Denis Smith: West Brom will turn Stoke showdown into cup tie

By Denis Smith | Published: Friday 03 Apr 2009 |

Apr03

Comment by Denis Smith

STOKE can expect a real cup-tie atmosphere at The Hawthorns tomorrow.

I was at Albion’s last home game against Bolton a couple of weeks ago and it was one hell of an atmosphere that day because the Baggies fans had stuck with their team.

And we all know how fired up everyone down there will get for the visit of an old enemy like Stoke City.

It’s a great chance for Stoke to notch up that first away win of the season that everyone seems to think they need to stay up.

But it’s an even bigger game for Albion because they know everyone will be saying it’s their last chance to get out of trouble. And there’s no doubt losing at home to Stoke would be a massive psychological blow for Albion. Their dressing room would be absolutely devastated and their chances shot to pieces.

Onlookers will no doubt bang on about the contrast in styles between the two teams, but that won’t worry Tony Pulis one bit.

He doesn’t make any bones about the fact he likes to get the ball forward quickly to pressure the opposition in their own half, not fanny about with it in his own half.
Nothing wrong with that, particularly if it’s winning you enough matches to keep you up.

People talk about Albion playing attractive football and what have you, but for any professional in any sport the bottom line has to be winning first and foremost.

Albion can look lovely going forward, but I do worry about the balance of their team this season.

The full-backs want to push on, the wingers want to push on and in central midfield you have the likes of Jonathan Greening and Robert Koren, two more players whose intentions are more attacking than defensive.

It can leave your centre-backs exposed if your two central midfielders are going walkabout, and I would certainly recommend Stoke try to get down the sides of Jonas Olsson in the heart of the West Brom defence.

He’s OK with the ball coming to him in the air, but get around about him, as the likes of James Beattie and certainly Ricardo Fuller can do, and then it can spell trouble for the home team tomorrow.

In goal, they have a good shot-stopper in Scott Carson, but I’m not so sure about his ability to dominate his area by coming for crosses or coming off his line.

Albion will come at Stoke in that critical first 20 minutes, and a striker like young Jay Simpson will be making threatening runs behind in the hope he gets the right kind of service.

But frustrate him for that first 20 minutes and his head will drop a bit, he’ll start coming short for balls to his feet and that will be job nearly done for the Stoke lads because they’d much prefer to have him in front of them than worming his way behind them.

Stoke’s team virtually picks itself, and I was delighted to hear that Glenn Whelan was back in training so soon after playing in Italy for the Republic of Ireland.

That tells me he’s adopting the wonderful attitude of “I’m in the team and you’re not getting me out of it”.

That’s just what Tony will want to see, but he’ll also be best placed to make the decision on Whelan’s inclusion tomorrow after a tough international week for the midfielder.

I wouldn’t disagree with the apparent decision to leave Dave Kitson on loan at Reading, rather than recalling him because of the injury to Mama Sidibe.

If his return promised to lift the Stoke dressing room, then fine; but if it is going to cause him to mope around the place, then leave well alone.

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Denis Smith: West Brom will turn Stoke showdown into cup tie

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