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Post by Trouserdog on Mar 8, 2008 22:09:00 GMT
To me it's pretty obvious that the stubborn inclusion of Diao will cost us points, and almost certainly has done already. He was slightly better today than at QPR (although it's difficult to imagine how he could have been worse), but he's still nowhere near fit/sharp enough to be in our first team, so why does Pulis keep on picking him?
It's because Tony, like a lot of managers, has to try and be seen to be vindicated in his obsessive 6 month pursuit of Diao, when the player clearly wasn't interested until he realised that nobody else in the world wanted him. Now we've got him in the squad, even though in his present condition he's about as much use as tits on a fish, Pulis HAS to put Diao in the team to satiate his own ego.
The unbelievable inclusion of Cresswell at the expense of Gallagher is another ego-driven decision. It doesn't take much working out that the driving force behing the Gallagher signing is John Rudge, as he was the man who brought Gally to the club the first time round, and saw the positive impact that he had on the team. Now he's persuaded Pulis to bring him over here again, Pulis would much rather make a point of playing HIS signing, Cresswell, instead of the target that Rudge has been advocating probably ever since Gallagher went back to Blackburn the first time.
One of the criticisms of Pulis is that he doesn't like young players. This isn't strictly true, as there have been plenty of younger players who have played regularly under Pulis...Shawcross, John Halls etc. What he doesn't like are younger players who he hasn't personally hand picked and signed himself. There is no way on God's earth that anybody in their right mind could drop Dickinson after his performance against Ipswich, yet as soon as Danny Pugh is fit, he's back in the side, for no other reason than that Pulis paid money for him and therefore sees him as "his" player.
It's easy to dismiss all this as armchair psychology etc, but what other reason can there be for these decisions? I guarantee that if you polled the Stoke crowd today as to whether Diao and Cresswell should play on the left, I doubt whether 5% of us would have included them.
This isn't a case of Pulis bashing, or trying to score points or anything sad like that, I am just extremely concerned that all the good work that Pulis has done in getting us in this position could be flushed down the shitter in the next ten games, through his out and out stubbornness.
If anyone has any alternative explanations to the persistent inclusion of Diao, and overlooking of Gallagher then I'm all ears.
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Post by jarhead on Mar 8, 2008 22:32:32 GMT
Great post T.
Ive always said Pulis has to play HIS MEN no matter what carnage it causes on the pitch and god only knows when Matteo is fitter he will find a place for that heep of shit aswell.
It just makes no sense to watch Diao a lumbering wreck in the middle to be playing ahead of a FIT better option in Pugh no sense at all and id love someone to tell me what the Diao in his current position is offering on our so called assault on promotion?
The Cresswell debacle is beyond a joke now and he has done his shift far to much now and its ran its cause.
Its painfull to watch because when you get somebody in with Gallaghers
quality then there is no excuses to continue with a centre forward with no tricks or real knowledge of the left flank anymore,it can only be the stubborness of Pulis and making a point of who he wants in and thats final.well im sorry TP you are leaving yourself open to critiscm like last seasons team selections which cost us.
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Post by do it for rawba on Mar 8, 2008 22:36:03 GMT
Trouser, agree with the post. You could add a line about Sidebe. Since his bashing by them togo chaps, he has not looked the same player. He was winning every header and generally playing well - apart from the scoring bit  . My point here is that Tone is being stubborn about playing Mama every game. Cressy is defo not a left winger so why not play him up front with riccy? |
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Post by adri2008 on Mar 8, 2008 22:50:09 GMT
With regards Diao, I dont think it'll be a problem - as soon as Whelan has finished with his suspension, we'll have him and Delap as our central midfield pairing. They will be fine for the rest of the season.
The cresswell issue is a bit different but hes still contributed 11-12 (?) goals from there so far this season. I suspect the reason he doesn't play gallagher right now is that he likes to have him as an impact player. When we're losing or drawing, who is more likely to give us that something special to get us a goal, Cresswell or Gallagher?
Guess the best option would be to have Cresswell up front, Gallagher on the left and bench sidibe, but then our bench looks very weak. We really do need another striker for the final few games.
I still think we are pretty well positioned anyway - if we can at least take some points from the next couple of games, our final 7 dont look all that scary.
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Post by anarchicalan on Mar 8, 2008 23:22:02 GMT
I have said all these things before and I got slated, abused and so on. Now the petty minded have the smite key as well.
Ah well.
There are none so blind as those who will not see.
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Post by apb1 on Mar 9, 2008 1:16:10 GMT
I would agree with the post overall - have thought myself sometimes that Pulis's judgement is clouded by fitting every player he's paid for into the team sheet and seeing if any spaces are left.
On the whole though, he has made more good choices than bad, and a number of times I've been made to look a numpty by his bizarre team selections coming good.
Basically, if Fuller had been in better form over the last 3 games we would probably have at least 3 more points and things would seem a lot less gloomy.
Let's hope Riggott and Nash settle in quickly. Let's hope Gallagher, Dicko etc are given a bit more of a chance. Or that we're all wrong and Pulis's lunacy turns out to be correct, like it has for most of the season.
Diao will probably play centre mid when Lawro is suspended too I guess - Delap on right?
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Post by Godo on Mar 9, 2008 8:39:37 GMT
apb - Yes, it'll be back to square pegs in round holes all over again! Dicko, Gallagher, Wilko have good games and find themselves dropped to accommodate players who are poor and ineffective. Loyalty to players who have worked hard and got us where we are is good but a top class manager makes the right decisions 90% of the time -Pulis has slipped to about the 40% range at a critical time!
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Post by swiftnick on Mar 9, 2008 8:54:59 GMT
when i heard the team on radio going to the ground i said that it didn't fill me with confidence of getting a win which we needed.
dickinson should of played with pugh going into midfield in place of diao.the "sidibe way" of playing has been found out and he has no impact on the game which leesens fullers impact considerably.All this talk of getting a new striker in baffles me
we have two decent proven strikers to partner fuller in cresswell and gallagher.
on the point of gally at QPR and yesterday we only looked like doing something when he came on,why does TP wait so bloody long before changing it???? I suspect the above comments are correct in that TP is stubborn and gally is a flair player and does not track back which TP insists on.
Still believe we'll go up but i'm afraid TPs stubborness will leave us having to take the long route via play offs
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Post by Mr_DaftBurger on Mar 9, 2008 9:44:42 GMT
TD
You were going well until poo pooing tits on fish. Tits on fish would be great. If you were on desert island the milk produced could aid the making of batter.
The rest of your arguments is superceded by the tits on fish debate. If they can graft an ear onto a rat why not tits on fish?
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Post by FullerMagic on Mar 9, 2008 10:20:14 GMT
And yet he thinks nothing of introducing a keeper who hasn't played for 13 months, and a centre-half who hasn't played for 4 months for debuts in a crucial game. As you say, he'd make a bloody puzzling psychological case study. Loyalty, stubbornness, ego. Call it what you want  |
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Post by sirpineapple89 on Mar 9, 2008 12:15:21 GMT
Gallagher is one of the best players that I've ever seen play for Stoke. He has the ability to change a game, the skill to beat a man and the difference between us going up or staying down this season could be him. We need him in the team. Now.
Also, Diao either needs to buck his ideas up or piss off, seriously. If we're a club with automatic promotion in sight, we cannot be playing players who, for whatever reason, are not pulling their weight. He was awesome last season but he's either having a serious dip in form or he's lost what he had completely. Come on Salif, pull your finger out!
The decision to leave out Dickinson for Pugh is a really puzzling one. Dickinson, an out-and-out left back, who has never let us down is overlooked in favour of a centre/left midfielder whose talent is wasted whilst at left back. We saw what he could do when we played Newcastle in the cup when he was tremendous. At left back he is a weak link and you can see that he isn't comfortable playing there.
Again, this isn't a Pulis bash. I just wish that he'd overcome his stubborness, play the correct players in their correct positions and then maybe, just maybe, we can make it to the promised land. I still believe we can but the right decisions need to be made over the next ten games in order to do so.
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. My point here is that Tone is being stubborn about playing Mama every game. Cressy is defo not a left winger so why not play him up front with riccy?
