Weekends Other Matches

[manwithnoname]

Clearly the language barrier wasn't high enough for them to tell Pulis "YOU FIRED NOW!"

 

[Woland]

I hear Wales have a vacancy.

 

[Insignificance]

Pulis has been sacked, to the surprise of no one.

After all these years of noone finding out Pulis' teams, it was West Brom finding out he is just shit.

 

[manwithnoname]

I hear Wales have a vacancy.

Not sure why Coleman didn't wait for the WBA job to be available, he'd have surely had a decent chance of that with the likes of Bale and co singing his praises.

Wonder who they'll go for?

(Please not Pardew, I've enjoyed that cunt not being a manager)

 

[KopRed]

Pulis has been sacked, to the surprise of no one.

When do we play them? Some cunt's gonna come in and screw us over in his first match in charge then gets relegated.

 

[gkmacca]

I actually think that the likes of West Brom, Palace and Stoke are even worse than the kind of managers they keep picking. Because at least there's a logic to what the likes of Pulis do, whereas their clubs turn logic on its head after a couple of years or so. If you're a club who hire someone like Pulis to make their team stable and well-organised and disciplined, without spending much, then it's surely illogical to then expect them to make the team evolve stylistically without backing that ambition with a substantial increase in transfer funds. If you've always got that kind of expectation, then don't hang on to managers like Pulis long after they've served their fire-fighting purpose. The sudden mock-outrage from fans and chairmen once the boredom sets in is ridiculous.

 

[rurikbird]

I actually think that the likes of West Brom, Palace and Stoke are even worse than the kind of managers they keep picking. Because at least there's a logic to what the likes of Pulis do, whereas their clubs turn logic on its head after a couple of years or so. If you're a club who hire someone like Pulis to make their team stable and well-organised and disciplined, without spending much, then it's surely illogical to then expect them to make the team evolve stylistically without backing that ambition with a substantial increase in transfer funds. If you've always got that kind of expectation, then don't hang on to managers like Pulis long after they've served their fire-fighting purpose. The sudden mock-outrage from fans and chairmen once the boredom sets in is ridiculous.

I read that the current West Brom squad is the most expensive in the history of the team – so they did invest in (supposedly) better players, but the return is not there. I don't mean to defend those mid-table clubs and I agree sometimes their short-sightedness is staggering, but in the case of Pulis maybe it was worth trying to find out if he is something more than a short-term defensive specialist.

 

[gkmacca]

I read that the current West Brom squad is the most expensive in the history of the team – so they did invest in (supposedly) better players, but the return is not there. I don't mean to defend those mid-table clubs and I agree sometimes their short-sightedness is staggering, but in the case of Pulis maybe it was worth trying to find out if he is something more than a short-term defensive specialist.

Yes, but that's surely a somewhat misleading stat. I'd imagine most Premier League squads are the most expensive in their history. Last summer they were going for the likes of Gareth Barry (aged 36) and Kieron Gibbs (28) - hardly the kind of ambitious signings that suggested a bold new era was upon the Hawthorns. They didn't start buying better players all of a sudden. They simply started paying much more for the same kind of players they were buying before the market went mad.

And as one hack wrote this morning, who is privy to the boardroom's most powerful figures, if you listen to the owners' list of credentials they're seeking for their next manager, it leads you to the conclusion that they want to replace Tony Pulis with Tony Pulis.

There are too many clubs now in the Premier League who are so fixated on the idea of survival that they've made themselves into a system of revolving doors for the same old dour and dogged survival specialists as far as managers go. I think that's a major reason why this league isn't anywhere near as entertaining as the hype tries to make out. There are too many games where these kinds of clubs go away to us and the mancs and Chelski etc, park the bus like they're minnows playing an FA Cup tie, and leave punching the air in triumph if they get a draw or sneak a win. That's the sum of their ambition, beyond meeting some 40 point target, every damned season. For every Bournemouth there are three or four clubs who don't want to do anything except keep getting the Premier League capital. So they'll bring in Allardyce until the fans get too angry, then Pardew, then Pulis, then Hodgson, then Dyche, then Hughes, then Steve Bruce, then Allardyce again, then Pulis again, and on and on ad infinitum. And the media has the nerve to claim it's foreign managers keeping young British coaches from progressing!

It would be naive to expect any real change, given what the financial stakes are, but the line of least resistance is more and more games of supposedly tactical masterminds frustrating good, progressive managers by shutting up shop and boring everyone to tears.

 

[rurikbird]

Yes, but that's surely a somewhat misleading stat. I'd imagine most Premier League squads are the most expensive in their history. Last summer they were going for the likes of Gareth Barry (aged 36) and Kieron Gibbs (28) - hardly the kind of ambitious signings that suggested a bold new era was upon the Hawthorns. They didn't start buying better players all of a sudden. They simply started paying much more for the same kind of players they were buying before the market went mad.

And as one hack wrote this morning, who is privy to the boardroom's most powerful figures, if you listen to the owners' list of credentials they're seeking for their next manager, it leads you to the conclusion that they want to replace Tony Pulis with Tony Pulis.

There are too many clubs now in the Premier League who are so fixated on the idea of survival that they've made themselves into a system of revolving doors for the same old dour and dogged survival specialists as far as managers go. I think that's a major reason why this league isn't anywhere near as entertaining as the hype tries to make out. There are too many games where these kinds of clubs go away to us and the mancs and Chelski etc, park the bus like they're minnows playing an FA Cup tie, and leave punching the air in triumph if they get a draw or sneak a win. That's the sum of their ambition, beyond meeting some 40 point target, every damned season. For every Bournemouth there are three or four clubs who don't want to do anything except keep getting the Premier League capital. So they'll bring in Allardyce until the fans get too angry, then Pardew, then Pulis, then Hodgson, then Dyche, then Hughes, then Steve Bruce, then Allardyce again, then Pulis again, and on and on ad infinitum. And the media has the nerve to claim it's foreign managers keeping young British coaches from progressing!

It would be naive to expect any real change, given what the financial stakes are, but the line of least resistance is more and more games of supposedly tactical masterminds frustrating good, progressive managers by shutting up shop and boring everyone to tears.

I actually 100% agree with everything you wrote here. Spot on.