Can Tony Pulis Surprise us all Again
So we are now over a quarter of the way into the new English top flight 2011-2012 football season and Tony Pulis is again progressing Stoke City football club. Surprised?. After last seasons league heroics and fantastic cup run (ended heart breakingly by Yaya Toure at Wembley stadium in May) Stoke are flying high in a tough europa league group containing some good clubs from around the European leagues and find themselves top with four games gone and probably on course for the knock out stages which would be a great achievement for the club and the city itself.
I really don’t think some of the bigger European clubs would want to draw Stoke out of the hat and play at the Brittania stadium after Christmas. They will know full well about the difficulties after watching top premier league teams struggle to collect three points or even come away with a point there over recent times. It really is treated by every club now as one of the toughest most un enjoyable places to go to and ply their trade.
Some silly people are already arguing the fact that as Stoke spent a fortune in the transfer market in the summer on Crouch, Palacios and Woodgate etc then they simply should be performing better this season and because they are slightly struggling in the league this must mean that Pulis is failing. This is a very short sighted view as it would really take a genius to be in the top six to eight domestically and be top of the European league group on top of all the other progress that has been made over the last couple of seasons with the potters.
Although Stokes new boys are still not performing at optimum levels as of yet, they can be forgiven for this as we are not past the twelve month bedding in period yet (if so this would be a cause for concern). People, including some really fickle potters fans forget that it is really tough travelling long hours concentrating mentally and physically on more fixtures on a Thursday only to be playing again on the Sunday or Monday in the toughest league in the world where there are no easy games anymore and you get found out if you are not one hundred percent committed on all possible human levels.
It will also be new to Pulis and his staff who are also currently on a steep learning curve themselves, finding also more about their own capabilities and how far they can push their playing staff. Tony will be experimenting slightly after the mid week games trying to find the best solution possible to cope with the new demands placed upon them. This includes maybe adjusting training methods, rest periods and travelling times. A lot to think about and get right first time around.
I don’t feel the potters squad is that strong yet to cope with a top six finish in the premier league and say a quarter final europa league finish (unless another heavy spending session occurs in the January transfer window). Something will have to give, a more achievable feat in my eyes is a strong European finish which is be aided by the shortening of the home stadium pitch enabling a tougher experience for the visiting clubs matched with all the set piece threats that are relied on so heavily.
The feverous fan support will also add to the Stoke City’s cause who are enjoying their new European journey they have waited so long for, for some their whole life!.
All in all Stoke City are doing better than expected under Mr Pulis and we should pass judgement at a further date.
