Tony's Plan B

If there is one criticism (and there arn't many) you could label at Tony Pulis, it's his general lack of a back up plan when things start to go wrong, or his original ideas don't work for him.
There have been times in the past when TP has tried to put square pegs in round holes, who can forget playing Chris Greenacre and Carl Asaba, two out and out strikers, on the wings, and his persistance in playing Richard Cresswell, again a striker, on the left wing. This is something he at times got away with in the Championship, but most defonatly won't get away with it in the Premier League.
The 2-2 draw at Newcastle showed fans shoots of a new side to Tony Pulis, a Tony Pulis that wasn't scared to drastically change things when the going got tough. Ricardo Fuller was dropped to the bench after a sub-standard performance in the Carling Cup, a controversial move at the time, but one which proved to be a tactical master stroke when Fuller lit up the game as he made his appearance from the bench. The decision to play Danny Pugh on the left wing was also a surprise. Although Rory Delap is not a genuine winger, he is at least right footed, and with the left footed Pugh on the other side, the team looked to have found a new balance.
But it wasnt until Salif Diao got injured that we really saw Tony pull out his plan B. At 1-0 down, which was soon to be 2-0, Pulis resisted the temptation to replace Diao with Seyi Olofinjana, which would have been a straight swap, one holding midfielder for another. Instead, Pulis threw on Glenn Whelen, an altogether different player, a creative midfielder many fans have been crying out for.
With a verbal dressing down at half time ringing in their ears the players emerged in the second half a different team, a midfield consisting of Pugh, Whelan, Amdy Faye and Delap looked the most balenced midfield we've seen in a long time, certainly since we've been in the Premier League.
Is it no coincedence that all of a sudden the game changed, it was Stoke taking the game to the home side, and it was Stoke who earned a point with attacking football rather than hanging on for dear life. It was a promising move by Tony Pulis, and with Michael Tonge, Tom Soares and the soon to be returning Liam Lawrence waiting in the wings, as well as a large transfer kitty to raid in January, the comeback at Newcastle would have provided many a Potters fan optomism for the coming weeks.