It’s not great complaining about a Ref’s incompetence time and again. It usually reeks of sour grapes and more often than not covers up your own team’s incompetence on the day. This, however, does not apply to Saturday in the slightest.
As disappointed as I was with the defeat against Spurs, as I left The Bear Pit for the first time this season, I couldn’t have been prouder of the lads for the effort, commitment and, most importantly, performance they put in against a top 4 side.
As for the game, the first half was just about edged by Spurs and they probably just deserved their 2-1 lead, even with the massive slice of luck they had with the first goal. The second half undoubtedly belonged to Stoke though and we had chance after chance to get level. Tuncay’s deflected shot, Tuncay’s header at the back post, the punt by Shawcross from 10 yards out, the goal that never was from Walters, these are just 4 great chances I can recall during the second half onslaught. We took the fight to Spurs and Redknapp will know he was very lucky to come away with 3 points. If we continue to put in this kind of performance I’m sure another comfortable survival will be on the cards.
On the face of it we are currently sitting in the bottom 3 with no points and a trip to Stamford Bridge up next which in other circumstances could point towards a mini crisis but if anything, Saturdays performance left me with many positives and a feeling that we’ll be ok again this season.
The big positive was Walters on his debut. A lot had been said prior to this game, many thinking he would go the way of Tonge, Soares, Davies et al and add to the list of deadwood we are struggling to shift from the club. On the contrary his debut performance showed a great deal of potential and he looks like being an excellent addition to the squad, not only as filler, but as a first team regular. He looked sharp, he worked ‘aaarrrrd, he was great in the air and although he didn’t get on the score sheet (thanks to Mr Foy, we’ll come back to him) he does look like he has goals in him.
Another positive was the performance by Tuncay from the bench. He looked fired up and ready to fight for the team and he caused Spurs lots of problems in his twenty odd minutes on the pitch. It looks like the spirit is still there throughout the ranks. Thankfully the one or two bad eggs that we had last season have not affected what Pulis has built up over the past few years.
That was the main positive from the match, the spirit from each and every one of the lads wearing the red and white. For the entire second half the lads showed they haven’t lost any of the commitment or desire that has been pivotal in the success of our last 2 seasons. Pulis has spoken about adding 4 new faces before the window shuts and I think that it about right. We still need to strengthen in certain areas (the centre of midfield being the top priority) but there were enough positives on show on Saturday for us to remain upbeat for our third campaign in the top flight.
As for Mr Foy, as I said originally it’s not good to complain about a Ref after a defeat, but this has to be talked about. Once again, we have a referee shirking a big decision against us. How many times have we seen this happen? If it happens once or twice then you can ignore it as “not getting the rub of the green”, this is something that happens to all the clubs in every league. It has happened way too often to us for it to be a coincidence though. I can’t help thinking that if the same incident had happened to one of the Big 4 then the Ref would have given the goal (or at least a penalty for the blatant had ball). As it stands the referee, just a few yards away, ducks the decision and looks to the linesmen who was in an impossible position to really give it. There is something underlying in the officials mindset when they are referring us and it stinks. We could talk all day about it, and list a dozen big decisions that haven’t gone our way but ultimately it will get us nowhere. As always it’s us against the world and if we want this season to be a success again we’ll have to do it the hard way.
Next up we have a nice easy trip to Stamford Bridge. Ancelloti’s men currently played 2, won 2, goals for 12, goals against 0. It’s not easy this Premier League lark but we wouldn’t have it any other way!!
Ratings: -
Sorensen – 6
Huth – 5
Shawcross – 5
Faye – 6
Collins – 7
Etherington – 6
Whelan – 5
Whitehead – 6
Delap – 5
Walters – 8 (*MOTM*)
Fuller – 7
Tuncay - 7