Pulis & Saturday

[Q165]

Last year I was helping one of my daughters house hunting.

We viewed one house and the guy selling happened to be one of the coaching squad at West Brom,I won't reveal more of his identity as that wouldn't be fair.

We got talking Pulis and his coaching style and the guy explained to me that the whole week was spent on fitness and "team shape".

I asked him about the coaching of attacking play and he looked at me and smiled...."Tony doesn't do any work on that,the players understand that their responsibility is to the defensive shape and that any attacking they do is up to them as long as they get back behind the ball as soon as they lose it!

"We don't work on an attacking format"

From a "horses mouth".......there you have it!

I see this guy on the pitch with our players before every match.

I have just come across this together with the rest of the thread. Interesting and very sad.

[stripes39]

A couple of weeks ago I said on here I was in the Pulis camp, just. I think my opinion changed on Saturday.

I'm quite a realistic fan, I don't expect us to be challenging even in the top 10 every season. And losing to Huddersfield away is not the worst result in the world, they beat Man U there a couple of weeks ago. Its just the way we lost that concerns me.

The following things have happened in the last few weeks which means I think we need a change;

1. Constantly picking the wrong team
Its pretty clear the midfield three he keeps persevering with isn't working. Constantly picking Livermore over players who offer us so much more. He's our worst midfielder in my opinion. I'd rather have Field play. Our bench on Saturday consisted of all of our attacking players. Where was Chadli, Brunt? McClean gives us great drive and he has been Irelands best player in their qualifying campaign. Phillips? Rondon? Why are these players not starting when other players who are out of form are.

2. The negative/defensive mindset
I could understand the team he picked yesterday if we were away at Chelsea or Man United. We were playing a side we're looking to get points from. He effectively played a back 5 and 3 defensive midfielders in front of them. So 9 defensive players against a team just promoted from the championship. We automatically give away possession and territory to every team we play.

3. The inability to attack and score
We rely on set pieces, so why he has dropped Brunt I don't know. We were playing against ten men for half an hour on Saturday chasing the game. I couldn't see how we were going to score. Our two most creative players were on the bench in Chadli and Brunt. If we don't nick a game 1-0, or if we concede first in a game I don't see how we can win.

4. The poor form and performances
I heard someone say we've scored 13 goals in our last 20 games (I stand corrected if thats not true) but it sounds about right. We've won 2 in 20 games. It wouldn't be so bad if I could see signs of us getting out of this mire but I don't see any. Its painful to watch. I missed the Man City game last week and it didn't bother me one bit that I was missing the game. I'm not enjoying the style of football we play at all, Mowbray and Di Matteo teams were exciting and pleasing to watch, when we don't set up to win but not to lose against every team in the premiership you have to expect criticism when we don't get points playing this style of football.

5. The fans have turned
The crowd (myself included) at H'field want Pulis out. I think I've been pretty fair to him, I just think we've got one of the best sides we've had in the premiership and its being wasted on our managers inability to want to attack or score goals. He's more concerned about getting a 0-0 than trying to win a game. He's kept us in the prem for a couple of years but where can we realistically expect to go with Pulis in the future? Is this the best it is, a 10th-15th place finish playing some of the worst football in the prem? We've not done anything in the cup competitions since he's been at the club. I just don't see how we progress any more with him in charge, all we can hope for is to stand still

The main issue with sacking him is who would replace him?
Megson - No
Michael O'Neil - No
Sam Alladyce - No

All of the above will be similar to what we have now. I'd like a young progressive manager who plays good football and who can develop the youth team. I'd be happy to look in the lower leagues too. Chris Wilder is doing a good job at Sheffield Utd. Lee Johnson too at Bristol City. I'd be open to Koeman and McInnes. Whoever we pick will be a gamble, but I struggle to enjoy watching us play anymore so there needs to be a change.

Excellent summary. I heard the Saints match on 5Live and they said it was one of the worst Premier League encounters of the season. The sad thing is that we are like it every match. It's OK Fat Sam and Danny Murphy saying the club musn't sack him but they dont have to watch it every week. I've defended TP pretty much up until the last couple of weeks but at this moment, the playing selection seems like a ship without a rudder, - no intent and no purpose and no direction. If we have to watch a full season of attack v defence, is it really worth it?