Phil Brown reverted to a 4-4-2 formation with Kilbane joing Boateng in the middle of midfield, Garcia and Barmby wide and Fagan alongside Cousin up front. It looked a decent line-up and appeared to have the strength to match Stoke and some craft and pace in key areas. We started the game slowly and didn't show any urgency at all. We were strolling around, taking time over throws and looking like a team playing away at Manchester United, not at home to Stoke. It was a pretty even half with chances at a premium. We would eventually move up into second gear and force two or three half chances. Cousin's looping header was tipped over after Fagan had worked well down the right to force a crossing position, Cousin shot miles over on the half turn from 18 yards and Garcia took down a good ball from Kilbane, worked his way towards the penalty shot and then shot straight at Sorenson. As the half went on, Stoke looked more threatening. They were quick on the break through Fuller, Etherington and Lawrence. When we had 11 men in front of them, they hit the ball long and aimlessly but when we were committed and gave them the ball, they moved it slickly. We gave the ball away far too often and we were second best in the middle. With all due respect, we were playing against Glenn Whelan and Rory Delap and we somehow managed to be slower than them, second to every ball and failed to put in a tackle. Boateng and Kilbane were wretched. I seriously need to take issue with Browny over Kilbane. Marney has been poor a lot and Halmosi hasn't really pulled up any trees but neither deserve to be sat on the bench watching Kilbane. On the contrary, Dawson has been awful lately while Kilbane is a decent left back but for some reason, the choice is made to include both. To throw in another forgotten name, how on earth is Kilbane a better choice than Bryan Hughes in central midfield? You want someone who's experienced in the Premier League, a good ball player, hard worker and has never let City down? That's Bryan Hughes, it most certainly isn't Kilbane. Our central midfield today was embarrassing. An immobile mess. On the ball, they, well Boateng anyway, played some nice passes into feet but when it came to competing, they were terrible.
With 40 minutes on the clock, Stoke had barely threatened so it must have hit the time for us to gift them a goal. They broke down a Tigers attack and with three passes through Wilkinson and Etherington, they had Fuller running at our back line. The otherwise flawless Turner flew into a tackle but the ball rolled back to Fuller, he fed Etherington, who crossed to the back post where they had two on one. Lawrence struck a shot that was deflected off Zayatte and as everyone in the ground waited for the net to bulge, the ball floated wide. We all let out a big sigh of relief. Then we failed to compete for the corner and when the ball dropped to the floor 8 yards out, Fuller turned and hooked the ball in. More of poor defending from the whole team that is totally undermining our game at the moment. We're struggling in attack so we must be stingy in defence to give ourselves a chance of stealing games late on.
The second half was frustrating as we huffed and puffed but looked lifeless for a long time. We moved the ball on the floor slowly and predictably and anything in the air, long balls, corners, free-kick's, throw-in's, you name it, it was all met by the huge Cort or Faye. In fact, I don't think we put in a single ball in the second half that landed anywhere between their defence and the goal line. Everything fell short and was gobbled up or was hit too long and was caught by Sorenson or embarrassingly, just flew out for goal-kicks. We didn't ever really look like getting back into the game. We had a decent spell half way through the half when Garcia and Cousin came to life. Cousin suddenly became the big, bullying front man we need and we played some good football off him, while Garcia started to torture Wilkinson, getting to the bye line twice and then winning a free-kick in a great position on the corner of the box. Of course, we then took them both off. I can understand the desire to get Mendy on opposite Wilkinson but to take Garcia off was ridiculous. Not wanting to victimize him, but Kilbane was awful and should have gone. Barmby also had very little input on the game and could have made way. In a desperate situation, removing Cousin also seemed pretty unwise. Not long after the change, we lost Zayatte to injury, he's already had his head bandaged and then suffered another knock. We don't have a decent replacement anyway but needing to get Geo on, we moved Kilbane to centre-half. Not long after, Fuller broke again, one on one with Kilbane. Geo did a great job of getting back to help but Fuller slid the ball to Lawrence who, unopposed, lashed the ball beyond Boaz and into the far corner. We'd had a let off when Whelan hit the bar but this was curtains. Great finish by the way.
Aside from Mendy hitting the bye line a couple of times, we failed to trouble them in the last 20 minutes until deep, deep into the 6 minutes stoppage time when Geo won a free-kick and with Stoke expecting him to hit it, Dawson curled a beauty beyond the goalkeeper. Too little, far too late.
Boaz didn't have an awful lot to do. He was a bystander for both goals and when Whelan hit the bar and shot just over. He probably didn't make a save. Ricketts didn't look his usual self. He got into a great position and earned Etherington a booking early on but then never really got beyond him. He defended well against the tricky winger though. Dawson's touch and distribution was abysmal. He has this weird habit of controlling the ball dead and then moving off it rather than touching it in front of himself. His touch made it impossible for him to get the ball in and he showed no ambition whatsoever to get beyond their full-back. His free-kick was a cracker but was the cherry on a rotten cake. Zayatte did OK too, not spectacular but judged the ball in the air very well and kept Beattie quiet. Turner was magnificent. He was ultra-cool in possession, passed well and defended well. He looked about ten levels above the majority of his team mates. The guy is a colossus. I can't see any way he'll still be wearing black and amber next season.
Garcia didn't really get into the game until a few minutes before he came off. Sometimes he was caught inside allowing Ricketts to overlap and when Ricketts couldn't get into the position, there was no right sided option at all. Barmby had his poorest game for a while. He wasn't awful on the ball, just rarely on it. He put in one good cross in the first half but the longer the game went on, the worse he got. Many people complain that he doesn't play more than 60 minutes, including me, but his input in the last half hour was awful and explained just why. Boateng passed quite well but did not have the legs to compete in the midfield. He was slow to start with and got slower. Mendy did Ok off the bench but Wilkinson became familiar with his kick and run around the other side trick after about 5 minutes. He concerned them though, hence Pulis's decision to put Pugh on to double up on Mendy. It worked well. Geo gave us a bit of energy and was the only person to sraw defenders late on. Unfortunately, the second goal meant we were chasing an impossible situation.
Cousin had little chance in the air against Cort and Faye and took a long time to get into the game. Once again, we failed to provide any sort of decent ball in for him to attack. If we're going to play him, we need someone to put the ball in. Fagan worked hard and hustled well and when he dropped off and picked the ball up, we looked much better. He made good runs wide and tried to open the game up but was well marshaled when he went back into the middle. As a pairing, they didn't really link up much. The service in was awful again, very little from the centre of midfield, a couple of crosses from Barmby and Garcia and the odd ball from Ricketts. Set pieces were poor and pretty pointless against the giant Stoke back line.
So it's onto Bolton next. In all likelihood now, we're going down. We've no momentum, we've no confidence, we're not defending well, we're terrible in midfield and we've lost our prowess from set pieces. We couldn't afford to lose some of the key players we've lost at times and we definitely couldn't afford loss of form from the remaining players. What we needed to do today was win, not only for the 3 points but for the psychological effect it would have had on those below us. Instead, we handed them an invitation to catch us. It still may be enough, because they are as terrible as we are, but to be sure, we've got to find 3 or 4 points from two very difficult games. Kilbane needs to play left back. Boateng needs a partner with legs and we need someone in a wide position who can cross the ball. I think I'd go with Halmosi and Mendy, both of whom have good energy and can deliver. We have very little to lose now so let's go for it.
Ratings: Myhill 6, Ricketts 6, Dawson 5, Zayatte 7 (Geovanni), Turner 9, Garcia 6 (Mendy), Barmby 6, Boateng 5, Kilbane 5, Cousin 6 (Manucho), Fagan 7.