The lack of ambition.

[boingy]

It galls me to high heaven to think that last season 8th place was ours for the taking. The players just switched off, and havent really switched on since. When we got in that position we should have CEMENTED 8th place and pushed Everton out of the way and then in the January window pushed the boat out and bought QUALITY. Tony Pulis got us in a good position but the players didnt have the strength/desire/mentality to be strong. Alister Robertson is right we didnt have any leaders in the team against Southampton to pull the side together. Its all about mentality. You go 1 up you hungrilly want more, and more, and more. You NEVER sit back. These things should have been adressed in the January window......and I'm talking LAST January not this one just gone. You have to blame the owner and the board for being so tight with the cash. Their fault. Nobody elses.

[9goals2hattricks3pen]

I just don't get this exclusively it's either his fault or their fault. Pulis left us with a run of results that were awful and Pardew has failed (so far) to sufficiently turn it around. The Owner, Board, Players and even us fans have all played our part.

[WBA123]

I know I am in the minority, but I don't blame the board for our current plight.

I've been very happy at the end of the last two transfer windows with our business and I think we've got a decent squad that's as good as any in the bottom half of the prem.

Why we are where we are is because of a number of factors. Largely throwing points away from winning positions. And I think Pulis has to take a large chunk of the blame.

Talking about Saturday when we went 1-0 up, we did kind of keep going for it to make it 2-0. We kept 2 up top. What we really needed was to sit in tight and defend our lead until half time. We won't get out of this just purely defending like a Pulis team or just going gung-ho like we did on Saturday (at times). A balance is needed between attack and defence.

I would have been happy to have ground out a 1-0 win on Saturday, a la Pulis last season style, purely because we need the points. If we want to stay up we have got to learn to win ugly, like we have been so good at in seasons before this one.

[talkSAFT]

I know I am in the minority, but I don't blame the board for our current plight.

I've been very happy at the end of the last two transfer windows with our business and I think we've got a decent squad that's as good as any in the bottom half of the prem.

Why we are where we are is because of a number of factors. Largely throwing points away from winning positions. And I think Pulis has to take a large chunk of the blame.

Talking about Saturday when we went 1-0 up, we did kind of keep going for it to make it 2-0. We kept 2 up top. What we really needed was to sit in tight and defend our lead until half time. We won't get out of this just purely defending like a Pulis team or just going gung-ho like we did on Saturday (at times). A balance is needed between attack and defence.

I would have been happy to have ground out a 1-0 win on Saturday, a la Pulis last season style, purely because we need the points. If we want to stay up we have got to learn to win ugly, like we have been so good at in seasons before this one.

Oh, yeh! Take a 4th minute lead (from a corner), then bring on a couple of defenders......and hoof it anywhere for the next 86 mins. Sounds familiar.

[holmleighchris]

Looking at the Southampton match in isolation. It was the key injuries that did us. We missed Gibbs, Greg the Pole, Evans, most of all but add Chadli, Livermore and Morrison into the pot and we were always going to struggle, both defensively and in midfield.
Our best hope was to play in their half but we didn't have the quality to do so. Hopefully the new Egyptian (naw, I don't know his name!) will be the answer as defensive cover. On another day Brunt could have gone to left back but he was needed in midfield, although I feel that should have been the ploy with Field in mid.
Easy in hindsight.
Pulis threw away that 8th place last season. Why he went even more negative is beyond me. Same whilst he was in charge this season. I guess he didn't trust the players enough to let them attack more. Either that or he was just doing his own little experiment.

[goodlordmurphy]

I know I am in the minority, but I don't blame the board for our current plight.

I've been very happy at the end of the last two transfer windows with our business and I think we've got a decent squad that's as good as any in the bottom half of the prem.

Why we are where we are is because of a number of factors. Largely throwing points away from winning positions. And I think Pulis has to take a large chunk of the blame.

Talking about Saturday when we went 1-0 up, we did kind of keep going for it to make it 2-0. We kept 2 up top. What we really needed was to sit in tight and defend our lead until half time. We won't get out of this just purely defending like a Pulis team or just going gung-ho like we did on Saturday (at times). A balance is needed between attack and defence.

I would have been happy to have ground out a 1-0 win on Saturday, a la Pulis last season style, purely because we need the points. If we want to stay up we have got to learn to win ugly, like we have been so good at in seasons before this one.

Pulis style saw it's time out 123 we were shipping goals far too easily...we need to sustain pressure as teams can't afford to let in more goals when they are behind...even the top clubs get jumpy in that situation.

[Johnny on the spot 1]

oh, yeh! Take a 4th minute lead (from a corner), then bring on a couple of defenders......and hoof it anywhere for the next 86 mins. Sounds familiar.

& still lose

[WBA123]

Pulis style saw it's time out 123 we were shipping goals far too easily...we need to sustain pressure as teams can't afford to let in more goals when they are behind...even the top clubs get jumpy in that situation.

I fully agree that Pulis style is out and hard to watch, I want to emphasise what I said about 'getting the balance right between attack and defence'.

However, I'm still happy for us win ugly if we have to. I'd have taken an ugly 1-0 win on Saturday over what actually happened.

[boingy]

Looking at the Southampton match in isolation. It was the key injuries that did us. We missed Gibbs, Greg the Pole, Evans, most of all but add Chadli, Livermore and Morrison into the pot and we were always going to struggle, both defensively and in midfield.
Our best hope was to play in their half but we didn't have the quality to do so. Hopefully the new Egyptian (naw, I don't know his name!) will be the answer as defensive cover. On another day Brunt could have gone to left back but he was needed in midfield, although I feel that should have been the ploy with Field in mid.
Easy in hindsight.
Pulis threw away that 8th place last season. Why he went even more negative is beyond me. Same whilst he was in charge this season. I guess he didn't trust the players enough to let them attack more. Either that or he was just doing his own little experiment.

Pulis wanted to win Chris, in fact NO manager wants to sit back and do nothing. You mention some very good points though regarding injuries. If the board really believed in this club though I am convinced they would have spent big to challenge for the top half ownership. We all know the policy of only going for crocked players or cheap buys. Some signings have been good for sure but if we were prepared to pay big wages if only for a couple of top players it would change the whole dimention of both our Kudos and believability.

[goodlordmurphy]

I fully agree that Pulis style is out and hard to watch, I want to emphasise what I said about 'getting the balance right between attack and defence'.

However, I'm still happy for us win ugly if we have to. I'd have taken an ugly 1-0 win on Saturday over what actually happened.

I for one and Whicka_Mon have been going on about the team having balance for about a season and a half now...it even worked under Pulis. When we go 1-0 up if we maintain the balance and pressure teams as high up the field as we are able then we will hang on to the points if we concede the midfield and keep playing hoofball and losing the ball it's inevitable that we will concede goals.