Happier times!

From the Editor:

Welcome to TEAMtalk's Stoke City Your Say forum - a place for all POSITIVE Potters.

Before the Sunderland game I was asked to give a brief review of our season so far for Roker Report and it occured to me how few games we'd played well in this season! We were excellent in the draw against Manchester United, excellent in parts in the win over Tottenham and very good in parts in the wins at Wolves and Blackburn.

Aside from those games, we've rarely been anything better than 'okay' but smash-and-grab wins at West Brom and Everton as well as some good results in Europe have made this a good season so far.

I certainly won't criticise the manager too heavily while we're still in the FA Cup and in the knockout stages of the Europa League - I don't agree with everything he does but it's tough to argue he hasn't got most of his decisions right given our outstanding success.

However, I think his decision to take off Pennant against Sunderland was completely wrong and it played a part in what turned out to be another thoroughly uninspiring home performance.

There's no doubt that he needed to bring on Woodgate, but nobody will ever convince me that it made more sense to take off Pennant than Walters or Crouch.

Those who absolutely refuse to criticise Pulis will point out that Pennant had not been playing well, and they're right, but he was certainly no worse than Walters or Crouch. But it was immaterial how well anyone was playing; taking off Pennant signalled the white flag being waved.

Pulis will argue that he 'gave it a go' by keeping three forwards on the pitch, but that's completely pointless when there is no-one capable of giving them any service. We are uninventive when playing with only one winger so I'm not sure how Pulis expected us to create anything playing with none.

We actually had a fair amount of the ball with 10 men but Sunderland never looked in any danger whatsoever of conceding and I honestly can't find anything positive to say about what I witnessed.

It was the latest in a succession of dreadful performances at home and Pulis needs to get it into his head again that we NEED our wingers to succeed. Without them we look a poor team and I can only hope that the Sunderland game has reminded Pulis of that. To stress the point, we have lost only two of the 10 games in which Pennant and Etherington have both started, but eight of the 14 games one or both of them have been missing.

Ratings v Sunderland:

Sorensen - 6. Had very little to do, but his kicking was poor.

Wilkinson - 5. Gave away the ball countless times and got dragged out of position too often.

Shawcross - 6. He didn't cover himself in glory for their goal but won all of his headers and was generally solid.

Huth - 6. He'd been playing well and the red card was harsh, but he should know better than to slide in like that, considering the current climate, the conditions, and the area of the pitch.

Wilson - 6. Sold a few dummies but his lack of a left foot was pretty frustrating.

Pennant - 6. His delivery and passing was off a few times but he looked a threat at least.

Delap - 5. His passing was atrocious, bordering on embarrassing.

Whelan - 6. Average. At least he wanted to pass the ball.

Walters - 5. He's wasted on the wing at the best of times but I just don't know how he continues to get starts at the moment. He's so far off the pace it's untrue.

Crouch - 5. I feel sorry for him as he's getting no service, but he's useless when isolated. Offered no threat whatsoever.

Jerome - 7. Looked like the one player capable of causing Sunderland problems.

Fuller (sub) - 7. A good replacement for Jerome. Not everything he tried came off, but at least he tried to run at their defence and actually create something.

Woodgate (sub) - 6. Had a solid game in his natural position.

Homzy