More questions than conclusions this week after a baffling performance at the KC Stadium

1) Stoke City got exactly what they deserved. For the vast majority of the game they were distinctly second best, and totally devoid of ideas or real ambition, they ambled around the pitch in second gear and ultimately they paid for it. Yet again we gave away a ridiculously soft goal, with Thomas Sorensen feebly palming Bullard’s effort straight to Vennegor of Hesselink. Whether the Spurs result has led to a few players getting carried away I don’t know, but they were dire last week and substantially worse today. Matthew Etherington apart, not one Stoke City player emerged from this game with any credit.

2) I’d scoffed at Phil Brown’s suggestion that his players were behind him “one million percent”, but they battled and scrapped for everything today and richly deserved all three points. They were a credit to their under-fire manager. If Jimmy Bullard can stay fit, then he could be the difference between Hull being relegated or staying up. He was at the hub of every good move the Tigers put together and his very presence proved a talisman which lifted their whole team. The incongruous-looking selection of an Altidore/Fagan strike partnership was justified by the endeavour of the two, who buzzed around and caused an unusually slack Stoke defence problems all game, while Steven Hunt, irritating little goblin that he is, played some clever balls into dangerous areas. It was written in the stars that Seyi Olofinjana would score, and what a goal it was too. It added insult to injury that until then he’d been his usual anonymous self. Full marks to Hull though, I’m no fan of Brown but with the pressure on he got it completely right.

3) How many more points are we going to throw away from a winning position? Today’s result takes the tally to 12 points this season frittered away having held the advantage. Had Stoke retained these leads, they would currently be top of the Premier League. How often is this going to happen before Tony Pulis realises that A ONE GOAL LEAD IS NOT ENOUGH? Time and again we devote all our energies to simply holding what we have rather than seeking to build on a lead, and time and again we let ourselves down. Why were we so cautious against a team so in the doldrums, so defensively frail? Hull were there for the taking but once again we showed no killer instinct, no desire to go for the jugular. We actually showed more attacking intent last season at the KC Stadium when we had a weaker team. Why does the midfield sit so deep? If we aim to hit teams on the counter attack then we need more pace in the side, yet pace is a commodity that Pulis has never traditionally valued especially highly. If we hope to “push on”, as the manager likes to say, then we need to show more ambition in games like this and look to punish teams. We have the players to do this, but it doesn’t seem to be the manager’s mindset.

4) The midfield was abominable today. Dean Whitehead marginally improved on his “traffic cone in a Stoke shirt” performance against Wolves last week but his influence was again marginal, his control woeful and his passing and decision-making poor. Glenn Whelan’s season has derailed itself in the last twp games and he’s slipped back into the inconsistency which has blighted his Stoke tenure to date. His dead ball delivery was typically first rate but his passing was sloppy unproductive. It says much about Salif Diao’s astonishing renaissance this season that we missed him hugely today. Both were put to shame by the energy, vision and guile of Bullard, and in spite of the money spent in the summer, a better class of central midfielder remains at the top of our shopping list come January.

5) Say it with me, you know the words by now: ROBERT HUTH IS NOT A RIGHT BACK. Andy Wilkinson, after two very decent games, was predictably dropped, and Huth looked just as wincingly out of place and uncomfortable as he did before his suspension, clumsily giving away free kicks, playing us into trouble and being sucked into the centre. It isn’t the German’s fault. As I keep saying in this blog, he is an international class, left footed centre half. This doesn’t translate to him being an effective right back. His selection is almost entirely down to Pulis’ need to accommodate Huth, Faye and Shawcross in the starting XI, but in doing so he’s hurting the team. Huth’s lack of mobility in that slot is frightening. Wilko gets a lot of stick for his distribution but Huth’s is arguably worse (I know his punt led to the goal, but it was the kind of aimless hoof upfield that Higgy gets crucified for and Mendy should have dealt with it). With Faye now suspended, the only option that makes any sense is for Wilko to return at right back with Huth moving into the centre of defence.

6) The exact same conundrum presents itself on the right side of midfield. Where Huth is an excellent centre half played out of position, Rory Delap is one of the best central midfielders at the club. In his reading of the game, and ability to break up the play and get up and down the pitch, he offers a dynamism that Dean Whitehead couldn’t possess if he was made of kryptonite. Out wide however, Delap offers nothing. He lacks pace, lacks crossing ability, and doesn’t take on his man. If, as the argument goes, you have to have him in the team for his throws (a view I don’t agree with given their declining efficiency and our need to evolve our style of play), then play him in the middle in Whitehead’s stead. Stoke look far less dangerous without Liam Lawrence in the side. Lawrence can run all day and help out his full back, but he is also the best crosser and deliverer of a dead ball at Stoke City and has the confidence and invention to create things in attack. His disappearance from the team is another one for the “strange but true” files. If, as is claimed, he is injured - so injured that he couldn’t do better than a fatigued an ineffectual Delap, who played the full 90 minutes - then he shouldn’t be on the bench. He seemed more than capable of putting in a practically superhuman shift for Ireland just after losing his place in the Stoke side, so again, what’s the real story here?

7) Ok, time for the big one. Deep breath, here goes…
The signing in August, for a club record £6m, of the Turkish captain Tuncay Sanli seemed to herald the dawn of a new era of optimism at Stoke City. It appeared to demonstrate the club’s ambitious intent regarding cementing its Premier League status. Moreover, the arrival of a genuine flair player of proven Premier League and international quality surely signalled our willingness to develop our style of play beyond the rigid, direct system which had proven successful but will only take us so far. With Tuncay, it seemed, came the much-vaunted, mythical holy grail of “Plan B”.

Four months later and Tuncay is yet to start a Premier League game as a Stoke City player. I honestly believe he’d have seen more time on the pitch at literally any other Premier League side including the Big Four. More often than not, Sanli has been an unused substitute. This raises plenty of questions. Is it just that Pulis doesn’t know how to fit him into the system? Surely if he was prepared to spend serious money on the player in the first place, he must have had some idea where he intended to deploy him. Was Tuncay even a Pulis signing? He’s been decidedly lukewarm about him in interviews, stating at one point that he’d barely seen him since he arrived. If TP wasn’t behind the deal, who was? Coates? Rudge? Scholes? Was the signing connected in some way to the Huth deal? There is far more to this increasingly bizarre saga than we know at this stage, that’s for sure.

Tony Pulis’ treatment of Tuncay at Hull was absolutely disgusting. To haul the Turk off just seven minutes after introducing him was humiliating and unnecessary, and judging by Sanli’s understandably furious reaction, it seems his Stoke City career could be over before it’s properly begun. It almost seemed that the change was part of some kind of hidden agenda, so curious was the decision. Did Abdoulaye Faye’s dismissal really warrant the introduction of another defender? Could, as the astute Nigel Gleghorn suggested on the radio, Rory Delap not have dropped into the right back spot with Huth moving inside? If a change had to be made, couldn’t the exhausted Etherington or ineffectual Whelan have made way for Wilko instead? To take Tuncay off made no sense. At Spurs, his fresh legs and ability to run with the ball provided an important outlet to ease pressure on the defence. Taking off a fresh player offering one of the few creative sources in the team, whilst leaving on several weary, fading players who were offering considerably less, is almost an act of sabotage. It was ridiculous.

If the disrespecting of Tuncay does precipitate his exit, not only will we have lost a class player and wasted six million quid, but it will have the knock on effect of sending a message to similarly skilful flair players - you know, the type we’re crying out for - that there is no place for them at Stoke City - and that would be a crying shame.

8.) Not that we deserved anything from the game anyway, but it was nevertheless a poor performance from referee Mike “homer” Dean, who gave Hull pretty much every major decision. When a Stoke player committed a foul he couldn’t reach for his yellow card fast enough, and booked Abdoulaye Faye when Nick Barmby was clearly the aggressor. Yet when Altidore hacked down Etherington, and when Olofinjana bundled over Delap on the edge of the box, and when odious little thug Steven Hunt attempted to add to his collection of goalkeepers’ scalps, Dean suddenly got all shy about showing off his magic yellow card. Inconsistencies continue to blight English refereeing and Dean was a prime offender today.

9.) Three for the price of one:

- Another strong game from Matty Etherington and another fine finish.
- If Ricardo Fuller is still breathing, he should be on the pitch. Even when not at his best, as he wasn’t today, he’s the one player we have capable of creating a goal from nothing. The sight of him coming off is always a boost to the opposition.
- The Dave Kitson who came on today was the sluggish, disinterested Dave Kitson of last season. Kitson was unlucky to lose his place a few games ago, given he was bang in form and remains our top scorer this term. While a lack of effort shouldn’t be condoned, it must be dispiriting to see your good form make so little difference to the manager’s view of your value to the team. Few questions have been asked of Tony Pulis’ man management skills, and rightly so, given that the superb team spirit and togetherness he has fostered have played a massive part in our recent success. However, with a better squad comes the heightened need to keep all your players happy, and between the Kitson and Tuncay episodes and the need to shoehorn Huth into the side, it may be that TP is struggling to get to grips with this side of the Premier League game.

10) Several hours after the event, I don’t want to seem too much of a doom monger. We are, after all, still ninth and that was our first defeat in five games. It’s just frustrating to see a terrific Stoke performance against Spurs got to waste with two lacklustre displays in winnable games. Football fans tend to expect too much and survival must continue to be our aim for the season. It’s just frustrating to see quality, skilful players left out and the team not performing to the best of our ability. This wake up call was inevitable, and if you fail to learn from your mistakes you will get punished - ask Phil Brown. Hopefully this is a warning that the players - and more importantly the manager - will take on board.

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