Source: Team_Talk
Pulis cool despite poor run
Stoke manager Tony Pulis admits confidence has taken a hit after four successive defeats but he is remaining calm about the situation.[LNB] The Potters have not won for over a month after three losses in the Premier League and a Carling Cup exit to West Ham.[LNB]Pulis insists his team are playing better football than at any other time since their return to the top flight in 2008 so expects fortunes to turn around.[LNB]"We've played very well this year for long periods. We sat down and analysed the Everton game (a 1-0 defeat last weekend) and we played very well," he said.[LNB]"We had the better opportunities - we played better there than we did last year and we drew last year.[LNB]"I've been through this and the players have been through this.[LNB]"The first 10 games some of the performances have been very good but results are paramount to what we are trying to achieve.[LNB]"Results are everything in terms of confidence. If you go on a bad run people lose a bit of belief.[LNB]"We've been playing well and deserved to get results in the games we have played but certain things have conspired against us - but you have to get on with it.[LNB]"If we win five games or lose five games you have to be level-headed and you have to take it on the chin, especially in the Premier League.[LNB]"You can't be fluctuating, getting too high or too low, not in this league because it will kill you."[LNB]Those events Pulis refers to are poor refereeing decisions, which he estimates at five in their opening 10 league matches.[LNB]The latest came at Goodison Park last week when Tuncay Sanli had what appeared to be a perfectly good goal disallowed.[LNB]"I don't want to say we are playing well all the time and then getting beat but circumstances have not gone our way," he added.[LNB]"I don't think they are excuses, they are facts. We have played 10 games and had five major decisions go against us - it is the worst run I have ever had.[LNB]"We haven't had the rub of the green and sometimes you need decisions to go for you.[LNB]"They have been game-changing decisions and it is disappointing because I don't think the decisions have been difficult ones to give.[LNB]"I don't think any referees go out with any pre-conceived ideas in what they are going to do or not going to do but we have been on the wrong end of it and I hope it changes sooner rather than later.[LNB]"But referees aren't at fault for the goals we have conceded so we have to learn that as well.[LNB]"There is no question we have conceded some poor goals, especially late on in games."[LNB]
