[johnthebaggie]

This is the Pulis way, effective football. Make sure you don't lose away and win your home matches..

It's not pretty but It is what we need right now to give us a chance of staying up, let's face it we were only going one way under Irvine and in fairness the football was no better with him in charge.

We can worry about the performances next season but for now the points are all that matters.
 
Of course we could have attacked them more today, but would we be happier if we'd taken the game to them and lost?

I'd have taken a point at kick off, so am more than happy to trust Pulis' methods of getting them.

[valleybaggie]

win at home draw away keep this up and we'll climb the table plus another clean sheet would've taken a point before the game

[Sessegod]

happy with a point and now 5 points of drop and a better GD so 6 points

[frazzle]

Two away games running where I thought that the opposition were there for the taking. I've been hugely encouraged by the last two games but both the Burnley and Sunderland performances brought me back down to earth.

I know it got us a point. I know its an important point. I still don't like our approach to those game and I still didn't enjoy watching them. Swansea and Southampton have gone past us playing attractive football and its a complete myth that we have to play this way to stay up.

Still, we are gradually clawing our way away from the drop.

[crazedwbafan18]

On our way back now. Played alright, thought sunderland were a lot better and if anything the goal that should've been might have sparked us into life and made the game better than it was. Our ball retention is quite poor and I wish we'd have more of a go sometimes. I'll take the point though, and 5 above the drop is good going. Still someway to go yet. Oh and villa lost in their very winnable game

[PepeMel]

Two away games running where I thought that the opposition were there for the taking. I've been hugely encouraged by the last two games but both the Burnley and Sunderland performances brought me back down to earth.

I know it got us a point. I know its an important point. I still don't like our approach to those game and I still didn't enjoy watching them. Swansea and Southampton have gone past us playing attractive football and its a complete myth that we have to play this way to stay up.

Still, we are gradually clawing our way away from the drop.

Thats the only disappointement. for me another professional away performance. Cattermole you dirty whatever
Another point gained on the Villa. Pulis is a tacticle genius

[gavinrussell]

Trying not to get over excited. .but its a bit like the RH days..I just dont see us conceding against the sides outside the top 6...

[jammywright]

Win at home
Draw away

Can't complain about that strategy

Agree with you Hampshire, we fought for the point and it was deserved !!
Snapping at the heels of the toffees, toons and Stoke now so .........  bring on the seals

[WBAinDEVON]

People have i dig at the performance, it was a classic away day.Fantastic result.We are at home next game another decent showing on the cards.Pulis is most definately the man

[WBArgo]

Two away games running where I thought that the opposition were there for the taking. I've been hugely encouraged by the last two games but both the Burnley and Sunderland performances brought me back down to earth.

I know it got us a point. I know its an important point. I still don't like our approach to those game and I still didn't enjoy watching them. Swansea and Southampton have gone past us playing attractive football and its a complete myth that we have to play this way to stay up.

Still, we are gradually clawing our way away from the drop.

I think a lot of that feeling is based on how we nullified them attacking-wise. If we setup to attack, it would be much more open, both teams would have a lot of clear chances, it's a different game. When you setup to defend it looks like the attacking team are sometimes worse than they are, i.e. frustration creeps in.
I agree with attacking Burnley; I think we should have gone for the winner and it was a genuine time to attack. However, Sunderland are better than Burnley and can defend, so it's a much better strategy today.

Anyway, for me Yacob and McCauley were MOTM

[frazzle]

I think a lot of that feeling is based on how we nullified them attacking-wise. If we setup to attack, it would be much more open, both teams would have a lot of clear chances, it's a different game. When you setup to defend it looks like the attacking team are sometimes worse than they are, i.e. frustration creeps in.
I agree with attacking Burnley; I think we should have gone for the winner and it was a genuine time to attack. However, Sunderland are better than Burnley and can defend, so it's a much better strategy today.

Anyway, for me Yacob and McCauley were MOTM

Yep, fair enough. In general I just think that if you play more players that the opposition are scared of, then the more they will stand off you. At points their back 4 were sat on the half way line collecting our clearances. If sess had been on they might have been a bit more cautious.

[Albionic]

Pulis is a tacticle genius, Lmao at that!

Anyway, i'm hoping the strategy of win at home draw away is for the league only, and we'll be more expansive in ALL cup games, I suspect TP recognises that different competitions require differing approaches. Here's hoping !!

[Jimmy]

On reflection we actually played a impressive defensive game against a team which were fired up, had the crowd roaring them on and a point to prove after the poet letter debacle. Would have been nice if we could have strung some more passes together but both teams were pressing hard.

[dont ask me to choose luv]

sunderland 0 wba 0

On the money 

[ronny boy]

Pulis is a tacticle genius, Lmao at that!

Anyway, i'm hoping the strategy of win @ home draw away is for the league only, and we'll be more expansive in ALL cup games, I suspect TP recognises that different competitions require differing approaches. Here's hoping !!

I think the strategy is more likely to be one of... not letting a team we're in a battle against relegation with, gain any points on us in a match we can affect. Being away reinforces that strategy.

Hopefully next Saturday we'll see a more attacking game from us.

[hunsletbaggie]

 Another hour and half of my life I will never get back pretty similar to the Everton game utter dross.
Why he didn't start with either Sess or McManaman is beyond me watching the Albion away under Pulis is going to be hard work.

[Albionic]

On the money 

Not difficult really was it?

[WorcsWBA]

I feel there's a lot of hypocrisy at present. I wanted Irvine gone as much as the next person, but if he had picked a midfield 4 featuring no natural wide players, picked a back 4 four with no natural full-backs and then we proceeded to have only 4 shots with just 1 on target in the whole game, there would have been a lynch mob out for him even if we hadn't lost, but Pulis doing it somehow makes him a tactical genius.

My post isn't about Irvine, it's about calling a spade a spade. We were dire today and, like against Everton, we were lucky to get a point. As we showed last week, the players can be so much better in away games than the tactics are allowing them to be.

As for cynical ploys, we utterly despised it when Stoke did it and now we think it's marvellous. That's hypocrisy too.

[stokelad84]

Maybe Irvine got stick because he lost 50% of his games?

[TheJacko2000]

I feel there's a lot of hypocrisy at present. I wanted Irvine gone as much as the next person, but if he had picked a midfield 4 featuring no natural wide players, picked a back 4 four with no natural full-backs and then we proceeded to have only 4 shots with just 1 on target in the whole game, there would have been a lynch mob out for him even if we hadn't lost, but Pulis doing it somehow makes him a tactical genius.

My post isn't about Irvine, it's about calling a spade a spade. We were dire today and, like against Everton, we were lucky to get a point. As we showed last week, the players can be so much better in away games than the tactics are allowing them to be.

As for cynical ploys, we utterly despised it when Stoke did it and now we think it's marvellous. That's hypocrisy too.

Irvine had no gameplan, he would play negative teams and lose. Pulis is well organised and yes ultra-defensive but it's a means to an end. Also if Sunderland had got through us he would have quickly used Sess and McManaman, whereas Irvine was renowned for saying an early goal ended our chances. I went up there today and while it was disappointing not to go for it, I never thought the point was in doubt.

Also if we were cynical as you suggest Ideye would have conned a penalty a la Rooney near the end.

[CL3MO]

I feel there's a lot of hypocrisy at present. I wanted Irvine gone as much as the next person, but if he had picked a midfield 4 featuring no natural wide players, picked a back 4 four with no natural full-backs and then we proceeded to have only 4 shots with just 1 on target in the whole game, there would have been a lynch mob out for him even if we hadn't lost, but Pulis doing it somehow makes him a tactical genius.

My post isn't about Irvine, it's about calling a spade a spade. We were dire today and, like against Everton, we were lucky to get a point. As we showed last week, the players can be so much better in away games than the tactics are allowing them to be.

As for cynical ploys, we utterly despised it when Stoke did it and now we think it's marvellous. That's hypocrisy too.

It's because us as a group of fans trust  Pulis,going by his previous record, to make the right decisions. Irvine wasn't in control of the situation. Do you honestly believe we would have got anything from that game with Irvine in charge today?

[tommcneill]

I wouldn't call it luck today, thought we defended brilliantly

Yes Irvine would have been lynched for it but then as I've said before he never got the team on the same run we are on now getting results in games.

when his way was getting us beat every game he was bound to get criticised for it, but when Pulis actually gets results using a similar setup why should he get criticised.

Pulis is 10x the manager AI will ever be. No comparison can be made full stop

[TheJacko2000]

where now?

It's called the Halfway House.

[Adamstv]

I feel there's a lot of hypocrisy at present. I wanted Irvine gone as much as the next person, but if he had picked a midfield 4 featuring no natural wide players, picked a back 4 four with no natural full-backs and then we proceeded to have only 4 shots with just 1 on target in the whole game, there would have been a lynch mob out for him even if we hadn't lost, but Pulis doing it somehow makes him a tactical genius.

My post isn't about Irvine, it's about calling a spade a spade. We were dire today and, like against Everton, we were lucky to get a point. As we showed last week, the players can be so much better in away games than the tactics are allowing them to be.

As for cynical ploys, we utterly despised it when Stoke did it and now we think it's marvellous. That's hypocrisy too.

Problem was Irvine didn't quite have the same know how or nous as Pulis has and the main prerogative for Peace, WBA and us was to avoid relegation. Pulis only has this agenda ... Keep us up .....anything else is a bonus (I.e. F.a. Cup run) . Whilst he has picked a back four with no natural full backs how many goals have we conceded since we went down this route.  He gets results and this is a results industry end of !

[WorcsWBA]

Do you honestly believe we would have got anything from that game with Irvine in charge today?

We might have done, who's to know? However, as I said, my point wasn't about Irvine (I'm sure some will recall how much I derided him) it was about similar performances being regarded as magnificent because one manager is in charge that would have been labelled pathetic if someone else was in charge. It makes no sense to me. We could quite easily have lost today, just as we should have done at Everton. So, is the fact that we didn't lose those games down to Pulis's nous more than luck?

I'm pretty sure there was a game under Irvine (can't recall which one) where we had 21 shots and he was still criticised for negative tactics. We could have made life more uncomfortable for Sunderland today, got the crowd on their backs more, and we might have been celebrating a victory if we had counter-attacked more incisively. Instead we just hoofed long balls at forwards who are ill-equipped to deal with them, so just having 4 shots on goal was no great surprise.