Comments on: Stoke City: why the outright praise?

By: squirrl

squirrl — Sat, 20 Oct 2012 16:09:09 +0000

The additions of Adam and Nzonzi have provided balance in midfield. Unfortunately, the full backs have very little positional sense and playing Walters up front, when Michael Owen is available, is pure nonsense.

Pulis needs to understand the way that others in the top half of the premiership play and apply some of the lessons if he wants the team to finish in the top ten. At the moment, he is not putting together a viable option and gives the impression that he cannot see how to move on from long balls and set pieces.

Skill and the development of skills in young players is the answer. There are teams in the Championship that are better to watch and look more capable of Premiership success than Stoke. It can go on only until there are an insufficient number of less-skilled teams to move down a league.

By: Brett

Brett — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 10:38:52 +0000

Very good point that, Lee. A definite oversight on my part. I’m sure you will start to improve now – in a way, that’s kind of the point; this season could be make or break in some ways. I actually want to see Stoke start to play better football, and rise up the table. I think your fans, for one, certainly deserve that.

By: Peter

Peter — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 09:00:30 +0000

Like Lee says we have had a really tough start to the season so the stats are always going to look bad at this stage. As for the spending, it had to be done be have stripped what once was a mid table Championship team into a strong Prem squad in five years. Obviously your not going to have any great players to sell because we are not a selling club hopefully our more valuable players are still in the squad! Look at it this way we went from a squad worth around £4M spent £83M that money is not lost it is in the squad and a squad that is keeping Stoke in the Prem which enables the funds to carry on the progression.

By: Lee from Stoke

Lee from Stoke — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 22:11:03 +0000

I have read several articles over the weekend about Stoke and their current set of statistics with regards passes and possession. Why has nobody in these articles mentioned the fact that we have played Reading away ( first game back in the Prem), Arsenal, Man City, Chelsea and Liverpool.

We would never have the majority of possession in these games and if you’ve not got the ball, how can you pass it. We are a team that Is evolving. I have been a season ticket holder for over 10 years and have been one of Pulis’s biggest detractors but I can see that we have improved and I am
Confident that we will finish in the top 10 this year.

Time will tell but I’m happier this year than I have been since our first year in the Prem

By: Brett

Brett — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 20:00:04 +0000

Thanks for the (mostly) positive feedback guys, nice to see that the majority (in this case 2 out of 3!) of Stoke fans can take (balanced) criticism of their team on the chin.

By: Kevin Askey

Kevin Askey — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 13:31:19 +0000

A fair assessment of our progress(!) over the last five years. This year will indeed be key and I believe that tangible improvements are required in our playing style in order for Pulis to keep the majority of fans onside – the natives are getting restless!!
Keep up the (well balanced) good work.

By: SuperRickyFuller

SuperRickyFuller — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 10:50:46 +0000

Stick to history and wearing shit jumpers because that’s a few minutes of my life I’m never getting back..

By: Hopeful Stokie

Hopeful Stokie — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 09:28:31 +0000

You make some fair points. Pulis’s transfer record, particularly the income from players sold, is definitely a low point of his managership, and something he and the club need to work on.

Most stoke fans will tell you that the way the team play can be incredibly frustrating to watch. The lack of composure on the ball and the number of times possession is needlessly conceded can be infuriating.

However this season, with the introduction of Nzonzi and Adam, I believe we are beginning to see a slow progression away from the “hoof it upfield” mentality towards a slightly more composed attacking style. I think the performance in the first half against liverpool and particularly the Chelsea game are evidence of that. I do get the feeling though that this attempt at evolving the team’s style of play may have been in response to pressure from both the chairman and the fans, which would be a cause for concern.

By: Mark Beegan

Mark Beegan — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 08:06:49 +0000

Great article really enjoyed it