Liverpool face a tough game against Stoke City on boxing day, and with only 13 goals conceded all season, Tony Pulis' side have the best defensive record in the league. The Potters come in for a lot of criticism for their physical style, but Liverpool legend Mark Lawrenson belives it should be lauded, not condemned.
In his column for The Mirror today, Lawro argued that 'Pulis deserves a lot of praise for the job he is doing at Stoke', and highlighted three players he feels are integral to Stoke's defensive solidity. He enthused:
"In a Premier League era when defending is a dying art, Pulis is bucking the trend.
"There is a fantastic understanding between the Stoke back four. There are few better keepers than Asmir Begovic in the Premier League, and Robert Huth and Ryan Shawcross are absolutely monsters in defence.
"They are a brilliant unit who deserve praise not criticism".
Liverpool drew 0-0 with Pulis' side at Anfield in October, a game in which Huth - who cost stoke £5m in 2009 - deliberately stamped on Luis Suarez. Along with Everton, Stoke haven't lost at home in the league yet, and the return game is not going to be any easier, especially since Stoke have only conceded three goals at home all season (!)
Speculation about a Liverpool move for Shawcross has resurfaced over the last few months, and although it seems likely that the combative defender will sign a new £14m six-year deal with Stoke soon, he's admitted that it is pleasing to be linked with the Reds. In an interview earlier this month, Shawcross admitted he is aware of transfer interest from Liverpool and Manchester United:
"It is flattering [to be linked], but most of it is paper talk. When you have 18-months left you're going to get linked but ultimately I am happy at Stoke and it is just up to my agent and Stoke to sort out."
During his ill-fated 6 month reign at Anfield, Roy Hodgson tried to bring in Shawcross, but a deal could not be agreed. Hodgson's successor, Kenny Dalglish, also tried to sign Shawcross, but the Reds' £10m bid fell short of Stoke's massively inflated £18m valuation.
Potters boss Tony Pulis seems convinced that Shawcross will sign a new deal, and predicts that a deal will be signed 'before Christmas'. He added:
"I don't think it [Shawcross' contract] is going to be too much of a problem. The issue is keeping his feet on the ground and keeping him level-headed. But he doesn't seem to be the sort of character to get carried away. If he does, he will be told".
Shawcross - recently described as 'absolutely fantastic' by England coach Gary Neville - would arguably be a great replacement for Jamie Carragher, and although Pulis is confident that he'll sign, a six year deal is a major commitment, and it would basically cover the best years of the defender's career.
The Stoke Captain's loyalty is admirable but he must be aware that the chances of him playing at the highest level will be massively reduced if he stays at the Brittania Stadium. Granted, Liverpool are not pulling up any tree right now, but the club has a much bigger chance in the future of challenging for trophies than Stoke City.
Jaimie Kanwar
In his column for The Mirror today, Lawro argued that 'Pulis deserves a lot of praise for the job he is doing at Stoke', and highlighted three players he feels are integral to Stoke's defensive solidity. He enthused:
"In a Premier League era when defending is a dying art, Pulis is bucking the trend.
"There is a fantastic understanding between the Stoke back four. There are few better keepers than Asmir Begovic in the Premier League, and Robert Huth and Ryan Shawcross are absolutely monsters in defence.
"They are a brilliant unit who deserve praise not criticism".
Liverpool drew 0-0 with Pulis' side at Anfield in October, a game in which Huth - who cost stoke £5m in 2009 - deliberately stamped on Luis Suarez. Along with Everton, Stoke haven't lost at home in the league yet, and the return game is not going to be any easier, especially since Stoke have only conceded three goals at home all season (!)
Speculation about a Liverpool move for Shawcross has resurfaced over the last few months, and although it seems likely that the combative defender will sign a new £14m six-year deal with Stoke soon, he's admitted that it is pleasing to be linked with the Reds. In an interview earlier this month, Shawcross admitted he is aware of transfer interest from Liverpool and Manchester United:
"It is flattering [to be linked], but most of it is paper talk. When you have 18-months left you're going to get linked but ultimately I am happy at Stoke and it is just up to my agent and Stoke to sort out."
During his ill-fated 6 month reign at Anfield, Roy Hodgson tried to bring in Shawcross, but a deal could not be agreed. Hodgson's successor, Kenny Dalglish, also tried to sign Shawcross, but the Reds' £10m bid fell short of Stoke's massively inflated £18m valuation.
Potters boss Tony Pulis seems convinced that Shawcross will sign a new deal, and predicts that a deal will be signed 'before Christmas'. He added:
"I don't think it [Shawcross' contract] is going to be too much of a problem. The issue is keeping his feet on the ground and keeping him level-headed. But he doesn't seem to be the sort of character to get carried away. If he does, he will be told".
Shawcross - recently described as 'absolutely fantastic' by England coach Gary Neville - would arguably be a great replacement for Jamie Carragher, and although Pulis is confident that he'll sign, a six year deal is a major commitment, and it would basically cover the best years of the defender's career.
The Stoke Captain's loyalty is admirable but he must be aware that the chances of him playing at the highest level will be massively reduced if he stays at the Brittania Stadium. Granted, Liverpool are not pulling up any tree right now, but the club has a much bigger chance in the future of challenging for trophies than Stoke City.
Jaimie Kanwar
I don't like the way they play football. If all teams start playing like that, imagine the future of football.
ReplyDeletedisagree mate.. though m a liverpool fan !
ReplyDeletevery true BUT for the type of players stoke attracts and the annual budget they get i can only take my hat off to them all. May not be the most attractive style of football but nevertheless they do whats needed to stay in the best league in the world. I wish some of the lfc players would wear their heart on their sleeve like the stoke players do !!!
ReplyDeletemodern day wimbledon,would not mind shawcross at anfield but not at the expence of strenghtening over areas of the pitch first
ReplyDeleteGet Begovic, forget Butland.
ReplyDeleteI don't agree. The team and players might stay in the EPL but their footballing talent will decrease. They might get better wages but wont become better footballers. Look how Swansea runs the club, same amount of money, doing better than Stoke will ever do. The theory that people put on about them - "They play this way in order to be in EPL" is just a pathetic excuse. Imagine if all the newly promoted teams play like this?? If you really believe this is best league in the world then why deplete its status by playing like this?? Play football for christsake..!!
ReplyDeleteYeah and it doesn't matter if you are a Liverpool fan or not, its irrelevant.
ReplyDeleteAgree with you on your comments. But, You have to realize the EPL is a multi billion business. It is survival. It does not matter the style of play. As long as you get it without cheating and manipulating referees and officials.(a certain team comes to mind)
ReplyDeleteWhats the point of playing football without winning?
Either you play for the love of football or for the love of money. I realize its complicated in real life but if I am a Stoke manager and I win by playing dirty, I won't have good sleep at night even though I won. At the end of the day its not only about survival but instead how well you did as long as you survived. Eventually, you will only get better if you play real football, Stoke will forever be mid table if they don't amend their ways.
ReplyDeleteStoke are the new Bolton (Under Big Sam) Lucas will be key for LFC
ReplyDeleteChirag, you say Stoke will always be mid table with our brand of football?!!!! I also think people said we would never leave the championship with our brand of football, people also said we'd be relegated with a new record low points tally playing our brand of football!
ReplyDeleteThey said we'd definatley never qualify for europe playing our brand of football, am i becoming boring yet?!!! You need to be careful with your opinions as you will look a tad silly if the unbelievable happens and the new wimbledon actually finish above the mighty Liverpool after 38 games playing our brand of footall, but that will never happen will it?!!!!!
If all teams tried to emulate Arsenal, how challenging would it be? The teams with money will buy the best players, and the rest have to make do with whatnot left, it find a bargain like Michu. These occurrences are very rate. Football is a game that comprises of two elements, scoring goals and not conceding. To label a team as dirty, when in fact, they are not (check fair play league), is easy to do and something the lazy press are prone to and also shared by people swayed by lazy reporting. I have been hearing this for many years....try writing something original, plagiarism is used by the lazy, the uninformed or the uneducated who think they are clever because they can quote the Daily Mail. I apologise to you Mr Buss, I am not attacking you personally, but once you read something for the hundredth time despite the majority of the football world disagreeing, it kind of wears thin. I don't like the way Arsenal play, under the guise of total football when their cards total and fouls conceded are higher than most premier teams, but they think they have a devine right is laughable. Please do not fall into this category. Good luck KFC and it's supporters, especially at this time. My thoughts are with the 96, peace to all of you and I pray for justice for all involved.
ReplyDeleteJohn Terry, keep to screwing other people's wifes.
ReplyDeleteStoke are **** and will always be
Thats why Stoke fans find it a honour to be mixing it in midtable with the likes of Liverpool, Fulham, Norwich and the like! We want the whole world to think we're shit so that no one sees us creeping up on 'em, like the named mid-table teams!
ReplyDeleteKingston, Stoke are bottom of the fair play league. After 20 games that means they are the dirtiest team in the league
ReplyDeleteTrue that. Now if your manager could only keep his mouth shut about players who are not at his club you'd be golden.
ReplyDeleteStoke play like men- hard, an I admire that. But in attack they scream for fouls like girls?!? You wanna get fcuked, but not penetrated, doesn't work that way. Add stamping and bullying and my admiration is gone..
ReplyDeleteIf Huth had stomped on Rooney or lampard or similar with what he did to Suarez he would have got a 4 or 5 game ban. They are a crap side who just play very dirty football. They should sign Fellani.
ReplyDeleteBottom of fair play league. They get away with heaps also. If they got the cards they deserved each week they would constantly be paying fines.
ReplyDeletewhat bothers me is how the stoke issue has paralysed referees when they take charge there ..no matter the beating they give u in their 18 box , u will never ever get a penalty ..there is no handball in their 18 box that any referee can call. rem. arsenal and Liverpool and even Man city all away to stoke .just to mention a few.
ReplyDeleteIf the refs of BPL officiated the matches properly, Stoke would have ended most of their matches with 9/10 players on the field. It's a disgrace that Stoke players get away with many dirty challenges inside and outside the penalty box. Stoke is cut out for Coca cola championship not BPL. It's time refs started to do their duty properly.
ReplyDeleteFootball is about getting results if you cannot afford the talent to play pretty football you have to find a way of getting results.
ReplyDeleteLike the way Norwich and Swansea have done things Stoke have their way dirty yes a lot, but tough and a little bit of that toughness wouldn't go awry at Anfield at this stage.
They badly need a Diame or alike and need to make more of a physical presence
totally agree .worst panel of referees on the epl ever.mike jones .martin atkinson.anthony taylor. mark halsey who having recovered from illness is now getting the sympathy vote his performences now are not good enough.most probably the best referee is mike dean but being from the wirral we will never have him .young micheal oliver is hopefully the future. but these fellas need to start doing there job . hopefully tonite at stoke eg all this fu2ckin holdin in the penatly area !!! its gettin more like super league with these officals in charge
ReplyDeletePrediction: dream on
ReplyDeleteCoaches like Pullis, Allardyce and Moyes as well as the officials and media pundits who enable their hideous brand of 'anti football' are a major reason why despite being the richest league in the world, the premier league remains technically inferior to the Spanish, German and Italian leagues. They also bear massive responsibility for the paucity of genuine flair players in British football and criminal underachievement of the national sides. Lawrenson's comments are typical of the tendency of pundits to side with the plucky underdogs however the Liverpool team in which he played was tactically and technically far advanced from the norms of the day and incorporated a European playing style at a time when the rest of British football remained mired in the type of football he now seems to espouse.
ReplyDeleteThe greatest managers of all time, Shankly, paisley, clough, ferguson, wenger all played possession based, fluent attacking football. The best England managers of recent years, venables, hoddle robson all played with tactical flair as well as pragmatism. If the Pullis brand of football takes root due to this kind of endorsement we will be watching barren, backward thuggery at a domestic and international level for years to come. We need prominent pundits to buck the trend a d stand up for true, courageous, creative, beautiful football.
I wonder what Stoke's fans and players for that matter really think, when their manager talks about being 14 to 15 points from safety with HALF the season remaining.....total lack of ambition. What do the fans really think when your managers only objective is not to lose, rather than trying to win, dont you think after spending your hard earned cash to watch them you deserve more than that?
ReplyDeleteIts alright saying that Stoke "play to their strengths" but its Pulis who has put this team together, so its not like he is making the best of what he's inherited, they play this way because he wants them to and its not like your chairman is skint, Mr Coates is a very wealthy man so could afford to bankroll the purchase of better players but its obvious Pulis doesnt want them, whats hard to understand is why the fans dont want them? Liverpool may not win tonight, but at least they will be trying to.
Stoke may play ugly football, but it works for them. It would be lovely if all teams played pretty football, but that just isn`t going to happen. There is three teams every year who go down, and I completely understand some teams taking a different approach if it means they stay up.
ReplyDeleteI think Stoke fans are happy to watch their team play and compete at the highest possible level. It's not something you can say for many Liverpool fans who seem to be like children throwing toys out of the pram when we're not in the top 4 or challenging for a trophy of some kind. Right now we're sitting above Stoke in the table and playing a far more attractive brand of football, but which team's supporters are actually happier?
ReplyDeleteFor me there is nothing noble or admirable about constantly expecting unrealistic results from a football club. Ambition is one thing but constant disappointment is another and thinking that it's sensible to spend most of your life feeling that way is frankly insane. We seem to be some of the most miserable fans in the world at the moment and the only justification is that we are not living up to the standards set by the most successful teams in the history of English football. We can learn a lot from teams like Stoke who accept their position in the EPL and take great pride in what they achieve, simply by getting in there every week and making for a tough opposition to beat. There is nothing at all wrong with that.
Adam
ReplyDeleteYou say we can learn a lot from teams like Stoke who "accept" their position in the epl, it seems to me that what your suggesting is we settle for and accept the same mid table mediocrity, you know as i do, that will never happen, only buy continiously striving to get back to were we were will we get there again.
Stoke fans may be happier but thats because they have never scaled the heights the we have and unfortunately, when you have been at the top....there's only way to go and in some ways i agree with you that maybe the price we pay for having been the very best for a long time is to be constantly brassed of when we lose to teams we think we should be beating. Accepting for now, that we aren't what we used to be is one thing but accepting it forever is another, but i guess a bit of patience would'nt go amiss.
Hey you're right with that comparison to Wimbledon. Still they play football not rugby. Shawcross is one that Sir Alex wished he had kept if I'm not mistaken. i'll leave the Anfield door wide open for Shawcross !!!
ReplyDeleteAs long as a group of teams don't go down the Stoke style route, I don't mind them at all. I like a variety in the league, when it comes to different styles of team. That is one of the main things I like about the PL, the different styles of team. I think some fans go well OTT over the so-called aggressiveness of Stoke. I didn't see much wrong today either with their aggressiveness and didn't see their style of play as something to spit on the floor with disgust with. The commitment and the reaction after going a goal down deserves to be praised. They played some decent stuff too.
ReplyDeleteYou not got any comment tonight bubblebust? Knob
ReplyDeleteafter that game why would he want to take a stepbackwards
ReplyDeleteIf Stoke are ****, what does that make Liverpool exactly. Penalty aside, it took you 88 MINUTES before Asmir Begovic had to make a save. Support your own team and stop whinging about mine, you sore loser
ReplyDeleteSore loser
ReplyDelete