A wins a win so fair play to them but it was another poor show from them 2 be honest. They just dont seem 2 be playing well at all at the minute. Time to get liam glen and tunny in and try 2 play a little bit of footy,we only played 1 bit of footy today and we scored from it!!!!!!

There were so many bad points to this game that I'm not sure where to start.

The team selection again was dire - we are at home and we set out with a team that has no invention and has seven defensive players in the starting eleven. Where is our ambition. I watched a dire performance by Bolton earlier and the comentators said Bolton were in trouble because they couldn't vary there style of play they were one-dimensional. Well so are we.

Dean whitehead is absolutely awful - he can't pass, he is not a defensive midfielder and he is not an attacking midfielder. All he does is run from one end of the pitch to the other having no impact on what goes on arround him.

As a team we currently seem to have no one linking the play between midfield and attack so we are resorting to hoof and chase. This is not good enough for the premiership and not good enough for stoke we should have progressed from this style by now.

Who on earth would rate Sidebe over Tuncay? The replacing of Beattie with Mama and not Tuncay again just confirms my growing belief that TP does not know how to or does not want to change from "kick and hope" football. This is a major worry.

Why doesn't Lawrence play instad of Delap? Assoon as he came on th epitch we looked a more attacking team and as we saw for Ireland and have seen for Stoke on many an occasion, he is more than willing to track back and help out the defence. Delap has never been a winger and it does not work now.

Wilkinson had an outstanding game and seems to be improving his attacking each time he plays so why does TP insist on plying people out of position. Huth is not a yougster still to be moulded into his best position he is an international centre back so play him there. Wilkinson is the best rightback we have at the club so play him there please TP.

James Beattie is not in good shape or in good form. I don't profess to know why just that he is not as sharp as he was last year too many times he is stood flat footed and so is a half a yard short on the defender. Whilst it disagrees slightly with what I said above I would start with Mama and Fuller and have Beattie on the bench. The difference is that I would have Tuncay on also in place of whitehead so we have a player wit the flair and class to provide the link between midfield and the forwards.
The reason for choosing mama is similar to th ereason why capello likes Heskey - he lets the other people on the team play and Fuller in particular plays well with him. I also think he would hold th eba;ll up for Tuncay to run on to from midfield.

Diao was slow and off the pace today and it was when he went off that we seem to gain more urgency. I would play A.D. Faye in that role as this would give the defence some formidable protection given that we would (in my team) have a more attacking line up with better balance between defenders and attackers.

I hope that TP does not use the win to justify his cronism approach to team selection in the future. WE WERE DIRE TODAY we just had some luck and we can't always count on that.

...the only thing I am not sure I agree with is that, when he is match fit again (which he was not against Portsmouth) I think Diao is the best defensive midfielder we have. Totally agree with all you say about Whitehead. He just does not 'cut the mustard'. He came up very short in a comparison with Jimmy Bullard in the Hull game - and they both cost about £5 million.

Totally agree with Mike's comments only I'd go that little bit further to question the ability of Collins as a leftback exactly along the lines of the Huth argument and also consider playing Tuncay ahead of Fuller as per the Blackpool game (albeit Fuller was a late sub). We still seem to lack the impact player coming off the bench and the best we have is Fuller for this role. He is clearly not quite himself and what always gets him going is when he is dropped to the bench and then brought on as a sub. At Balckburn we should try starting with Tuncay and Mama with Fuller on the bench.

I would love to know the stats on points won or not when Lawrence starts for Stoke? He is the one outfield player who motivates the team to play well because he has terrific work rate and is always positive and confident be it in attack or defence. He also seems to be maturing and getting less bookings for losing his rag.

TP is doing a great job but it could and should be much better. Last season we only settled into a good unit when Lawrence reclaimed his place. TP needs to go back to basics and play his best players in their best positions and not resort to the old England approach of playing players out of position just to get oe keep them in the team.

After watching todays display ( dire for most parts) I can only hope TP gets a grip of the situation - it's about time Lawrence and Tuncay both started. tuncay in the hole and lawrence on the right with faye coming back in place of diao and wilkinson remaining as right back - Whiteheads a none starter as far as i'm concerned - ship him out in january along with the other fringe players - unfortunately while Tony has done brilliantly he does seem to have his faves - which could be our undoing.

I don't know why we bother commenting, apart from getting out our frustration. TP won't change what he is doing - we picked up 3 points and are ninth in the league and he will say that justifies his team selection and tactics. He probably never gets to hear the supporters dissatisfaction anyway.
I totally agree with the midfield being bypassed and the lack of a link between midfield and attack. I also agree with starting with Sidibe instead of Beattie. (despite the fact that Sidibe couldn't hit a barn door even if it was on wheels and moving slowly toward the cornerflag!) I would use Beattie as an impact sub. At least Sidibe used to take the pressure of Fuller - a role that Fuller is being asked to do for Beattie at the moment, and one that he doesn't look happy with. Not that this makes any kind of difference as none of the forwards get any kind of service at the moment. I also agree about Whitehead. He will be suspended soon anyway as he is picking up a booking a game, so maybe then we can see Delap moved infield and Lawrence played on the wing.
I thought I would feel better about this game after having some sleep...but I don't.

Wouldnt change anything you said. (except I dont think Mama deserves to be in a team in the top 3 leagues let alone a premiership team!)

The word that sums it all up for me is FRUSTRATION. Im getting so wound up after watching poor performance after poor performance, because we have a great squad but the right eleven arent making it into the team. The team setup is is appalling and there are several players out there not fit to wear the shirt whilst there are top draw players warming the bench. So aggravating.

Before I get a pillock on my case saying im a pulis hater or be happy with 9th, I'm not saying I hate Tone, and I'm not expecting to finish in europe etc so dont go on about ideas above our station. Im quite content with premiership survival which we are more than capable of, if only we played our best team and gave it a go so I actually enjoy watching us play. I actually wasnt looking forward to this game I'm sad to say, for probbaly the first time in a few years. It was tea time sunday, in the dark and cold and wet and the last 2 perfomances completely and utterly destroyed my enthusiasm as I knew lawrence would be benched behind the woeful delap and that whitehead would start and we would set up like all the other matches with 80% of our team in our own half even on the attack. And lo and behold. Thats what we got. Cant believe we had to scrape a 1-0 against the bottom team who we made look good.

Come on TP, surely you cant honestly rate rory as a better winger that Liam. His introduction changed the face of the game. And what evidence do you possibly have to justify using whitehead over a mop let alone the irish international Whelan? And is there a clause in Tuncays contract saying he cant play more than 8 minutes? It seems the only logical explanation for his 82 minute introductions or substitution of a substitute!

I'm still of the opinion that Sidibe is the worst player in the premier league.

He should have scored when he had that great chance in the 2nd half. Instead he scuffed his shot so wide that it finished off near the corner flag.

Not sure why he came on ahead of Tuncay either.

yes, we got the points, but our performance in midfield was still poor.

Great performanace by Wilko?.. England call up maybe :)

Sorensen had safe and solid game Wilko was outstanding and deserves his place in starting line up against Blackburn,the rest were just average except for Sidibe who was diabolical.When will Pullis realise he is not premiership class.I think if he continues to omit Tuncay other than a token 7 minutes showing and keeps this team selection,when xmas and the cold winter weather arrives there is a good chance of dwindling gates at the Brit.