The Soccer Blog: Match Preview: Stoke City vs Blackpool FC 11/12/10 15:00

Saturday, 11 December 2010

Match Preview: Stoke City vs Blackpool FC 11/12/10 15:00

By: joehigginson | December 11th, 2010

“In football you need to have everything in your cake mix to make the cake taste right”

Ian Holloway, 10.12.10

Preview

Spoken directly from the Holloway household after a misguided attempt at a Victoria Sponge, the Blackpool manager vents his feelings on all things confectionary. Easy as it would be to believe that, this was in fact Ian Holloway’s unusual but kindly metaphor for the Stoke City team. However he goes on to describe Rory Delap’s long throws as the ‘cinnamon in our cake’. So with the sweetest of ingredients describing undoubtedly the ugliest part of our game, what did he mean by that? Hmm…

While we could spend hours unravelling Holloway’s latest philosophical musings, his sentiments basically reflect the wall to wall love in which has comprised the build up to Stoke versus Blackpool this weekend. If I were a vindictive man I’d make this blog entry as corrosive as possible but who am I to disrupt the general good feeling. Managers Pulis and Holloway are old pals and that friendship has been made blatantly obvious this week as both managers prostrate themselves in awe and praise of the other. Both sets of ‘proper’ fans have plenty of respect for each other too so expect the Brit to be at full volume later. There is of course also the fact that both clubs continue to revel in the glory brought to them by Stan Matthews, whose spirit will quite rightly dominate proceedings today. The legendary figurehead of both clubs would loved to have attended the first top flight meeting of his spiritual and adopted homes since 1971 and the game is unsurprisingly being billed as the Matthews derby.

Blackpool have surpassed everyone’s wildest expectations (including their own) to sit relatively comfortably in mid table as Christmas approaches. Manager Holloway has always been quick to bestow praise on his players but he deserves a hell of a lot of credit himself. Blackpool don’t go into a game chasing anything other than three points. It’s a frightening enthusiasm seldom displayed by the established mid-table bloc and virtually non-existent amongst the promoted sides. Everyone knows their role, complementing each other perfectly and they’ve even conjured up the sort of individual brilliance that so often rescues a disjointed Chelsea or Arsenal performance. I was sceptical of the early charge they made this season having seen previous play-off winners Burnley and Hull make similar starts before faltering, but they look the real deal.

Stoke are on a high themselves, last week’s draw with Wigan their fifth game without defeat. It was an excellent match and one of the few performances away from home we can look back on with some pride. We’ve have had some notoriously poor Decembers in recent times so here stands a golden opportunity to alter that record. Matty Etherington has rediscovered the form that saw him turn Fabio Capello’s head half an inch last season and stands on the cusp of being the first Stoke player to score in four consecutive Premier League matches. (audible gasps)

Teams

Stoke have no new injury concerns with Jermaine Pennant and Andy Wilkinson returning to full time training. I fully expect both to start today, with Wilkinson replacing last week’s emergency stand in Rob Huth (who should move back into the centre) and Pennant ousting Jon Walters, who impressed in a less familiar role last week. I’d like to see Walters partner Kenwyne Jones up front as I think his form warrants it but he may well have to be content with a substitute appearance. Other than that, we should be unchanged as usual.

Fortunately, a frozen pitch means we’re not facing a Blackpool team on a high following a 5-0 demolition of Manchester United, but they may well benefit from the unexpected break. Holloway should have a full squad to pick from but Ludovic Sylvestre may not be risked after returning from a hamstring injury. I can’t really see them changing the line-up too much. Luke Varney and DJ Campbell will be a handful if both lead the attack while David Vaughn (who’s making a real name for himself) poses a big threat from the midfield.

One to Watch

Charlie Adam: Grabbed a few unwanted headlines in recent weeks but that aside, the Scot was the inspiration behind last season’s promotion charge and continues to bear the standard this term. He’s inevitably generated interest and paper talk with the transfer window ready to open but as club captain, he seems a committed individual.

Prediction

I was arrogant enough in the summer to believe this would be an easy three points. While that won’t be the case, I do think we will have to much going forward and I can’t see the Seasiders holding out forever if Jones and Fuller both play. 2-0 win.

Category: Stoke Team News

Tags: Blackpool, Stoke Team News
« Match Report: Wigan Athletic 2 – 2 Stoke City | Home | Comments | Add your comment linyipin | December 11th, 2010 at 7:11 am

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Jon H | December 11th, 2010 at 7:14 am

As a Blackpool fan I would like to hope that we could get a draw from this game, especially after our spirited (but ultimately disappointing) performance at Bolton, but my head says this will be similar to our loss at Birmingham and 2-0 is a fair shout…for a Stoke fan. I’m gonna go with my heart and say it will be a 3-3 thriller in the spirit of Sir Stanley :p

My worries are that Stoke are in form and simply know how to grind out a win at home. We always look a bit panicky when teams get a lot of players in the box so I’m sure we will be faced with many a nervy set piece.

On the other hand I feel there’s only so long DJ can go without putting the ball in the back of the net and today could be it, hopefully a hat-trick to make up for all the chances he’s had recently!

Looking forward to the post match report!

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