Cant disagree with any of that really,weve been waiting for a bit of evolution and its not rocket science as to where we need to evolve.However,he wont jeopardise our survival,and we are lucky in that respect,but a little more creativity wouldnt go amiss.Gooooooooarn Stoke!!

Pulis keeps proving you all wrong and will continue to do so. Football isnt as black and white as the ‘tikki-takka v direct football’ battle of styles some of the less intelligent amongst you like to think.

Some of the most talented species have not adapted over millions of years, they were at their zenith in the Jurassic period and continue to be at the top of the food chain or thereabouts today, so your analogy is flawed. 

What people like you fail to understand is that football does not have a meaningful measure where style over substance wins out, what actually matters is how many goals you score/concede and how many points you earn at the end of the season. 

Tony Pulis doesn’t have to do anything, he particularly doesn’t have to listen to your perspective on his performance, I mean, what do you actually know about football that isn’t tainted by your tikki-takka propaganda.

Football hasn’t moved on, its just that some opinionated individuals believe that football is easier on the eye if you make multiple, short and sideways passes before ever threatening to do anything constructive.  Personally I find this style of football extremely boring to watch, whereas a team like Stoke who always try to get the ball forward and into the box, or who rely on stiff defence of the kind you would laud an Italian side for, represent great value for money.

Sure, Stoke don’t get frightened by Arsenal, or intimidated by Liverpool and seem to have no care as to who they face, or compete with, and maybe this is your issue.  Maybe Stoke are just here to stay, spoil your party and make you look silly every season.  If that is the case then I personally hope they keep doing what they do and annoying you in the process for as long as Tony Pulis can manage it!

Have to say I agree with the majority of this article. Quite surprised the some positives have been listed makes a nice change from the usual drudge written about stoke. Most fans know that evolution is needed but pullis has not let us down yet and don’t think he will again this season!

 The essence of your piece seems to be that Stoke need to play more like the other guys and not have their own style. The assumption being that the style that Pulis has developed is either out of date or basically flawed.

Lets just call Pulis’ style “contra.” It runs contrary to the elegant passing games of Barca, Arsenal, and on and on. It is a brutal, direct style of football that is unlike what most teams face week after week. TP brings in big, tough boys who are the tallest on average in the league.

The fact is, Stoke have evolved a style of play that allow it to survive in a league financed by ego driven billionaires. If you have endless amounts of cash, you can bring in players who can play any style you wish. If you are in the bottom 25% in Premiership spending, you develop a style of play that works within your financial restraints.

When teams play Stoke, they tremble. When they come to the Britannia, they lose.

He’s not listening to you you dick!

idiot comment from guest

this is a well written piece and as a season ticket holder I agree with all he says. At least Mike has found merit in our team unlike other critics

five years on and still nobody can grasp what stoke city are all about. Here lies the problem ! most of stokes shopping was done in waitrose ie proven premiership players. We still constantly try to sign england internationals defoe, bent and adam johnson. You could argue that most of the other teams in and around us are signing Lidl players. Most of newcastle and sunderland are made up of untried premiership players.Our so called Lidl players will only be bench warmers.

Well kudos on the creativity displayed by this innovative visionary, how long it must have racked your astonishingly original brain to come up with such a fresh article. I’ve been reading this boring, clichéd clap for the past four years and I’m sure Tony Pulis, like myself, won’t be too worried about ‘adapting’ to life in the Premiership. Four years of Pulis’ style of play has brought us cup finals, european football and four extremely comfortable seasons in the Premiership while the darlings of tiki-taka, footballs flavours of the month, Owen Coyle, Ian Holloway and the like have found themselves relegated, dragging the odd ‘established’ Premiership club into the championship with them. Perhaps you, Mike Calvin, ought to take your own advice and change your own outdated and ill-founded opinions. 

Good article, basically TP and Stoke were found out last season, and TP has no plan B unless you include him playing SJW on the wing. If we all look at SCFC, we know TP is pigheaded and this has suited us all well, but at the same time he does need to “listen” and I am not saying we need to adapt or change too much but we have been crying out for a decent creative midfielder since we got into the beloved Prem League!!

Not  a Stoke fan but as you say no team likes to play you as you give all and play all so very rarely easy to beat thats if we can win at all. I like watching Barca play but also like watching Stoke, i am a Pullis fan albeit a Spurs supporter COYS

What Tony Pulis has not realized is that most players and teams are striving continually to improve their skills. As a result, the standard of football, both in the premiership and in lower leagues, is improving all the time but Stoke are standing still. Eventually, a time will come when there are no longer enough sufficiently poor teams in the premiership to go down instead of Stoke.
At Stoke, skills are at a premium and I remember Pulis saying that it would take three years for the team to establish itself at the higher level and then the club would look to move on. I see no evidence of a plan B and the manager appears not to understand the need or how to implement one.
Apparently, last night, the Swindon fans thought that their team were taking the proverbial and the statistics show why:
GOAL ATTEMPTS

Stoke 15 (6 on target)

Swindon 20 (12 on target).

CORNERS

Stoke 7

Swindon 11