[drewks]

First of all I've got to say that I think that TP was exactly the right person to bring in following AI's dismissal.

I guess that, because of certain team selections,the manner that we are now playing in, and mostly the last 2 very poor performances, the jury's definately out on whether he is STILL the best person for us.

Personally I think he is. I don't believe he's the Messiah or above criticism at all - in fact it bugs me hugely that he continues to pick Dawson and Brunt over (what I class as) perfectly good specialist fullbacks.
The last 2 games - especially the Leicester one - have also been impossible to defend in terms of his selections and substitutions.

However, IMO in order to get a balanced picture we have to look at the other games where we have played better than expected and gained points where we could've expected none - Southampton, Swansea, Stoke and maybe the cup game v West Ham where we played great football and hammered ( ) an in form side.

Quite simply, survival is the key, and TP has to acheive this with the present squad; whether or not it'll be fair to judge him totally on this is questionable as he's inherited this set of players. On the other hand he DID let a few go in the transfer window with real pedigree, and he continues to not pick others at the club who seem perfectly capable.

My view is STILL that he's the best one we could've hoped for to survive in the PL this season, but I'll not get my prayer mat out and worship him till he has had a summer of transfer dealings to show us what a REAL TP team can do......hopefully this will be in the PL

[HarryJAllstarWBA]

Drewks, no one talks more sense than you on this board. On every topic I find some posts on here can get tedious at times but your posts are a good reason to stay on here

[Slick_Footwork]

Pretty much agree with all of your points.

Like you, I thought Pulis was the best man for the job simply because we were deep in the
doldrums under Irvine and needed someone tough with experience of the league who is
proven at getting the best out of players.

I never thought he was the 'messiah' or perfect. In fact, I thought he showed his limitations
when given money at Stoke - but to keep us up, there didn't seem like a better alternative.

The full backs are a grey area for me. I don't blame TP for picking Dawson this weekend, IMO
he'd done well and contributed to some good results (clean sheets + assists) and when he
was suspended against QPR, we seemed to miss his aerial presence. It made sense for him
to come back in, unfortunately he was badly exposed against a pacy winger. TP definitely
should've changed it when he was getting roasted.

The weekend was the first time he made real glaring mistakes IMO. The QPR was a strange
game where they scored a couple of real wonder goals and we missed sitter after sitter. But
against Leicester, his tactics definitely cost us. Now we'll need to dig in and see if he can get
it right and keep his reputation in tact. Hopefully we will have enough.

It's unfortunate it's come to this because IMO, we could've been comfortable and playing decent
football had we employed a good manager in the summer (Laudrup type). Unfortunately, the
Irvine decision left us a position where it was always going to be scrappy.

[drewks]

Drewks, no one talks more sense than you on this board. On every topic       I find some posts on here can get tedious at times but your posts are a good reason to stay on here

Thanks HJA - for the record (youch) I also really rate you and your music   

[aries22]

Drewks and Slick are the best posters on here.

[drewks]

Interesting article here about how TP views JP, the club and it's future; pretty positive stuff:
http://www.expressandstar.com/sport/west...ons-level/?

(Positive, that is, as long as any new owner shares the same vision)

[turkeydinner]

The Guy is a Welsh Howard Wilkinson
He might talk like he thinks he`s Van Gaal, Lippi or Guadiola but he`s more Graham Taylor and I dont mean that overly negatively
He`s old school 80`s Football manager, knows how to set up a team, can stop goals being scored, but tactically its mid eighties stuff-thats why every club he`s managed at top flight they whinge how bad he plays Full Backs and spends most of the time practicising set piece goals

He did from the outside fall out very childishly with players at Stoke even ones that he`d bought at quite a cost, he may have bought Stoke players six years ago but also made them one of the top seven clubs in the league in paying out transfer fees, 50k a week to Wilson Palicious never to play?

I think ask Stoke fans if they`d rather have Pulis or Mark Hughes

[themaclad]

Good piece in today's Telegraph about his charity work

[tidy]

Good piece in today's Telegraph about his charity work

We only need to ask QPR and Leicester about his charity work...

[Slick_Footwork]

The Guy is a Welsh Howard Wilkinson
He might talk like he thinks he`s Van Gaal, Lippi or Guadiola but he`s more Graham Taylor and I dont mean that overly negatively
He`s old school 80`s Football manager, knows how to set up a team, can stop goals being scored, but tactically its mid eighties stuff-thats why every club he`s managed at top flight they whinge how bad he plays Full Backs and spends most of the time practicising set piece goals

He did from the outside fall out very childishly with players at Stoke even ones that he`d bought at quite a cost, he may have bought Stoke players six years ago but also made them one of the top seven clubs in the league in paying out transfer fees, 50k a week to Wilson Palicious never to play?

I think ask Stoke fans if they`d rather have Pulis or Mark Hughes

Pulis took Stoke from the bottom of the Championship and established them the Prem.

The football wasn't particularly pretty, but it's a results business. You're not going to get a team who
clog their way up from the Championship to suddenly play decent football in the Prem. It's a bit like
us under Megson, the transition to a footballing side takes years.

The fans now might prefer Hughes style (I still think Stoke are boring), which is fair enough, but what
they're forgetting is that it's easier to add 1 or 2 good footballers to an already established side than
it is to suddenly make a team of cloggers fresh out of the Championship into a footballing Prem side.

The Stoke fans who prefer Hughes have pretty short memories.