STOKE V MAN CITY WSC Preview

This orginally appeared on When Saturday Comes Website:

http://www.wsc.co.uk/wsc-daily/1152-september-2012/9001-stoke-have-made-astute-signings-despite-budget-cuts

I wrote it, so I am reproducing it on my blog

Last time Stoke played Manchester City, in late March, Peter Crouch managed to control the ball, swivel and loop it over Joe Hart from 35 yards, illuminating a rather dull league campaign for the Potters.

The 2011-12 season will be remembered by fans for the Europa League run, which started as a bit of a laugh but ended in the last 32, rather than for anything that happened domestically. Last term Stoke were were dull, functional and almost totally reliant on set-pieces, scoring barely any goals from open play.

We were so poor to watch that even the famously rock-solid relationship between manager Tony Pulis and chairman Peter Coates was said to be under strain.

It began in the early close-season when Coates announced a massive expansion of the youth set-up. Pulis is famously reticent when it comes to playing youngsters – 28-year-old Andy Wilkinson is still a "kiddie" in interviews – and soon began sniping in the press that for all the background improvements "the front of house needs to be looked after too". Coates retorted by saying after last year's £22 million deadline-day splurge, after which two of the players signed – Cameron Jerome and Wilson Palacios – barely started, the manager would have to wheel and deal this year.

Whatever Coates meant by this, it is clear it wasn't "wheeling and dealing" in the conventional sense. Seven players arrived while not much transfer revenue was recouped. Most of the incoming players were midfielders which was odd because we have a lot and, frankly, never play much silky stuff through midfield anyway. We did need full-backs desperately, but they never materialised.

As always Pulis made some late deals. First, he persuaded Charlie Adam to swap one mid-table north-west club for another and in doing so got us a proper playmaker at last. Then he got Stephen Nzonzi for what looks like a bargain price and, finally, ended the Michael Owen saga by landing him too.

Time will tell whether the trio are Crouch-like successes or Eidur Gudjohnsen/Tuncay/Palacios style big-name Britannia misfits. Whatever you think about Owen's form, fitness and desire, he would have scored at least one of the two sitters missed by Jerome at Wigan.

The 2-2 draw at Wigan means we are still unbeaten and Stoke's record against City isn't bad if we forget about the 2011 Cup final. The Potters haven't lost at home against the "Big Four" for nearly two years and, if Crouch can't smash a wonder goal this time, then Owen might do the job instead.

The Five Greatest Moments Of The Greatest Ever Year?

There has been much conjecture recently as to whether 2011 has been Stoke City’s best ever year, as TP said after beat Spurs.

I wasn’t born just after the war when we nearly won the title, nor was I born in 1972. I wasn’t even quite born in 1974-5 when injuries robbed us, so it’s hard to say, and even harder to make an accurate comparison, however I can talk with confidence about everything that has happened to Stoke City since attending my first match, as a nine year old boy in August 1985.

We have had some good years since. Chief among them obviously, was 1992-3 when our Steino/Nigel Gleghorn (still my favourite two ever Stoke players) inspired side swept all before it and won the league.

1991-2 was great too, Lou came, he bought Steino, he gave us hope, he exorcised the Alan Ball years at a stroke and we won at Wembley. Or how about 1996? When arguably only bad leadership from the boardroom cost us a place in the top league, as Lou’s patched up side performed heroically.

1999-00 was a personal favourite of mine too. When Brian Little did his mid-summer flit and second choice manager Gary Megson was appointed to take over, few could have envisaged what happened – the first choice manager was a baseball cap wearing Welshman who chose Bristol City instead (wonder what happened to him…?). Say what you like about the Icelanders but that season was magnificent, that away game at Wycombe, when Gudjon Thordarson came over to the fans at the end, while Stokies sung “its just like watching Iceland” is still one of my best ever away games.

Then there’s everything since 2006. It’s been the best five years of my Stoke supporting life. Now is not the time to document these seasons (one day I will write a book on it!) but there was our Lee Hendrie/Ricardo Fuller inspired renaissance, the promotion the season after that surprised everyone except those who had actually seen us play and the Premier League Years which we all know about.

So there has, even in what has seemed like a dark time for the club, been much to enjoy and reflect upon but still I have not answered the question as to whether 2011 has been our best ever (recent) year.

Despite my affection for the years mentioned above, I would have to say, yes it has been – and here are five reasons why. Five of my favourite ever moments as a Stoke supporter and therefore in my life. Five reasons why, whatever happens 2011 will probably be my favourite Stoke year for good.

1)      Beating West Ham in the Quarter Finals of the cup.

What an atmosphere, what a game! And standing there at the end, in the ground, just jumping for joy. And if that wasn’t enough how about when we were stood talking to some friends outside while horns started blaring and people starting screaming “its Bolton, its Bolton!” and we knew this might be the year we got to the cup final.

2)      THAT  game with Bolton

The greatest performance ever by a Stoke team? Certainly in my lifetime. Given the magnitude of the game, of the occasion it has to be. We simply and completely destroyed Bolton Wanderers. It could have been more than five. It is without question the happiest I have ever felt walking out of a ground.

3)      The FA Cup final

It might be a cliché to say it, but those that know me know it’s true. All my life I have dreamed about watching Stoke City in an FA Cup final. I have dreamed of being there when the teams came out seeing all the flags, the colour, just the day itself. And I don’t mind admitting that I got dewy eyed when “Abide With Me” started. For my Grandad, the reason I am a Stoke fan, who died in 2005, just before we got good again, for my Mum, who died in 09 and didn’t even really like football, but would have been so pleased for her sons.

Yes the game was awful and I still have never watched Tevez lift the cup up (and never will) but that day wasn’t about football. It was – and will remain until we win something – the greatest day of my life.

4)      The game with Chelsea at home in 2010/11 season

An odd choice, I will grant you, but I would argue that it is the best game of football I have ever seen us involved in. This wasn’t Bury or Mansfield we were playing, this wasn’t a plucky display in the third round of the cup, this was us going toe to toe with a team that had won about nine games on the trot and really thought they could win the league. This was the day when Stoke City players knew they belonged in the Premier League. It was also the day when we would have won in Ricardo Fuller doesn’t miss a late sitter, but this is Stoke, we can’t have everything.

And finally 5) Thun away

The Europa cup wasn’t supposed to be easy but it has been, we were supposed to get beat by Hadjuk Split, but we didn’t. As previously spoken about on these blogs I am petrified of flying, so haven’t been to any of the other games. My brother went to Split, and I joined him for a trip on the coach to beautiful Switzerland.

The journey was terrible, and if anyone goes with Thompson Sport again they want their head examined, but everything about the town and the game itself was brilliant. The welcome we received, the weather, the town itself, the game, the atmosphere, the result – this might be my only ever European away night and it was very, very special.

So that’s it, my personal choice for the moments of 2011. Maybe 2012 will beat it?

Running Out Of Credit

Well, a lot has happened since my last blog, hasn’t it?!

It was doom and gloom before the Blackburn match – people talking about “must wins” and so on, now its three wins later and we have the last 32 of the Europa League to look forward to – and what a tie too!

So there’s nothing to moan about, right?!

Well so you’d think, but something has vexed me hugely in the last week or so. Indeed we have seen prime examples of it recently.

It happened Sunday and has been happening since, and it happened on Wednesday.

It’s been happening since promotion and no doubt will continue to do so.

Simply put, Stoke City do not get any credit for anything that we do. And I will go further – the mainstream media wants us to lose.

On Sunday we had one of our finest ever days in the Premier League. Our players worked like Trojans and beat a team that many were tipping to win the league this season.

Yes we had some luck along the way, of course we did. But it made up for the game last season when the same referee managed to miss a ball that went behind the line and lets not start talking about all the other decisions that went against us and continue to do so, shall we?

It is the opinion of this blog that moaning about referees is pointless and stupid. And I have written as such on numerous occasions both on here and in other mediums, however that works both ways. We will not be embarrassed when we get some luck go our way for once.

But no, whenever we have a good win, like Liverpool earlier in the season, or Spurs it seems that these things get analysed to the limit. Instead of focussing on our heroic defensive display against King Kenny’s men, all we heard was our penalty should never have been given and they should have had three of their own.

After the Spurs game the same thing happened. Shawcross is an animal (and I am not convinced the foul on Kabul was a penalty) we handballed it, we did this, that and the other, oh and there was some absurd nonsense about Ryan Shotton’s throw-ins.

Then on Wednesday I am sat watching the Besiktas game and the commentators were seemingly desperate for us to lose. I honestly believe that if Ricardo Fuller hadn’t been so unlucky with that header, or Matt Upson hadn’t been sent off we would have won the game, but listening to Stewart Robson and Jim Proudfoot you would have thought we were being destroyed. The classic from Robson was “Higginbotham went to sleep for the goal, he’s had a poor game.” Despite the fact it was actually Rory Delap who failed to mark.

So in the interests of fairness here are some facts for Robson, Proudfoot and anyone else who wants them:

Since we went up in 2008 we have performed fantastically. Three mid-table finishes, an FA Cup Final, a League Cup Quarter Final and while we are at it we are the only British team to Qualify from the Europa League to the knockout stages, in our first European campaign for 40 years.

With all due deference to my Stoke bias I would argue that no other club has gone up in recent years and performed so well. The likes of Bolton – who are frequently held up as a benchmark – and Charlton went up and down before they established themselves, which touch wood we haven’t looked like doing – rocky spell in November notwithstanding.

If that was any other club the pundits would be hailing the rise as meteoric. The pundits loved the likes of Blackpool, Hull and now Swansea and Norwich, and why? Because the perception of us is we are horrible, we foul and we play long ball.

Now I really couldn’t care less how we play the game, in fact I like direct football.  What I don’t like is my club getting no credit for its achievements.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion of course, and certainly as Stoke City supporters we are allowed to gripe and to moan and to react to defeats in any way we please. I don’t write these things through rose tinted spectacles, nor do I think everything at Stoke City is perfect, but we are entitled to a fair hearing from those who are supposed to be impartial.

Trying To Make Sense and See Sense

In the first of three articles, Long Ball Football tries to make sense of our recent form:

Now the dust has settled on the debacle of Sunday we can perhaps think about the issues that led us here.

Firstly – and I will keep banging on about this until people see sense – our away form has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with our European campaign. I said this on the first blog I wrote on this site. If the apologists want to make that excuse then perhaps they can explain to me what the problem has been since 2008.

Secondly there is the question of the defence and goalkeeper. Asmir Begovic – again as I wrote on this blog – has clearly been worrying the coaching staff for a while. I saw him make many errors in his warm up at Arsenal, Andy Quy was obviously concerned. I wasn’t in the Reebok so early, but I am told by a mate that same thing happened there.

He hasn’t deserved his place for a while, but equally he hasn’t been able to trust the personnel in front of him, given the loss of form of some, the injuries, and the frankly baffling changes TP has made.

In many ways Begovic’s form has mirrored that of the team. I honestly think this hiding as been coming for a while. We have for too long this season – in the league games – have been papering over the cracks.

It is no exaggeration to say that we could have lost every game we have played. And I would further argue that we have only played well once – against Man Utd, and of course, if Ryan Giggs slots that chance home we would have been defeated in that game too.

Rather like that defeat at Forest in 2003 we must take this defeat as a wake up call. TP and his staff have to go back to the drawing board and work out what they need to tweak.

Tweak is the word I would use advisedly. We must remember that however shameful – and I again use that word advisedly – our display was on Sunday things aren’t THAT bad in general.

We are twelfth in the Premier League, we have been to the FA Cup final and we are all but qualified to the knockout stages for the Europa League. These are still great times to be a Stoke supporter.

We have a good squad, the best team we have had in my lifetime and some expensive international players, but that brings its own problems and its those problems the Club as a whole needs to sort.

More than anything though, anyone who describes Sunday’s loss as a “surprise” or “shock” is plain wrong. The surprise, however, would be if it wasn’t sorted out – fast.

 And in that respect, our next two games are absolutely massive. If we lose them both then its alarm bells time, if we get six points then the blip is over.

Just Excuses

The best thing about having a blog (or in my case blogs!) is I get to moan about things that annoy me.

And this week we saw a prime example.

We aren’t the only club that does it be any means and we aren’t the worst, however, this blog is about Stoke City, so the focus must be us.

But this idea that when you lose a game of football the first thing you do is get yourself in front of the nearest camera and bleat about referees really vexes me and that’s exactly what TP did this week.

Now I read that yet again he’s moaning to Mike Riley about the decisions that didn’t go our way on Wednesday night.

Having finally seen the highlights last night I will concede that three went against us. The Walters goal (I wrote on Thursday that I didn’t know why it was chalked off from the view I had at the game). The Carragher tackle on Matty Etherington might have been a red card (personally I wouldn’t have sent him off) and the foul on Crouch was a penalty.

Fair enough. But referee Lee Probert didn’t cost us the game. Any more than he cost us the game at Vila two seasons ago when he disallowed Mama Sidibe’s goal or Everton last term when for some reason he decided Tuncay had pushed Leighton Baines.

We lost those games because we missed a host of other chances at Villa and didn’t defend properly for Yakubu’s winner at Goodison. And that is my point.

Football clubs, just like the boxer who blames an injury when he doesn’t turn up in a big title fight, have to take responsibility for what they do in matches.

Manager’s are fond of asking for “consistency” from Ref’s. So lets turn it round. Lets see TP ring Mike Riley after Kenwyne Jones dives at WBA, or Matty dives against West Ham in the Cup Quarter final (you will recall he managed – like we all did – to get upset about their goal which was an obvious handball.) I had brilliant views of both, and said straight away “dive.” I could see it, TP knows it and stil his silence was deafening.

Or where was his admonishment of the ref after Huth’s elbow in the Cup Final? Or this season when Wilko should have gone at Swansea – as soon as that tackle was made I said to the people I was with: “he’s off.”

It’s an obvious cliché, but its true. It evens itself out. Take Sunderland last season. The Cattermole handball was a more or less exact replica of what Danny Pugh did at the other end two season’s before. How we chuckled then. How we fumed last November.

We are fans. We don’t have to see sense or be reasonable. So when we beat Sunderland last season at home with a goal that was miles offside and one that was handball how funny I found it to stand there abusing Steve Bruce.

That’s my job.

The job of the Stoke manager, though, is to be honest in defeat, surely? And I say this not to TP in particular but bosses in general, please, please stop making excuses.

A Thursday Morning (Realistic) Moan

So that’s it for another year. My dream of watching us in a major cup final now rests with FA and Europa Cups and, really, if we are being honest, we were second best last night.

Liverpool were much the better side last night and going in at half-time a goal up was flattering to us in the extreme.

Too many of our players just didn’t (and aren’t) playing very well.

And then I get home to read TP comments that somehow the referee cost us! Personally from my vantage point in Block 22 I didn’t see a lot wrong with the goal Walters had disallowed and I had no chance of seeing whether Crouch was fouled or not just before the end.

But I did see too many of our players getting the basics wrong. Our defending for both goals was shambolic. Our passing was sloppy, and we – as far as I can recall – barely threatened the goal apart from Jones’ header and the Walters “goal.”

And that, I am afraid, has been the way of recent games. We beat a really poor (on the day) Fulham team, were seemingly devoid of ideas at Arsenal and the malaise continued last night.

We continue – despite all the money we have spent – to operate the “square pegs in round holes” philosophy, we have two wingers in the squad, we have barely any cover on the left side and little pace anywhere.

All of which leads me to ask this question: I have already tweeted on this today, but still its worthy of further discussion on the blog.

Is our European form masking what is now an average start to the season?

We have won three games (two, if we are being honest, largely undeserved) drawn three and lost three. All three defeats have seen us give really poor displays and we have only scored seven goals in the league, of which, off the top of my head just two were from open play – one of those even was lucky.

Is that good enough for a strike force that cost over £25m? With the first quarter of the season complete we have mustered just one goal from a player that wasn’t playing up front at the time (Delap’s against Fulham) and that, for a team that relies on goals from defenders as much as we do – is a really worrying trend.

And if final confirmation were needed as to the unsatisfactory nature of things were needed try this: For all the euphoria of the Europa Cup and transfer deadline day “coups” (and having Wilson Palacios back will be like a new signing) we are below Norwich in the table.

And yes, this blog may be bleak today – but I believe it a realistic. Our next four games are winnable. And if we do win at least two then we have at least 18 points, which probably we would settle for.

I do though, honestly believe that things have moved on and that we as a club, as fans, have a right to expect Stoke City to finish somewhere in the top half of the table with the players we have available.

We will need to improve dramatically on the last two weeks domestic showing if we are to do that.

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In Praise Of The League Cup

Got cup fever yet? If not, why not?

I was having this conversation with my dad last night while we watched Man Utd play Aldershot. Just why has the League Cup never quite caught on? Just why do people shrug at its mention?

I am going to the game tonight. Quite looking forward to it actually. Getting ever closer to Wembley for the second time in two seasons. What’s not to look forward to?

And, if we are honest, this is the competition we are most likely to win. As well as we are doing in the Europa League we probably will come unstuck when some of the Champions League Teams are parachuted in. And with our away form a Premier League trophy is unlikely…..

And yet since I was a kid the League Cup is always the one we have said: “oh well, never mind” when we get knocked out of it.

Part of the problem is that Premier League is seen as all-important. The media tells you football is about money and playing in the "best league in the world." And of course it is our bread and butter. But I will say what I have always said - and it might be a controversial view - but:

I would rather win a cup than just “stay in the league.”

If I could see Ryan Shawcross lift a cup up in February it would be the best day of my life. If I made a list of my best 10 moments as a Stoke supporter then about three would be from last seasons FA Cup run. Such memories stay with you far longer than that win over Fulham did the other week.

If we go down I’d be gutted – and questions would need to be asked clearly – but as upset as I would be, do you know what I would do? I’d spend the summer miserable and come August I would go and watch us in the Championship like I have done for many, many other seasons.

But you know what? I’d have seen us win a cup.

Of course this idea that the cup is a distraction is nonsense anyway.  The idea that players are bound to lack motivation for the cup (as Neil Warnock said after QPR lost to Rochdale) is amongst the daftest things I have ever heard. And don’t get me started on the “too many games” argument either. If our players pride themselves on their fitness and are highly paid athletes, then just get on with it, is my view (I will concede that the schedule next week is a disgrace, and that does ask a lot of the squad.)

So tonight is a tough AND an important game. Tony Pulis will select a strong team and good luck to him. Let’s just enjoy it, shall we? We might win the thing in four months time.

And whatever happens, surely, it’ll be better than last year at West Ham or the year before at Portsmouth. We are at home, after all.

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Groundhog Day

Sometimes do you wonder why you bother to watch us away?

Sometimes does it seem worth it?

That was a conversation that we found ourselves having with a couple of mates yesterday both before (when I will admit, I just didn’t fancy us) and after the game (when my fears were proved right).

On the face of it there is nothing too badly wrong with a 3-1 loss at Arsenal, with Van Persie coming on and scoring two goals in the last 15 or so minutes, and the pundits, I notice again, were queuing up to give us the “get out clause” of the European “hangover.” However, loathe as I am to trot the same things out as I have already written on here, that’s 10 out of 62 away games we have won in the Premier League.

Our away problems are much longer term than some perceived hangover on European nights.

And yet, if only we had learnt the lessons of that first half, things could, should, and probably would have been different yesterday.

In the first period we didn’t look in any great trouble until the centre halves ball watched and Gervinho scored and we didn’t look in any massive trouble afterwards and crucially, we had scored, by making three unopposed headers.

This is not a good Arsenal side, it isn’t even as good a team as the one that thumped us 4-1 on the last day a few years ago, and their defence looked really poor. I tweeted on Saturday night that I wanted to see us have a go and for the latter part of the first half we had.

It was all set up for an assault after the break, then, and we could do what Sunderland did, couldn’t we?

Well, yes it was, but no we couldn’t and we couldn’t largely because we stood off and seemingly accepted defeat. We didn’t get the ball forward – and the once we did The Gunners keeper Wojciech Szczęsny and defence got in a mess and Jon Walters could have scored.

It’s easy to point the finger at Asmir Begovic and there can be little doubt he should have done better with both goals but it shouldn’t have got to that point. As a bloke sitting near me said: “Its all very well blaming the fella who doesn’t put the fire out, but don’t start the damn thing in the first place.”

Interestingly we were in our seats quite early yesterday and saw the keepers warm up. Asmir was shaky at best, dropping a couple over the line and letting one under his body. Thomas Sorensen was trying to gee him up and Keeping Coach Andy Quy was clearly worried, putting his arm around the Bosnian and chatting to him, whether this symptomatic of a loss of Begovic’s confidence I am not sure, but it certainly manifested itself during the game.

Moreover, though, I am tired of watching us do the same things away from home. The same old tactics that don’t work, and hearing the same excuses from the management. It isn’t good enough to write the way games off. We have spent on a lot of money, we have a lot of good players. We aren’t “little Stoke City” anymore, we have to shake off this timidity away from The Brit. We have to compete.

Lets be honest I could pretty much write the blog for the next away game at Bolton right now and I wouldn’t be far wrong I’ll bet.

My other passion is music. On the way home yesterday it was my turn to choose the songs on the Ipod. The last one I picked summed it up.

It had the chorus “the more things change, the more they stay the same.”

What Did We Learn About Tel Aviv

Is it just me or is this Europe lark easier than we thought?

If you couldn’t believe how easy we beat Split, thought Thun would be a tough proposition, were worried about Kiev, concerned about Beskitas, then to paraphrase the Bachmann Turner Overdrive, baby you hadn’t seen anything yet.

It always appeared that Maccabi Tel Aviv were going to be the weakest team in the group but if we are honest, I wonder if Stoke City themselves expected a tougher test than what we got.

After the incident which saw Cameron Jerome hit the bar, my brother turned to me and said: “I’ll be disappointed if we don’t win this five.”  Of course around 20 seconds later the ball was in the back of the net as Kenwyne Jones waltzed in almost unopposed to head home – although watching the key incidents again when I got home, Robert Huth’s part in the goal was very clever, have a look at what he does as the ball comes over – it did look on the cards.

Of course after that it was all about Cameron Jerome. We at Long Ball Football have a lot of time for our new striker, always have. I was pleased when we signed him and thought he would be perfect for us

And he didn’t disappoint. As one of our correspondents on Twitter said earlier “how fast was Jerome last night?” He took his goal well, he kept calm to make the third for the ever-impressive Ryan Shotton.

And then he did disappoint. It was a soft sending off of course it was, but for my money he can have no complaints. The first booking probably wouldn’t happen in the Premier League, but this ref was clearly not going to stand any dissent and Cameron had no business arguing about such an innocuous decision in a game we were strolling – then just minutes later to elbow a lad, however little contact there was, just gives the ref a decision to make, and he was always going to just that.

It was never really going to negatively affect the result – we probably would have beaten Tel Aviv with a 5 a side team (ok I am biased, that’s how I make my living!) so bad were the opposition – but it did affect the game.

After the break we treated the game as a training session and had to take our fun where we could. That comedy sending off being highly chucklesome) and I thought Wilson Palacios looked good when he came on, but ultimately the whole thing was a little unfulfilling.

So to answer the question that the headline posed: We learnt that we should qualify from this group. We learnt that we should win away in Israel, and with the results going the way they have elsewhere 10 points will probably be enough to see us through and we learnt not to backchat referees.

Stoke City in the last 32 of the Europa League…seriously, it’s going to happen. And, even back in July, who would have thought that?!

What We Know About Maccabi Tel Aviv

Tomorrow sees us fulfil he next engagement in our European adventure (as Tony Pulis has decided to christen it so I thought we’d do the same) and we face Maccabi Tell Aviv at home.

Long Ball Football will, of course, be there and we are looking forward to the match.

It is arguable that these two games might decide our fate. Two wins, or a win and a draw and we are there, surely? Lose a couple and it’ll be an uphill task with Kiev and a trip to Turkey left.

If this preview is a little sketchy and not too thorough then there is a reason. We don’t – and I suspect this goes for most Stoke supporters - know much about the team we are facing.

So far, I have been able to glean that Tel Aviv are second in the Israeli Premier League, they are seen as one of the “Big Four” of Israeli football and last won the league in 2003 (I wonder if they were glued to their TV’s in Tel Aviv on the day that season when Ade Akinbyi scored to keep us up – and I wonder where we’d be now if he hadn’t?)

I also know that they were the first Jewish club in Ottoman Palestine to their Official Website and perhaps more importantly to us in the present they appointed a new manager in the summer, the extremely experienced Motti Ivanir, who had previously been manager of the Israel under 17 and under 21 sides.

They also have a new owner, in the Canadian born Mitchell Goldhar, who has made his money in Shopping Centre’s it seems. And he’s made a lot of it.

Consequently Maccabi have invested heavily in younger players and have made a strong start in the league. They also disposed of two lesser teams in Zeleznica and Xazar Lankaran before meeting Panathanikos in the Play Offs to get to the Europa League Group Stages. Since then they have had a mixed time – being thumped by Beskitas, but drawing with Kiev.

All of which means it’s hard to predict. I am inclined to think we should win, however. We have shown time and time again we are not afraid of anyone at home, and if rumours of Kenwyne Jones’ return to the team are true then we will have a hungry striker – hopefully with a point to prove – back in harness.

Also on the injury front there are thoughts that Wison Palacios will be on the bench along with Danny Higgnbottom, so slowly we are getting back to full strength too.

Wilko! Wilko! Wilko (Repeat to Fade)

It would be remiss of us at Long Ball Football not to mark an anniversary that happened yesterday.
On October 16^th 2001 Andy Wilkinson – who at the time was just 17 years old – made his Stoke debut in the Auto Windscreens against Blackpool, replacing Clive Clarke for the last 15 minutes.

It was two years later that he made his home debut – playing at centre half in a league cup first round game with Rochdale, making a mistake if I recall – but if he did, it must be one of the very last he ever made for us.

It was later that season, against West Brom that he made his full league debut and after that it was far from an easy ride, indeed it was a couple of years before he count himself as a regular member of the squad.

But Wilko never complained when he was shunted out on loan to Telford, to Partick Thistle or Blackpool – at least not to my knowledge, he just worked hard and impressed.

In fact, it was during that loan spell at Bloomfield Road that it became clear that he might have more of a future with us that we thought. The then Pool boss Simon Grayson tried to buy him but not only did Tony Pulis turn the bid down he gave the Stone born defender a new three-year contract. Given that we were moving on as a club that was interesting and signalled that Wilko was perhaps better than we thought.

If I am being totally honest, when we made the step up to the PremierLeague I didn’t think Wilko would be with us much longer. But in many ways, he has embodied the progression of the club as a whole. Whatever challenges he faced – the fact that the Manager signed a succession of right backs for example – he just got his head down, worked hard (or should that be ‘ard?) and got himself back into the side.

In the old days 10 years service would be marked with a testimonial, and although that is a throwback, a tradition that doesn’t happen anymore that in itself sums Wilko up. He IS a throwback, he is traditional. He’s a local lad who plays for his boyhood club, he loves what he’s doing and we love him.

So after 131 appearances in the red and white just one thing is missing. He has of course never scored for The Potters, his only goal coming in his loan spell in Scotland. He is getting closer, there was De Gea’s save against Man Utd the other week for example and he’s hit the bar a couple of times. Indeed the only thing that could have made the FA Cup semi any better is if Wilko hadn’t fluffed the chance in front of goal that ended up with Jon Walters scoring the fifth.

I will predict that he will notch one by the end of his career. Maybe….

He said today that he wants to be at The Brit forever. I feel I speak for everyone who has a little bit of romance in their red and white heart when I say I hope he does too.

Joining Andy Wilkinson on the bench that night at Blackpool was striker Lawrence Hall. I wonder if he feels just a tinge of jealousy? If so, he would be the only one that does. The rest of us – all Stoke supporters who have ever dreamed of pulling on the red and white shirt – feel that Andy Wilkinson represents us on that pitch.

He probably feels like that too.

Hugh Grant Your Boys Took A Hell Of A Beating (ok maybe not) - Fulham Thoughts

So, we got our third win of the season – and our first since early September. And there’s a lot that can be learnt from the match.

Starting with the defence, and I’d argue this with anyone, Matthew Upson is better – at this moment at least – than Jonathan Woodgate.

Woodgate was outstanding against Chelsea, but since then has been up and down at best. Upson by contrast – and I’ll hold my hands up here I didn’t know why we had signed him – has been brilliant every time he’s been called upon.

There are many Stokies who want Robert Huth back in the side, and we at Long Ball Football have a lot of time for him too, but let me pose a question: exactly where do you want him right now? He’s not as good a full back as Andy Wilkinson and, whilst there is no doubt he is a fine centre half, he is not a talker or organiser and that is probably what Ryan Shawcross needs.

Further forward, whisper it quietly, there were signs that Pennant and Etherington were getting back to something like their old selves. The latter’s two assists (ok, one was a little lucky) will do him the world of good and the former was more ready to run at players at last.

There were other positives too: Delap becoming the first non-striker to notch a goal in the league this term and another clean sheet. Elsewhere Jon Walters showed the poachers instinct we sometimes lack to score for his goal and Kenwyne Jones was back in the squad.

However, to strike a note of caution, in Fulham, we faced possibly the only team worse than us over the last few seasons on the road – and however much of an injustice it might have been - if Riise’s free kick goes in we probably don’t win the game. That said, these things happen and if Jon Walters' shoty had gone in at Swansea who knows?

Fulham gave a very Stoke like (if we can coin that phrase) display. They seemed timid and unable to get going. Anyone who has seen us away can say the same. We just cannot ever get the same intensity on someone else’s ground that we can at The Brit.

Next week we face Arsenal and I remain totally convinced that if we have a go we could worry them. If, of course, is a big word and we will probably settle for defeat limply, like normal.

For now though, we sit seventh in the league and have the Europa league to look forward to on Thursday. Lets worry about Arsenal after that. And maybe we can score from open play….ok lets not ask too much!

On A Winger And A Prayer

Stoke City get their season going for the third time at home to Fulham tomorrow – and despite what on the face of it has been an excellent start to the campaign, nagging doubts remain.

The Potters have lost just two of 15 games in all competitions – are unbeaten at home, having played Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool, have spent £22m in the transfer market and have recorded some impressive results in Europe. But still, there is a feeling that it might just be papering over the cracks.

If their away results have been patchy then their performances away from the Britannia have not – they have all been rather poor. Sluggish in the opening period against Norwich, before drawing the game late on, second best for much of the game at WBA before a fluke goal in the last minute won the match and almost non existent in the last two games, at Swansea and Sunderland, it is a familiar tale.

Stoke have won just 10 of their 61 Premier League away games, and as much as people have sought to explain the last two set backs as being a by-product of the European games that preceded them (and will the next four away matches) does that explain the previous 59 too?

As well as the issues away from home, goalscoring has been a concern, with the net being found just four times. Not really good enough for a team with the array of attacking talent that boss Tony Pulis has assembled.

A key – perhaps THE key – reason for this has been the form, or lack of it, of both wingers. Jermaine Pennant and Matt Etherington are, now Peter Crouch is in the side, ever more key to the Stoke method and the fact is both men have looked a shadow of themselves so far.

Both have, in fairness, struggled with injury too – indeed in Etherington’s case he hasn’t looked fit since the hamstring injury he picked up against Wolves last April – but that just serves to make Pulis’ inability to bring in a winger before the deadline passed, look ever more costly – and the decision not to name another winger in the 25 man squad for Premier League matches look like dreadful folly.

Most things in the Stoke garden are rosy. But a win, a couple of goals and perhaps more crucial, a couple of decent performers from their star wingers, wouldn’t half help things along.