1) …And so Stoke’s best FA Cup run for 38 years ends not with a bang, but a whimper. It was a good first half performance, followed by a strangely subdued second half showing, but we were playing arguably the best side in the league. Chelsea were nowhere near top gear but they were full value for their victory. The Blues at Stamford Bridge were far classier and more convincing than the Brats who visited the Britannia in September, and this game was played in an altogether better spirit. Perhaps that was because Ashley was safely at home, taking pictures of his…poorly foot.

Nevertheless, Stoke can be proud of their cup campaign in spite of their anticlimactic exit, and the Damascene conversion of Tony Pulis from treating the cup as an irritation to dumping Arsenal and Manchester City out of it is as encouraging as it is astonishing. More of this next season please Tone.

2) “It has been a good, clean game”, noted a rather surprised sounding Peter Drury on ITV towards the end of the match. It was always going to be though - the events of Ramseygate had seen to that. Neither team was interested in clattering into tackles or sustaining a particularly quick tempo. The eyes of English football were on Stoke’s tackling after the Shawcross challenge and the howling of Wenger, Bob Wilson and the pro-Arsenal elements of the media. Perhaps Shawcross was reckless in flying into a challenge he was unlikely to win, but there was no malice his genuine attempt to win the ball, and the manner in which Arsenal have manipulated the issue into their ongoing campaign to forbid anyone from tackling them is profoundly depressing. Witness Arsenal’s shrieking petulance at the weekend against Burnley, when Brian Jensen dared to go for a 50/50 ball or when Theo Walcott was fairly challenged.

Dangerous play absolutely needs to be stamped out, but if the smaller teams are denied the right to play to their strengths in dealing with the big boys, the deck will be stacked even further in favour of the elite. Maybe that’s what the Premier League wants.

Post Ramsey-reticence was not the reason why Stoke lost - they were simply outclassed - but the spectre of Aaron Ramsey nevertheless haunted Stamford Bridge yesterday.

3) Tuncay again flattered to deceive out wide. The Turk roamed all over the place to zero effect in a tactically undisciplined display which must have infuriated his manager. He was again somewhat lightweight (how people can suggest he should be playing in central midfield is beyond me) and his first touch, for a player of his quality, was repeatedly dreadful. The search for Sanli’s best position goes on - I’m inclined to say it’s still up front as an out and out striker in our system. When introduced as a substitute onto the flanks, Tuncay is capable of producing that game-changing vitality and skill, but if deployed there from the outset he simply lacks the discipline to do the role justice within the rigid structure of Pulis’ set-up.

4) For all that Tuncay failed to deliver however, Stoke’s attacking threat utterly flatlined with the withdrawal of the Turk and Mama Sidibe on the hour. The decision to replace both players was understandable to a degree - Mama was well shackled by the Chelsea defence while Tuncay - by his loft standards at least - was having an absolute shocker. Yet the Potters looked far more dangerous with them on the pitch. Tuncay’s acceleration still had the potential to unsettle a Chelsea back line largely bereft of pace, as evidenced when he snuck in behind Ivanovic to tamely shoot at Hilario. It’s difficult to see what Pulis thought the one-paced, out of form Liam Lawrence would offer that Tuncay hadn’t - and so it proved as the Irishman was unable to provide any significant contribution. Dave Kitson meanwhile, beyond a fine early ball into the channel for Pugh, failed to assert any influence on the game, and Stoke’s challenge withered and died from that moment onwards.

5) It was a mediocre day at the office not just for Kitson, but for all of Stoke’s strikers. Mama Sidebe received his usual battering from his detractors in the wake of the game, but given the job expected of him, he did ok. Carlo Ancelotti showed the big Malian respect by tasking two Chelsea players to double up on him whenever a high ball was pumped in his direction. He nevertheless won his share in the air and laid the ball off nicely when we looked to counter attack. However, his lack of mobility remains a problem. We keep hearing about how we need the much-vaunted “Mama with goals” - a target man who can win it in the air and create space for others while being quicker and more prolific than Sidibe.

If we are to evolve though, we require a target man who can win it in the air, score goals but also be useful on the deck and help retain possession. The annoying thing is that when he’s in form, we have such a player, and his name is Dave Kitson. However, he shows that form all too rarely. Maybe rather than a Mama with goals, we actually need a Kitson with consistency.

Ricardo Fuller cut an altogether frustrated figure, appearing to pretty much give up once Alex and Terry gave him a tough time of things. The chance out of nothing he created in the game’s dying embers again underlined, nevertheless, why even an out of sorts Fuller is worth keeping on the pitch.

6) Thomas Sorensen was the difference between a respectable defeat and a landslide. He made at least three tremendous saves to keep Stoke in the game. Hopefull he is getting close to his best again after an ill-timed dip in form around the time his manager decided very publicly to go goalkeeper shopping on the south coast in January. It is noteworthy however that the Dane’s tendency to pull out of games with injuries at short notice has mysteriously ended with Asmir Begovic’s arrival. Coincidence or not, a focused Sorensen will be hugely important to the fortunes of both Stoke and Denmark in the coming weeks.

7) There was similar redemption for Andy Wilkinson after an indifferent run of games recently. Wilkinson gave an assured showing and was consistently up to the challenge of both Anelka and Malouda. He was the one Stoke player with no qualms about “getting stuck in”, winning back possession when things looked bleak and making two heroic, brave blocks to deny two certain second half goals. He was unlucky that Terry’s header struck him on the way in for Chelsea’s second. Welcome back Wilko.

8) Dean Whitehead was unusually nervy. It would have made more sense to play him in the middle and Delap on the right. I guess TP feared the pace of Malouda and Anelka. The first half however saw Deano give possession away sloppily, often when under little pressure. It was his slip that led to Lampard’s opener, and confusion between him and Huth allowed Terry to steal a march for the second. Whitehead did improve when moved back into the middle, and hopefully that’s where he will start on Wednesday at Turf Moor. We miss him when he doesn’t play there.

9) Who to partner with Whitehead against Burnley? Glenn Whelan has been in fine form of late, showing great character to bounce back from some poor displays in early February, so his early exit with a suspected hamstring strain is desperately bad news for club and player alike if serious. The recent renaissance of Danny Pugh however, suggests that he might be the man for the job. After a tidy showing against Man City in the last round and a goal against Arsenal last weekend, Pugh proved one of the few sources of energy and dynamism against Chelsea, an industrious presence at both ends of the pitch in both his central role and later wide left position. A busy engine room of Pugh and Whitehead would surely be more productive than wheeling out Salif Diao again, assuming Whelan is out and Delap is needed out wide.

10) With three key players missing in Etherington, Shawcross and Higginbotham, the Stoke squad, in spite of the money lavished on it, looked alarmingly thin. Perhaps, therefore, the defeat might prove beneficial long-term in highlighting that we are a long way from being the finished article in spite of our progress in 2010. There is still a huge imbalance between graft and craft in the midfield, there are still no genuine wingers beyond Matthew Etherington, and a top quality target man remains the key piece of the jigsaw.

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