The Guardian: "Flop of the season: Tony Pulis"

[Darren's Dodgy Denim]

"This season Stoke were supposed to make a great leap forward. Or was that last season? Pulis has been promising for a while that he would add a new dimension to his team's play, adding a little more unpredictability to their admirable ruggedness. But you get the feeling that he never really meant it or just couldn't bring himself to loosen up enough to create or attack, especially away, where Stoke were routinely contemptibly negative.

To have a greater net spend on transfers than anyone other than Chelsea and Manchester City over the past five years and end up with a right flank manned by Andy Wilkinson and Ryan Shotton is to confess to an extraordinarily limited vision."

:hehe:

[redgunamo]

A club like that, all they can really expect to do is make themselves an awkward opponent for some of the bigger boys, while bobbing along in mid-to-lower table.

Do you remember when Ronaldo had been in Spain for a couple of months and then declared that the wonderful thing about La Liga was that even the **** teams try to play football.

Which, of course, is great if you're Real Madrid and you don't get half the league trying to kick the **** out of you every week and each season is basically a race between you and Barcelona to see who can get 100 points first.

[Ashberto]

won a cup and cemented themselves firmly in mid-table.

[redgunamo]

Wembley and won a cup and hung around in the top flight for a bit.

We like Swansea City because they don't cosh us like Stoke City try to do, but playing "good football" won't necessarily do them any favours long term. Just as playing "bad football" wouldn't either, I suppose.

[Ashberto]

[redgunamo]