Boro V Reading 2-1 (Traore (2) Britt misses penalty)

[Essuuaitch 330]

Oddly enough i'm a somewhere in the middle. I like Britt and i like Gestede. The mistake we've made is making £50 million worth of signings over the summer and bringing in a manager who's playing style doesn't suit said recruitment.

 

We're essentially playing to the manager's strengths as opposed to the squad's strengths which is huge oversight. I always thought Pulis was pragmatic, he moulded what he had. This is false. My only surprise is that he didn't bring more players in during January to suit his prefered style.

 

We had quality footballers that are known to perform at this or international level and we've discarded them and their skills for a direct approach. Whoever comes in after Pulis is either going to have to play direct football or we're starting from scratch. I'm starting to think the decision to bring in Pulis is going to be up there with Strachan.

 

I mirrored your points in an earlier post and completely agree with you

 

basically i cant argue with any of that too.  Pulis in one way was what we were crying out for after witnessing Monks failure as an actual Manager ie managing things , Pulis undoubtedly is a very good manager and knows his job inside out ....but and its a massively important but as far as were concerned , his skill set is and always will be , survivalist and well drilled led first and foremost.  I feel safe with him at the helm but thats about it . So maybe not as bad as appointing Strachan in that hes stopped the rot . but not convinced we are likely to suddenly become attack minded or,entertaining any time soon .

[Borodane 6,301]

Oddly enough i'm a somewhere in the middle. I like Britt and i like Gestede. The mistake we've made is making £50 million worth of signings over the summer and bringing in a manager who's playing style doesn't suit said recruitment.

 

We're essentially playing to the manager's strengths as opposed to the squad's strengths, which is a huge oversight. I always thought Pulis was pragmatic, he moulded what he had. This is false. My only surprise is that he didn't bring more players in during January to suit his prefered style.

 

We had quality footballers that are known to perform at this or international level and we've discarded them and their skill set for a direct approach. Whoever comes in after Pulis is either going to have to play direct football or we're starting from scratch. I'm starting to think the decision to bring in Pulis is going to be up there with Strachan.

 

I don't think it's the same as Strachan but you are right in the other aspects. I too was hoping that Pulis could be a bit more pragmatic in his approach and actually take advantage of the strenghts in this squad. He's got one way of playing and that's it. I won't be surprised if we see crowds numbers falling and significantly fewer season tickets. I wanted to give Monk time at the beginning because I thought he had some decent thoughts about his approach but ultimately he wasn't talented enough to materialize it. On the other hand it is quite clear how Pulis will set us up for the next season and a half at least and that is not something I'm a fan of.

[Humpty 3,261]

I'm worried that he's going to take us back to square one with the squad. He's on a short term contract and if he leaves, we'll need completely rebuilding. We're certainly not going to be promoted this season.

[wilsoncgp 9,283]

I don't think he wanted to spend a lot within such a short time of being here. He said it himself, Gibson made the money available and maybe that's something he advised Gibson against doing as well as saying no to.

 

The January market isn't the one to be spunking money with little knowledge of what you already have too. I think he made the right financial call there. No, it certainly hasn't helped us with our goal of promotion this season as our squad still doesn't suit him but if he is indeed going to have another season then he's better off taking longer than a couple of weeks to review what was in the squad before officially taking action. He could have made bad decisions in the market in January, plenty of clubs do, instead he's just trying to impose his way of playing onto a squad that doesn't really fit.

 

Pulis certainly doesn't fit the squad we assembled at the start of this season. But I've said before that I don't think there was many better and well-suited managers available who we could have coaxed into joining us at the time we did.

 

Also said before that the only thing that really concerns me about Pulis is the length of his contract, If he does re-shape us again in the summer to fit his needs (which he really needs to do) then what happens a year after that? He's closing in on retirement, he won't want to stay in the North East for very long from what he said when he started. I don't mind re-shaping if needs be in 2.5 years time if he makes us a Premier League team as that's a decent spell. Works out who stays and who goes between now and the end of this season, sorts out the squad in the summer to go for promotion... if we get promoted does he leave? If it doesn't work out in the summer, do we have another Monk situation where he gets sacked and we start again mid-season and have this discussion again?

[sackrobson2 371]

I'm also disappointed with the lack of pragmatism from Pulis. He really does seem to be a one trick pony. You'd think with all his experience he would know more than one way to play.

[wilsoncgp 9,283]

He's never been that man though, as far as I've seen. He's achieved what he's achieved playing football his way, for better or worse. You know what they say, you can't teach an old dog new tricks. Expecting him to come in and pick the best team to fit the squad was a bit of a silly thing to do. If Gibson really thought that would be the case too (which I very much doubt) then the fault lies with him.

[Borodane 6,301]

It shouldn't take anyone minutes let alone weeks to figure out that Bamford isn't a winger, yet we didn't make an effort into getting one and instead loaned out Braithwaite who isn't ideal either but better on the left than Bamford. (And it's not a dig at Bamford but rather Pulis.) Regardless of not wanting to spend money in january that is a criminal act if promotion is actually the aim. Yeah we got Harrison but he's unlikely to make a huge difference given his lack of match practise and experience from a mickey mouse league. We should have done everything we could to get a left winger in. I'm sure there is someone out there who could have come in. Yet Pulis is still convinced that playing Bamford on the wing is a great idea.

[richmfc 41]

I'm worried that he's going to take us back to square one with the squad. He's on a short term contract and if he leaves, we'll need completely rebuilding. We're certainly not going to be promoted this season.

 

I wouldn’t worry about the short term contract..apart from wenger every manager is on a short term contract

[richmfc 41]

It shouldn't take anyone minutes let alone weeks to figure out that Bamford isn't a winger, yet we didn't make an effort into getting one and instead loaned out Braithwaite who isn't ideal either but better on the left than Bamford. (And it's not a dig at Bamford but rather Pulis.) Regardless of not wanting to spend money in january that is a criminal act if promotion is actually the aim. Yeah we got Harrison but he's unlikely to make a huge difference given his lack of match practise and experience from a mickey mouse league. We should have done everything we could to get a left winger in. I'm sure there is someone out there who could have come in. Yet Pulis is still convinced that playing Bamford on the wing is a great idea.

 

We signed Harrison. He’s a winger

[Boro Badger 87]

It shouldn't take anyone minutes let alone weeks to figure out that Bamford isn't a winger, yet we didn't make an effort into getting one and instead loaned out Braithwaite who isn't ideal either but better on the left than Bamford. (And it's not  a dig at Bamford but rather Pulis.) Regardless of not wanting to spend money in january that is a criminal act if promotion is actually the aim. Yeah we got Harrison but he's unlikely to make a huge difference given his lack of match practise and experience from a mickey mouse league. We should have done everything we could to get a left winger in. I'm sure there is someone out there who could have come in. Yet Pulis is still convinced that playing Bamford on the wing is a great idea.

 

Yes, the mind boggles.

 

The club showed no ambition to strengthen our weakest area in January. At that point it was clear that the club saw this season as a write off, and were content with limping through the remaining fixtures with essentially a player short on the left hand side.

 

One decent acquisition could have made all the difference with regards to making the play-offs.

[SouthernSmoggie 4,242]

I'm a bit disappointed with Pulis tbh... Playing players out of position as we didn't address blatant concerns in the transfer market just seems stupid when we can afford to do something about it. Obviously that stems from Monk but Pulis selling Braithwaite with no replacement was a joke. Smells like giving up on this season as he would rather spend the money in the Summer. Fair enough if he wins automatic next year, we'll forget this season soon enough.. but if not then we will have wasted two years of parachute payments.

 

I can stomach playing Gestede as a lone striker even though would rather have two up top... but we don't even cross it or play it fast and direct to him, no runners looking for a flick on. Slow, ponderous build-up - I dread to think what we would look like going forward if Traore gets injured.

 

Substitutions.. why does he have to bring on a defensive mid for an attacker when we are winning 2-0 at home against a crap team. So negative and boring, plus proved to be the wrong decision tactically anyway as we were comfortable before he did that then nearly ballsed it up.

 

Rant over.. happy Monday  :D

[Borodane 6,301]

It shouldn't take anyone minutes let alone weeks to figure out that Bamford isn't a winger, yet we didn't make an effort into getting one and instead loaned out Braithwaite who isn't ideal either but better on the left than Bamford. (And it's not  a dig at Bamford but rather Pulis.) Regardless of not wanting to spend money in january that is a criminal act if promotion is actually the aim. Yeah we got Harrison but he's unlikely to make a huge difference given his lack of match practise and experience from a mickey mouse league. We should have done everything we could to get a left winger in. I'm sure there is someone out there who could have come in. Yet Pulis is still convinced that playing Bamford on the wing is a great idea.

 

We signed Harrison. He’s a winger

 

Who he admitted isn't even fit and is just a young player whose only experience is from the MLS. I actually think we'd have been better off keeping Tavernier here who at least showed signs that he could actually be an asset for the season. There is no doubt in my mind that he would be doing a much better job on the left currently than Bamford. It was a terrible transfer window and certainly not one that left me thinking we have an ambition of making a serious attempt at promotion. Instead we are left with a half***d attempt hoping we strike lucky by other teams dropping in form like Sheffield United and Bristol have done.

[richmfc 41]

I still think writing off Harrison before we’ve seen him is a bad move. Yes he’s in pre season but he should be ready now so we will see soon

[Duvel 2,446]

So basically Pulis isn't pragmatic enough because he won't play the formation that the fans want.

 

Karanka was stubborn because he wouldn't play 4-4-2 and Monk was no good because he changed the team too much. :)

 

Another thought maybe Pulis thinks this is the best system to get results? Id rather that we were more positive but I dont think changing personnel or systems will make much difference overall. Not with this group of players.

[richmfc 41]

So basically Pulis isn't pragmatic enough because he won't play the formation that the fans want.

 

Karanka was stubborn because he wouldn't play 4-4-2 and Monk was no good because he changed the team too much.

 

Another thought maybe Pulis thinks this is the best system to get results? Id rather that we were more positive but I dont think changing personnel or systems will make much difference overall. Not with this group of players.

 

I’ve seen nothing from Britt since pullis came that says we should change our way of playing for him.