Stoke City FC – Three Months of the Premier League – Part Two

  Having suffered a disappointing home defeat to Everton six days before, Stoke made the trip to face Liverpool at Anfield looking odds on to suffer a third straight defeat. If this occurred, a gap would have begun to open up between the bottom three and the relative safety of lower mid-table.

  Liverpool seemed to have inflicted the worst possible start on Stoke after just two minutes, Steven Gerrard’s free-kick curling straight into the far corner of the net for what would have been his 100th goal for the Merseyside club. The goal was disallowed for a dubious offside though, and Stoke were handed a second chance of keeping the scores level, one that this time they did not turn down. Pulis’ defensive tactics worked perfectly, and the 0-0 final scoreline was undoubtedly at the time, Stoke’s best result of the season.

The Potters held Liverpool to a draw at their Anfield home

  Three days later the Carling Cup was again the focus for Stoke, Championship high-flyers Reading visiting the Britannia Stadium. Vincent Pericard and Mamady Sidibe were on target for Stoke, only for the home side’s lead to be twice cancelled out by Reading’s James Henry, leaving the scores at 2-2 after normal time. Two goalless periods of extra-time followed before the tie went to a penalty shoot-out, with Stoke eventually prevailing, Leroy Lita, now on loan at Norwich, blazing the deciding penalty over the bar. It was beginning to look like we could put on a bit of a run in the cup, particularly after drawing League Two Rotherhamin the next round. The run has now come to fruition, with Stoke in the quarter finals for the first time in 30 years, but the league remains the priority.

The Stoke players look on as the tie is decided on penalties

  After the distraction of the League Cup, it was back to league matters for Stoke with the visit of title chasing Chelsea to the Potteries. Stoke were huge underdogs for the game, so at the time any sort of result would have been a bonus. We had though overcome the odds to secure a point at Anfielda week before, so an inwardly optimistic mood was felt prior to the Chelsea match, with many hoping that the feat could be repeated, and something could be taken from another member of the so called ‘big four’.

  Unfortunately for Stoke, that was not quite the way things worked out, Chelsea looking every bit the champions they hope to become, easing past Stoke and rarely looking out of second gear in a 2-0 win, goals courtesy of Jose Bosingwa and Premier League leading scorer Nicolas Anelka.

  

Bosingwa and Anelka scored for Chelsea at the Brit

Next up for a Stoke side who had not scored a goal in the league for almost a month was the long trip South to face perennial over-achievers Portsmouth, who had played a draining UEFA Cup tie in Portugal less than 72 hours before. A point or even a win looked a distinct possibility from the game, so it was possibly the biggest disappointment of the season to that point when Stoke slipped to a 2-1 defeat following a poor performance. Ricardo Fuller’s lone goal the only consolation on the long journey home. 

 

Fuller scored Stoke’sonly league goal of the month, profiting from yet another Delap long throw

  An international break meant there was no game the next weekend, so Stoke’ssecond Premier League month came to a close with the Potters sitting in a worrying nineteenth in the league, with just four points on the board. Things would have to improve in the next month for us to haul ourselves back up the table, and with a number of winnable looking fixtures coming up, the month from October 16th to November 16thlooked like being an important one, with the first fixture a home meeting with rock-bottom Tottenham. More on that next time.