A Team of Two Halves

Stephen Ireland congratulating Jon Walters before scoring
a goal for himself in a brilliant opening 45 minutes for Stoke City

This game was a brilliant example of how Stoke City are not the finished article yet in terms of where Mark Hughes wants the team to be. After a strong first half where Stoke went in at half time with a two goal lead, the remainder of the game came with three goals for the home team followed by a late equaliser for the Potters. How can a team be 2-0 up and be on the verge of losing 3-2? It's sacrilege, surely? Or is it poor management? Unlike at Manchester United, where the substitution of Marko Arnautovic changed the game, I do not believe that the entirety of the blame should lie at Mark Hughes's feet this time, although I do believe that the changes he made to the team did affect the result.

Jon Walters took a chance to silence his critics for the time being

After an opening five minutes where both teams appeared to be fired up for the game, Jon Walters made Ben Davies and Chico Flores look like fools by letting them run into one another, while he stumbled onto a Peter Crouch flick on to finish past Gerhard Tremmel. For a player making his 100th consecutive league appearance, a large percentage of which he has received large amounts of criticism from supporters due to a perceived lack of contribution towards results, it appeared fitting that Walters would force his team into the lead. Stoke then followed this up shortly after with a neat passing move between Walters, Crouch who flicked the ball onto to receive another assist in a wonderful team goal finished off by Stephen Ireland. This was Stoke City at their best.

Wilfried Bony with a second-half brace for Swansea

As it appears to be the norm at the moment, a half of Stoke City at their best is followed by the team at their worst shortly after. For Swansea's first goal, so soon after half time, Stoke may be disappointed that no one stopped Jonathan de Guzman's cross into the box, or that no one stopped Wilfried Bony from having a free header to head home. A goal that early meant that it was inevitable that Swansea would come back into the game, which they did with a Nathan Dyer finish. The goal came after Stoke conceded a free kick, Erik Pieters the offender, whilst Charlie Adam, brought into the game moments before, lost his man in the box when the ball was delivered in. To cap it off, the third goal seemed a repeat of the first Swansea goal, with Geoff Cameron failing to stop Jonjo Shelvey from crossing the ball into the box, whilst both Shawcross and Huth may be disappointed at not getting ahold of Bony before he toe-poked the ball into the net. A controversial penalty earnt Stoke a draw, Charlie Adam the scorer of a first Stoke penalty not to be taken by Jon Walters since Matthew Etherington was the man for the spot in 2010/11.

Matthew Etherington, the potential scapegoat
for Stoke's failure to stay tight in the second half

Although the initial reaction from Stoke fans was disgust, in time this may prove to be a valuable point in what looks to be a very tight season. Four points currently separate 18th from 10th, whilst nine more points could have taken Fulham in 18th up to 8th where title challenging Manchester City currently stand. That is how hard three wins are to come by in this league at the moment, so whilst relegation is a concern for Stoke City, it is a concern for all teams from Crystal Palace, all the way up to Newcastle United. What I believe has let Stoke down in the last two away games has been that substitutions have been made at the wrong time. At Manchester United two weeks ago, Marko Arnautovic went off due to illness and the game changed, allowing United to dominate a Stoke team lacking an outlet. The situation was the same here, with Stoke looking lacklustre after Arnautovic's substitution, despite not having his best game in South Wales. At times in the first half, Pieters did appear to be outnumbered, with Arnautovic appearing to choose when and where he would do his defensive duties rather than committing to runs defensively. Come half time, Hughes had two choices, he could move Jon Walters across the field to support Pieters, leaving Geoff Cameron with both Ben Davies and Roland Lamah (later to be Nathan Dyer) to cope with. The alternative was taking Arnautovic off the field and bringing on the more disciplined Etherington who under Tony Pulis was used to supporting his fullback. This is where timing is crucial in the substitutions. With Arnautovic off the field, the impotence had vanished from Stoke's attack, and with the need to look for a third goal to kill Swansea off looking harder to find, a Swansea goal was not surprising. At 1-2, Hughes made a further two changes, bringing on Wilson and Adam for Palacios and Ireland. The two coming off both had good games, potentially their best for the club so far. Wilson and Adam on the other hand had both had shaky games in recent weeks and had not shown a resilience when coming on to shore up a defence that was being barraged. Again an equaliser was not surprising with Adam being caught cold in the box so soon after coming on. The question that needs to be asked of Hughes now is why did he take these players off before the 65-70 minute mark? Why try to close the game off so early and not wait and see if a killer third goal could be found? At 2-2 and our three best players of the game sitting on the bench, to get a 3-3 draw was fortunate. Against Sunderland in two weeks time, there is no more room for error from the players, or management.

Away from the Brit - Chile over Germany:

Star midfielder Arturo Vidal

Whilst most neutral supporters would consider England's clash with Germany to be the more appetising, the first encounter with Chile could be an chance to see some of the best English prospects against a strong Chilean team. In Arturo Vidal, they have one of the most complete midfielders in Europe, whilst their goalkeeper, Claudio Bravo, showed recently that he is no pushover keeping Manchester United at bay and conceding only one goal in two recent matches against the English champions. With household names in English football such as Gary Medel, Jean Beausejour, Gonzalo Jara, plus Barcelona's Alexis Sanchez, the Chilean team will be no pushovers. Despite this, I expect England to give a few players their first caps against the South American side, with Fraser Forster and Adam Lallana likely to get first starts, whilst Jay Rodriguez may get a first appearance off the bench. If any of England's younger players have any hopes of making a surprise claim to be on the plane to Brazil, it is in games like this that they will have to prove why they deserve to go. Looking at Andros Townsend, another player who may get a chance to impress, if they play well, what is to say that they will not go to Brazil? Jose Mourinho has dropped Ashley Cole from his Chelsea line-up in recent games, leaving open the possibility that he may not make the plane to Brazil if he cannot maintain his first-choice status at club level. The likes of Kieran Gibbs, and Luke Shaw who was not called up due to U21 commitments should look at opportunities such as these and try to grab them with both hands. If they do not make the World Cup, at least they will be better prepared for a European Championship in 2016 as a result.

Quick Snippet - The Charlatan

Martin O'Neill, the new face of Irish football

Usually, there is a code of conduct amongst managers, that you do not openly criticise your successor in a job, rather employing phrases such as "it was meant to be" or "he's doing a fantastic job and I'm happy to be here now." Martin O'Neill did not get the memo it seems when he commented on Paolo di Canio's short spell at his former club Sunderland. Whilst this code of conduct is employed to ensure that no disruption is caused for the new manager, it is still surprising to hear O'Neill's words on Di Canio. Describing Di Canio as a managerial charlatan who "ran out of excuses" by the end of his tenure, it was surprising to hear such honesty from a manager in today's game. With Roy Keane alongside him on the Irish coaching staff, it makes you wonder what else might emanate from the duo in the coming two years.