Ups & Downs 2017/18

[Silver Fox]

LOLz @ Stoke

[Double d v2]

LOLz @ Stoke

Fingers crossed west Brom can pull off one of the gr8st escapes in history

[windermereROYAL]

Huddersfield fans must be laughing their nuts off today, hard to see them picking up another point but the chasing pack shot themselves in the foot.

Remainng games
Swansea v Southampton.

Southampton V Man city.

Swansea v Stoke.

With GD each of them need to 2 points to finish above Hudds. so I`m hoping for a saints win on Tuesday.

[Stranded]

Huddersfield fans must be laughing their nuts off today, hard to see them picking up another point but the chasing pack shot themselves in the foot.

Remainng games
Swansea v Southampton.

Southampton V Man city.

Swansea v Stoke.

With GD each of them need to 2 points to finish above Hudds. so I`m hoping for a saints win on Tuesday.

Not laughing too much. Only needs Soton to win on Tuesday and Swansea to beat a relegated Stoke for them to be in big trouble. Not beyond the realms of possibility.

Still think they will get something v Arsenal.

Would love Swansea v Soton to be a draw, just to keep WBA alive one more week before they drop. Job Moore has done is fantastic but the mismanagement there this year deserves the drop.

[Sutekh]

Barnet down despite winning their game

Rochdale manage to survive in division 3 with a 1-0 win over Charlton courtesy of the amazing Joe Thompson (now that was a story just waiting to be written). As a result Oldham fail to extend their 21 year stay in that division.

[Victor Meldrew]

West Brom must be cursing both getting rid of Pulis and employing that imbecile Pardew.
Their own fault of course.

[Stranded]

West Brom must be cursing both getting rid of Pulis and employing that imbecile Pardew.
Their own fault of course.

They certainly won't be cursing getting rid of Pulis. They were playing awful football and losing. Appointing Pardew was the mistake.

[Sutekh]

West Brom must be cursing both getting rid of Pulis and employing that imbecile Pardew.
Their own fault of course.

They certainly won't be cursing getting rid of Pulis. They were playing awful football and losing. Appointing Pardew was the mistake.

Wonder if Darren Moore will get the job permanently

[Stranded]

West Brom must be cursing both getting rid of Pulis and employing that imbecile Pardew.
Their own fault of course.

They certainly won't be cursing getting rid of Pulis. They were playing awful football and losing. Appointing Pardew was the mistake.

Wonder if Darren Moore will get the job permanently

A lot of press stories/rumours suggesting he is not being considered, which seems ridiculous. Guess it could be argued that the players are just performing as there is no pressure on them now but would think he deserves a shot next season. If he completes the impossible escape, then I can't see how they can't give him next season.

[tmesis]

West Brom must be cursing both getting rid of Pulis and employing that imbecile Pardew.
Their own fault of course.

They certainly won't be cursing getting rid of Pulis. They were playing awful football and losing. Appointing Pardew was the mistake.

It was quite annoying at he time, when the fans wanted Pulis out, that the media kept phrasing the choice as "would you rather have boring premier league football under Pulis, or relegation?" as if keeping Pulis guaranteed survival, and sacking him guaranteed going down.

I believe WBA will be the first team to get relegated as a consequence of sacking him.

[Victor Meldrew]

West Brom must be cursing both getting rid of Pulis and employing that imbecile Pardew.
Their own fault of course.

They certainly won't be cursing getting rid of Pulis. They were playing awful football and losing. Appointing Pardew was the mistake.

It was quite annoying at he time, when the fans wanted Pulis out, that the media kept phrasing the choice as "would you rather have boring premier league football under Pulis, or relegation?" as if keeping Pulis guaranteed survival, and sacking him guaranteed going down.

I believe WBA will be the first team to get relegated as a consequence of sacking him.

I often think back to Curbishley at Charlton when they sacked him when lower mid-table in the Premier League on the basis that he had taken them as far as he could.
I bet many West Brom and Stoke fans this morning are thinking that boring football but still being in the Premier League is preferable to where they are heading.
Likewise most Cardiff fans and Reading fans (if we had fluked it at Wembley) would take being in the Premier League over watching entertaining football.

Personally I prefer to watch entertaining football over boring but successful however I suspect that I am in a minority by a considerable distance.

[Stranded]

They certainly won't be cursing getting rid of Pulis. They were playing awful football and losing. Appointing Pardew was the mistake.

It was quite annoying at he time, when the fans wanted Pulis out, that the media kept phrasing the choice as "would you rather have boring premier league football under Pulis, or relegation?" as if keeping Pulis guaranteed survival, and sacking him guaranteed going down.

I believe WBA will be the first team to get relegated as a consequence of sacking him.

I often think back to Curbishley at Charlton when they sacked him when lower mid-table in the Premier League on the basis that he had taken them as far as he could.
I bet many West Brom and Stoke fans this morning are thinking that boring football but still being in the Premier League is preferable to where they are heading.
Likewise most Cardiff fans and Reading fans (if we had fluked it at Wembley) would take being in the Premier League over watching entertaining football.

Personally I prefer to watch entertaining football over boring but successful however I suspect that I am in a minority by a considerable distance.

The problem is, Victor, that people will put up with boring football if it is getting results. It had stopped getting results for WBA under Pulis.

They won both their opening games (both 1-0, total Pulis-ball) but since August 19th to 18th November - last game before he was fired, his record read:

P 10 W 0 D 4 L 6 F 7 A 18

This included 4 straight defeats prior to his sacking.

Pulis is great at digging clubs out of a slump and pulling them to safety, what he has never had to do certainly at PL level is turn round a team that is in freefall and been found out. He showed no sign of being able to do that at WBA.

I would wager that you would struggle to find a single WBA fan who, even with relegation looming, is unhappy that Pulis was fired. The error was Pardew.

As an aside, very good article today from a Boro fan on Football365 about the myth of relegation from the PL being something to fret over:

http://www.football365.com/news/stop-fr ... embrace-it

[Hoop Blah]

Has Chris Coleman resigned from the mackems yet?

Sunderland at Accrington and Fleetwood lol.....just imagine

I saw a stat today, which I’m not sure is true, but apparently...

Since the start of the 2015-16 season, no player has more assists for Sunderland in league games than Adam Johnson.

He’s been in Prison for 2 years!!!

[Sutekh]

Has Chris Coleman resigned from the mackems yet?

Sunderland at Accrington and Fleetwood lol.....just imagine

Wonder how well and how quickly Sunderland can turn it round. Much of their current squad is on the way in the summer and they're bound to have the pick of whoever they want from that level, so if they get the right manager in they could they find themselves "steamrollering" their way to the division title. Might be a threat to Reading's 106 if it clicks from day one.

[Double d v2]

Has Chris Coleman resigned from the mackems yet?

Sunderland at Accrington and Fleetwood lol.....just imagine

Wonder how well and how quickly Sunderland can turn it round. Much of their current squad is on the way in the summer and they're bound to have the pick of whoever they want from that level, so if they get the right manager in they could they find themselves "steamrollering" their way to the division title. Might be a threat to Reading's 106 if it clicks from day one.

Or they could completely capitulate and be the next Stockport. I highly doubt that will happen, they actually looked decent against Wolves and have some good youngsters. If they can get Love, Gooch and The Ginger one playing well in L1 and avoid getting kicked lumps out of they will be good.

[Brum Royal]

As an aside, very good article today from a Boro fan on Football365 about the myth of relegation from the PL being something to fret over:

http://www.football365.com/news/stop-fr ... embrace-it

Johnny Nicholson is a very good writer, and I always read his articles on F365. He's spot on again here.

[Victor Meldrew]

It was quite annoying at he time, when the fans wanted Pulis out, that the media kept phrasing the choice as "would you rather have boring premier league football under Pulis, or relegation?" as if keeping Pulis guaranteed survival, and sacking him guaranteed going down.

I believe WBA will be the first team to get relegated as a consequence of sacking him.

I often think back to Curbishley at Charlton when they sacked him when lower mid-table in the Premier League on the basis that he had taken them as far as he could.
I bet many West Brom and Stoke fans this morning are thinking that boring football but still being in the Premier League is preferable to where they are heading.
Likewise most Cardiff fans and Reading fans (if we had fluked it at Wembley) would take being in the Premier League over watching entertaining football.

Personally I prefer to watch entertaining football over boring but successful however I suspect that I am in a minority by a considerable distance.

The problem is, Victor, that people will put up with boring football if it is getting results. It had stopped getting results for WBA under Pulis.

They won both their opening games (both 1-0, total Pulis-ball) but since August 19th to 18th November - last game before he was fired, his record read:

P 10 W 0 D 4 L 6 F 7 A 18

This included 4 straight defeats prior to his sacking.

Pulis is great at digging clubs out of a slump and pulling them to safety, what he has never had to do certainly at PL level is turn round a team that is in freefall and been found out. He showed no sign of being able to do that at WBA.

I would wager that you would struggle to find a single WBA fan who, even with relegation looming, is unhappy that Pulis was fired. The error was Pardew.

As an aside, very good article today from a Boro fan on Football365 about the myth of relegation from the PL being something to fret over:

http://www.football365.com/news/stop-fr ... embrace-it

A good read stranded.
Mind you, the massive parachute payments now give relegated sides a distinct advantage and just by virtue of money have a better chance to get promoted thereby giving fans enjoyment,.
As a final point on Pulis (we don't want him sullying our board), I have disliked the man for 30 years (not that I bear a grudge!!).
April 1988, Reading 0 Bournemouth 0-a game almost as bad as Sunday's which contributed greatly to our relegation to the third tier.
Pulis was a dirty midfielder who played his part that night, not that time for being dirty but , along with most of the Bournemouth players apart from Trevor Aylott ,spent the whole game diving at a time when diving hadn't really been invented in English football.

I despise the style of football that he advocates and his voice that can be heard above that of a 25,000 crowd BUT I do think he would have kept West Brom up.
BTW he still lives down this way and , a bit like Mark Hughes, he is said to be fairly quiet and personable.

[stealthpapes]

They certainly won't be cursing getting rid of Pulis. They were playing awful football and losing. Appointing Pardew was the mistake.

Wonder if Darren Moore will get the job permanently

A lot of press stories/rumours suggesting he is not being considered, which seems ridiculous. Guess it could be argued that the players are just performing as there is no pressure on them now but would think he deserves a shot next season. If he completes the impossible escape, then I can't see how they can't give him next season.

I read something up here that he actually didn't want it full time. He's happy to be a coach, happy to step in like he's done this season, but didn't want the day to day strop of being a manager.

I don't blame him.

[John Madejski's Wallet]

Has Chris Coleman resigned from the mackems yet?

Sunderland at Accrington and Fleetwood lol.....just imagine

Wonder how well and how quickly Sunderland can turn it round. Much of their current squad is on the way in the summer and they're bound to have the pick of whoever they want from that level, so if they get the right manager in they could they find themselves "steamrollering" their way to the division title. Might be a threat to Reading's 106 if it clicks from day one.

Looks like they're stealing Sheff Utd's manager, which has Blades fans livid.

Would be a good move for Sunderland imo

[The Reverend]

Not a single team in the top five tiers has gone straight back down this season.

Newcastle, Brighton, Huddersfield, Sheff Utd, Bolton, Millwall, Portsmouth, Plymouth, Doncaster, Blackpool, Lincoln, Forest Green, Fylde, Ebbsfleet, Maidenhead and Halifax all survived the leagues they were promoted into