The Stoketshirts.co.uk blog

Well the Slovenia game has come and gone. Myself along with the rest of the USA ran the whole gamut of emotions during that contest. As per our Standard Operation Procedure (SOP) we fell behind a goal early, wasted numerous scoring chances, and then paid for our anemia in front of goal by getting caught out on the break. At the half down 2-0 many of the pundits and oatcakers believed our World Cup to be over – done and dusted. However, as per our SOP , we mounted a furious comeback, tied the game on two beautiful goals; one by the talismanic Landon Donovan and the equalizer by the coach’s son Michael Bradley. I was over the moon at this point to just be staring at an unlikely point from this contest when a tropical storm cut off the TV. Of course this was between the 84th and 87th minutes so I missed the highway robbery that occured. Luckily for me it has been replayed a million times since .. Needless to say that goes down as the worst call in the history of US soccer. (Had the referee been trained by Alan Wiley?) But no more time to cry over spilled milk. The scoreless draw between England and Algeria was just what the doctor ordered to give us a chance of moving on.

As for the next game, we win and we are in! Algeria will be tough, but they also have to play for a win if they hope to advance. If we can get the first goal I like our chances. We do not deserve to advance if we cannot win a game in the group. I’ll be pulling for an England win but they have a difficult tie against a well organized opponent. More to follow tomorrow …

Another day at the Britannia and another prima donna referee. Stoke City versus Tottenham Hotspurs saw Mike Dean hit the headlines.
There’s an old saying that goes “be seen and not heard” and too many of today’s Premier League officials really take that to heart.
They love to think we have paid our hard earned cash to watch them. Mike Dean is another one of the Rob Styles, Graham Poll school who think it’s their stage.
He thinks it’s the “Mike Dean Show”, especially with his over exhuberant gestures – what a prize tosser.
No doubt he’ll go back to the referee’s club and re-live the story of how he robbe Stoke again to his buddies.
As they get nearer the end of their career they get more controversial as it makes them more attractive to media companies.
I don’t know about you but I hate listening to Poll when he’s on 5live and often switch it off. He talks as if he has a “holier than thou” attitude.

As for the sending off, then I don’t think Whitehead should have given him the opportunity. Both “tackles” were careless and in areas of the pitch when a pressing obstruction would have been a wiser choice. A player of his experience should be making better choices and I guess that Tony Pulis, while being supportive of the player in public, will have a few words in private.

To close I think that referees should switch the earlier saying around and have the attitude that they should be heard and not seen (On the pitch and not in the media!).