MUCH BETTER AT THE BRIT

STOKE CITY FC 3 BLACKBURN ROVERS 1

Being at The Britannia Stadium was much better than last week in so many ways. First, we had a referee in Mark Halsey, who clearly has a well developed sense of both fairness and humour. He’s not afraid to laugh at his perfectly normal human frailties, or indeed those of his assistants. He doesn’t take himself so seriously that it affects the quality of his refereeing. He’s clearly held in high regard by the players. He let the game flow. All this on the same afternoon that last week’s dismal ref Mr.Jones produced another dismal performance at The Theatre  of Dreams, reducing the Man U faithful to near tears, as he reversed last week’s approach to penalties. Shame really he must have watched the video of  our QPR match, recognised that he failed to award us two obvious penalties, so yesterday he awarded Newcastle United a penalty that wasn’t, although – fair play to him, as they say in Wales – changing his decision on the say so of an equally inept linesman, after initially, correctly, awarding a corner.

Second, the atmosphere in the ground improved as we went along. There was tension and uncertainty amongst the crowd until we were 2 – 0 up, and even then people did not really relax until Crouch netted our third. Blackburn were not good but posed sufficient threat to keep us all on the edge of our seats at times. They are still clearly playing for manager Keane. With us  1-0 up they bossed possession at the start of the second half, making one chance in particular a minute or so after the restart, which, had it been converted could well have changed the course of the game. Rochina dribbled into our area, beating three Stoke players on the way. His clever backheel into the heart of our six yard box was completely missed by Formica, three yards out, when it looked easier to score than miss, and we feared the worst.

Third, we won, breaking the miserable run of Premiership defeats, and crucially successive home defeats. Plus we scored three goals. Rory Delap’s headed opener (27 min) came from a fine Pennant freekick from the right, following Nzonzi’s foul on Crouch. The second goal was initiated by Etherington. He scampered down the left, cutting the ball back from the byline to Walters. Super John teed up the ball for Whelan. The Irishman’s shot took two deflections on its way into Robinson’s net (57 min).Crouch  had contributed some class touches to our game, but he crowned that by netting the third goal, latching onto an excellent Wilson ball from deep, sliding his shoot skilfully under Robinson’s dive ,and into the far corner of the net.

Plenty of pluses in this performance. The defence looked to be getting itself back into some sort of shape, although there was clear disappointment amongst them that we conceded a late consolation goal (85 min) to the visitors Rochina. Etherington and Pennant are getting closer to last season’s form.Rory Delap had his best game for a long while, deservedly taking Man of the Match.

DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING REF??

STOKE CITY FC  2  QUEENS PARK RANGERS  3

As has been said before you have to wonder if some referees sometimes have agendas when they go into games. Mike Jones had a bad one yesterday and no mistake.


Stoke opened brightly, took a deserved lead, and could even have netted another couple early doors. Enter Mr.Jones! He was woefully inconsistent, but seemed to set about penalising Stoke for real and imagined misdemeanours, whilst letting similar offences by QPR players pass. He clearly has Jermaine Pennant down as a diver. Our player was given absolutely nothing, no protection even though he took a buffeting from the visitors, and was even felled in the box, but was told to get to his feet as the game was waved on.


The crowd ,deservedly, gave Jones severe stick, which interestingly in the second half was so intense that, clearly flustered, he produced a short run of very strange decisions in our favour.


The cherry (raspberry?)on top of his cake, though, came toward the end of the match, when, with the score at 2-3 and Stoke pressing incessantly for an equaliser, he failed to award a penalty when Huth was blatantly floored by Barton in the QPR box.


As several commentators have said, he clearly felt the need today to be seen to be strong, in the intimidating atmosphere of The Britannia Stadium........shame that balanced refereeing went out the window as he set about correcting some imagined imbalance......

The game itself was exciting enough. Stoke had plenty of chances to put the match beyond QPR’s reach before they netted their equaliser. Crouch had two stabs at the same chance.His first effort came back off keeper Kenny.In a heap on the ground the lanky striker managed to untangle his ungainly legs  sufficiently to help the ball toward the open net, but with little momentum. Clint Hill was able to clear the danger. Stoke had plenty of chances later on, but finished poorly.QPR had three chances and notched them all. The most worrying feature of the game for me was that our defence continues to leak soft goals, and the way our heroes visibly deflated when QPR equalised.

Any pluses? Jon Walters took his goal well, but looked pretty fed up with what was going on around him later on. Etherington looked the liveliest he has been since the FA Cup semi-final against Bolton. Higginbotham was back ,though he looked rusty, going missing in the build up/scoring of two QPR goals. Ricardo Fuller put in an appearance as sub after his long injury layoff. He looked sharp, getting behind the visitors defence once, but failing with his cut back across goal. Ryan Shawcross got himself on the scoresheet,hopefully the first of many....we need his goals.

Last but not least, Robert Huth gave his all, appearing in the QPR box with increasing frequency as Stoke pressed.He shot powerfully just over the bar as he came in from the left, just before being felled for the penalty that wasn’t.....well,at least according to MR.JONES !!


PS Perhaps some people should not be refereeing,but this (click link) is dreadful,and you can feel nothing but sympathy for the man.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/15806602.stm

BEGOVIC ON THE RACK....LETHARGIC POTTERS FIRING BLANKS...... CHARITY AT BOLTON TURNS INTO SLAUGHTER

BOLTON WANDERERS 5  STOKE CITY FC 0

Stoke were a goal down within 2 minutes, following a blunder by keeper Begovic. The ball was played back to him by Whelan, and he caught it. Ref Howard Webb awarded a freekick. Instead of holding onto the ball while the Stoke defence reformed, it was released early by the keeper for Klasnic to feed Davies who took the opportunity to slip the ball into the net for the opener.

Things went from bad to worse when Begovic rushed  a clearance. The ball went out to Eagles on the Bolton left. He took a touch and drove the ball straight back into the Stoke net for Bolton’s second.Talk about giving the opposition confidence when its down....previous to this Bolton had lost 13 of the 16 matches they had played since we beat them in the FA Cup semi-final. Throughout the half Stoke once again seemed strangely lethargic.

At the beginning of the second half we livened up for a while. But inevitably, chasing the game, we left ourselves open. On 60 mins a  ball down the Bolton left was played  into Klasnic in the centre. He drove the ball home to Begovic’s left..Eagles was next in line on 72 minutes.A long ball down the centre set him free one on one with our keeper.He comfortably finished, flicking the ball over our keeper’s despairing dive. But that was not the end of it. Klasnic made it 5-0 nodding the ball from close range past Begovic into our net.

What is really worrying the ease with which Bolton turned our defence inside out today. The Woodgate and Upson pairing is not a patch on that of Shawcross Huth last season. For several matches now the solidity we’ve been used to in defence has been missing, and the general performance has been disjointed. Teams have been getting behind us,  and through us far to frequently. And to those Stokies who were beginning  to think Ryan Shawcross was NOT INdispensable, I would say think again.We definitely miss him, whether he appears to be playing well or not.

Bolton’s first home victory of the season.It had to be us didn’t it!!Wembley revenge? ...well maybe not.That was a special day!

WE’VE PLAYED A LOT OF GAMES ALREADY.....IS IT CATCHING UP WITH US?

STOKE CITY FC 1  NEWCASTLE UNITED 3

We’re Stokies....we know about these things.....Demba Ba was likely to catch up with us sooner or later. Unfortunately, he did it big style, notching a winning hat-trick for The Magpies! Hoffenheim were trying it on,pricing him,to us, at £9m,especially with his injury record. We were right to walk away,  but it did make it possible for others to get him at a more realistic price, and the rest, as they say, is history. He certainly worked hard in attack and defence, took his chances from open play well, plus effortlessly converting a late penalty ,which killed off any chance of us salvaging something from the match. At the £4m price that Newcastle reputedly paid, he’s a steal!

With 19 matches played already this season, I’m of the mind that our busy schedule seems to be catching up with us too. Despite careful use of the players at our disposal and our larger squad, we are still vulnerable facing so many fixtures (in a short time frame)when key men are injured, and look decidedly disjointed when square pegs are forced to cover in round holes.

So we faced a very determined hardworking Newcastle side (enjoying, it must be said, more than an even share of the luck on the night) with an in form striker,whilst losing our captain and our left back to injury, forcing further disruptive reorganisation. Our passing generally was not good. Crucially, as with Liverpool last week, the fans were virtually silent for quite lengthy periods, as they contemplated what was happening.

Wilson went off injured after Newcastle had scored their first two goals. You had to wonder whether he was fully fit to start with, and indeed whether his mind was elsewhere on the night. On 12 minutes he was slow to react to Obertan, going down the right. The winger had all the time in the world to clip in a beautiful cross which Ba was on hand to head home. On 40 minutes, again to the right of goal Best was not picked up. He had time to juggle the ball, and scuff a shot. The ball ran across goal to the incoming Ba,who poked the ball home past Begovic’s despairing dive.

To their credit Stoke maintained pressure on the Newcastle throughout the second half, creating half chances that on another day might have gone in. Hopes were raised 15 minutes from time when Ba felled Crouch in the penalty area. Walters converted the chance, but within 6 minutes Huth was (harshly some would say) adjudged to have pushed Best in our area, with Ba registering his hat-trick from the spotkick. Effectively game over at that point.

Who played well for us? Walters ran his heart out; Wilkinson was as combative as ever; Begovic made some fine saves, and timely interventions outside his area when goals looked likely; Crouch’s hold up play and distribution was first class (although there were those in the crowd who could not see it!);Woodgate looked assured on the ball for the most part; Whelan got about the pitch well.

A worry was seeing ever present Shawcross leave the pitch, nursing what seemed to be a groin injury. Hopefully it will not prove to be serious. The threat from  our wide midfielders, Pennant and Etherington, was intermittent. Both were closely marked when they had the ball, by two and sometimes three players.

                                                                           

STRANGE RESULTS TODAY .....BUT NOT AT ARSENAL

ARSENAL  3  STOKE CITY FC  1

It seemed this afternoon that the old order had begun to change. From Manchester a result that made me, well, I’m not sure whether it should be happy or sad. Man U hammered 1 – 6 at home by neighbours Man City.QPR just about able to hold out for a 1 – 0 win against 9 man Chelsea, who for once faced a ref with the cojones to do the right thing.

Meanwhile life went on as always for our gallant Potters at the Arsenal. Now I had not been particularly impressed, up to now, with their new striker, Gervinho, who presents a puzzle every time I see him. He has this, to my eye, strange hair style where there seems to be no hair in a ‘v’ shape down the centre of his head. Is he prematurely balding? Is it an exaggerated parting? Is it a particularly poor quality ‘syrup’? These thoughts usually distract me from the actual quality of his play.

Today that changed. He seemed to be everywhere and making a difference. In the 27th minute he was onto a Ramsey dink over the Stoke defence in a flash to slip the ball past Begovic for the opening goal. Then in the 73^rd and 82^nd minutes he outpaced turning Stoke defenders on the left and on the right  to send dangerous balls into the Stoke area, for sub Van Persie to apply the goal finish. Perhaps Begovic could have done better with the last one.

Stoke for their part defended stoutly, until they seemed to tire and fade in the last 20 minutes. An excellently worked set piece goal in the 34^th minute provided a deserved equaliser. Crouch won a free kick thirty yards out. Shawcross headed Whelan’s effort back across goal from the right. The ball reached Walters ,who headed back across goal to present Peter Crouch with a tap in.

So another points blank at the Emirates. Perhaps next year eh...?

DANNY MURPHY GETS THE BRIT GOING

STOKE CITY FC 2 FULHAM 0

Murphy really isn't a number one favourite in Stoke.He was his usual annoying,niggling self in this game.Pushing,pulling,fouling,in the refs ear, but not in his book until late on,despite his various misdemeanors throughout.Others,on both sides,were booked for far less far sooner.

The first half was largely a stalemate,punctuated with a few bursts of of class football.Probably the best chance came just before halftime,when Pennant ran at the Fulham rearguard,played an exquisite one two with Crouch,shimmied past Hangeland,but unfortunately dinked the ball wide of  Schwarzer's left post.

The second half saw Stoke increase the pace and pressure,and Fulham show less and less ambition.Crucially Murphy's antics wound the home crowd up,and Stoke really went for it,riding the wave of noise.Fulham visibly wilted.

The last ten minutes saw Stoke secure the pointswith two fine goals.First a Pennant cross from the right was headed back by Crouch to Etherington.His shot was going wide until well placed Jon Walters stabbed the ball home.Three minutes from the end Etherington was fouled by Baird out on the left.His freekick was headed home majestically by Delap,coming in from the right.This put the result beyond doubt,the points lifting us to 7th in the Premiership table.

Our defence looked solid with Upson  and Shawcross at the centre.Begovic had virtually nothing to do,his biggest worry,watching Riise's freekick smack against the crossbar,before we scored our first goal.Pennant and Etherington looked much better than of late,though Crouch seemed a little quieter. 

SWANSEA 2 STOKE CITY FC 0

Stoke gave Swansea the edge in this game.An ill-considered Ryan Shawcross challenge conceded a penalty which was converted in the 9th minute by Sinclair.This gave the Welshmen the encouragement and confidence that they needed,as they fought for the ball,seeking to preserve their record of not having a goal scored against theme at home.

A rebound from a sloppy challenge by Woodgate six minutes from the end put Graham in on goal for his first goal for the club

In between Stoke hit the bar and a post,but crucially not the net!

PLAYING MANCHESTER UNITED......NO LONGER POINTLESS FOR THE POTTERS

STOKE CITY FC  1  MANCHESTER UNITED   1

After four years of trying we finally managed a point. United started off in a fashion that suggested  that we might have had plenty to fear. Early doors Woodgate, from behind, leaned into and felled Hernandez, who was one on one with Begovic in the box, and odds on to score.Ref Walton saw nothing wrong and we breathed a huge sigh of relief. Short lived relief though, because Nani, coming in from the right, played a one two with Fletcher, shimmied past two flat footed Stoke defenders, before shooting firmly into the corner of the net to Begovic’s left.

From that point on Stoke rolled up their sleeves and got stuck in, playing some excellent football into the bargain. The second half was a revelation, with Stoke pressing toward the United goal. The spectacle of 4000 United fans stood in apprehensive silence for long periods was something we have not seen before at The Brit.

It would be fair to say that the visitors oft maligned goalie, De Gea, had more vital saves to make than Begovic. Apart from two high ball flaps, he looked a class shot stopping act, as he turned away Wilkinson’s piledriver shot  and  just managed to finger tip away Walters powerful cross shot  in the first half.  In the second half got himself in the way of a Crouch effort from point blank range, as he did ,too with Wilson’s thunderous freekick from the edge of the United penalty box.

The Stoke equaliser came from a corner won by the ever industrious Walters. Throughout the afternoon, as on Tuesday night against Tottenham, Pennant and Etherington were consistently under or over hitting their kicks from set pieces. On this occasion Ethers got one just right. Crouch stole a yard on Ferdinand rising to head the ball down to the keepers right into the net. Cue rapturous celebrations, not least by Crouch himself. His first goal for us, and apparently his first against United.

Of old we have seen the visitors sneak in for a winner. They had their chance in added on time, a ball in from the left finding Giggs coming in from the right unmarked and with the goal at his mercy. From four yards out he was hit by the Siddibe Stoke End curse, screwing his shot off to the left of goal and safety.

A proud day to be a Potter. A deserved result, from a game in which, crucially, we did not look overawed, in which we were prepared to take the game to our illustrious visitors, something we have not previously seen from a Tony Pulis side in this fixture.

Brilliant.

NOT A LOT TO SEE HERE.

SUNDERLAND 4 STOKE CITY FC 0

A sluggish start by our heroes led to us falling behind on 5 minutes.Poor defending of a set play saw Bramble scuff the ball into the net underneath Begovic's body.Further poor defending of a home corner,leading to a Larsson cross,which resulted in Woodgate putting through his own goal on 11 minutes,as he attempted to  stop the ball reaching Bendtner..We went 3-0 down on 30 mins .Ryan Shawcross got a leg to a Gardner shot,but it ballooned up and over Begovic into the net.Two chances of note : Crouch should have done better with a header from six yards out,and Jerome, generally off the pace today,failed with a good chance,as a Sunderland defender got a block in on his goal bound snapshot.Our best moment?A fine Wilson freekick heading for the top corner of the net was pawed away by Mignolet at full stretch.

Stoke made a very positive start to the second half but were knocked back by a fine Larsson freekick,after Whitehead dithered on ball,and conceded on the edge of the box. The midfielder curved the ball around our wall,low into the net to Begovic's left.No chance of saving that one.4-0 down on 58 minutes.Jones came on for Jerome,who had been disappointing.

Huth blocked Bendtner and was lucky to remain on the pitch given he'd already been booked.Pennant came on for Etherington,and Palacios for Delap.Generally powderpuff shooting from the Stoke forwards.Crouch lacked the sharpness to convert the chances that came his way.....Late on Jones was in on goal, took on and failed to convert the chance himself, ignoring Walters who was better placed.

Quiet afternoon for the home keeper.Performance lacking spark throughout,as we limped to our first defeat of the season.On our undefeated 10 game run we have enjoyed generous slices of luck.....today it was Sunderland's turn!

Still 5th in the table,otherwise a day to forget.

PINBALL AT THE BRITANNIA STADIUM

STOKE CITY FC 1 LIVERPOOL 0

Thrilled to bits with this result,although to secure it our fabled resilience,prodigious effort,and never say die/they shall not pass attitude,required the vital supplement of a generous helping of old fashioned good luck.

Liverpool were an entirely different propostion than when the came to The Brit last year.They were confident,spirited,pacey,and moved the ball around well at times.They had the chances to win this game many times over,but despite the evident class of many of their players they went away with nothing.

Suarez,Henderson and Adam were unable to take the chances that came their way,particularly in the second half. Pinball Time. In one 20 second burst the visitors could have scored five times.It seemed inevitable they would notch an equaliser.Henderson was played through one on one with Asmir Begovich.His first shot was saved point blank,his second effort from the rebound was pushed away by the keeper.His immediate third effort was blocked by Upson.From that Adam struck the ball goalward,Shawcross dumped on the floor by the force as he blocked the ball.Again the rebound saw Adam running in on goal,his second powerful effort being saved by our keeper this time with his feet.At the death,Suarez had a good chance but put his effort wide.

Stoke's winner came as early as the 25th minute.Jon Walters moved in on goal in the Liverpool penalty area.He was held back by Carragher,ref Clattenburg awarding the penalty immediately.As he had done at Norwich Walters grabbed the ball,unlike the Norwich penalty he made no mistake hammering the ball into the centre of the net,as Reina dived off to his right.

And the new boys?Crouch played the whole game,and made a tidy contribution to the proceedings.Matthew Upson looked assured throughout.Palacios added late reinforcement to the midfield,as we struggled against Liverpool's late effort to gain a point.

So we are still unbeaten so far this season,and find ourselves at the dizzying height of 4 th in the Premiership table.Thirty more points needed to stay up for a fifth season in the Prem!

PS1Were Liverpool unlucky with their penalty shouts? Late on Upson was involved in a close range ball to arm incident.Mr Clattenburg,notice the respect here,rightly called this one no penalty.I doubt that he even saw Rory Delap move the ball away with his hand earlier.Had he done so,there would have been no question..a certain penalty.I must remember that when what goes round comes around...to us!

PS2.The crowd chants just get better.....remember Capello advised Andy Carroll to cut down on the booze..."He's back from the pub,  He's back from the pub,......Andy Carroll, He's back from the pub !!!!" Pure magic.

PULIS’ SUBSTITUTION SHEER GENIUS

WEST BROMWICH ALBION 0 STOKE CITY FC 1

WBA really are footballing rabbits.....Stoke were second best for a good part of this game, and yet won.As the game moved inexorably toward a 0-0 stalemate  wizard Pulis played his ace card substituting  on resolute defender Ryan Shotton for incisive attacker Etherington.

Young Shotton marauded up front, caused doubt (if not struck fear)in the minds of the WBA rearguard.Keeper ex-Stokie Ben Foster contrived to present Shotton with an opportunity he could not refuse, allowing the ball to be taken from him, to be pushed into the net in the 90^th minute for a winner that had looked most unlikely.

Super sub Shotton has now won two games for us in short order, this one for 3 precious Premiership points and a first win of the season,the other through pressure causing a winning og out in Croatia in the Europa Cup.

DE LAET TAKES A POINT FOR THE CANARIES

NORWICH CITY 1 STOKE CITY FC 1

Stoke came away from Carrow Road with a well deserved point,and should probably have taken all three.Stoke conceded a sloppy goal before halftime.A ball in from the right was headed home by Stoke old boy,Richie de Laet. 

A managerial flea in the ear produced a much more direct approach from Stoke.On 60 minutes Walters was felled on the edge of the area by Barnett.The Ipswich defender was sent off,but Walters taking the penalty kick himself,failed to convert.Stoke maintained pressure on a Norwich side that visibly wilted.

Ryan Shotton on for Woodgate injected life into the right side,linking well with Etherington,who had switched sides when Pennant left the field with a calf problem.Shotton almost produced a goal with a cross cum shot,which was pawed away by Ruddy in goal.He contributed two Delapesque throwins,one of which produced a real threat.

Three minutes into added on time Whelan produced a quality cross from the right,which Kenwyne Jones headed down wonderfully into the bottom right corner of the home goal for a well deserved equaliser.

STOKE LIVING WITH THE BIG BOYS

STOKE CITY FC 0 CHELSEA 0

There was a time when Stoke would probably have lost this match.For a 20 minute period in the second half today they could well have done.Etherington and Delap had left the field injured,Chelsea brought on important subs,Anelka,Drogba,and Benayoun,and increased the pace and intensity of their game.Stoke wobbled but did not capitulate,anchored as they were by Captain Ryan Shawcross,and the immaculate and experienced positional play of Jonathan Woodgate.Able assistance was rendered by Huth,Wilson,but above all Begovic in goal who had a storming game.

The first half was Stoke's.No longer do we sit back,rather we take the game to the visitors,illustrious or not.We did not score ,but not for lack of attacking intent.Walters, Jones,Etherington,and Pennant conducted a stiff examination of the visiting back four.Alex in particular looked uncomfortable when faced with the considerable physical challenge of Kenwynne Jones.Goalie Cech had to be on his toes a number of times,faced with a series of corners, freekicks, and Rory Delap throw ins as Stoke exerted concerted pressure.

The second half belonged to Chelsea as Stoke's effort flagged.The visitors had chances,but could not convert them into goals.Stoke attacked occasionally,but for the most part had to focus on containment.

A hard earned and well deserved point,from the first of three difficult home matches.

WIGAN ESCAPE......WITH ALL THREE POINTS INTO THE BARGAIN

STOKE CITY FC 0 WIGAN ATHLETIC 1

By rights Stoke should have been three goals up at halftime.That they were not was more or less exclusively down to a series of stops by keeper Al Habsi, a clearance or two off the line,plus a chalked off effort. Kenwyne Jones header was destined for the net,but Jon Walters applied a further touch from an offside position

Wigan looked extremely nervous as you would expect given their precarious position in the table.They played with a little more confidence in the second half,but were still pushed back by a determined Stoke outfit.Failing to find the net ourselves,we were not altogether surprised when Wigan nosed in front late on with a Rodalega header from N'Zogbia's cross.

Ref Mariner did not have the best of games and denied Stoke one if not two clear penalty shouts.

This disappointing result did not dampen the home crowd's enthusiasm,most people staying behind for the lap of honour,which brought down the curtain on an excellent season.

HUNGOVER

MANCHESTER CITY 3 STOKE CITY 0

Stoke never looked likely to get anything from this game,nor,I suspect,did most of us expect them to.Five changes to the Cup Final lineup from Saturday confirmed the view that the objective was containment rather than ambition.

Two shots all night tells the same story,of a team and its supporters physically and emotionally exhausted.Manchester City by contrast had a spring in their step and played with smiles on their faces.

Tevez produced two goals of the highest quality.In the first half following a one two with Milner he drove the ball unstoppably high into Sorensen's net.A dubious freekick awarded just outside the penalty area, twenty minutes into the second half,appeared to be heading two yards wide of the righthand goal post,but in the last few yards of flight it curved into the top corner of the net.Sandwiched between those efforts Lescott headed home as Sorensen came out but failed to reach the ball.

A puzzler point of interest was that Begovic did not play,nor was he substitute keeper.

Hopefully Stoke will be able to raise their game on Sunday  against Wigan.Time will tell.