Wednesday 10 February 2010

Wigan (a) Tuesday 9th February - Another priceless away day point.

As anyone who attends live football has no doubt at one point noted, even the most raucous of stadiums can appear strangely empty merely minutes before kick off. Then suddenly, the drinkers emerge from the concourses and in the blink of an eye, the empty spaces fill up and suddenly the ground is a buzzing hot bed of noise.


Then of course, there's the DW stadium and Wigan Athletic.


In my entry for the home game against Wigan I was fairly critical of their away following and fans in general, so I won't spend too long doing so again. Slagging of Wigan for having a crap attendance is a bit like shooting fish in a barrel. It's like having a go at Man United fans for being gloryhunters or having a go at Stoke for being slightly one dimensional. Their owns fans are well aware of their stigma, and the criticism is really nothing new. So, with that in mind, I'll simply say that rather unsurprisingly, there was little in the way of atmosphere at the DW tonight, but the travelling Stoke fans were in fine voice and got behind their team as ever.

My final point on the matter is this: any fans that needs music pumped through the speakers to give an illusion of atmosphere when their team has scored, has to ask serious questions of their home support.

Anyway back to the game itself. In typically unpredictable fashion, Tony has decided to tinker with the side that beat Blackburn 3-0 and dropped Lawrence and Fuller to the bench bringing in Glen Whelan and Tuncay to fill their places in the starting eleven.


The first half was far from vintage stuff from Stoke as we struggled to create many chances and struggled to contain the likes of N'Zogbia and Rodallega as they broke forward at pace for Wigan. Credit where credit is due to Roberto Martinez and his Wigan side, they looked to play some decent football and caused our full backs plenty of trouble throughout the first half.

Things were looking so bad that at one point I uttered a sentence I never thought I'd utter at a Stoke game again, "we are missing Salif today". As soon as the words left my lips I took a step back and had a long hard think about what I'd just said. The fact is, with Salif, you never know quite what you're going to get. Every now and then you see the tough tackling defensive midfielder who can offer a much needed physical presence and really break up any midfield that tries to pass its way through the centre. Unfortunately, it's very rare you see that Salif Diao. More often than not its the Salif that gives away more free kicks around his own area than the rest of the team combined, and couldn't find his own men with a pass if his life depended on it. On careful appraisal I retracted my own comment and thanked the lord for Glen Whelan.


We conceded a disappointing goal on in the half early on from a set piece as Robert Huth failed to track his man and Scharner rose highest to nod home a well placed free kick. It wasn't by any means against the run of play and the home team probably deserved their lead at the break.



The second half was a much better affair from the Potters. We appeared much more willing to have a go at Wigan and predictably once Fuller was introduced on the hour mark, we looked even more dangerous going forward.

I can, in a way, understand why Tony sometimes likes to use Ric as an impact sub. With half an hour still to play, there can be few more daunting sights for a tiring defender than a fresh Ricardo Fuller entering the fray. There were some rival fans I spoke to before Stoke entered the Premier League who didn't think Ric would make the step up, but over the past season and a half, despite a fairly low goal return, he has definitely proven them all wrong. When you see him play week in, week out, you see the immense impact he has on any game he plays in. The driving runs and jinking twists and turns can have defenders tied in knots.


Tonight, Riccy entered proceedings at the expense of Rory, which meant that Tuncay went out onto left wing, moving Ethers out onto the right. The benefits of having a pacy and skillful player on both flanks was plain to see, as we pressed hard for the draw. Soon enough, Ethers embarked on another darting run down the wing and his pin point cross was met brilliantly by Tuncay to nod in unopposed at the back post.


Once that goal went in with 15 minutes to play, Stoke looked the more likely side to score. More bustling work from Riccy set Mama up for a header, but the big man was always stretching and he did well just to deflect the ball onto the bar.


Tony went for one last roll of the dice late on as Beattie was brought on for Mama and Lawrence on for Tuncay. This was good to see from Tone as you'd half expect him to thrown on a more defensive minded player and old out for the draw, but he is clearly showing that he believes Stoke can go away from home and win games.

With minutes to go, the ball found its way to an unmarked James Beattie just inside the area. He caught the ball well with his right boot but unfortunately put it too close to Kirkland in the Wigan goal. Beatts showed a lot of fight and desire when he came on, which is good to see for us Potters fans. He's clearly been out of sorts of late, a spat with the manager and reportedly nearly leaving on transfer deadline day have left him looking slightly like the forgotten man in the Stoke squad. We can't forget however that it was his goals that played no small part in keeping us up last year. That glorious header against Man City at the Brit being one that sticks firmly in the mind.


If Beatts can hit that type of form again, it will be like having a new signing, and while Tony shows no signs of dropping Mama just yet, Beattie can still expect plenty of chances to come on and show what he can do. If only he had stuck this chance away, it could of marked the start of a great resurgence from the striker.


Anyway, the game finished all square and Stoke were definitely thankful for the point. We are now at the 30 point mark and way on our way to that mystical 40 point target. With other sides in the bottom half also regularly picking up points and no one seems to be slipping out of touch just yet, it seems like the relegation battle will go right down to the wire.

I don't think either Wigan nor Stoke will be down there at the very end of the season, but for now, points like this are priceless and get us that bit closer to safety.

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