“DJ_STOKE. I know my limitations and I know my strengths. I have slept, ate and drank football since I was a lad and finally retired from active involvement after nearly fifty years playing, coaching and managing.
I have some tremendous memories of managing some really great young players and winning important trophies locally and nationally.
I would not ever be overfaced by any manager when talking about football. The principles of the game evolve but the knowledge is out there to be acquired by anyone. It is a myth that league managers have some mysterious knowledge that the working man lacks.
I know that what I say about Tony Pulis is a constructive and valid criticism that it seems many present Stoke fans concur with. Tony Pulis's man management, decision making and tactical approach make it very easy for anyone to find fault. If it wasn't then I would not be supportive of him being given a golden handshake and asked to move on and that would be probably to a Championship team.
Every football fan loves giving their opinion on a match why do I have to be singled out by you and accused of thinking I possess more skills and knowledge than a pro manager?”

“""OK lads lets have REALITY check - here are the remaining fixtures in the PREM - according to Pulis we need the magical 10 points to be safe from relegation - based on current league form I have allocated points we may get from each game

Fulham - away - 0
Swansea - home - 1
Norwich - home - 1
Chelsea - away - 0
Spurs - away - 0
Man City - home - 0
wigan - away - 1
wolves - home - 3
Villa - away - 1
Everton - home - 1
Newcastle - away - 0
Arsenal - home - 0
QPR - away - 0
Bolton -home - 3

i make that 11 points from 14 games since we just got 6 from 8 games that sounds about right.

That should put us over 40 points - clearly unless Pulis has a drastic change of mind the remainder of the season is going to be a struggle - that could all change in a heartbeat though.

I dont think we beat Valencia over 2 legs but should beat Crawley Town - so our "get out clause" is another good Cup run. But that depends on the luck of the draw, suspensions and injuries."”

“To me, the well celebrated, much talked about 3 year plan from Pulis was to first off stay in the Prem, basically by any means and as each new season approached build on that by evolving, bringing in better quality of players and raisingng our level of play. The 4th season was not to return to the same level of play from season 1, ultra defending, publicly claiming to still be little old Stoke, still no midfield management and barely any imagination to move forward and score goals !His continued mistrust of allowing his defenders to defend, hence him bringing everybody else back to defend too i.e. Walters does every bit as much defending as he does attacking and Jones, look how he deep played against Man U. Once he trusts his very good defenders (and one central midfielder making 5 defenders plus a goalie) to do their job and leave 2 or 3 forwards to play forward, things should change, but not until then !”

“alan10one - i seem to remember more recently Pulis getting a standing ovation from said crowd.

i think the poitn has been made though - Pulis needs to shape up”

“TP Dave = boring boring defensive hoof ball can't pass LOSING RUBBISH. I watched the Liverpool and Tottenham game tonight and spurs had to defend for a lot of the game but by god they give the lads at the back a rest by good holding and passing of the ball, not hoof it oh its right back at us football. TP is playing 2nd div football away and now 1div football at home. He has spent 70 million and the 3 years are up and still its hoof ball. The man is totally devoid of ideas and the Brit is not a fortress anymore. He tells the fans to "sing up we need you" well give us some attacking in numbers football and we will sing up. I remember some years back THE GILLS coming to the Brit after Pulis had left them and joined us and they were singing WERE NOT BORING ANYMORE, how right they were.”

“Why are you not a premier league manager then Mel, you seem to have such fantastic insight? Just wondering, you seem to have done a lot of work with the youth system in Stoke, which I have ultimate respect for; however, is it a bit easier to stick your neck out on here than on SkyTV or representing your players at hearings before the FA ? I respect a man with courage....”

“Oh and yes Dave! I have a go at Pulis because he is the manager and the buck stops with him!”

“Look back in my posts Dave and you will see that I say that Stoke will progress in the FA Cup because I expect them to, as bad as they are playing.
Look back in my posts Dave and you will see I have said we would qualify from the league stage of the Europa Cup and I say that we will eliminate Valencia because I expect them to.
We are not in the top half of the league but I have said that there is little differnece in standard between the bottom half of the Premiership and the top half of the Championship. I stand by that statement. I said nothing about what the standard should be called.
I fully expect Stoke to get to Wembley again because yes we have had a favorable draw and I expect the better side to win.
I have said all these things will happen over many posts. How you contrive to see this as negative is beyond me.
Yes I do not like Pulis as a manager because of the way he chooses to play. I am entitled to that opinion and it would not change if he won the Premiership. What a shot in the heart for English football that would be.
I am not unhappy if Stoke progress in any competition!
You just have to be blindly loyal to not see that Stoke are drastically under performing.
Scoring goals is a fundamental if any side is going to survive and at the moment we have a very poor record at being able to do that. On top of that our defensive performances are not what they have been in the past. Add that up and you get a clear picture of where the team is going.
I believe we will get the ten points we need in the remaining matches we have to play and based on our last few games I would say that was extremely positive and optimistic of me.
I admire your loyalty Dave but you clearly need to get real!”

“Yes Pulis you're right, it didn't deserve a red card, but don't use it as a smoke screen to distract people from the continuous poor performances. The harsh truth is we are playing absolutely awful football in the final third, with poor passing, poor selection, poor skill, poor football resulting in very little or no attempts on goal. If you are ignoring that and kidding yourself that these decisions have affected our performances and all referees are against us then you must be in cloud cuckoo land!!
The aim of the game believe it or not is to score more goals than the opposition. We aren't even getting any credible shots in. The stats speak for themselves. The build ups are that slow it's giving the opposition time to counter everything that's coming at them. GET SOME PACE UP FRONT! Fuller, Jerome up front with Crouch, get both your wingers back on if fit, get Palacios back in midfield at least he's looking to pass forward, supported by Whelan who is slightly better at passing than Whitehead!! For god sake give Walters a rest, he's doing nothing except running forever for nothing .... You're losing it TP . One paper reported "Sale Stoke lose to Sunderland" Perfect description!!!
Tactics have become stale Please swallow your pride and get some advice from someone who can show you how to play attacking football, because it's becoming obvious you need help.”

“No Mel, I never miss your point because you only have one and that's to have a pop at TP. You constantly discredit last years FA Cup run because you reckon we had an easy draw but we've had easy draws in the past and done nothing. When we get into the top half of the Prem you claim the teams below us are Championship standard. When we do well in Europe you claim the opposition are no good. If we do beat Crawley and get another good draw then it could be Wembley again and you will be straight on here to run it down. If we won the Europa cup you will run that down. It's always the same point.”