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Post by chiefdelilah on Jan 20, 2015 13:40:24 GMT
because staying in the prem was and is the be all and end all Europa Cup was irrelevant Do you really think we were in danger of going down? It was February, there were loads of games left and we had a healthy number of points?
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Post by Robo10 on Jan 20, 2015 13:41:54 GMT
Think if you remember our league form had become a bit dire, and Pulis sacrificed the tie to concentrate on two key winnable home games against Swansea and Norwich - which we did from memory?
I guess if you were going to criticise he shouldnt have said what he said at the draw - about lets get thousands of Stokies there spending their money - if he only intended on surrendering the tie
A meek first leg, I thought the actual team that played - Ric, Kenwynne etc - were super on the night and (story of his life) Kenwynne should have bagged a hat trick of fairly simple chances, a header from 7 yards and a chance from the edge of the area, both missing the target when he should have scored. Diego Arismendi had his one and only good game for Stoke that night, fairly sure he was fouled (pen?) right before they attacked and scored?
Disappointing, but you wonder if Pulis thought - You know what, we could have a real go at this but I dont think I have the squad to compete in this as well as surviving in the league, something has to give.
Its a shame he used it to expose the shortcomings of the squad, he prevented some of our star players from playing a big game at a big ground (and the memories), and that it holds a bitter taste for lots of fans (that was the beginning of the end I think) who never forgave him - he wasnt loved universally anyway as much as he achieved for us, which is a shame, but this turned the tide against him I feel.
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Post by geoff321 on Jan 20, 2015 13:43:15 GMT
The fact is Stoke did wonderfully well to first qualify for the competition and then did exceptionally well in the tournament itself, yet some people only seem able to concentrate on one team selection for one game.
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Post by miggo on Jan 20, 2015 13:46:39 GMT
It's a shame to think that it was sacrificed for 3 points in an unmemorable game at home to Swansea. Think of how that game would have been remembered if we had gone to the Mestalla and won. That Swansea win was a 6 pointer and we desperately needed the points had we lost it who knows what kind of downward spiral we could have gone on, as it happened it rejuvenated us and sent us on a run that never saw us get in danger again. Also have to take into account TP frame of mind, all of our PL games after a Europe away day were awful and cost us, seems to me he chose PL survival and the financial future of the club over a potential good run in Europe, let's be honest we'd have never have won it and it was nice whilst it lasted but I'd rather we were secure in the league tbh. Who knows maybe we could have won both we will never know now. Sent from my C6603 using proboards
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Post by Olgrligm on Jan 20, 2015 13:47:49 GMT
to be honest at the time i was livid with the squad selection BUT the simple fact is that the team that played that night were a hell of a lot better than the team that played Valencia at the Brit. given the way we played when we were at home, i'm still staggered that people think they (the "Better" first teamers) would have been the right players to play in Valencia anyway...it's not as if they played out of their skin at the Brit and warranted their places away from home. before the game i was going mad at Pulis....after the game i saw they were shitloads better than the 11 that played at the Brit. to say if we'd played our full strength team we'd have given them a proper game and had a proper go at it seem to be completely (and conveniently) forgetting how largely ineffective those same players were in the first leg as well as the previous 5 games in all competitions (of which we lost every single one!) It's kind of awkward, for that reason really. We didn't have the pace or any of the other ingredients in our first team to bother them, but the reserve tea was better equipped for that, bizarrely. I suppose, in the end, what matters is that it wasn't a tactical decision to do all of those things, it was an outright surrender where he had no intention of competing to be in the next round. Just think, if he'd just taken it a tiny bit more seriously, putting Huth and Ryan at centre-back and naming a full selection of subs, we may have come away with the win. We had back to back home games against Norwich and Swansea coming up, but I think we would have beaten them regardless, to be honest.
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Post by dirtygary69 on Jan 20, 2015 13:48:05 GMT
@geoff
Nobody is disputing that, are they? Still, you put your weird spin on things like always.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 20, 2015 13:49:51 GMT
The fact is Stoke did wonderfully well to first qualify for the competition and then did exceptionally well in the tournament itself, yet some people only seem able to concentrate on one team selection for one game. With you not being a Stoke fan geoff probably hard for you to fathom how frustated people were with the selection
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Post by Deleted on Jan 20, 2015 13:55:06 GMT
to be honest at the time i was livid with the squad selection BUT the simple fact is that the team that played that night were a hell of a lot better than the team that played Valencia at the Brit. given the way we played when we were at home, i'm still staggered that people think they (the "Better" first teamers) would have been the right players to play in Valencia anyway...it's not as if they played out of their skin at the Brit and warranted their places away from home. before the game i was going mad at Pulis....after the game i saw they were shitloads better than the 11 that played at the Brit. to say if we'd played our full strength team we'd have given them a proper game and had a proper go at it seem to be completely (and conveniently) forgetting how largely ineffective those same players were in the first leg as well as the previous 5 games in all competitions (of which we lost every single one!) Strange that none of those who performed so much better than players who had been largely ineffective for so long were given a chance to become first team regulars. Any idea why this happened? nope but that isn't the discussion on this thread is it? the discussion seems to be that if he'd picked our usual first team (who were shit in the first leg and had lost 5 in a row before the away leg) we'd have given it a proper go. the facts are that there is nothing to evidence that idea given the fact those players had lost every game for the last month. the team of reserves etc. he put out gave it a far better go away than our first teamers had at home, why they never got picked again is bemusing but that's another thread
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Post by Stafford-Stokie on Jan 20, 2015 13:56:02 GMT
Haha. Sad fucks thread again. They hate the fact that he gets high praise and is at yet another premier league club. Manager of the year last season. So many people can't be wrong.
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Post by owdestokie on Jan 20, 2015 14:04:48 GMT
So, what happened in Valencia 2012..........had a great week in truth!!!! Thanks for asking
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Post by Northy on Jan 20, 2015 14:14:14 GMT
Got some winter sun, had a few beers, saw a few sights, went to a world famous football ground, the reserves lost 1-0, but could have won it if TP's record signing had his shooting boots on. I enjoyed it so much I went back for a few days last October to see more of it, before we drew them I'd never really have considered it for a mini break.
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Post by leicspotter on Jan 20, 2015 14:23:06 GMT
Great few days in the sunshine! Like everyone else I was a bit disappointed that we seemed to have "given up" before the kick-off, but many other clubs have come unstuck during Europa runs, so maybe it was understandable.
I think now, with a "deeper" squad, we could give it a right go!
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Post by coates on Jan 20, 2015 14:26:41 GMT
Another pulis bashing thread yawn.
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Post by robboleek on Jan 20, 2015 14:31:11 GMT
Said at the time this was where Pulis lost me really as a supporter. The fact he came out in the press saying start saving, sell your granny etc to be able to go over there and then to field that team was totally wrong in my eyes!!
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Post by dirtygary69 on Jan 20, 2015 14:40:17 GMT
Great few days in the sunshine! Like everyone else I was a bit disappointed that we seemed to have "given up" before the kick-off, but many other clubs have come unstuck during Europa runs, so maybe it was understandable. I think now, with a "deeper" squad, we could give it a right go!
Understandable that our first foray into Europe in 30 odd years ended with a bog average team playing against a top 3 La Liga team? We should have gone there all guns blazing. We survived that season by 9 points and a miles better goal difference. To claim we were in danger is wide of the mark and a bit of cop out excuse. We weren't and there's no evidence to suggest that getting any further in the competition would have hampered us domestically. It might have helped, it might have gone against us a bit but there's no way we'd have gone down.
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Post by tazi on Jan 20, 2015 14:46:05 GMT
Wow, yet another talk about TP and Valencia.
Fuck me, been done to death.
Playing away in what was supposedly a weeker team and they played better than in that first game at the Brit against them. You could understand supposed uproar if they hadn't have performed but they did perform and we still have threads and posts about it.
Oh yes I was there too and didn't see it as a waste of a match at all.
Pathetic
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Post by metalhead on Jan 20, 2015 14:52:02 GMT
Domestic form wasn't great at the time and we had a key game against, I think, Swansea the following weekend. So that became the priority. What a limp excuse, he bottled it and badly let down thousands of fans who paid loads of money to travel to watch a second string side. This exactly. I have a lot of respect for Tony, and I am not in the business of bashing him, but this was one of his worst decisions in the job. I remember seeing the lineups and being absolutely horrified. Domestic form was poor to okay, but not enough to go down. We had a real chance, he blew it.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 20, 2015 14:56:04 GMT
I remember at the time my budgie 'joey' shaking his head at the team selection .....
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Post by thedeadlyshart on Jan 20, 2015 14:57:30 GMT
It was a mind numbingly shite decision. But in the end, the reserves probably performed better than the first team would have done! this is what I thought at the time too. Horrible team selection, but the reserves who were hardly used played like they had something to prove. Whereas the regulars were wank at home.
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Post by geoff321 on Jan 20, 2015 15:10:42 GMT
What amazes me is why Pulis critics ever believed Pulisball could get the better of the third best team in Spain.
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Post by crapslinger on Jan 20, 2015 15:24:36 GMT
The fact is Stoke did wonderfully well to first qualify for the competition and then did exceptionally well in the tournament itself, yet some people only seem able to concentrate on one team selection for one game. Probably because potentially it was the most important game
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Post by Stafford-Stokie on Jan 20, 2015 15:27:09 GMT
The fact is Stoke did wonderfully well to first qualify for the competition and then did exceptionally well in the tournament itself, yet some people only seem able to concentrate on one team selection for one game. Probably because potentially it was the most important game So Mr Pulis should have stuck with the team that was frankly dogshit in the previous fixture? The haters gotta hate.
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Post by Kjones9 on Jan 20, 2015 15:30:14 GMT
Sun, sea, sand, sangria, shit team.
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Post by elystokie on Jan 20, 2015 15:31:52 GMT
Probably because potentially it was the most important game (lol) So Mr Pulis should have stuck with the team that was frankly dogshit in the previous fixture? The haters gotta hate. :) He should have treated the fans who'd spent a great deal of money largely at his behest with some respect, he might have kept a few more onside.
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Post by Stafford-Stokie on Jan 20, 2015 15:33:26 GMT
So Mr Pulis should have stuck with the team that was frankly dogshit in the previous fixture? The haters gotta hate. He should have treated the fans who'd spent a great deal of money largely at his behest with some respect, he might have kept a few more onside. He did by not playing the shit from the week before!
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Post by Pugsley on Jan 20, 2015 15:33:36 GMT
What amazes me is why Pulis critics ever believed Pulisball could get the better of the third best team in Spain.
Indeed, tummy tickled by the big clubs.... typical TP m.o.
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Post by elystokie on Jan 20, 2015 15:34:43 GMT
He should have treated the fans who'd spent a great deal of money largely at his behest with some respect, he might have kept a few more onside. He did by not playing the shit from the week before! :D No he didn't.
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Post by stokiedan17 on Jan 20, 2015 15:36:30 GMT
If we had the team we had now back then do you think we could have gone further than we did ??
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Post by geoff321 on Jan 20, 2015 15:38:37 GMT
Well let's get into Europe again dan and then we will get the answer.
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Post by crapslinger on Jan 20, 2015 15:42:37 GMT
Probably because potentially it was the most important game So Mr Pulis should have stuck with the team that was frankly dogshit in the previous fixture? The haters gotta hate. He had stuck with it for the majority of the games prior to and reverted back to it after, are you saying that he had been picking the wrong players(dogshit) in those games , he bottled it you know he did as do the majority of Stoke fans who made that trip.
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