by DandyRoyal »
17 Feb 2012 17:02
I watched the Stoke v Valencia game last night, and really came away with the feeling that Stoke and Pulis are something of an embarrassment to English football.
Stoke's somewhat bullish approach was laughable when compared to Valencia's intricate passing, excellent close control and sublime movement. Although actually the thing that impressed me most about Valencia was their fine defending. I expected them to be fluid in possession and possess guile going forward. But they were also physical at the back rarely troubled aerially and totally shut down Stoke's wingers (although I think i could have shut down Etherington he is slow and fat and has no tricks).
I know all managers wear blinkers, but honestly Pulis is such a massive whiner he has to be the worst of the lot. The look of disbelief on his face when a desultory Crouch penalty claim was turned down was funny as hell. It was a dirty game and there was certainly some dodgy stuff from Valencia but to be honest, they were merely descending to Stoke's level, Pulis was just pissed because Valencia managed to match them at their own game off the ball, and on the ball were vastly superior.
Stoke's biggest night in a long while and the crowd were silent and £10 million man Jones didn't even play. I don't even like a lot of Spanish football because the gamesmanship is too much for me but even I was rooting for Valencia after 10 minutes last night. They are gonna get so rolled over in Spain it's gonna be hilarious. In many ways Valencia played their second string last night, god only knows what their strongest team could do.
ESPN has the worst half time punditry and analysis I have ever witnessed.
