My disappointment following Tony Pulis' appointment as manager was obvious from previous Comments here on 90 Miles From Home. However after a month I was warming to him and seeing that he might be a better choice than I anticpated. Now five and a half months into his reign I think its time for further appraisal.

In Pulis' favour he has made us more solid, disciplined and produced a pretty decent defensive unit in recent games compared to the one that was shipping goals before he arrived. He has instilled hard work, and engendered in most games a committed attitude from the players. He has done largely a good job with a weak squad of players, and strengthened it the best he could with the limited money on offer. Our main problem has been an inability to score goals, but has been down to the quality of the strikers we have and the difficulties bringing in a proven goalscorer when we have no money to spend.

Now I still do have my reservations. While I accept that going to places like Ipswich, and Wolves it may be a fair idea to play 5 in midfield or defence and stifle the opponents, Pulis has used this tactic too often away from home for my liking, against teams that do not deserve such respect. We look far more likely to score goals with a 4-4-2 formation, and anything else usually sees the opposition keeper with a very easy afternoon! Secondly Pulis has played players out of position to the detriment of the team while leaving better players on the bench or not even in the squad. Early in his reign we were creating lots of chances but our strikers were failing to put them away. Then he started to leave our creative players out of the side, and the chances dried up with it. We had a problem at right-back (where Thomas a central defender had been struggling) so Pulis brought in Richardson a right-back from Leeds on loan. Instead of switching him for Thomas, he dropped Gudjonsson, who is our best supplier of crosses and had been in form, and played Richardson out of position at right midfield. Apart from his first game at Leicester Richardson looked largely poor, until in his very last game, when injury to Thomas forced Pulis to bring on Gudjonsson and drop Richardson to right-back. The Leeds lad was transformed and looked a class act. We went on to win a game which was spluttering tamely to a draw.

More recently Pulis brought in central midfielder Mark Wilson from Middlesboro on loan, a shrewd move I thought. However again he asked Wilson to play right wing where he was totally ineffectual and we never got our money's worth from him and he soon returned after a month. It seems just when Pulis has found a balanced side that puts in a great display he has tinker with it and next match it's a new formation, or different players in wrong positions. So far we've had our right-winger on the left, our left-winger on the right, a left-back in midfield, plus right-back in right midfield, and two big men up front in a games where we had no one to supply them crosses! I think Pulis is a "horses for courses" man and picks his team accordingly to the opponents. Personally I'm more of a "let them worry about us" guy, and believe once we have a team that is balanced and playing well together you stick with it until forced into change by injury or a drop of form. Let the opposition worry about our team selection. His chopping and changing have often been infuriating, mystifying, and mainly unproductive.

In the recent home game against the Gills his initial selection left us weak in midfield and chasing shadows. As a result he had to bring on a defender, play him in midfield to enable us to start winning the ball and dropped a forward to make it 4-5-1. We were never going to score with that approach and we drew 0-0 a game we should have been looking to pick up 3 vital points. Considering Pulis made much in the local media about gaining revenge of Gillingham he produced a side for that game that would have struggled to score if they played all night, rather than one that was likely to punish the Gills. It was a lack-lustre dour effort, largely because we had no creative talent on the pitch (through his own choosing). One game later he saw the errors of his ways and a more attacking side produced a lusty performance to beat Rotherham 2-0. Sadly he was then back to 5-3-2 at Millwall, and a 3-1 defeat!

As things stand today we are 4 points clear of our nearest rivals with 3 games to go. To be honest I'm amazed at this! I thought we'd be close to down by now and looking for snookers! Pulis has to take credit for this. Considering we gave Grimsby 6 points we in a far healthier position than is to be expected. I just hope Pulis goes to Coventry tomorrow with a positive side and looks for a win against a team who are really struggling. Three points I think will be a giant step towards safety and we might even go into the last day not needing anything which was unthinkable a few weeks ago. It would probably shatter the morale of the teams below us, and might even relegate two of them (calculators out!) However we are not safe yet and it wouldn't surprise me that in true Stoke style we cock it up and go down! At least it is now in our hands.

If Pulis keeps us up I think many in Stoke will see him as a God. I will be very pleased and I will heap the credit on him that he deserves. However I still have my doubts over his tactical awareness, team selection, and the proof will be what sort of side he is able to (or wants to) assemble over summer. I will be watching with interest, and I think we can't really judge the man fairly until he has had a summer to put together his own team, and then a full season of football to put it to the test. This time next year will probably be a better time to pass judgement and I hope for Stoke's sake he is the manager that can make a difference and to quote him "build something that can push on"!

Apathetic? Moi?

The more observant of you may have noticed, (and indeed some have commented about), the lack of match reports recently. Also for a while the site hadn't even been updated with the latest news! Well I do apologise for this lapse, and I will now offer my excuses! Firstly commitments at work and personal relationship upheavals pulled my focus elsewhere. I still was attending matches, and in some cases making notes, but the reports never materialised! Secondly, I'm a superstitious man, and I noticed that as soon as I stopped writing reports on our matches, and sat back to "enjoy" them, our results impoved! Not wishing to jinx the revival, I have not taken notes for the last few games I've attended.

Finally I'm sorry to say that I have actually missed a couple of matches which normally I would have attended. The reason being of late it has been too painful and frustrating to watch Stoke due to the selections of the manager and inability to predict which Stoke team is going to actually turn up. I hope this is not the start of a worrying trend where I begin to find the lure of the armchair more enticing than the prospect of a Stoke game. Serves me right then that I missed our home win over Wimbledon (but I'm sure you can't blame me for avoiding the dull draw aginst Gillingham!) My next match will be the last day of the season and I hope that we will have secured a second season in Division One. If that's the case my wild enthusiasm will be back come late August, I promise! Gooarrn Stoke!

AndyP 20/04/03