Vengeance is Swift

Was it a cross or a shot? He doesn't care after his first goal in six years!

Back in October, I wrote about Stoke City's relationship with Lady Luck being fractious, with many decisions in games around the period in question seeming to go against the Potters. Skip forward six months and Stoke seem to have kissed and made up with the fictitious lady of fortune as Erik Pieters was the man who scored a goal that even he admitted afterwards he did not intend to find the back of the net. Given the tight scoreline in the game, had Lady Luck not been on Stoke's side, the game could easily have tilted in the favour of the visitors from the North East. Newcastle had shown their ability to take advantage of bad luck back in December when coming back from a goal down to win 5-1 over the Potters, after two unfortunate red cards for Glenn Whelan and Marc Wilson. The fortunes of both sides have tilted since that day with Newcastle now calling for their manager's head whilst some Stoke supporters have tentatively suggested that Mark Hughes should be considered as one of the nominees for Manager of the Year.

Tim Krul thwarted Peter Crouch on numerous occasions to keep
the scoreline respectable for Newcastle

If there is one reason why Mark Hughes has deserved the credit he has received recently, it is down to getting results, whether impressive ones such as the victories over West Ham and Aston Villa, or the scrappier ones against Hull City and Newcastle. What was clear from this game is that Newcastle are fighting for their manager, even if he has done more fighting of late, yet the fight they are showing, fortunately for Stoke, is not being converted into results. Geoff Cameron was lucky not to concede a penalty in the first half whilst Vernon Anita had a great opportunity late in the second half, both of which could have converted a loss into a win. On the other hand, Stoke had multiple opportunities through Peter Crouch to take the lead and had any of those gone in, some simpler chances than others, the floodgates would likely have opened for Newcastle based on their recent results. Nevertheless, it is still three important points for the Potters in their chase to overtake Newcastle, and potentially Southampton in the closing month of the season.

Crime and Punishment - Cardiff vs Stoke City:

Cardiff are one of four teams to prevent Stoke scoring at home this season

Cardiff's first crime was to embarrass Stoke on their home turf without taking away three points. Back in December, mere days after Stoke had been humiliated by Everton 4-0, Cardiff came to the Britannia Stadium and became the last team to date to prevent Stoke from scoring at home. Stoke, on a poor run of form at the time, were made to look amateurish and credit has to go to Cardiff and then-manager Malky Mackay for preventing Stoke from taking their frustrations from Goodison Park out on them. Their second crime was to sack the aforementioned Mackay for the likeable but inexperienced Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Their third crime, purchasing Stoke wantaway Kenwyne Jones, has been paid for with interest in the deal to bring Peter Odemwingie to the Britannia in exchange for the Trinidadian. There is still an outstanding debt this club owe not just to Stoke City but to the Premier League, and hopefully on Saturday the debt is repaid in favour of the Potters.

With four games left, would now be the time to rest Crouch?

Perhaps for a striker of Peter Crouch's quality this will appear harsh, but after his misses against Newcastle last week, there is an argument to rest him for one or two of the final four games of the season. Whilst John Guidetti's loan at the club will likely finish without a goal, Peter Odemwingie has been told he will be offered an opportunity in the central striking role during his time at the club. Against his former club, would it be unfair to suggest that Odemwingie would have a point to prove to the club that poorly utilised him? Whilst he is likely to start regardless of whether Crouch starts or not, positioning him up front alongside Crouch or instead of him would offer him more chances to not just get goals but hopefully finish the season on a high with the club. As he has shown in his short time at the club, he is also a lethal finisher, whose first clear fluff at a shot also came in the game against Newcastle. In a game where Cardiff will be fighting to survive their first season in the Premier League, perhaps having our most lethal forward at the top of our forward line could be the decisive move that brings the three points back to the Potteries?

Away from the Brit - Title Race:

The game that tipped the title in Liverpool's favour

When asked recently what he thought of Liverpool or Manchester City winning the title, pundit and ex Manchester United player Gary Neville described either winning the title the equivalent of choosing a man to sleep with your wife. As far as Stoke supporters are concerned, a consensus would say that we don't care who she sleeps with as long as it isn't Neville and Manchester United. Liverpool's victory at the weekend effectively decided where the title would be heading, IF Chelsea fail to win at Anfield in the final match-days. Chelsea could still win the title as Manchester City, hungover perhaps from their loss at Anfield surrendered points to nearly relegated Sunderland in midweek, meaning they'd need Chelsea to win at Anfield just to keep their lingering hopes alive. Personally, if I had a choice between Liverpool and Chelsea to win the title, I'd edge towards Chelsea for the simple reason that if Liverpool do win the title, they could dominate for years to come again, and for Stoke, the longer a trophy drought goes on, the better it is for those who will play them regularly. However, if the question is who do I think will win the title, Liverpool is the only answer, and you cannot argue it would be undeserved as they have played the better football this season, being the only team in the top four to have won at the Britannia Stadium (with some debatable decisions going their way it must be said!), whilst their goalscoring feats in Sturridge and Suarez has been commendable. For the neutral, I'm looking forward to some highly entertaining games to close the season as all teams involved cannot afford to drop any more points.

Quick Snippet - Cheating Palace?

Crystal Palace will be investigated for alleged use of leaked information
regarding the Cardiff City team sheet a fortnight ago.

It might just be me, but what is the harm for a manager if their team sheet is leaked the day before a match? This is a honest question, and even if a Sunday League manager is reading this, I'd encourage you to reply to this question as I cannot see why Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's Cardiff City are making a formal complaint about Crystal Palace allegedly finding out their team sheet in advance of their game on 5th April 2014. If the reports about the leak are correct, Tony Pulis put pressure on Iain Moody to find out the team ahead of Palace's game with Cardiff, something that by the Friday of the week Moody had found out. My question is: what could Tony Pulis have done or told his players within such a short space of time between seeing the team sheet and the matchday to guarantee his side's chances of victory to the point that Cardiff's claims of cheating are validated? Some managers such as Jose Mourinho have voluntarily released their team sheet ahead of a game to play mind games with opposition managers, so what is the issue, beyond the dirty tactics these allegations portray Pulis and Palace as using?