on the foundations left him by TP. To begin with he added a little flair, however each and every time we were in the shit he went back to TP's old boys to get us out of it and it's worked until now. I always questioned whether Sparky could build his own spine, his own core? Answer - NO! His attempts to to replace Robert Huth have been embarrassing, Whelan still has been replaced and Jonnie Walters goals, commitment, desire certainly haven't been replaced and now predictably we have a manager who is clueless with a team (his team!)bereft of organisation, commitment, energy, flair, guts, pride as well as a team that can't score goals and can't defend! We need to act quickly or else the Championship beckons. Coates needs to bring in a manager who can hit the ground running and get a grip of the shambolic mess MH has created .And if it is TP then I for one will welcome him back with open arms. I've already posted this once, can't remember which thread it's on... The so called 'strong foundations, tough backbone, 100% committed squad' that Pulis left for Hughes to dine out on won just 3 of their final 19 games under Pulis. That's a worse record than Hughes has this season even if we get beaten by WBA. He left a squad in relegation form. This dewey eyed vision that Pulis built this team of storm troopers who battled, were tough to beat and who Hughes was lucky to inherit is bullshit. When Hughes took over he inherited a team that had gained fewer points in their final half season than he has so far this season, yet we're supposed to think that Tone is God, and that Hughes is awful and not fit to clean Pulis' baseball cap? If anything Hughes should be praised for getting a squad low on morale playing and winning again, but no it's only down to Pulis that we went on to get consecutive 9th place finishes. You really couldn't make this shit up. The re-writing of history is truly astonishing. If anyone is any doubt about how desperately poor we were during the latter stages of the Pulis era, have a read at The Oatcake Editorial from Issue 537, a week after we lost 1-3 at home to Aston Villa: A Humbling Experience ANY misguided ideas that things were not all that bad at Stoke and that we were suddenly going to click into gear were cruelly dispelled against struggling Aston Villa last weekend as we were given a deserved beating by a team who, quite simply, looked much better than we did.
We can talk about the handball decisions we didn’t get, or curse our misfortune that a full-back should score what is undoubtedly going to be the greatest goal of his career against us, but the truth is that we were second best throughout almost the entire game and that anything other than an Aston Villa victory would have been a travesty of justice.
Villa were just better than us in almost every department on the day and the 3-1 defeat was a humbling experience for Stoke City and for Tony Pulis.
It had meant to be a day when we took a giant step towards guaranteeing our Premier League safety and showing the Aston Villa kiddies what the Britannia Stadium was all about.
Instead though we came up against a team who out-competed us, out-played us and out-scored us. On the day they were everything that we have not been for quite some time now.
This was never better typified than in the very dying moments of the match when they broke away to score their third goal. What an incredible sight it was to see FOUR Villa players sprinting towards out goal with just Asmir Begovic to beat. Four onto one with the game moving into injury time.
You know you’d NEVER see that from a Stoke team these days and, in fact, it wasn’t all that long ago that we saw our keeper being sent back to his own area as he tried to come up for a corner in the dying stages of a 1-0 defeat at Fulham!
We looked slow, lethargic and clumsy against our more sprightly opponents and the defeat now leaves us very much in the thick of the relegation battle, wondering if we’re actually going to manage to get the points we need to avoid dropping into the Championship and exactly where they’re going to come from.
We have now won only one of our last thirteen league games and have taken just five points in more than three months of football. We won five games out of nine between 10th November and the 26th December but other than that we’ve won only two matches, against Swansea and Reading throughout the remaining 22 games of the campaign so far.
These are quite frightening statistics and show, as did last week’s defeat, that we can’t just take it for granted that we’re going to start winning matches any time soon.
We all obviously hope that we do but at the moment it’s very hard to imagine the circumstances in which we do actually win a game. We look like a team which has forgotten how to win, or which no longer believes it can.
It is utterly ridiculous, having been on 29 points after drawing 3-3 with Southampton on 29th December that we should be, 13 league games and more than three months later, stuck on only 34 points and with the relegation trap door opening up beneath us.
Any cosy thoughts that we’re still too good to go down have to be dismissed immediately and we have to face up to the reality of where we are and how we got there.
We have not been good enough, at any level, from manager through to players, and that has to stop, otherwise we’ll be playing in the Football League next season. It’s that simple.
The Villa defeat was a stinging slap across the face for us but it can also serve as a much-needed wake-up call. Games are fast running out and we need to start delivering immediately.
Denial and delusion will get us absolutely nowhere at this late stage of the season.
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Post by estrangedsonoffaye on Dec 20, 2017 11:17:30 GMT
I've already posted this once, can't remember which thread it's on... The so called 'strong foundations, tough backbone, 100% committed squad' that Pulis left for Hughes to dine out on won just 3 of their final 19 games under Pulis. That's a worse record than Hughes has this season even if we get beaten by WBA. He left a squad in relegation form. This dewey eyed vision that Pulis built this team of storm troopers who battled, were tough to beat and who Hughes was lucky to inherit is bullshit. When Hughes took over he inherited a team that had gained fewer points in their final half season than he has so far this season, yet we're supposed to think that Tone is God, and that Hughes is awful and not fit to clean Pulis' baseball cap? If anything Hughes should be praised for getting a squad low on morale playing and winning again, but no it's only down to Pulis that we went on to get consecutive 9th place finishes. You really couldn't make this shit up. The re-writing of history is truly astonishing. If anyone is any doubt about how desperately poor we were during the latter stages of the Pulis era, have a read at The Oatcake Editorial from Issue 537, a week after we lost 1-3 at home to Aston Villa: A Humbling Experience ANY misguided ideas that things were not all that bad at Stoke and that we were suddenly going to click into gear were cruelly dispelled against struggling Aston Villa last weekend as we were given a deserved beating by a team who, quite simply, looked much better than we did.
We can talk about the handball decisions we didn’t get, or curse our misfortune that a full-back should score what is undoubtedly going to be the greatest goal of his career against us, but the truth is that we were second best throughout almost the entire game and that anything other than an Aston Villa victory would have been a travesty of justice.
Villa were just better than us in almost every department on the day and the 3-1 defeat was a humbling experience for Stoke City and for Tony Pulis.
It had meant to be a day when we took a giant step towards guaranteeing our Premier League safety and showing the Aston Villa kiddies what the Britannia Stadium was all about.
Instead though we came up against a team who out-competed us, out-played us and out-scored us. On the day they were everything that we have not been for quite some time now.
This was never better typified than in the very dying moments of the match when they broke away to score their third goal. What an incredible sight it was to see FOUR Villa players sprinting towards out goal with just Asmir Begovic to beat. Four onto one with the game moving into injury time.
You know you’d NEVER see that from a Stoke team these days and, in fact, it wasn’t all that long ago that we saw our keeper being sent back to his own area as he tried to come up for a corner in the dying stages of a 1-0 defeat at Fulham!
We looked slow, lethargic and clumsy against our more sprightly opponents and the defeat now leaves us very much in the thick of the relegation battle, wondering if we’re actually going to manage to get the points we need to avoid dropping into the Championship and exactly where they’re going to come from.
We have now won only one of our last thirteen league games and have taken just five points in more than three months of football. We won five games out of nine between 10th November and the 26th December but other than that we’ve won only two matches, against Swansea and Reading throughout the remaining 22 games of the campaign so far.
These are quite frightening statistics and show, as did last week’s defeat, that we can’t just take it for granted that we’re going to start winning matches any time soon.
We all obviously hope that we do but at the moment it’s very hard to imagine the circumstances in which we do actually win a game. We look like a team which has forgotten how to win, or which no longer believes it can.
It is utterly ridiculous, having been on 29 points after drawing 3-3 with Southampton on 29th December that we should be, 13 league games and more than three months later, stuck on only 34 points and with the relegation trap door opening up beneath us.
Any cosy thoughts that we’re still too good to go down have to be dismissed immediately and we have to face up to the reality of where we are and how we got there.
We have not been good enough, at any level, from manager through to players, and that has to stop, otherwise we’ll be playing in the Football League next season. It’s that simple.
The Villa defeat was a stinging slap across the face for us but it can also serve as a much-needed wake-up call. Games are fast running out and we need to start delivering immediately.
Denial and delusion will get us absolutely nowhere at this late stage of the season.
The last time I had the same feeling as that West Ham game, was that Villa game. It was only a rare away win at an awful QPR side that got us back on track. I honestly thought Lowton's wonderstrike had us relegated.
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Post by bayernoatcake on Dec 20, 2017 11:18:27 GMT
I've already posted this once, can't remember which thread it's on... The so called 'strong foundations, tough backbone, 100% committed squad' that Pulis left for Hughes to dine out on won just 3 of their final 19 games under Pulis. That's a worse record than Hughes has this season even if we get beaten by WBA. He left a squad in relegation form. This dewey eyed vision that Pulis built this team of storm troopers who battled, were tough to beat and who Hughes was lucky to inherit is bullshit. When Hughes took over he inherited a team that had gained fewer points in their final half season than he has so far this season, yet we're supposed to think that Tone is God, and that Hughes is awful and not fit to clean Pulis' baseball cap? If anything Hughes should be praised for getting a squad low on morale playing and winning again, but no it's only down to Pulis that we went on to get consecutive 9th place finishes. You really couldn't make this shit up. The re-writing of history is truly astonishing. If anyone is any doubt about how desperately poor we were during the latter stages of the Pulis era, have a read at The Oatcake Editorial from Issue 537, a week after we lost 1-3 at home to Aston Villa: A Humbling Experience ANY misguided ideas that things were not all that bad at Stoke and that we were suddenly going to click into gear were cruelly dispelled against struggling Aston Villa last weekend as we were given a deserved beating by a team who, quite simply, looked much better than we did.
We can talk about the handball decisions we didn’t get, or curse our misfortune that a full-back should score what is undoubtedly going to be the greatest goal of his career against us, but the truth is that we were second best throughout almost the entire game and that anything other than an Aston Villa victory would have been a travesty of justice.
Villa were just better than us in almost every department on the day and the 3-1 defeat was a humbling experience for Stoke City and for Tony Pulis.
It had meant to be a day when we took a giant step towards guaranteeing our Premier League safety and showing the Aston Villa kiddies what the Britannia Stadium was all about.
Instead though we came up against a team who out-competed us, out-played us and out-scored us. On the day they were everything that we have not been for quite some time now.
This was never better typified than in the very dying moments of the match when they broke away to score their third goal. What an incredible sight it was to see FOUR Villa players sprinting towards out goal with just Asmir Begovic to beat. Four onto one with the game moving into injury time.
You know you’d NEVER see that from a Stoke team these days and, in fact, it wasn’t all that long ago that we saw our keeper being sent back to his own area as he tried to come up for a corner in the dying stages of a 1-0 defeat at Fulham!
We looked slow, lethargic and clumsy against our more sprightly opponents and the defeat now leaves us very much in the thick of the relegation battle, wondering if we’re actually going to manage to get the points we need to avoid dropping into the Championship and exactly where they’re going to come from.
We have now won only one of our last thirteen league games and have taken just five points in more than three months of football. We won five games out of nine between 10th November and the 26th December but other than that we’ve won only two matches, against Swansea and Reading throughout the remaining 22 games of the campaign so far.
These are quite frightening statistics and show, as did last week’s defeat, that we can’t just take it for granted that we’re going to start winning matches any time soon.
We all obviously hope that we do but at the moment it’s very hard to imagine the circumstances in which we do actually win a game. We look like a team which has forgotten how to win, or which no longer believes it can.
It is utterly ridiculous, having been on 29 points after drawing 3-3 with Southampton on 29th December that we should be, 13 league games and more than three months later, stuck on only 34 points and with the relegation trap door opening up beneath us.
Any cosy thoughts that we’re still too good to go down have to be dismissed immediately and we have to face up to the reality of where we are and how we got there.
We have not been good enough, at any level, from manager through to players, and that has to stop, otherwise we’ll be playing in the Football League next season. It’s that simple.
The Villa defeat was a stinging slap across the face for us but it can also serve as a much-needed wake-up call. Games are fast running out and we need to start delivering immediately.
Denial and delusion will get us absolutely nowhere at this late stage of the season.
Just change West Ham for Villa, 3-0 for 3-1 and you have a piece for Saturday sorted!
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Post by scfc75 on Dec 20, 2017 11:25:00 GMT
One final thought from me. Judging by the polls on here, which have had plenty of activity on them... the percentage of people who want Hughes to stay is broadly the same as the percentage of people who want Pulis back. Putting that into context - the opinion on here is that a Pulis return would be as bad as keeping Hughes.
Given how bad we are at present, I think that speaks volumes.
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Post by thegift on Dec 20, 2017 11:30:47 GMT
One final thought from me. Judging by the polls on here, which have had plenty of activity on them... the percentage of people who want Hughes to stay is broadly the same as the percentage of people who want Pulis back. Putting that into context - the opinion on here is that a Pulis return would be as bad as keeping Hughes. Given how bad we are at present, I think that speaks volumes. Remember the people that originally had voted for Hughes to go, have now voted for him to stay so pulis doesn't come back. So the percentage of Hughes to go should be higher.
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Post by scfc75 on Dec 20, 2017 11:38:30 GMT
One final thought from me. Judging by the polls on here, which have had plenty of activity on them... the percentage of people who want Hughes to stay is broadly the same as the percentage of people who want Pulis back. Putting that into context - the opinion on here is that a Pulis return would be as bad as keeping Hughes. Given how bad we are at present, I think that speaks volumes. Remember the people that originally had voted for Hughes to go, have now voted for him to stay so pulis doesn't come back. So the percentage of Hughes to go should be higher. Ah, ok
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Post by Pugsley on Dec 20, 2017 13:11:10 GMT
Your posting history in regards Hughes from day one tells people all the need to know You are that far up Pulis arse you need a fucking oxygen mask You just don't like Pulis, and will disagree with anyone the second they mention his name, even though 99% of the time they are right. Why don't you address the points about Pulis and his shocking record when he left Stoke City and his diabolical (worse than Hughes) record in this calendar year? If it was any other manager with that record and he was suggested as a new Stoke manager you'd be on it like a rash.
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Post by estp1863 on Dec 20, 2017 13:13:30 GMT
I don't know what the fuss is about we may as Well keep Hughes it isn't like we get our arse handed to us on a plate every 2 weeks is it. Only a fool keep the clown.
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Post by Northy on Dec 20, 2017 13:13:36 GMT
Someone who took Tone’s players and finished higher in the table than he ever could? What do I win? For sure Hughes got a tune out of Tone's players for 3 seasons, encouraging good players to be more expansive, and it worked, very well in fact and I salute him for that. Trouble has been the squad building/regeneration/attempts to move to the fabled 'next level'. This January will be his 10th window, in that time I'm guessing we have signed an average of 3 players per window and a few on loan too so I guess we are looking at a minimum of 30 signings and perhaps 8 or 10 players on loan. Hand on heart, how many of those can you honestly say have been an unqualified success? I'm struggling to come up with one! Shaqiri, the Moses loan, perhaps the Zouma loan, arguably Joe Allen, anyone else? All managers get a few hits and a few misses but our miss rate must be the highest ever recorded?! Arnoutabitch ?
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Post by Gods on Dec 20, 2017 13:38:54 GMT
I don't know what the fuss is about we may as Well keep Hughes it isn't like we get our arse handed to us on a plate every 2 weeks is it. Only a fool keep the clown. I hadn't quite thought of it in those terms but you may have something there! Next time Robbie Savage or anyone else does their 'I don't know what they are moaning about speech' that should be the immediate retort
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Post by Deleted on Dec 20, 2017 13:49:01 GMT
One final thought from me. Judging by the polls on here, which have had plenty of activity on them... the percentage of people who want Hughes to stay is broadly the same as the percentage of people who want Pulis back. Putting that into context - the opinion on here is that a Pulis return would be as bad as keeping Hughes. Given how bad we are at present, I think that speaks volumes. Remember the people that originally had voted for Hughes to go, have now voted for him to stay so pulis doesn't come back. So the percentage of Hughes to go should be higher.
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Post by trickydicky73 on Dec 20, 2017 14:11:12 GMT
The re-writing of history is truly astonishing. If anyone is any doubt about how desperately poor we were during the latter stages of the Pulis era, have a read at The Oatcake Editorial from Issue 537, a week after we lost 1-3 at home to Aston Villa: A Humbling Experience ANY misguided ideas that things were not all that bad at Stoke and that we were suddenly going to click into gear were cruelly dispelled against struggling Aston Villa last weekend as we were given a deserved beating by a team who, quite simply, looked much better than we did.
We can talk about the handball decisions we didn’t get, or curse our misfortune that a full-back should score what is undoubtedly going to be the greatest goal of his career against us, but the truth is that we were second best throughout almost the entire game and that anything other than an Aston Villa victory would have been a travesty of justice.
Villa were just better than us in almost every department on the day and the 3-1 defeat was a humbling experience for Stoke City and for Tony Pulis.
It had meant to be a day when we took a giant step towards guaranteeing our Premier League safety and showing the Aston Villa kiddies what the Britannia Stadium was all about.
Instead though we came up against a team who out-competed us, out-played us and out-scored us. On the day they were everything that we have not been for quite some time now.
This was never better typified than in the very dying moments of the match when they broke away to score their third goal. What an incredible sight it was to see FOUR Villa players sprinting towards out goal with just Asmir Begovic to beat. Four onto one with the game moving into injury time.
You know you’d NEVER see that from a Stoke team these days and, in fact, it wasn’t all that long ago that we saw our keeper being sent back to his own area as he tried to come up for a corner in the dying stages of a 1-0 defeat at Fulham!
We looked slow, lethargic and clumsy against our more sprightly opponents and the defeat now leaves us very much in the thick of the relegation battle, wondering if we’re actually going to manage to get the points we need to avoid dropping into the Championship and exactly where they’re going to come from.
We have now won only one of our last thirteen league games and have taken just five points in more than three months of football. We won five games out of nine between 10th November and the 26th December but other than that we’ve won only two matches, against Swansea and Reading throughout the remaining 22 games of the campaign so far.
These are quite frightening statistics and show, as did last week’s defeat, that we can’t just take it for granted that we’re going to start winning matches any time soon.
We all obviously hope that we do but at the moment it’s very hard to imagine the circumstances in which we do actually win a game. We look like a team which has forgotten how to win, or which no longer believes it can.
It is utterly ridiculous, having been on 29 points after drawing 3-3 with Southampton on 29th December that we should be, 13 league games and more than three months later, stuck on only 34 points and with the relegation trap door opening up beneath us.
Any cosy thoughts that we’re still too good to go down have to be dismissed immediately and we have to face up to the reality of where we are and how we got there.
We have not been good enough, at any level, from manager through to players, and that has to stop, otherwise we’ll be playing in the Football League next season. It’s that simple.
The Villa defeat was a stinging slap across the face for us but it can also serve as a much-needed wake-up call. Games are fast running out and we need to start delivering immediately.
Denial and delusion will get us absolutely nowhere at this late stage of the season.
Just change West Ham for Villa, 3-0 for 3-1 and you have a piece for Saturday sorted! Which gets to the heart of it. I think Hughes got "a tune" out of the Stoke players he inherited because Pulis had lost them, and also Hughes let them express themselves more. He deserves great credit for that, as Tox has said. Where I agree with Ripon, is that Hughes has made a pig's ear of rebuilding the squad, and most like for like replacements have been poor. I think there are great similarities now, with the end of Pulis's reign in that the players look like they have lost faith in him. as if they are almost going through the motions, but no longer believe.
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Post by bayernoatcake on Dec 20, 2017 14:14:11 GMT
Just change West Ham for Villa, 3-0 for 3-1 and you have a piece for Saturday sorted! Which gets to the heart of it. I think Hughes got "a tune" out of the Stoke players he inherited because Pulis had lost them, and also Hughes let them express themselves more. He deserves great credit for that, as Tox has said. Where I agree with Ripon, is that Hughes has made a pig's ear of rebuilding the squad, and most like for like replacements have been poor. I think there are great similarities now, with the end of Pulis's reign in that the players look like they have lost faith in him. as if they are almost going through the motions, but no longer believe. Hughes deserves a lot of credit for what he did in those first two years. The time for a dignified exit was missed though sadly.
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Post by thegift on Dec 20, 2017 14:38:22 GMT
You just don't like Pulis, and will disagree with anyone the second they mention his name, even though 99% of the time they are right. Why don't you address the points about Pulis and his shocking record when he left Stoke City and his diabolical (worse than Hughes) record in this calendar year? If it was any other manager with that record and he was suggested as a new Stoke manager you'd be on it like a rash. Pulis record towards the end did go downhill ever so slightly, but i do still believe he is one of the best manager's in Europe. What he did for us was a small miracle, going from facing relegation in the championship, to promotion, fa cup final, semi final 5-0 (biggest result in a cup at Wembley) and also Europe. That atmosphere and excitement first season back in the top flight, them trips to Europe, the semi final of the cup, i will take them memories to my grave. The guy should be knighted for his work at stoke, he did what no other manager could do. There is nothing that MH has done that will ever top them memories, and I'm doubtful no other manager will, EVER for stoke. The guy is an absolute hero and i do think deserves a statue at the ground in remembranceof how good that man actually was. Every club has has rough spells and bad times, MH times is up, as were Pulis' a few years back in the form we were in. We are battling for premier league survival, and where the good managers are gone (Allardyce etc) their isn't a better fit than pulis. Regardless of Pulis record at another club, its a fresh start for him here and i believe with him in charge we will be a premier league team once again next season, ready for a new manager to come and start with brand new fresh ideas.
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Post by mickmillslovechild on Dec 20, 2017 14:44:49 GMT
Why don't you address the points about Pulis and his shocking record when he left Stoke City and his diabolical (worse than Hughes) record in this calendar year? If it was any other manager with that record and he was suggested as a new Stoke manager you'd be on it like a rash. Pulis record towards the end did go downhill ever so slightly, but i do still believe he is one of the best manager's in Europe. What he did for us was a small miracle, going from facing relegation in the championship, to promotion, fa cup final, semi final 5-0 (biggest result in a cup at Wembley) and also Europe. That atmosphere and excitement first season back in the top flight, them trips to Europe, the semi final of the cup, i will take them memories to my grave. The guy should be knighted for his work at stoke, he did what no other manager could do. There is nothing that MH has done that will ever top them memories, and I'm doubtful no other manager will, EVER for stoke. The guy is an absolute hero and i do think deserves a statue at the ground in remembranceof how good that man actually was. Every club has has rough spells and bad times, MH times is up, as were Pulis' a few years back in the form we were in. We are battling for premier league survival, and where the good managers are gone (Allardyce etc) their isn't a better fit than pulis. Regardless of Pulis record at another club, its a fresh start for him here and i believe with him in charge we will be a premier league team once again next season, ready for a new manager to come and start with brand new fresh ideas. Funny how when it's Pulis we have "Regardless of his record at another club"....but when it Hughes you completely use his record at another club as one of the reasons why he isn't good enough. What about "Regardless of his record at another cub" for Hughes eh? Noooo...when it comes to that you just make up "Facts" that he was relegated with QPR instead and pretend that proves he isn't up to the job. AS i mentioned yesterday, are you willing to accept therefore by that same logic, that if WBA go down then it'll be Pulis that got them relegated? The terms "Floundering" and "All over the place" don't even come close when it comes to you on this thread.
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Post by thegift on Dec 20, 2017 14:49:18 GMT
Pulis record towards the end did go downhill ever so slightly, but i do still believe he is one of the best manager's in Europe. What he did for us was a small miracle, going from facing relegation in the championship, to promotion, fa cup final, semi final 5-0 (biggest result in a cup at Wembley) and also Europe. That atmosphere and excitement first season back in the top flight, them trips to Europe, the semi final of the cup, i will take them memories to my grave. The guy should be knighted for his work at stoke, he did what no other manager could do. There is nothing that MH has done that will ever top them memories, and I'm doubtful no other manager will, EVER for stoke. The guy is an absolute hero and i do think deserves a statue at the ground in remembranceof how good that man actually was. Every club has has rough spells and bad times, MH times is up, as were Pulis' a few years back in the form we were in. We are battling for premier league survival, and where the good managers are gone (Allardyce etc) their isn't a better fit than pulis. Regardless of Pulis record at another club, its a fresh start for him here and i believe with him in charge we will be a premier league team once again next season, ready for a new manager to come and start with brand new fresh ideas. Funny how when it's Pulis we have "Regardless of his record at another club"....but when it Hughes you completely use his record at another club as one of the reasons why he isn't good enough. What about "Regardless of his record at another cub" for Hughes eh? Noooo...when it comes to that you just make up "Facts" that he was relegated with QPR instead and pretend that proves he isn't up to the job. AS i mentioned yesterday, are you willing to accept therefore by that same logic, that if WBA go down then it's Pulis that got them relegated? The terms "Floundering" and "All over the place" don't even come close when it comes to you on this thread. Hughes had already relegated QPR, maybe not mathematically but they were long gone. West brom are in more of a position to stay up then QPR were, again I'm not basing it mathematically, I'm talking what Hughes did to QPR. He sunk them quicker than the titanic.
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