The Stoketshirts.co.uk blog

Statistics can be deceptive.  Data shows that on Saturday Swansea had 61% possession over Stoke’s 39%. Swansea may have seen more of the ball than us  but rarely looked capable of gaining anything from the game.  In fact, from the moment Peter Crouch headed us into the lead we were in total control of the game.  When Crouch doubled our lead in the 36th minute it sealed the points.  To have three points in the bag by half time was a rare luxury for Stoke.  Swansea started the second half with more urgency but rarely looked likely to trouble us too much.  We weathered the storm and comfortably played the game out.  It was slightly disappointing not to score again, we’d have all loved Crouch to grab our first Premier League hat trick, but it was a thoroughly deserved and much needed victory. …. and the statistics can say whatever they like!

Our victory was crucial.  We hadn’t won since April 7th.  The green shoots of our evolution are refreshing but we maintain our status with points.  It’s unlikely we’ll get much at all from the next two fixtures, at Anfield and Old Trafford, so it was crucial to  deposit points in the bank.  Anfield next, the kind of game in recent years in which we’ve seemed unwilling to break forward.  With out recent acquisitions and the memory of giving Chelsea a tough game there is no reason not to set up to ensure we impose ourselves on the game.  If we emerge defeated it shouldn’t be due to an over cautious approach.

The goal of the weekend came in Serie A.  Fabrizio Miccoli’s strike for Palermo against Chievo was a magical piece of opportunism combining skill and grace.  Watch it here then watch it again.  And again and again. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYcKqoDjVys

The coming weekend will see the start of the most eagerly anticipated A-League season yet.  The arrival of Alessandro Del Piero has thrown domestic football in Australia into the spotlight like never before.  Since landing here a fortnight ago, Del Piero has behaved with ambassadorial dignity.  Exuding charm and humility he’s absorbed the attention with statesmanlike grace.  Emile Heskey arrived with considerably less fanfare than the Italian but the Newcastle Jets club shop has sold thousands of shirts bearing his name.  So pre season  we’ve had some much needed fresh interest in the game.  Sydney and Newcastle have the men, but the key question is, do they have the team?  Risking accusations of bias, it’s worth remembering that Brisbane Roar are the current champions and will again be a team to fear. The team that has emerged as champions twice in a row has been kept together with the addition of  some promising new faces.  Losing manager Ange Postecoglou to Melbourne Victory was a blow but the nucleus of the team remains. If Postecoglou’s successor, Rado Vidosic, can maintain the style and grace of recent seasons his promotion could yet prove to be a seamless transition.  The big names are exciting and provide a welcome drawcard, but that isn’t the only way forward.

Behind the scenes documentary ‘Being Liverpool’ has recently been televised here in Australia.  Try though I may it’s hard to see the point behind this programme.  It carries little insight and has the aura of a huge PR stunt.  The most illuminating discovery from the first episode was the staggering revelation that Steve Gerrard invites his mates round to his house to watch football matches on television.  The best fly on the wall look at a football club was Hunter Davies ‘The Glory Game’.  The author was granted access to the inner workings of Tottenham Hotspur football club for a season and the results were controversial, enlightening and for many involved deeply embarrassing.  Perhaps the most telling fact is that few outsiders have been allowed such free access since.  However, if Being Liverpool was produced in book form it’d carry all the cutting edge potency of an IKEA catalogue.

One of the weekend’s major surprises was Manchester United’s home defeat to Spurs.  It was Spurs first victory at Old Trafford since December 1989.  I attended that game many years ago and it was a memorable day for several reasons.  It was the game I knew for sure that Paul Gascoigne could become a star and had to be in England’s World Cup squad.  Another abiding memory is the anti Alex Ferguson sentiments among the home fans. In the pub pre match there was ongoing fury over Ferguson having been there for ‘four years’ and nothing had improved and sacking the manager was the only course of action.  History has proven them all wrong of course, but that perception is all the more baffling when bearing in mind that, at that stage,  Ferguson had been there for three years!!  Manchester United are a different club and Alex Ferguson is a different manager than on that chilly day nearly 23 years ago, but Saturday’s improved second half performance suggests he’s still got his half time hairdryer!

On Sunday one of world football’s most eagerly anticipated fixtures will take place when Real Madrid face Barcelona at the Nou Camp.  From Santiago to Tokyo, hundreds of millions throughout the world will tune in….. but not in Australia.  ESPN televised the Spanish league in recent years but the increased cost of broadcast rights have led to La Liga being dropped from the station’s schedule.  In consequence, for the first time in many years, this compelling war of footballing attrition won’t be shown here.  The sun will continue to rise, the earth will continue to spin, but it’s a sad loss to the Australian football menu.

In the League Cup tie last week Nicolas Yennaris played for Arsenal against Coventry.  As unremarkable as that may seem there was a quirky aside involved.  The last time Arsenal hosted  Coventry in 2000, Nicolas Yennaris  was the mascot!

The most frustrating thing about Stoke on Saturday is that we started so sluggishly.  We were up against a team of genuine quality, but allowing them to totally dominate us proved suicidal.   We did however score two brilliant goals.  Hopefully Jonesy’s blast will bolster his confidence and lead him and us to a bright finish to the season.  Despite having spent most of the first half frantically trying (and usually failing) to clear the ball, at half time we were only 2-3 down and alive in the game.  For large spells of the second half we matched our opponents.  We imposed ourselves on the game and kept the ball well in their half.  We couldn’t quite force an equaliser and our spirited resurgence proved  fruitless.  The truly costly aspect of the game was the lethargic start.  For most of the first half we were dreadful, and for that reason it’s hard  to feel that we really deserved anything from the game.

Sadly, Friday April 15th marks the 22nd anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster.   Policing at football grounds has, for many years, been a sore point amongst supporters.   It was  former Deputy Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police John Stalker in the 80s who said he was aware that many police knew that football matches were one time they were “Let off the leash”.      On the 31st January1989  we had an FA Cup replay at Barnsley. Thousands of Stoke supporters arrived late due to traffic congestion.   Outside the ground a crush developed and people were getting hurt.  Initial action was to send a police horse running in to the crowd which  only added to the chaos.   To ease the congestion the police opened one of the huge exit gates which allowed the crowd  to get into the game for free. This was the response  the same force used two months later at Hillsborough.  Had there been more Stoke supporters on the away terrace that night we could have suffered that awful disaster.    Same situation, same police force, same reaction.   We, like all football supporters, were actually riding our luck,  not just on that  night, but for years before.   There was very little consideration for the issue of crowd safety over crowd control.  It could have been any of us  with the loss of life…..  and the same scandalous tabloid allegations.  RIP the 96.

Paul Gascoigne and Jimmy Greaves will soon be touring the UK with a roadshow.  This will consist of them both telling stories from their playing careers and discussing openly their well publicised alcohol problems.  The end of the shows will consist of no-holds-barred question and answer sessions.  Showing admirable resilience Greaves has been tee total since 1978.  Paul Gasciogne’s story however has been a much more painful one.   Living out his traumas in the full glare of the media couldn’t have helped him.  I can’t be the only one to fear the worst when seeing his name in a headline.  It is however pleasing to learn that he’s been dry since Christmas.  Hopefully Gazza’s found himself a new focus that can help maintain his sobriety and prevent his life from unravelling again. 

We now look forward to Sunday April 17th and what could prove to be a very special day in our lives.  There are reasons to dislike the semi finals being played at Wembley but this isn’t the time for that debate.  The important thing is that we have reached a stage in the FA Cup that we haven’t reached for 39 long barren years.  In 148 years of history we have only reached three FA Cup Semi Finals.  39 years ago our dreams were brutally shattered.  The game was delicately poised at 1-1 when Arsenal’s John Radford was put clean through on goal but  clearly offside.  Inexplicably, the linesman kept his flag down and Radford gleefully scored to bury our hopes of reaching the final for another 39 years.  Following much confusion over Radford’s goal it transpired that on the far side of the pitch from the useless lino, there was a man in a white coat selling programmes to the crowd.  Stoke wore white that night and the flag carrying cretin thought the seller was a Stoke player.  This allowed Radford to put us out of the cup and generations of Stoke City fans to carry a chip on our shoulder the size of Heathrow Airport!  Surely on Sunday we can’t suffer such a deep injustice?  By the way, I have never ever seen Radford’s horrible goal and I’m not sure it was even televised at all.   But if anyone has a copy and can upload it to You Tube it’d be fantastic to see.  I must be a masochist! 

By the time our game against Bolton kicks off the first finalist will be decided.  It’s fair to say that if Manchester City are as poor as they were at Anfield their loathed red neighbours will effectively receive a bye to the final.  Why did Mancini start without Silva or De Jong?  Their sole consolation is that they can’t play so badly in two consecutive matches.

Our game against Bolton will be an intense tight affair.  Two evenly matched teams playing with a huge prize at stake.  Ties like this are often decided by a moment of  inspiration.  We’ll be hoping It’ll be a Fuller or Etherington making the difference as much as the Bolton fans will be hoping it comes from an Elmander or Davies!  It is great that one grand old club will be in the final. Stan and Nat will be watching proudly from above. Stan with a glass of fruit juice and Nat with a pint of brown ale!  I’ll be in the Pig n Whistle pub in the centre of  Brisbane, anxiously watching the clock and begging our players to take the sacred step 148 years of predecessors have failed to take.

Hearing Abide With Me has always brought a lump to my throat. From childhood, 2.45 on FA Cup Final day symbolised a huge slice of football heritage.  The huge noisy crowd gathered doffs it’s cap in reverence.  When The song starts the mood isn’t just about the game on the day.  We reflect on, and celebrate, the glorious history of the competition.  Cardiff’s shock win over Arsenal in 1927.  It’s George Mutch’s late dramatic winner in 1938.  Stan’s final in 1953.  Nat Lofthouse’s controversial goalkeeper charge in the 1958 final and Bob Stokoe’s ecstatic dash across the lush green turf to embrace Jim Montgomery after his Sunderland team embarrassed Don Revie’s Leeds.   If we win at Wembley we will have the chance to carve our name in history.  The memories Sunday may bring could live with us all forever.  In years to come we could cry tears of joy and reflect fondly  on that day in April 2011 when we finally, after so long, reached an FA Cup Final.  Players might find this hard to believe but that means more than money… much much more.   Come on Stoke.   Our time is now.

“The best team always wins and the rest is only gossip”.   Jimmy Sirrel

It is abundantly clear now  that the substitutes are a huge part of our attacking game plan.  Seeing the eleven that started on Sunday was a real shock… I didn’t realise we were playing Barcelona.  At Newcastle the eleven that started was a  concoction of the physical and the holding.  Overall, we stifled them adequately  in the first half but our players seemed to be constantly lunging into challenges and needlessly giving away stupid cheap free kicks to invite pressure.  Some of Sorensen’s kicks were suspect too.  Fortunately for us they wasted their (far) superior possession all and we were let off the hook several times by their poor final balls.  Infuriatingly,  it was Huth’s totally unnecessary barge into Carroll that sent us in behind at the break.  A part of the game is TCUP… Thinking Correctly Under Pressure and Huth made a costly penalty box error of judgment there.  Physicality is a big part of our team but it’s vital to make the right decisions.  After the aforementioned lunges it was entirely appropriate we went 0-1 down to a goal borne of a totally unnecessary reckless challenge from a Stoke player.  Odder is that despite our inability to keep the ball in the attacking third for any longer than 0.2 seconds, Newcastle had created very little and had needed us to hand them a goal… which we had done with much generosity.  The second half was much different.   We got back to what we do well which is getting into teams and overpowering them.  Their defence has struggled all season with high balls into the box so seeing Rory enter the fray we knew what the plan was.  And it worked.  Jonesy was transformed and used his pace and strength to unsettle the opposition and us merely  keeping the ball in their half seemed to really unsettle them.  Fuller’s injury was a blow but we kept attacking them and got level.  After Jonesy equalised  Newcastle came into the game again but, like  the first half, rarely showed the craft to break us down.  Our  aerial bombardment continued and we enjoyed some wonderful Geordie hospitality when their James Perch kindly repaid the generosity we had shown near the end of the first half by scoring the winner for us near the end of the second.  I’d buy him a bottle of Newcastle Brown anytime!   In the time remaining we absorbed pressure well and despite some penalty box pinball looked pretty safe.  So well and truly a game of two halves.  Coming from behind to win, especially away from home, is pretty dam good.  And despite our lackadaisical first half we deserved to win.  Newcastle’s lack of creativity combined with our second half pace and power  meant we won the game on merit.  And it is after all a game of two halves!   For now, three league games unbeaten seven points out of nine and things are looking up.  Blackburn on Saturday and a clean sheet would be a good starting point.  GOOOAAARRN STOKE!!!

There is a lot of debate about the starting line ups that Tone is sending out.  Well,  it has always been a tactic of Brazil to allow the opposition to have the ball and drop off themselves.  The difference is that this is done knowing they have the ability and sstrength to win the ball and trust their own technical expertise to build fluent forward moves when they do.  It also obviously  means that the opposition are outnumbered whilst  trying to break forward.  As yet we haven’t quite managed to equal Brazil’s technical skills, as a result  the opposition have the ball for long spells and we are pegged back.  Also bearing in mind that we are yet to score first  this season and have had to chase every game it is apparent that the current strategy isn’t working properly.  Nothing wrong with wanting attacking options on the bench but the whole philosophy of the team is flawed when you are simply playing out time waiting for Fuller to appear after an hour.  On Saturday we need to start the game with a more attacking mindset, especially against solid underrated opponents like Blackburn. 

Who could have predicted that result at Arsenal?  West Brom played with discipline and purpose and thoroughly deserved to win the game.  WBA seem more equipped to handle the pressures of the top flight this time.  They approached the game with intelligence, closing down spaces and trying to break forward when they could to give the defence some respite.  They must have sensed Arsenal were struggling because they started breaking down the flanks and putting Arsenal on the backfoot.  I watched in the pub standing next to a Baggies fan who noticed they were doing  “All roit”  And that with a manager as good as “Towny Pewliss” they might have stayed up last time.  Those last few minutes of injury time were torture for him but when the final whistle finally blew he was suitably delirious.  He  thought he was going to make them “Ply all sodding noit” .  In his delight he bought a monster round of drinks…. everyone a winner!!  Looking across the pub the Liverpool fans were looking depressed, unable to comprehend the fact that the ongoing trauma at Anfield meant ticking over as they are isas good as they could expect.  One even reckoned Hodgson should be sacked, a notion as foolish as it is knee jerk.  Those who know football know that right now Liverpool are a long way from being a top four club.  Roy Hodgson is the right man for them right now because he’s experienced and stable and able to run the team in what is proving an increasingly traumatic phase.  I still don’t expect them to go into administration though.  The brand name Liverpool FC will dig them out of some holes there.  Man Yoo still haven’t found form.  If anything Bolton will be frustrated not to have won that game.  Alex Ferguson will be furious not to have closed the gap on Chelsea further.  Wayne Rooney’s (lack of) form is a big concern.  I agree with what Kevin Keegan says (I can’t believe I just typed that!) in this piece.  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/players/wayne-Rooney/8026451/Manchester-United-striker-Wayne-Rooney-cant-blame-the-media-says-Kevin-Keegan.html   It was Rooney who piled pressure on himself by also declaring that he was about to “Write the Future” in South Africa.   If his extra curricular activities are proving to be a detrimental effect on his game Alex Ferguson needs to instruct him to stop them, it really is that simple.  Energy is so vital and having it sapped by continually exploiting his high profile could prove damaging.  Quite simply, I think he looks knackered, the World Cup and other situations in his life seem to have had an effect.   At Spurs once Gary Lineker was off form and looking  jaded so Terry Venables got the club to pay for crisphead to go away on holiday for ten days to rest.   Knowing it was a huge risk that could prove divisive he called a team meeting and explained to all the players what he was foing and why.  When Lineker returned he re-discovered his form and energy.  It was a gamble by Venables but it worked and was an excellent example of managing and motivating an  individual player.  

Another weekend surprise  was in Germany where Mainze went away to Bayern Munich and won to stay top of the table.  Mainze had to travel on the morning of the game due to all Munich’s hotels being booked out for Oktoberfest!   It may be a bit too much to expect Mainze to stay at the pinnacle but the Bundesliga can be quirky.  Repetition of Wolfsburg’s 2009 title win would be welcome.    Diversifying the gene pool of Europe’s top table would benefit the  game. 

It’s a pleasant surprise to see Paul  Gascoigne back in football, even if it is only managing Garforth Town in the amusingly named Evo Stik League.  Whether it will be the pivot which helps him to leave some of his traumas behind remains to be seen.  It can’t be any more of a calamity than his disastrous time managing Kettering in 2005.  Hopefully he can use this opportunity to start getting his life back together.  Good luck Gazza.

David Beckham makes the right noises.  He’s in the Caribbean promoting England’s World Cup bid.  Head of CONCACAF Jack Warner remains a vehicle of corruption.  To see Beckham having to schmooze up to him is a bit galling but in this case the end can justify the mean.  Hosting a World Cup would be a special time in the lives of the nation.  There has been talk of leaving behind a global legacy which is glib yet politically appealing at this precious late stage.    So much of what occurs at that level is politically motivated.