Stoke City 0-0 Liverpool – My View

  Yesterday’s goalless draw with league leaders Liverpool has to go down as a fantastic point gained for Stoke at a time when it was most needed. I’m aware the ”my view” section tends to get a bit long-winded, so I’m going to curtail it into a few points under separate headings starting from today.

Not a ”backs to the wall” job – Back in September we gained the same result in the reverse fixture at Anfield, a huge shock at the time. In that game, we did nothing but defend, Liverpool having almost thirty shots and Stoke have their wasteful finishing, Thomas Sorensen’s fine goalkeeping and some kind refereeing decisions (Steven Gerrard had a second minute goal ruled out for a very dubious offside) to thank for the point. Happily, the same was not the case yesterday. Assistant manager Dave Kemp described the game as ”two points dropped”, I think that’s overstating in a bit but we certainly played our part in this game, hitting the woodwork twice and giving Liverpool a very good battle in all areas of the pitch.

Andy Wilkinson – Young full back Wilkinson seems to be used most effectively when we come up against the big clubs. On Boxing day he was sent off after seventy minutes for two yellow cards, but up into that point he had kept Cristiano Ronaldo quiet. His extremely aggressive approach worked once again yesterday with first Albert Riera and then Ryan Babel getting little change out of Wilkinson, who calling uncompromising would be akin to calling Wayne Rooney slightly ugly. For the first time yesterday he looked a true Premier League player, though I wish his distribution was a little better. With Stoke travelling to Chelsea next week all I can say is watch out Joe Cole, you’re next.

Amdy Faye – Amdy isn’t a particularly popular player amongst many Stoke fans and for the life of me I can’t figure out why. He was excellent once again yesterday, he is a fantastic tackler and never gives the ball away. New signing Matthew Etherington won the interactive man of the match vote yesterday, but Amdy was certainly the best Stoke player on the day for me.

Matthew Etherington – It appears that finally at Stoke we have found the answer to our left wing problems. Though not fully match fit, he looked quick, keen to take on his man and a very good crosser. He looks an excellent signing, i just hope he can continue in this vein. It’ll be interesting to see  who Tony Pulis picks in our midfield for the next few matches now that Etherington has signed and Liam Lawrence and Salif Diaoare fit again. With Rory Delap (his throw helps), Glenn Whelan and Amdy Faye all on good form I wonder who will make way.

Hyypia and Liverpool – We were linked with a move for Sami Hyypiain the summer and have been again this month. Judging by yesterday’s performance Liverpool would be mad to let him go. He won everything in the air and most on the ground. He was by far and away their best player and is still clearly a world class defender. I cannot lavish such high praise on his teammates though, the rest of the Liverpool team being very poor. Steven Gerrard was strangely quiet along with just about every other player in green while Fernando Torres looked unfit and slow when he came on.

The ”Bearpit” Britannia– The Britannia Stadium was described as a bearpit by boththe Sunday Times and the BBC today and I must say the atmosphere yesterday at the scientifically proven loudest ground in the Premier League was fantastic, both encouraging to Stoke and very intimidating to Liverpool. Special credit goes to whoever though up the two songs designed to rile Gerrard in the build up to his court case for assault; ”Gerrard’s going down” and most amusingly, ”You’re getting bummed in the showers”

On the whole a very good result for Stoke and the best we have played for months. With a few more shrewd signings this month we have every chance of staying up in the Premier League this year and if we play every game like we did yesterday’s we will very soon begin to climb the division.

Player Ratings:

Thomas Sorensen (gk): Not his best game though he only had one real save to make, denying Kuyt from a tight angle in the first half and he did it well. He was weak on crosses all day though and we were lucky Liverpool didn’t capitalise. 6

Andy Wilkinson (rb): As I said above Wilko was very good. Definitely his best performance of the season. He allowed top quality players very little. 8

Ryan Shawcross (cb): A solid performance from Ryan who dealt with the majority of what Liverpool had to throw at him well. He took his ”goal” very well too, it was a shame he was a yard offside. 7

Abdoulaye Faye (cb): Also solid as a rock, let very little past him and won most in the air. He was captain for the day again in Griffin’s absence and should be given the role permanently in my opinion. He is a clear leader on the pitch. 7

Danny Higginbotham (lb): I’m not a huge Higginbotham fan, I feel he all too often aimlessly hoofs the ball and it rubs off on the rest of the team at times, his first touch is also lacking. He had an alright game yesterday, made a couple of good tackles, but gave the ball away too much and doesn’t attack well enough as a left back in my opinion. 6

Rory Delap (rm): Aside from missing an easy chance early on when he hit the bar a good performance from Rory. His long throws weren’t quite at their most potent but he made up for it with an all round good midfield game. 7

Amdy Faye (cm): As a described above a very strong game from Amdy, he won every tackle and seldom put a foot wrong. 9

Glenn Whelan (cm): Glenn was put into the starting line-up late after an injury to Salif Diao in the warm-up and he started very slowly. He came more and more into the game as it went on though and put in an altogether decent performance which he almost capped off with a goal from a superbly struch free-kick. 7

Matthew Etherington (lm): A very promising debut from Etherington. He looked quick and eager and put in some very good crosses although he faded in the second half. Our left wing problems finally appear to have been solved and hopefully with fitness he will only get better. 7

Dave Kitson (cf): Kitson had one of his best games to date for Stoke, looking very keen to finally impress the supporters. He caused the Liverpool defence a lot of problems but unfortunately missed a golden chance to score his first Stoke goal and seal the three points when he rounded Reina but only hit the side netting. 7

Richard Cresswell (cf): Cresswell also had a ood game, getting very stuck in and running after everything. 7

Subs:

Liam Lawrence (rm): Lawrence looked out of shape after coming on for Etherington for the last fifteen minutes, which is to be expected after three months on the sidelines. He failed to make an impact at all during his short time on the pitch. 5 

Danny Pugh (lm): Danny came on for Kitson in the 88th minute and had little time to do anything, so I’ll give him the mandatory six. 6

Man of the Match: Amdy Faye

Amdy Faye – my man of the match for the third time this season