deploying hard-working midfielders and sending long balls

STOKE, England -- Stoke says Tony Pulis has left as manager by mutual consent, ending his seven-year tenure at the Premier League club. By guiding Stoke to a 13th-place finish this season, Pulis secured the teams status in Englands top division for a fifth straight year but he came under increasing fire for failing to change its direct and physical style of play. Pulis was the second longest-serving manager in the Premier League, behind Arsene Wenger of Arsenal, in the wake of Alex Fergusons retirement from Manchester United last week. Pulis joined Stoke in 2006 for a second spell in charge and received plaudits for guiding the midlands club to the FA Cup final in 2011, where the team lost to Manchester City, and consequently a place in Europe for the first time in 36 years. The decision continues the coaching upheaval in the Premier League this month, with Ferguson leaving United after nearly 27 years and being replaced by Everton manager David Moyes. Everton and Manchester City, which fired Roberto Mancini last week, are on the lookout for a new coach, while Chelsea will also soon be without a manager once Rafa Benitez leaves his interim position. Pulis, who was renowned for wearing a cap and a tracksuit during matches, has never been relegated in his 21 years as a manager and is widely recognized as a coach that makes his teams more effective than the sum of their parts. In 1999, he took tiny Gillingham to within an injury-time goal of promotion to the top flight, and his achievement in keeping Stoke in the Premier League since 2008 may only be appreciated once he is gone. "No denying he did a great job getting them to the Premier League and keeping them there," former England striker Michael Owen, who retired on Sunday after spending the last year of his career at Stoke, said on Twitter. But his playing style and tactics, which usually involve deploying hard-working midfielders and sending long balls to tall strikers, have never been universally loved. In 2010, Wenger accused Stoke of using a rugby-style approach to games, and even the clubs own fans became disgruntled this season. Despite a big outlay on players in recent years, the team was embroiled in a relegation battle until the final week of this season and finished 13th -- six points clear of safety. Pulis was also previously manager of Bournemouth, Bristol, Portsmouth and Plymouth in the lower leagues. His first spell with Stoke was between 2002-05. After Wenger, the longest-serving manager in the Premier League is Alan Pardew, who has been at Newcastle for 2 years, 156 days. Sections of the British media have linked Phil Neville, who recently left the playing squad of Everton, and Brighton manager Gus Poyet with the vacancy at Stoke. Air Max Pas Cher France .J. Ellis hit two-run homers and the NL West champion Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the San Diego Padres 4-0 Saturday night. Air Max Pas Cher . "Were just throwing s--- at the wall hoping something sticks," said Tortorella about the possible line combinations for Fridays game against Columbus. The Canucks have lost five straight games and six of their last seven, leaving them in a logjam in the Pacific Division, currently sitting fifth - good for ninth in the Western Conference. http://www.airmaxfrancepascher.fr/ . From filmmaker Nanette Burstein (On the Ropes), The Price of Gold revisits the saga that rocked the figure skating world ahead of the 1994 Lillehammer Olympic Winter Games: the assault on Nancy Kerrigan, and the plot that led its way back to her rival Tonya Harding. Air Max Pas Cher Livraison Rapide . Fernandez, coached in Toronto by former two-time Olympic silver medallist Brian Orser, scored 267.11 points and is the first champion to successfully defend since Russias Evgeny Plushenko in 2005 and 2006. Air Max Pas Cher En Ligne . -- The Missouri Tigers might not have a roster full of superstars.MONTREAL -- The last time Montreal Impact defender Jeb Brovsky went to Guatemala, he brought his new wife. This time hes bringing his entire Major League Soccer team. The Impact will head to Guatemala City for a CONCACAF Champions League game against CD Heredia on Wednesday. It will be a return to the Central American country for Brovsky, who made a charitable excursion to there with his new bride, Caitlin, in December to work with local orphans. Thanks to the Brovskys volunteer work in conjunction with HANDS, a non-profit organization set up by Guatemalan alumni from Brovskys alma mater Notre Dame, the Impact will have a small portion of the partisan crowd in their corner Wednesday night. "They have set up a good itinerary for about 500 kids and volunteers to come to our game," Brovsky said after the Impacts practice Monday at Saputo Stadium. "We got them T-shirts, a backpack each with some water and some other goodies in there. Hopefully theyll have a great time at the game." The Impact have stepped into a whole different soccer world two weeks after opening the competition with a 1-0 win over the San Jose Earthquakes on Aug. 7. Matt Jordan, the Impacts director of soccer operations, was Montreals goalkeeper five years ago, the last time the team took part in the tournament. He says that planning for the Guatemalan excursion began a couple of months ago. "Weve put a lot of work into preparing for this trip," Jordan said Monday as the Impact practised at Saputo Stadium before its flight. "The club has made a huge commitment to have top level travel for the team. Weve hired a private security company, brought our own chef, weve covered all the details from A to Z so the only thing the players have to concentrate on is playing, which is the most important thing." Security for a travelling team is not a matter taken lightly on a trip to a soccer-mad country with one of the highest violent crime rates in Latin America. "I think weve covered our bases," Jordan said. Marco Di Vaio, who scored both goals in Montreals 2-1 win over D.C. United in MLS action Saturday night, did not travel with the team. Veteran defender Alessandro Nesta and midfielder Patrice Bernier also stayed behind with the Impacct facing a stretch of three games in eight days.dddddddddddd. Head coach Marco Schallibaum is suspended for Montreals next Major League Soccer game against Houston on Saturday but he will be on the sidelines Wednesday night in Guatemala City. Schallibaum apologized to his players after he was ejected 75 minutes into the game against Washington, earning an automatic suspension from MLS for the fourth time in his debut season. The veteran Swiss coach admitted that he lost his cool after seeing Justin Mapp knocked out of bounds by D.C. Uniteds James Riley in a vulnerable spot near T.V. equipment between the benches. "I have no problem saying Im sorry," Schallibaum said. "Nobodys perfect. I made a mistake Saturday and it was not good. Thats what I explained to my players." Impact defender Hassoun Camara said that the price of Schallibaums transgression is more than covered by the spirit behind it. "As players we are happy to have a coach like that because we see that he will be the first to sacrifice and show that he will be the first to fight," Camara said. "We have to do the same on the field. This is the spirit we must have. He showed he wanted to protect his player and thats a good thing for us." Wednesday nights game will be played on a synthetic pitch at Estadio Cementos Progresso, the home of Guatemalan club team Communicaciones, which has hosted a number of international teams and competitions. The game was moved there because CD Heredias home field it is not up to CONCACAF standards. Impact goalkeeper Evan Bush will make his second straight Champions League start. Bush also played all four games in the Impacts run to the Amway Canadian Championship, but he has backed up Troy Perkins and has yet to see any MLS action this season. "Its something where were going to need to bond together and its not going to be a good atmosphere," Bush said. "Im sure its going to be a hostile atmosphere. You hear a lot of stories about going to those countries and were expecting those kinds of things." CD Heredia will host the MLS Earthquakes next Wednesday. Montreal travels to San Jose on Sept. 17 and hosts CD Heredia in its fourth and final game of the group stage one week later. ' ' '