Down, But Not Out

Poor defending, poor goal to concede

The first thing that needs to be said about this match is: well done Norwich City. For the entire 90 minutes, Norwich not only out-played Stoke City, but they out-fought and out-thought us, leaving Stoke supporters questioning whether our new style has been sussed out already. It took ten first-half minutes for Stoke City to wrestle control of the ball from Norwich City, and after parrying attack after attack, Stoke offered little more than a cheaply won corner in their first venture forward. Whilst all set-pieces are earned, this pattern was to follow with the few Stoke ventures into the Norwich City half resulting in little. When Jonny Howson received the ball from a flick-on from Anthony Pilkington, whilst the defending and goalkeeping was questionable, there was no doubt the shot would result in a goal.

Leroy Fer outmuscling Stephen Ireland

Did Stoke muster anything in the second half? One long-range effort on goal from Steven Nzonzi kept John Ruddy away from his deck of cards, yet despite the half-time introductions of Stephen Ireland and Jermaine Pennant, Stoke failed to muster another effort on target during the remaining 45 minutes. So where did things go wrong? Complacency certainly appeared to be an issue, with Jon Walters and Marc Wilson coming out of the dressing room, admitting the performance of the team had been below par. Another reason appears to be that Norwich were not prepared to sit back and let us play, perhaps the first team this season to challenge us for the ball. Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City will let us have the ball in certain areas after all. They will back their ability to thwart any chances we created, so with Crystal Palace and West Ham the only other two Premier League teams we have played, perhaps it's about time a team put pressure on us whilst on the ball.

White Knuckle Time:

Berbatov without a goal this season so far

So what can we do to prevent another disappointing result against Fulham? First of all, I hope players and fans alike do not look at the Cottagers' current form and think that they are there for the taking and underestimate the opponent two weeks consecutively. Looking at the team that started Fulham's home defeat to Cardiff, their weakness appears to be in creating chances. This is not dissimilar to Stoke's own misfortunes in front of goal, yet Fulham have no excuses for not taking the chances they are given with prolific goalscorers in Dimitar Berbatov and Darren Bent leading the front-line. With 15 goals in 33 appearances for Fulham last season, the Bulgarian was arguably the reason Fulham stayed in the Premier League, yet despite his self-belief, shown with his under-shirt celebration "keep calm and pass me the ball", the goals have dried up so far. Perhaps not being Fulham's main man is affecting him slightly, having to play a bit deeper to support Darren Bent's inclusion as the highest forward in the front-line. If Bent and Berbatov start the game, the two have the potential to create an interesting strike partnership, yet it does not seem to be in full momentum yet.

Ruiz, capable of the brilliant, culpable of the frustrating

One player who did himself little harm last weekend for Fulham was Bryan Ruiz. Coming off the bench to score an equalising goal, as a tactical first-half substitute is worthy of inclusion in the following starting line-up. As his strike against Cardiff showed, Ruiz is capable of some magnificent strikes, whilst he has a good eye for a pass to create goals as well. Where he fails is that he lacks the consistency to say to Martin Jol every week: "I deserve to play". Just as an armchair pundit, I feel that the best way to boost a player's consistency is to play them. At Stoke, we have seen in the last 12 months a similar situation with Michael Kightly. After starting last season in fine form, he was dropped for a returning Matthew Etherington when his inclusion wasn't necessary. From that point on, he started few games and as such could not build up any momentum to push on. Now at Burnley, he has a chance to prove himself week in, week out. Bryan Ruiz may be this sort of player, one who needs the manager to say to him "you will play every week, I will back you" rather than benching him in preference of grafters in Pajtim Kasami and Alexander Kacaniklic.

Ireland playing against Fulham

In the last two league games, Charlie Adam has failed to impress, lacking a clinical nature to any part of his game. I agree with the calls on Twitter for his exclusion from the starting eleven, especially for a tricky away game like this. Whilst going for a better tackler in Glenn Whelan, and as a result going towards a more traditional 4-3-3 rather than the 4-2-3-1 we have played recently might appear to be a safe option, I would push Stephen Ireland on to get his first league start of the season. Although he did not create anything of note against Norwich after he came on, I believe that Ireland will have something to offer if given the chance to supply Jones and Arnautovic with balls to run onto. If Jon Walters fails to recover from his injury, and as a result misses out on his 95th consecutive start for the club, then I would suspect that Jermaine Pennant is a shoe-in for the right wing vacancy. The Premier League as a lot of attack-minded left backs and having a wide-forward like Walters who is willing to track and cover forward runs by either Richardson or Riise, in the case of Fulham, is only good for the team's defensive stability. In this game in particular it could be useful to have Walters available as it might be a good tactic to flood the middle of the park with players and exploit Fulham if they only play two in the centre of midfield. If Pennant is required though, if we can occupy wide players by pushing our full backs as high up the field as possible, then perhaps we can exploit the numbers potentially left free by Fulham in the centre of midfield.

Away from the Brit - Dippy Derby:

'The Wally with the Brolly' has returned to English Management

In the space of five days, Derby have gone from a team with the longest serving manager in the football league to relying on a manager who lasted only four months in a recent spell at their local rivals Nottingham Forest. What amazes me most is how he appeared to be Derby's first choice once they had sacked Nigel Clough. When you look at the records of managers who have lost their job at a club, their reputation tarnished, they usually have to drop down the divisions to rebuild their career. Paul Ince is a case in point, doing well at MK Dons, failing in a short spell at Blackburn, but then after a mixed return to the Dons and a bad spell at Notts County, he appears to have found a good club in Blackpool. Simon Grayson promoted both Leeds United and Huddersfield from League One to the Championship, yet after both sackings he had to drop back down to rebuild his reputation. Phil Brown is now in League Two with Southend after dropping down the divisions after poor ends to spells with Hull City and Preston North End. There are numerous other examples. So the question remains valid: how did McClaren get the job?

Andy Reid - McClaren's best signing at Forest?

Although his first spell at FC Twente partially restored his tattered reputation after his time as England manager, subsequent spells at Wolfsburg, Nottingham Forest and Twente (again) have done little to improve his reputation. At Forest, despite not having a large budget, he still brought in players who were past their sell-by date such as George Boateng, whilst also bringing in players such as Matt Derbyshire who had shown that they lacked a prolific touch in English football. Regarding Derbyshire, this has been proven subsequently with only two league goals in twenty games, across three seasons at the club. Whilst Andy Reid has been a consistent player from his crop of signings, surely his most recent spell as a manager in England should be considered a failure? McClaren has proven himself in the past as a good coach for players, with that potentially being the main reason for his appointment at Derby. Only loan deals are available for him to make at the moment, and as a result, the failures in transfer policy in the past cannot be repeated in the next two months. If Derby's form increases between now and Christmas, then perhaps McClaren will have one last chance to show that he is not just a good coach but also a good manager, able to spot where a player is needed to strengthen a team, and finding the right player to fill the vacancy.

Quick Snippet - Duberry Retires:

Duberry, rock-solid in defence against Millwall

Michael Duberry was my first Stoke City captain. As a young football supporter, Duberry is the first player I remember wearing the armband for the Potters. When he left for Reading in 2007, I was genuinely upset that we had lost a player who I valued in our team, with the only player to be sold since who I have felt the same about being Abdoulaye Faye. When you look at the player's career, starting at Chelsea and clocking up over a hundred appearances for them before moving to Leeds where he got up to 75 appearances, this is a player who we were lucky to get in 2004. At the age of 28, he still had a lot to give to a Championship defence that under Tony Pulis and Johan Boskamp were flirting with relegation each season. The fact that he got past the century of appearances for us before departing to Berkshire, plus his inclusion during the 150th anniversary celebrations of the club shows how valued he was in the Potteries. After being released from Reading, his career naturally started to decline as his age took its toll, but playing for Wycombe Wanderers, Oxford United and St. Johnstone in the SPL was not a bad way to spend the last four years of a career. He has my best wishes for whatever he decides to do post-football and here's hoping that if it's coaching, Stoke keep an eye out for a coach who certainly knows how to keep a defence tight and solid.