NOT since Stoke City lost on their Premier League debut at Bolton in 2008, perhaps, has one football match left the pit of your stomach feeling quite therefore depressingly unpleasant. One bookie settled on Stoke being relegated that weekend, you might remember, and much more will soon be doing likewise in 2-3 weeks at their current rate of descent. a FALSE HOPE: Michael Kightly turns away in pleasure after scoring the equaliser against Aston Villa. Pictures: Malcolm Hart a MY BALL: Villa goalkeeper Brad Guzan shrugs off challenging from Stoke replacement Cameron Jerome. a SECURE HANDS: Brad Guzan takes control as Stoke striker Kenwyne Jones looks on. On Grand National week-end we were expecting Stoke's performance could resonate to the likes of Imperial Commander and Quel Esprit, but instead it echoed more to Lost Glory, Always Waining and Ninetieth Minute. Those folks once scoffing at the very possibility of relegation are actually investing in the type of complacency that might have troubled the dressing room too. myprint-247 Printing voucher Our heavyweight cards have FREE UV cotton coating, FREE overnight delivery & VAT included. Select from 1000's of pre-designed themes or publish your own personal art. Instructions sent within 24hrs. Terms: Visit our site for more products: Business Cards, Compliment Slips, Letterheads, Leaflets, Postcards, Posters & much more. All items are free following day delivery. www.myprint-247.co.uk Contact: 01858 468192 Good until: Tuesday, April 30 2013 Maybe not the manager, of course, for he has long been warning that the large H could contaminate the club of which his managerial career has been defined. He remains to see the job to the end of the summer season, it appears, and this is certainly no time for his CV to be besmirched by way of a first relegation. Tony Pulis will soon be thankful for the backing his staff noticed from the stands on Saturday, while any protest at Stoke's difficult situation was mercifully confined to an instant exodus ahead of the final whistle as followers chose to bite their tongue on this occasion. The time has come for change, though, and perhaps less emphasis should now be placed on trying to stop the opposition and more on trying to trouble them. It's becoming ever tougher to guard the omission of those people owning the enterprise and craft to spark a far greater fighting danger than we're seeing from Stoke's on-going and deeply destructive malaise in the final third. Charlie Adam may not be good for 90 minutes, nevertheless the argument for giving the initial 70 to him as opposed to the last 20 is becoming noisy. One cracked through-ball for Jon Walters with just about his first contact on Saturday also demonstrated the wisdom of including a Cameron Jerome to provide rate off the past defender's shoulder. This isn't a Stoke team with the capacity or the assurance to play through the pitch, but it can play constructively extended balls to turn and stretch defences when they are playing with precise passing and pace off the mark. Fitting Adam into a starting line-up remains an issue for those, like Pulis, who do not trust his freedom and defensive nous in a midfield two. So given the lack of normal thickness at their disposal anyway, perhaps it is time for Stoke to go 4-3-3 to accommodate both Adam and Jerome. However, all of us have the answers, do not we? Because presently rate of knots the membership is heading in mere one way, either way, something must change. The optimists will say that as little as four points from their last six games could be enough to save Stoke from the Championship, but that fact does not sound quite therefore good whenever you think their last four points have taken seven games to get. There were unfortunate times impeding Stoke again on Saturday a two handball shouts that Pulis thought were penalties, not to mention Matthew Lowton's late wonder hit that might hit Row Z on every other day a' but no body can disregard the grim fact that Villa were streets ahead in so many factors. Only in the first seven or eight minutes of the overall game, and for seven or eight minutes either side of Michael Kightly's 80th-minute equaliser, did Stoke commence to intimidate likely the Premier League's worst defence. While their attacking expertise was all too evident on the break, their midfield possessed and hounded the ball in equal measure, Villa appeared to be a team on the up as their support thrived on the assurance exuding from their goalkeeper. They are able to surely have laid Stoke to rest with more than their solitary first-half attack when Lowton wormed clear on the to cross low to the post for Gabriel Agbonlahor to stab house at the next attempt. Agbonlahor supplied the day's only light relief when he was later scheduled for an outrageous dive as Asmir Begovic shut down one of many forays into Stoke territory. Begovic was the only Stoke person to continually play to his reputation on Saturday as he tipped one shot on to his post in the first half, while beating away another at the start of the 2nd to keep his team alive. Stoke's inadequacies were in a way that Kenwyne Jones gave Kightly a right earful when both inexplicably jumped for the same ball in midfield to surrender possession yet again. Thank heavens the home crowd was rather more good while they admirably limited their discomfort to when both of the Ryans lost a move the occasional groan. And the home crowd's respect in the facial skin of adversity was eventually recognized when Stoke, visibly influenced by Adam's release, found the Scot heavily associated with their 80th-minute equaliser. It was his pass wide that extended the play briefly as Jon Walters retrieved the ball and played back inside to Adam who, by having an outstretched right trunk, prodded through for Kightly to sweep the ball home delightfully from 12 yards out. Kightly has his critics and his Stoke job hasn't specifically removed yet, but he is one person frequently prepared to gamble on engaging in goalscoring roles like this. Suddenly it was Stoke looking the likelier to seize success against a new Villa side generally susceptible to blowing one or two-goal leads. Maybe not this time, unfortunately, as a and a spooned clearance from Adam appeared to have finished any threat from a left-wing spot in the 90th minute. But Lowton, seeing wonder fizz before his eyes, chested the ball and then dipped an ideal volley over Begovic from 30 meters. To offer a from Barry Davies, when he was reluctantly knowing Diego Maradona's amazing second purpose against England at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico: "You have to say that's magnificent." The game was up and Villa's third, after Christian Benteke had broken clear of a support moving forward with nothing to lose, was simply the turning of a knife already set deeply in to the center of Stoke City. That knife seems to have been turned yet again by a fixture list throwing up Manchester United at the Britannia next Sunday, but silly as it sounds that could not be the worst fixture in the world. A game from which so small is predicted from Stoke does just take the pressure off some pretty despondent-looking people, giving them time to steel themselves for a much more important home game against Norwich later this month. We reside in hope.
Link: [Soccer Live] TSV Hartberg - Blau-Weiss Linz - Austrian Erste Liga
No comments:
Post a Comment