[talkSAFT]

It's unfortunate that our slump has turned into an 'I told you so debate' from those that didn't
support Pulis from the off.

I believe that TP inherited a team destined for relegation and if he keeps us up, he's done a
good job. If we go down however, he's failed.

He will be judged at the end of the season.

There's no doubt that the wins against Southampton (who had come off the back of 5 away wins
on the bounce), Swansea, Stoke (who always beat us at our place) and West Ham were
impressive. Even more so when you consider the Burnley win was the only time we'd beaten a
team at home that were not down to 10 men in well over a year.

Unfortunately now we're having a bit of a slump, those who were slagging Pulis off when we
were winning want to show their elitism by telling everyone that said Pulis has improved things
that 'I told you so'.

It's fairly obvious that Pulis made a mistake on Saturday. If you bring a centre half on at 2-1
up and lose 3-2, the result speaks for itself.

The guy has done some good and some bad but the proof of the pudding will come on May 24th.
If we stay up with this aged, dross, unbalanced squad then i'll praise him. If not, then he's
failed along with the mugs who have assembled this p*ss poor bunch of players over the last
couple of years.

I'm pretty sure the "elite" were being just guarded after Pulis' first couple of months.
I can remember posting that he was exactly right for the job, and I didn't mind a bit of hoofball if it meant staying up and having a re-shape in the summer.
People were calling him The Messiah for parking the bus and getting draws at Burnley and Everton, but I can remember pointing out that we needed a few wins (not draws) and going to those places without ambition would come back and haunt us, because we'd be lucky to get 2 pts out of the final 5 games.
There were only 2 or 3 infidels, and none are gloating. All that's happened is that there are some very angry fans right now. Those 2 defeats to the Villa were pretty bloody hard to take: we were outfought and outthought by a team on their knees who doubled their goalscoring achievements of the previous 3 months in 2 games. But we all stuck right behind Pulis, saying what a feat it was to actually stay up this season. Well, no one's saying that now!
If you're referring to me - although I was only ever critical for underestimating the task ahead - I seriously hope you repeat that criticism at the end of the season when we've escaped the drop - I'll be glad to be proved wrong. I was furious on Saturday evening, even more so than the Villa and QPR games, because I'm starting to believe he's a 1-trick pony. There's a rumour going round that he's made an enquiry after Rory Delap, but I can't believe that - I don't think even he can throw back to his goalie from the 1/2 way line.