Comment by Martin Smith

WELL, what a mixed bag of emotions we must all have felt following the victory over Portsmouth. We won, we saw a goal of genuine quality, a superb individual performance from the one local lad in the side and, remarkably, we remain in 9th position in the Premier League table.

Set against that though was a team selection that left many supporters baffled and frustrated, a truly poor display and the unwanted sound of sections of the crowd turning on their own players and manager.

The most important thing in football is winning; it transcends all other things. When Stoke win I’m happy and so I was able to walk away from the Britannia Stadium on Sunday night in a more reflective state of mind than if we’d got the result our performance actually deserved.

It certainly didn’t merit three points and the considered opinions of Lee Dixon, on ‘Match of the Day 2’, when he made no attempt to hide his disappointment at Stoke’s poor football, were not pleasant to listen to.

We should always try to take the positives out of any display and so it was good to see Tommy Sorensen make amends for recent indiscretions with that penalty save and it was wonderful to see so poor a game won with so well-crafted a goal.

That move shows that we can play football when we put our minds to it and continues to offer hope to us all.

The real highlight of the weekend though were the performances of Matthew Etherington and, in particular, Andy Wilkinson.

He may have finished last season poorly and started this one shakily but Etherington has been in tremendous form of late and has supporters on their feet every time he goes forward with the ball. For most of the game against Pompey he appeared to be our one ray of hope and it’s no surprise that he was so heavily involved in the deciding goal.

It was Wilko’s display that stood out most of all though, as he showed the kind of form and commitment that made him our most improved player last season and the unluckiest this season, to have lost his place as he has.

He was excellent throughout the entire 90 minutes against Portsmouth and if he could have turned that stunning 75 yard run and shot into a goal he would have brought the house down on the Britannia Stadium.

From the good we move to the bad and yet another team selection from our manager that begs questions.

We play two out and out defensive midfielders in the middle, both of whom show little inclination to get forward, and then we wonder why even a team as poor as Pompey can turn up and play the much better football, while bossing the game?

And, likewise, we leave Liam Lawrence on the bench (again!) after his heroics against France and give his place to a 34 year-old player who’s actually better in the middle of the pitch (my opinion only of course) than either of the two player’s playing there?

It was undoubtedly the line-up of the starting XI that set in motion the feeling of unrest amongst those supporters who made known their feelings during the first half.

I’ve been going on about it for most of the season, both in print and amongst friends and I honestly can’t see what Tony Pulis trying to achieve?

He has assembled a really good squad of players and yet insists on leaving some of the better members out of the team? It doesn’t make any sense.

When we did actually make the change everybody was waiting for, bringing on Lawrence and Mamma, then everything changed.

We had a genuine wide right player on the flank, Delap was able to move into the middle, where he is always at his best and Mama, whatever you think of him was at least able to offer more than a clearly unfit James Beattie.

It is simply undeniable that we looked a better team once those substitutions had been made and how much longer are we going to keep trying to hammer square pegs into round holes by playing players out of position and leaving out players who offer us a lot more on the pitch than they do on the bench?

Well, we’ve looked at the good and had a moan about the bad. So what were the ugly?

I could mention Salif Diao’s shocker of a display but the real ugliness came from the stands and supporters who were only too willing to let TP know what they were thinking about who was on the pitch and who they thought should actually be on.

Now I am all for freedom of debate and expression but I genuinely can’t see what is achieved by booing.

It sets a tone in the ground that simply can’t be helpful to the team and it puts pressure on the manager and players.

Other teams feed of the negativity of their opponents and it won’t have done Portsmouth players any harm to hear that they had played their part in getting the crowd on at their own team.

Don’t get me wrong, I KNOW exactly why Stoke supporters were expressing their frustrations and I agreed with the sentiment.

At the game though is surely not the time and place. W

e have been in some truly dire straits down the years and still been able to avoid booing, so it seems strange that we should choose to do so when we’re actually reasonably placed in the Premier League.

Again, I agreed with much of the sentiment and pray that TP will bend on his team selections but the place we debate these things are at the work place, in the pub, on the Internet and through other media outlets.

Once the team are on the pitch we have to support them and even if the poor level of performance makes it hard to cheer then it doesn’t really excuse booing either.

We may have ridden our luck and perhaps we were lucky to get all three points but now we move on and look forward to a trip to improving Blackburn.

I’ll be travelling to Ewood Park in a state of some trepidation.

I don’t expect the manager to pander to my views but I believe the situation is so glaring at the moment that common sense alone should dictate the correct course of action on team selection.

Finally, I’ll also wait to see what happens to Andy Wilkinson.

There’s not much point in telling a player to get their head down and work hard to win back their first team place if they’re going to be dropped after turning in a superb display.

That’s what appeared to happen to Kitson (though I don’t know if he himself contributed towards it in any way?) and it’d certainly be a shame to see it happen to someone as genuinely committed and enthusiastic about the club as Wilko.

It’s not easy being a manager and I wouldn’t want to have to deal with the problems and pressure TP faces every week.

For the purpose of not sitting on the fence though I’ll go with the team I’d like to see at Blackburn...

Sorensen in goal; Wilkinson, Huth, Shawcross and Collins in defence (Abdy can have one more game to get his full fitness back); in midfield I’d go with Diao and Delap in the middle, with Lawrence and Etherington out wide. Finally, I’d give the Fuller and Tuncay combo a go up front.

We’ll never know if it’ll work unless we try it and with both Beattie and Sidibe clearly not fully fit it has to be worth a try.

Like I said... I’m glad I don’t have to do that every week!