Do you think TP knows where we need strengthening

[george2again]

Its clear from most supporters that we need a centre mid, left sided players and a decent striker to give us a real chance of going up. Iam a little skeptical that TP actually sees this as well and knows the quality of player that has to come in. I thin k he will persist with either Pugh or Cresswell in left mid , delap or Eustace to play with Diao and Parking and Pericatd to play up front. The level of player we need is not a Will Hoskins but should be much higher than him ie? Earnshaw etc. Hope Iam wrong but an getting worried - we could blow any chance of promotion with the signings we make. By the way we have spent nothing on our defence since Dubes, Hill, Higgy and Hof all went for big money - a deficit I reckon.

[Stick It On Cort's Head]

i think T.P knows better than the fans!

[CrazyPotter]

He said in the sentinel the other day he wants a left winger and a central midfielder. So don't worry

[LH_SCFC]

Who do you trust more. The fans, the majority of which see us play every other week?

Or the Manager, who sees the players everyday?

[george2again]

Problem is TP has an Achilles heel where he is a stubborn so and so when it comes to persisting with players who ain't good enough and players who are played out of position mainly because he bought them to the club. He really needs to get Cressy playing or competing for a place up front and get a quality left sided player in quick. The Delap thing is a problem as well. TP wants him in the team and he really doesn't have enough quality..

[Linx]

I think we actually missed Delap against Toon. Plus, I think TP knows what players the team needs. Dunna worry theesen.

[dadofsam]

You'd think so, but based on last January's farce when the club cat could see we needed a striker and he didn't do anything about it except blame everyone else then panic-borrow Porkin, you have to ask the question.

[Deleted]

If we have a v good chance of auto promotion we need to sign a good championship goal scorer

our Hull shortcomings will come back to haunt us

[hollywood]

george2again said:

By the way we have spent nothing on our defence since Dubes, Hill, Higgy and Hof all went for big money - a deficit I reckon.

did scfc make a profit last year? or a "deficit"?

very simplistic to view a club's finances in this way.
It's like saying chelsea spent limited cash this year on their "free" signings. On a smaller scale the signings of Diao and Fuller (new contract) have cost money to a club that month on month actually loses money.

Everybody knows what we need. Not everybody knows what it takes to make it happen though.

[OldStokie]

I'm surpised that some of you are surprised that pulis is signing defenders! Pulis is a defensive minded manager and goes on the philosophy of 'if you can keep a clean sheet then all you need to do is score a goal to win the game'. I think he's worried at the amount of goals we're leaking recently and that we're having to score at least two to keep in the game. On that score, I don't really blame him.

However, and this is where pulis has failed in the past, he builds up the defence to the detriment of the attack. It's patently obvious that in order to succeed, we need a 'Pulis defence' and a strike force that can be just as effective. The likes of Pericard, Mama, playing Cresswell out of position and playing Parkin in a 'Mama role' is not the answer. We really do need him now to concentrate on an efective forward playing midfielder and a good winger as many have said. Maybe he is trying to do this so we have to give him the benefit of the doubt. If he doesn't do that and the other contenders strengthen their sides then we will probably fail....again. We do have three good centre forwards who can score goals in Fuller, Parkin and Cresswell. He has to utilise these three properly and also provide someone to provide the ammunition for them.

OS.

[hollywood]

we certainly require the midfield to be bolstered, and imho a partner for fuller would be nice even if we do release cresswell by signing a pacy left winger if we can get in someone better.

however, we also clearly needed the defensive signings. TP has had to rebuild last season's defence which was so good. I believe these signings and the return of Diao will stopthe worrying flow of goals (i.e. Barnsley and plymouth games we previously would've closed out).

This year we do seem to have more goals in us, but partly due to the set piece machine we've become. We desperately need a left wing (for me one with pace- apart from fuller who else has it?), and ideally a goal scoring central midfielder. Against hull, without fuller, of the front 6 only cresswell and lawrence had a goal in them. That's not good. Apart from fuller and cresswell the strikers aren;t up to it. Mama doesn;t score enough, parkin is fat, and pericard is possibly not even a footballer, nerver mind a striker.

TP knows all this. Doing something about it is not always that easy though.

[4kmestoke]

From the limited amount of play I have seen this season, it isnt the defence that is the biggest problem. On a few occasions we have stuffed it up in the middle of the park, and left the defence chasing there own arse. In my opinion we still need that extra bit of quality in mid field to keep the ball instead of gifting avereage opponents pop shots at our goal.

[hollywood]

4kmestoke said:

. In my opinion we still need that extra bit of quality in mid field to keep the ball instead of gifting avereage opponents pop shots at our goal.

as i said, everybody knows this, and to suggest the manager is oblivious is laughable.
he knows, but its not as simple as that. He needs to get better players of the right type in at the right price for the positions in which we lack. Everybody wants to do the same thoigh. Many people on here would have happily bought Mcleod, Sharp, or Eastwood. None have them have pulled up any trees. He can only spend the money once. Make a poor buy and and your "asset" can end up being worthless. Additionally, this is our best opportunity in a long time. Is it surprising he might be a bit cautious. These key purchases need to be right.
Look at previous attempted purchases.
Has he tried to buy strikers? yes. Hulse. Zamora.
Has he tried to buy quality c mids? yes. Sidwell. Francis.
These are just an example of ones we know about. I'm sure he continues to try and buy players of this ilk.
Bit bored of people thinking that managing a real football club in the championship is as simplistic as doing it on your PC.

[4kmestoke]

Its a chicken egg senario. Stoke have not been in recent times attractive propositions for the players with the talent requiered. Being at the right end of the table for the second year running should start to re addresse this a little, but it will not happen over night. It is clear that Tony Pulis is trying to attract the right quality to the club, but there are many things that still spoil the image of SCFC. Reported poor wage structure, half empty stadium, divided fans etc etc are all problems that make Stoke less attractive than say someone like WBA. Slowly things are changing, for the better, but this wont happen over night.