Seeing the Forest through the Trees

Peter Whittingham not missing from the penalty spot

The past two weeks as a Stoke supporter have been equal measures of pride and disappointment. On the surface, Stoke presented their fans with two respectable performances against Cardiff City and Tottenham Hotspur, yet the fans left both matches with a total of one point out of the six available. In the title of this article, I refer to not seeing the forest through the trees because that is an epitome of a Stoke supporter at the moment, seeing the positives through the negatives. From both matches it is refreshing, in fact exhilarating, to see the Bear Bit atmosphere of the Britannia Stadium returning at last, both home and away. The cause for the fight though appears strange however, with referees in the two previous games appearing to have stirred the supporters into a frenzy over debatable decisions. Howard Webb, against Cardiff City, was the villain for clearly missing a foul on Peter Crouch that resulted in his shirt referring to him as 'Cr uch' for the remainder of the game. As a referee, he made a mistake and that was strike one, a fair call for Stoke supporters to be disappointed. On the stroke of half time, Webb then proceeded to gift Stoke a penalty, and the word 'gift' is used due to the soft nature of the penalty, rather than the legitimacy of it. Peter Odemwingie was nudged off the ball in the penalty area by Kim Bo-Kyung and Marko Arnautovic slotted the resulting penalty kick home. Howard Webb though was forced to make another decision in the second half, rewarding Cardiff a penalty for another soft penalty, this time a fractionally late tackle by Steven Nzonzi on Frazier Campbell. Webb had the choice of awarding neither of the penalties or both, and by the letter of the law, both were correct decisions. Peter Whittingham pulled Cardiff level from the spot and Stoke could have gone on to win the game via late chances by Peter Odemwingie, Jon Walters and Oussama Assaidi, with Assaidi's the pick of the misses where a cool finish was all that was required after all the hard work had been done.

Danny Rose an unlikely goalscorer, but a likely villain of the game

Andre Marriner followed up Howard Webb's performance by playing the role of a pantomime villain against Tottenham, both to the Stoke fans and in the eyes of the Stoke manager Mark Hughes. After missing a clear elbow by Emmanuel Adebayor on Ryan Shawcross, Marriner forced a decision upon himself just after half time. Having already booked Ryan Shawcross for a foul in the first half, a clear foul that could not be denied, he had the choice of booking Shawcross for a second foul in the second half or warning the Stoke captain. He chose the former, forcing Ryan Shawcross to lose his ever-present status this season in the Premier League. This angered Stoke supporters, but I question the extent of their anger. Yes, Marriner could have called it a foul and left it at that, but if you isolate the challenge from any other challenge in the game, it would have been a yellow card offence as Shawcross's foot was high. Whilst it is disappointing that Stoke's captain left the pitch, he caused the referee to ask the question "Is it a second yellow card?" which Marriner ultimately decided it was. This was the filling of a spicy sandwich of a game that was filled with incidents involving one Danny Rose. The left back, a former figure of dislike amongst the Potters for his theatrics a year previous when on loan at Sunderland was the only player on the scoresheet after heading in a cross from Adebayor after the Togo forward got away from Glenn Whelan too easily. After being the recipient of Shawcross's late challenge that resulted in his second yellow card, Geoff Cameron sought retribution for his team mate, clattering Danny Rose when challenging for the ball on the touchline. Rose, taking offence at this ran ten yards or more to push Cameron and was substituted moments later to a symphony of boos from the home supporters. In past matches, officials have sent players off for initiating headbutts or acts of extreme aggression, yet incidents such as those from Saturday usually result in yellow cards for both players involved for being involved in an act that brings the game into disrepute. In this case, it could, and perhaps should, be argued that Cameron was lucky not to receive a yellow card for goading Rose after the initial push. Again, I revert back to the title of this article, referring to not seeing the forest through the trees. In the past two games, Stoke supporters have been that distracted by refereeing decisions that they have not placed any blame on players for not taking chances. A number of supporters have claimed that the sending off of Shawcross galvanised the players, with the team performing admirably in his absence. Yet the fact remains that Stoke took no points from the game. Whilst I encourage supporters to remain positive, enjoy the plaudits the team has received for the football played, I equally say do not let standards slip when it comes to searching for the reasons behind a poor result. In the past two games, Oussama Assaidi and Marko Arnautovic, two of Stoke's stars this season in attack, could have gained the team an extra four points than the table currently possesses. This is no criticism of the individuals mentioned, merely a point that whilst performances have been good, refereeing decisions do not shape a game as long as a team do not let them. Stoke were the better team after Shawcross's red card, and for the performance to have been perfect, Stoke would have turned the performance into a result.

Felix's Fulham:

Dimitar Berbatov, recently of Fulham, challenged by Erik Pieters

Felix Magath has been an odd entry into the catalogue of Premier League managers this season. At times he has looked more than capable of keeping Fulham in the Premier League, such as when they gained back-to-back victories over Aston Villa and Norwich, but then back-to-back losses against Tottenham and Hull raise questions again. Magath has some pedigree as a manager, being compared to Tony Pulis as being a manager who has never been relegated. What I would expect from him, being bequeathed with a tag such as that, is he is capable of bringing the best out of a group of players he did not sign. Whereas Tony Pulis at Crystal Palace has formed a settled back four of Mariappa, Dann, Delaney and Ward, with two holding midfielders in Jedinak and Ledley, Fulham have set up in a similar shape, but with less stability. Whilst Riether, Hangeland, Amorebieta and Riise have started a number of games recently, with Sidwell and Diarra in front of them, as a unit Fulham have looked less secure. As a midfielder, Steve Sidwell would not instill me with confidence that he would protect the back four, whilst Mohammed Diarra has only just returned to club after being without a club since leaving the previous summer. Perhaps Magath realised that Fulham's team needed beefing up by switching to a 5-2-2-1 system against Hull at the weekend, with Riether and Riise allowed to act as wing-backs, and Scott Parker coming into the midfield to allow Steve Sidwell to support Lewis Holtby and Hugo Rodallega in attack. The front three did not appear to have much effect in the first half as Sidwell was replaced by Darren Bent and Holtby was replaced by Ashkan Dejagah who went on to score Fulham's opening goal. Adding in the half-time substitution of Kieran Richardson for John Arne Riise and Fulham had a problem of their own making when Hull scored in the 75th minute to make the score 2-1: how do you change a team with no substitutions left? With so many forward thinking players on the pitch at this point, it was too easy for Hull to exert some dominance at the end of the game and the Hull strike partnership of Jelavic and Long exploited Fulham's nerves. Assuming Fulham attempt to play a similar shape against Stoke, can the Potters exploit Fulham's inability to keep a clean sheet?

Hugo Rodallega is a past nemesis of Stoke City in his Wigan days

The key will be in the finishing, as simple as that sounds. As previously stated, Stoke have had plenty of chances in the past two games to get at least four more points on the table, yet an inability to convert good chances meant that only one point went onto the table. Peter Odemwingie, dare it be said, could be one of the most lethal finishers the Britannia Stadium has seen in the Premier League era, but he could do with finishing the season with a flourish. Whilst the same tag cannot be applied to Marko Arnautovic on the other wing, the Austrian is mercurial, occupying the thoughts of the opposition full-back for a full 90 minutes. Again though, Arnautovic could do with improving his finishing statistics for the season. Despite having three goals for the club, for a player that is held in such a high stature at the moment, he needs to finish the season with a higher output into results. Unless Peter Crouch is dropped for the final two games of the season, Odemwingie and Arnautovic need to step up to the plate in wider areas to cover for the target man's lack of pace in attack. If they both hold their positions as high as possible in attack, staying on the shoulder of their full-backs, they should get breaking opportunities with the pace both of them possess.

Quick Snippets:

1) Moyes Out - Whilst it was no surprise to see David Moyes lose his job last week, it was a surprise how he lost his job, to a point. You expect the media to hear of the news before any managerial departure nowadays, but what is unexpected is the manner of Manchester United declining to comment on his departure hours before the official announcement. As a football supporter who backs giving a manager a long time at a club, I feel sorry for Manchester United and David Moyes that it did not work out, but Moyes did not have a vision for the future, and ultimately that cost him his job.

2) Giggs In - Just as I back clubs at the highest level to stick by their managers for long periods of time, I also like to see clubs to try to employ British managers/coaches. This is not a dislike of foreign coaches, but more of wanting a stand or a public endorsement of what makes British football British. Whilst Ryan Giggs is the second favourite, behind Louis van Gaal to take the United job, I would want him to have the job over a foreign coach. Equally I would like another British coach to be given a fairer chance in the bookmakers odds, though the best British managers at present belong to Liverpool, Tottenham and Newcastle, according to the league table at least! After that, it is between our own Mark Hughes and the unfashionable but effective Tony Pulis. I may like to see a British manager get a chance at United, but at present it seems that the foreign influence is to continue into the Premier League.

3) PFA Player of the Year - There was no doubt across the country that Luis Suarez would and should have won the PFA Player of the Year award. It is a massive turnaround for a player that twelve months ago was having elevenses via Branislav Ivanovic's arm, but in the interests of leaving the past in the past (for Ryan Shawcross and Aaron Ramsey) it is good to see such a controversial player's esteem grow in the eyes of his peers. I feel Daniel Sturridge was unlucky not to win the Young Player of the Year award, but as stated weeks before, he is also lucky to be eligible to receive the award. His goals, alongside Suarez, have given Liverpool their best shot at a title in 24 years, and personally I felt that edged him ahead of Eden Hazard this season. However, Hazard's goals have kept Chelsea within some contention of winning the title and his winning of the award is far from unjustified.

4) RIP Tito Vilanova - There have been a few deaths in the past week relating to the world of football. Sandy Jardine, whilst not a name I knew myself, was someone to a lot of people. The same can be said of Vujadin Boškov who died aged 80 this week, a manager who had won a domestic double with Real Madrid in the 1979/80 season. Again, a name I would not have known, but to others, he was someone. When I say Rest in Peace to Tito Vilanova, it is because his death is tragic being so young, but like Boškov and Jardine, they were all men who contributed to the sport we love. Therefore, I say: Rest in Peace Tito, Vujadin and Sandy with all equal respect for your contributions to the sport in life and now in death.