Tony Pulis

[CumbrianRam]

Well he was too ***** for us, but now he is LMA manager of the year. Well deserved.

Rodgers won it actually Ralph.

 

Pulis got the PL one, strange how one manager win the League one and another in the same division win the general one with no real cup run.

[Cardifframs]

Well deserved too

[ERob]

He doesn't play park the bus football but his team doesn't really press in the opposition half.

They have very little possession in matches but when they do it's exciting and they make it count.

i am getting a bit bored of this pass the ball along the back four and back again football that's become so fashionable.

Also interesting to note that palace had a good fair play record last season (top half) but his former side stoke had the worst despite everyone saying what good football stoke now play.

[uttoxram75]

Weighing up all the pros and cons of the tactics regarding Pulis and Hughes at Stoke, one struggles to come to any conclusion other than Stoke are dirty b'stards.

 

Cnuts in fact.

 

Can't wait to see Mark Hughes having a strop next season as we play them off the park while they have two sent off.....

[CumbrianRam]

Not really watched much of Stoke this season, is it complete change of style or a "media think it is but it isn't in reality" alas Coyle at Bolton?

[uttoxram75]

Not much different according to some stokies Cumb.

 

Little bit more passing allowed before they have to hoof it to Crouch, but there's rumours of unrest in the dressing room. For all the talk of little Stoke punching above their weight they are actually about where they should be in regard to wage bill. Crouch and Kenwynne Jones were both on £50k + per week apparently. Players like Charlie Adam and Stephen Ireland are big earners as well.

 

The owner of bet365 runs Stoke and has put a lot of money in.

 

Stoke's problem will be how Hughes takes any criticism. Pulis weren't bothered, he'd got a plan and dint give a toss what anyone thought.

Hughes seems like he wants to be liked. 

[MuespachRam]

I can't understand how Rogers got any award.... He won nothing and had the league in his own hands with 4 games to go and let it "slip".

Maybe an award for "whitest teeth, best fake tan or best David Brent impersonator" would have been better for him.

[Bris Vegas]

I can't understand how Rogers got any award.... He won nothing and had the league in his own hands with 4 games to go and let it "slip".

Maybe an award for "whitest teeth, best fake tan or best David Brent impersonator" would have been better for him.

 

 All about how a term performs in comparison to expectations.

 

Looking at the Premier League table, I'd say only Hull City, Crystal Palace and Liverpool 'exceeded' expectations.

 

Pulis was never going to win it as he wasn't there for the season, Steve Bruce's Hull City side had an excellent campaign with the FA Cup final but they only scraped relegation when thinking they only got 37 points.

 

Looking at it from a neutral, Liverpool were widely tipped to finish outside the top four and achieving 84 points (plus all of their goals) they probably exceeded their expected points total by around 15-20 points.

 

It was a straight shoot between Pulis and Rodgers for the award and people genuinely favour Liverpool.

 

You may not like it Mues, but they were alot of people's second favourite team this season. 

[IlsonDerby]

Playing Devil's advocate with a friend who supports Liverpool I suggested Arsene Wenger had a better season than Rodgers. Massive injuries to his first team, under massive pressure and more pundits had them to finish outside the top four than inside the top four this season. He handles himself with class and never gets drawn into spats such as trophy less Mourinho referring t him as a specialist in failure...

Also Liverpool did what they did with one of the best players (on form) on the planet playing for them for the bulk of the season. This is after having a net spend of £61.6m over Rodgers tenure.

Arsenal also had Europe and two very decent cup runs including a trophy to add in to the mix. In the time Rodgers spent what he did, Wenger spent a net £41.3m.

For me Ramsey being fit for the whole season rather than half considering his form pre and post injury and Walcott being involved all season I would think it justifiable to suggest Arsenal wouldn't have been 7points behind First place...hard to guess how many points they'd have achieved but it isn't difficult to see Ramsey and Walcott earning them wins where they got draws.

[Animal is a Ram]

Playing Devil's advocate with a friend who supports Liverpool I suggested Arsene Wenger had a better season than Rodgers. Massive injuries to his first team, under massive pressure and more pundits had them to finish outside the top four than inside the top four this season. He handles himself with class and never gets drawn into spats such as trophy less Mourinho referring t him as a specialist in failure...

Also Liverpool did what they did with one of the best players (on form) on the planet playing for them for the bulk of the season. This is after having a net spend of £61.6m over Rodgers tenure.

Arsenal also had Europe and two very decent cup runs including a trophy to add in to the mix. In the time Rodgers spent what he did, Wenger spent a net £41.3m.

For me Ramsey being fit for the whole season rather than half considering his form pre and post injury and Walcott being involved all season I would think it justifiable to suggest Arsenal wouldn't have been 7points behind First place...hard to guess how many points they'd have achieved but it isn't difficult to see Ramsey and Walcott earning them wins where they got draws.

 

Arsene has massive spending power, so finding two or three backup options should not have been a problem. Ozil hasn't had a great season, especially with the amount spent on him.. 

[Daaave]

I actually think many people have been pretty harsh on Ozil this season. He was never going to completely take the league by storm in his first season, he has admitted himself the intensity was a lot higher than he was used to in Spain, but he's done a solid job without being spectacular.

 

5 league goals and 9 assists in 26 league appearances isn't a bad return, and only David Silva has averaged more key passes per game than him in the PL this season. For £42m maybe you expect a little bit more of an immediate impact but I think next season will be the time to really judge him.

[IlsonDerby]

Arsene has massive spending power, so finding two or three backup options should not have been a problem. Ozil hasn't had a great season, especially with the amount spent on him.. 

 

Arsene won't 'waste' money! Ozil will come good next season and had a very decent first season...Anyone remember Drogba's first prem season? woeful... how did that turn out? haha

 

Rodgers bought Aspas for 7+m which means that he has cost them 7+m per shot on target in the premier league because that is all he has managed to achieve this seaso haha. 

 

Liverpool already had Gerrard, Agger, Skirtl, Johnson, Enrique, Reina, Suarez, Lucas...all very good players. They had a very poor season last year, theyve had a good season this year but they should have been higher than 7th last year so I think this "he's taken them from 7th to 2nd" rodgers love fest isn't the whole story. 

 

For example if Arsenal had finished 7th this season and then finished 2nd next season, there wouldnt be boners over Wenger, they'd just highlight that this season was a particularly poor one.