Havent posted for ages so apologies in advance for the long post!
Personally i dont think you can really judge somebody after 6 x games and even 6 x months may be a bit too soon, but that doesnt mean there cant be concerns.
The main positive i could see with Pulis was motivation and organisation, yet of late those things seem to of come unstuck.
Pulis will of done his homework on our squad before taking over and he must know they have the mental strength of a wet fart, for over a season now we have thrown away several 2 or 3 goal leads and in certain games surrended easily. Pulis is known as a motivator, 100% man, etc so i find it a bit concerning when he says this is his biggest challenge, that the job has got tougher after the transfer window, and when asked can we stay up, he says 'who knows, we will just wait and see'.
I think he is covering his own back incase we do go down, but i think it offers a group of players an excuse, many of whom shown to be quite cowardly when it comes to a battle, he should be saying and knowing what we do of Pulis that 'these players are more than good enough to stay in the league and its up to them to prove it and stay at West Brom in the future' What i have heard so far isnt the siege mentality i was hoping for, of course actions speak louder than words and credit for coming back from 2-0 behind on Sunday but i just think he is covering his back a bit and offer an easy way out.
I think the difference is is that at Stoke he did a great job and built them from a midtable Champ team to a established Prem team so he almost had free reign, the expectation was what he made it, at Palace they were dead and buried, nobody expected anything and again he did a great job and kept them up. At the Albion as we have been in the Premiership a number of years now its a different expectation, i think we do expect to stay up as for a number of seasons now teams have been coming up new to the league and we have stayed up so far and i think we would like a cup run (he is ticking the box on that front)
I think Irvine would of kept us up (i know not many agree) and i expect Pulis to keep us up, we have a squad that is better than 3 other teams, so far this season i think we have been in the bottom 3 once or twice and majority of it out of it so that would suggest we are better than 3 others as we now around 2/3rds through the season ? I know we have a hard run in, etc but as Sean Dyche said the other day, everybody has to play each other twice over the season so when you play them dont really matter.
It may of been covered elsewhere but i would be surprised if there isnt a optout the contract for both parties come the summer, if we go down i certainly expect Pulis to walk of his own accord, if we stay up then he may want another season. Personally i was surprised he took the job (money helps!) because as depressing as it is, i dont think he can really better what we achieved in the league under Hodgson and Clarke, we could have a cup run but i also think because of the expectations mentioned above, if we stay up, come next season i think our fans will want to be entertained, if he produces the football he did at Palace then great, but i think if its Stoke esque, then people will turn, at the moment his first aim is to keep us up so style of football, etc isnt important but it will be eventually. I think he would of been better waiting for a QPR or Leicester, having money and time, low expectation and build the club from there.
Style was i dont know what to think, against Hull it was a gritty battling performance, we got the win, job done. Everton away was dreadful to watch but again got a result and you could see the defence was organised at the expense of us offering an attacking threat, however the last couple of games, we havent looked organised at the back and havent improved massively in attack!
Like others i dont understand his team selection, as somebody said above surely a player playing average in his own position is better than a good player playing badly there? If he doesnt rate Poco then fair enough, but short term til the end of the season surely he is better than out of position players there? I rate him so not sure whats what there. Same goes with the Winger front, why not keep Varela til the end of the season, if we had got the wingers in he wanted then let him go but we didnt, so make use of him short term. Hodgson did it, when he came in he brought back in Meite and a couple of others, end of the season they were gone but they did the job short term, i cant understand why Pulis doesnt see that
My gut instinct of Pulis is that i think he is a good likeable bloke, who is clearly a very effective and successful manager at what he does, i think he will keep us up but i dont think long term we will be good for him and vice versa, i think there were other managers out there who could of come in, kept us up and maybe built something longer lasting, i think Pulis will be gone by end of next season latest and we go back to square one of another coach.
