With a home fixture against Spurs coming up, followed by a trip to Stamford Bridge, it was pretty important that we got off the mark in our opener of the season; to come away with nothing was massively disappointing.
The manner of the defeat was the worst thing and the need for a pacey right winger and a creative midfielder was reiterated as our shortcomings were exposed once again. Delap and Huth occupying the wide right slots just isn’t good enough and Higgy’s display at left back was embarrassing at times against Wolves. As for Mama, well I think enough has been said on this one, he just isn’t good enough at this level. He’s a smashing kiddie but there’s no room for sentiment in this game. Pulis has spoken about evolution on more than one occasion and it’s about time he started delivering on this one, the next couple of weeks will certainly be very telling.
It was a breath of fresh air to see Blackpool play with a freedom and attacking intent that I can never recall seeing from a Stoke side since we made our return to the top flight. Hopefully Pulis has been in touch with his good friend Ollie and he’s told him that you can be adventurous in this league and reap the benefits. I won’t be holding my breath.
With the money at his disposal there has to be numerous options out there that are “better than what we currently have” and Pulis needs to get this one right with at least 3 new faces before the window shuts at the end of August.
As for this weekends fixture, Spurs looked very handy against Man City and we all know what we will be up against but we also know that we can give anyone a game at The Bear Pit and the fans will play their part again. A point would be huge for us on Saturday and with the Stokies 100% behind the lads I think a point is very achievable; if not all 3. We have to be realistic, we will be lucky to come away with anything at Stamford Bridge judging by their demolition of West Brom on Saturday and that puts extra emphasis on Saturdays result.
With some very difficult games coming up it’s imperative we get off the mark asap and we’ll definitely need to be the 12th man on Saturday.
Let’s get The Brit rocking!!
Prediction: -
Stoke 1 Spurs 1