Stoke City - More than just a means to an end

It’s feisty. It’s tasty. They hit them where it hurts most: below the belt, in a metaphorical way (sometimes in a physical way also). But they also play some decent football. It’s a pity whenever people talk about Stoke football club, more often than not people talk about the malaise in their players’ system. People talk about the bloody mindedness of their manager Tony Pulis, but not in an endearing manner. When people talk about Manchester United, Sir Bobby Charlton comes to mind. When Arsenal enters the discussion, Herbert Chapman’s role in their building comes into the picture. Liverpool and their three legends, Kenny Dalglish, Bob Paisley and Bill Shankly. Well, folks, Stoke have had their own share of legends. None more so than the legendary Sir Stanley Matthews.

Why is it that there is this continued aversion to write anything good about Stoke? Are there too many Aaron Ramsey sympathisers or Arsenal fans masquerading as pundits in the mainstream media? If that is the case, stop faffing around and move on, will you? Yes, Ryan Shawcross made a rash challenge. Yes, the challenge broke Ramsey’s leg. Yes, the Arsenal midfielder was out for more than a year after that incident. If all Arsenal fans were to apply the same yardstick, why exactly do you guys like Robert Pires. His dive, like it or not, ultimately helped Arsenal stave off an embarrassing defeat against Portsmouth during the unbeaten season. Granted both the incidents cannot be compared, but if you thought Shawcross brought the game into disrepute with his tackle, shouldn’t you also hold up your hand and say Pires brought the game into disrepute with his dive? And also a retrospective one year ban?

Ryan Shawcross sees red

Appreciate Pulis’s ever-evolving squad

There is slowly but surely a team being built at the Britannia. They had one of the more exciting Premier League misfits in Henri Camara leading the line in 2008, their first season in the Premier League. These days, they have Peter Crouch and the very industrious but equally nifty Jon Walters. They have the very promising centre-half threesome of Shawcross, ex-league-winner Robert Huth and one-time Real Madrid player John Woodgate. That is as good a centre-half a pairing that a side like Stoke can get.

In the centre of the park, where there is a lack of a creative, ball-playing midfielder, they more than make up for that loss because of the workrate and the desire to win the second balls and be up for a scrap at all times. Glenn Whelan, one of the cleanest league players, Rory Delap, a man whose sum is greater than some of the other league pansies playing at the nouveau-riche clubs and Dean Whitehead and Wilson Palacios, versions of the Stoke engine which will irritate the living hell out of classier playmakers wanting to bypass the wall. But their main midfield threat comes from the wide areas. A classic throwback to when the football was passed around wide with wingers either running at the full back or cutting in and taking a shot. In Matthew Etherington, they have got one of England’s finest left wingers. And on the other side, they have got a consistent crosser of the football in Jermaine Pennant. These two will put in the box all day long, especially Pennant. The kind of deliveries which will be hated by the defenders.

Defenders' nightmare

When one sees managers like Arsene Wenger moaning about Stoke being a rugby team, it really depresses the football fan in you. They don’t have a Cesc Fabregas or a Robin van Persie to provide that class on the pitch. In stead, they have bull terriers who move heaven and earth to work a result in their favour. Now, why exactly is this wrong? You, Wenger, learned in economics, should know that. The means is not really important as long as the end is achieved. You want your side to play a slick, passing game. Why would you want to enforce your ideology on to other sides? And there is also much to admire about Stoke. Unlike the other bigger, but smaller than the bigger, clubs in England, they are enjoying their time in Europe and will top the group if they can avoid defeat at Besiktas this week.

A throwback to the disco era

Sometime back, when Charlton Athletic were punching above their weight in the league thanks mainly to Alan Curbishley, a lot of commentators were quick to say that any team coming up from the Championship should follow Charlton’s model to maintain its status as a Premier League. Surely that yardstick has changed to Stoke. A real battering ram at home while managing to pick up enough points away from home.

The purist may not like them. They may not really be everyone’s cup of tea. But does that mean they should be ostracised from the very society that produced them? The answer to that is a two-lettered word which starts with N and ends with O.