Yesterday's performance was professional and efficient, if not lacking a little quality for spells of the game, nevertheless, 3 points for the Potters and the landmark 40+ points achieved, and survival now a sure reality, even if mathematical statistics beg to differ for at least another week.
The Stoke opener came as early as 5 minutes, a lofted ball forward, met by the head of Dave Kitson, falling nicely into the path of Ricardo Fuller who capitalised on some absymal defending by Paul McShane and finished nicely past Boaz Myhill, from then on Stoke, whilst failing to craft out many chances, looked comfortable for their lead, and dealt with the limited threat Hull posed with ease. Throughout the course of the game, Hull's limited pressure and creativity came through midfielder Jimmy Bullard, Stoke, like they have in many games this season, didn't adopt the man-marking approach, so Bullard was given the freedom at times to try and open things up, as a whole though, his impact was limited.
The first-half failed to dish up much more talking points, as Stoke went in with a deserved 1-0 lead. The second-half saw a disappointing 15 minute spell for the Potters in which Stoke squandered posession, seem to be dropping deeper, and Hull were asking the questions, however, their posession came to nothing, and the questions were firmly answered. The second-half saw a nasty injury to veteran midfielder George Boateng, an attempted bicycle kick from Tuncay saw Boateng caught with his boot, and taken away in an ambulance with a warm reception from the Stoke and Hull support. The game was tied up on 90 minutes, a well worked Stoke move saw the impressive Matthew Etherington pick out Liam Lawrence in bags of space in the 18-yard box, and convert the chance well to put the tie to bed. A deserved victory for the Potters, and further problems for the Tigers.
Dave Kitson was the pick of the Stoke bunch for me, certainly in the first-half, he played the target-man role as well as any play has this season, dominated in the air, and showed again that he can bring something else to the table that Mama Sidibe can't. There is a grace about Kitson's football at times, coinciding with his work-rate and ability to win flick-on's, also shows a player who can offer a Berbatov-like ability to open up defences with a single pass, and hold-up the ball well and bring other players into the game. There is also the finishing qualities that Dave Kitson has that are far superior to that of Mama Sidibe, and whilst Kitson's strike-rate at Stoke over the course of time isn't too creditable as yet, he's demonstrated on numerous occasions for us, certainly this season, that given a chance he is quite capable of converting it. This isn't in any way a dig at Mama Sidibe, i'm a fan of what the Malian can bring to the table, but I just think Kitson can play that role better and offer attributes that Mama can't. Mama came on yesterday and worked the defenders well like he always does, and I certainly think he's a very useful impact substitute to have, especially up against tiring defenders.
Thomas Sorensen found himself with a relatively quiet afternoon, but once again, I'm going to have to highlight his kicking. Time and time again this season Sorensen's distribution of the ball has been poor to say the least, and yesterday was no different, coinciding with his poor kicking was a lack of awareness at times, on several occasions, we had players making good runs and screaming for the ball, notably Etherington, and rarely did they receive it.
The defence was impressive, and it's a good sign that we can keep a clean sheet and look so comfortable at the back with the absence of Ryan Shawcross. Shawcross has been the pick of our defenders this season for me, consistantly good, and dealt with the some of the league's top strikers commendably. Huth is a better centre-half without a doubt, but his performance at full-back was superb again yesterday, and what he likes on distribution, he sure makes up for defensively and arialy.
The midfield did a solid job, the only disappointment was the contribution of Glen Whelan. Whelan, on his day, is probably the best central midfielder we have in terms of passing abilities. That being said, I don't believe he is the long-term creative answer through the middle that we need. On several occasions yesterday Whelan wasted posession, and my only slight groan with Pulis yesterday is that I would've had Whitehead on for him earlier.
And now I'm going to revert back to the title of the blog itself, and the question of what the final ingredients and pieces of the jigsaw could bring to Stoke City, and just how much could be achieved with these areas rectified.
For me the areas in which Stoke need to strengthen are evident, and have been for some time. I'm sure Stoke tried their best to address some of these positions in January, unfortunately the window was one of little activity, largely due to inflated prices and greedy agents.
The main area that needs addressing for me is central midfield. Individually, the majority of our central midfielders have done well this season when called upon, Delap and Whitehead have been superb, Whelan has shown spells of good form, and Diao, for all the criticism he's had, just hasn't had the fitness to gain a regular run of football, likewise for Amdy Faye, players of whom are both injuried at the moment. What we need in the middle is a central midfielder who can get a foot on the ball and provide a CREATIVE pass, time and time again this season we've lacked a creative pass coming through the middle, the work-rate and defensive duties of the central players has been good, but they don't have the creative pass we need. It's an area I'm sure Pulis recognises needs to be looked at, there is several alternatives on the market, I'm hoping we can bring in a type of player in the mould of Jason Koumas, someone who can open up defences with one pass, and offer another dimension to our game.
The other area that needs addressing is the full-backs. Again, you can go through most of the full-backs this season and offer little criticism, Higginbotham has filled in at left-back superbly when called upon and offered his defensive abilities. Collins, for what he lacks defensively at times has shown better form of late, and offered good support to Etherington, and Wilkinson is probably having his best season in a Stoke shirt. I just think we need to try and find players who can offer both the ability to look solid defensively, but also offer good distribution and the ability to over-lap the winger. For me, Higginbotham and Collins each offer one of the two attributes above, but not both. Higgy, for all the defensive qualities he brings lacks the ability to over-lap often, and his distribution is simply woeful. And Collins is the opposite, decent distributor, over-laps well, but struggles defensively at times and often gets caught in posession, we need a blend of both these attributes in a full-back, a possible option is Wigan's Maynor Figuerola, a player we're all too familar with for a certain long-range effort scored at the Britannia Stadium this season.
Another thing we STILL lack in my opinion is an out-an-out goalscorer. I still believe a fully-fit and interested James Beattie could provide this, but fully fit and interested are two things he hasn't demonstrated this season, and I expect him to depart in the summer. Any Stoke fan will tell you, we just haven't scored enough goals this season. It's quite remarkable that we've only lost 5 away games this season ( the same amount as Manchester United! ) but only mustered up 8 goals on our travels in the process. Incidently, we're also the only side in the division to find ourselves still unbeaten away in 2010 in the league, the last away league defeat coming at Manchester City on Boxing Day 2009. Again, this isn't a dig at the strikers, individually, they all offer valuable assets to our squad, Fuller has the ability to turn a game with a moment of genius, and however little he's scored this season, will more than likely end the season as our top goalscorer, something he has achieved in every season he's been at Stoke so far. But a 20+ goal a season striker could really take us to a new level, adding another 10-15 goals to our season this season, and you really do begin to wonder where we could be. I know, despite the success of last-season and this season for us that attracting players is still far easier said than done, but with the more we keep achieving, the more status we are gaining, the more players are seeing Stoke as a viable alternative, and the money is there if we can attract these big names. The attempts to bring Ruud Van Nistelrooy to Stoke in the last window were nothing more than an outside punt, but it further demonstrated the intent this club have.
There is other areas I'd like to see improved, competition for Lawrence on the right would be good, another goalkeeper would become a requirement if Simonsen, Sorensen, or both depart in the Summer. A genuine possibility. It's a chance to see Asmir Begovic step-up to the mark, one of the best goalkeeping prospects in the country, and a real coup for this football club.
So there's the areas that I'd like to see addressed in the Summer, hopefully we can also shift some dead-wood off the wage bill and improve the quality of our depth within the squad. It's difficult to say whether these ingredients can see us break into the " big 8 " next season, the recognised " big 8 " in my opinion being: Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham, Man City, Aston Villa and Everton. In no particular order of course. And to break into that is a task that may be out of reach for some time, but just stabilising ourselves in the division for another season next season, and continuingly trying to better ourselves season by season, even at snail pace, has to be the goal for the time being. Stabilising yourself in this division is a daunting task in itself, success can change like the wind, and as we've seen at Portsmouth, negligence behind the scenes can take it's toll, a reason why I'm so relieved and pleased to have a proper chairman like Peter Coates at Stoke, someone with the best interests of the club, and someone who very much adopts the philosophy of not spending beyond your means. Debt isn't a problem providing it can be controlled and maintained, something that it clearly isn't at Portsmouth amongst others.
Our aim for the rest of the season, and the final 6 games on our calender, has to be to better last season's points total of 45 points and better last seasons league position of 12th. We currently find ourselves on 42 points, so the likelyhood of bettering that 45 is all but a formality. To break into the top 10 this season would be nice, we are very much in competition with a little group of 4 teams, those being Fulham, Birmingham, Blackburn and Sunderland, with the top team of those 5 ( including us ) come May 9th, being the side that occupies 9th place for me.
Another good result yesterday, 6 more of those spirited and committed performances and I'll be more than happy. Hopefully we can sit back with a cold beer come the conclusion of the season, reflect on the success and the progression, and look forward to pre-season, and it's many defeats, and the inevitable panic amongst a selection of our support at how slow we move in the market, and how defeats to Newcastle Town suggest we're all but guaranteed to be relegated next season. The joys of the Summer.........
Bring it on.
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