Lou's article/Big John backs Jones to regain scoring touch

http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.u...ept-check/article-3248805-detail/article.html

I WAS involved in a presentation in these parts with the Premier League trophy last week and a Stoke fan came up and said: "That will be ours one day".

I smiled, as you do, but what worries me is that I think he was being deadly serious.

Now there's nothing wrong with ambition, we all need that in life, but that's not the same as expectation. And unrealistic expectation really does put unfair pressure on a team.

If Stoke survive in the Premier League and have a good run in one of the cups, that is a damned good season.

It's dangerous for supporters to think that because their team has done so well in finishing 12th and then 11th, that this kind of progress can just continue.

It's one thing to finish in the higher reaches of all those clubs who could get relegated at the start of each season. But quite another to start muscling in on the genuinely big clubs.

That's why tomorrow's trip to Arsenal will always be a truly tough one for a club like Stoke.

The fact that Arsenal are now embarking on a schedule of five games in 13 days – including the Carling Cup final against Birmingham and a Champions League trip to Barcelona – doesn't do Stoke any harm. But it only narrows a very large gap I'm afraid – it doesn't close it.

That's not to say Stoke can't get a result, of course they can. But it's not like the 1970s or 80s.

Back then, there were plenty of teams like Stoke who might not just nick a result at a Highbury or an Old Trafford, but they might also take the game to the home team.

That, realistically, isn't the case anymore as the big teams have got bigger and bigger on the back of TV revenue, sponsorship, keeping home gate receipts and, of course, the expansion of what is now the Champions League.

If a competition called the Champions League can feature three teams from England, Italy, Spain and Germany who are not actually champions, then anything is possible in the re-organisation of the game.

So we shouldn't just laugh off these ridiculous proposals to try to revamp the FA Cup with seedings and abolishing replays.

If these changes are intended to improve crowds, forget it.

The damage has been done and the cup already devalued, possibly beyond repair, by trends such as managers fielding weakened teams.

People will say the gap is narrowing between the big and small clubs when you see Leyton Orient drawing with Arsenal and Crawley only losing 1-0 at Manchester United. But Arsenal left a few out and the United team was barely recognisable.

The value of a strong side and the right attitude was clear at Stoke after they swept Brighton aside on Saturday.

Now all kinds of possibilities are opening up after the best possible quarter-final draw.

To me, it didn't matter too much whether West Ham or Burnley won last night for the right to play Stoke.

I just hope that however cold it is at the Britannia for quarter-final day, we don't see what we saw at Manchester City.

I thought I had seen it all in football, but the sight of City's substitutes being armed with hot water bottles sent a chill down my spine. What happened to that old- fashioned concept of jogging up and down the touchline to keep warm?

Next they'll be putting the players in executive boxes and we'll have a five-minute wait for every substitution.

http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.u...ing-touch/article-3250400-detail/article.html

STOKE striker John Carew is reluctant to offer advice and help to sidekick Kenwyne Jones – but only because he doesn't believe he needs it.

Jones has found the net just once in his last seven starts and seven substitute appearances to lose number one billing in attack since Carew's arrival on loan from Aston Villa six games ago.

But the giant Norwegian, pictured below, insists he is impressed by what he has seen of seven-goal Jones during their short time together.

And he is certain the 26-year-old Trinidadian, main picture, who moved to the Britannia in the summer from Sunderland, will justify his club-record £8m price tag.

"From what I have seen of Kenwyne, he's a fantastic player and a very important one for Stoke," said Carew.

"I don't think there is anything wrong because from what I have seen he has been doing great.

"It is not right for me to say what other strikers can do. I just come and do my best and use my experience.

"Kenwyne is as important as anybody else in the team and I'm sure with his experience he will manage to come back."

Carew looks certain to spearhead Stoke's attack at Arsenal tomorrow – possibly in the kind of lone role employed in the 2-0 defeat at Liverpool – and he makes no bones about the task ahead.

"It's one of the biggest challenges away in the league, if not the biggest," warned Carew.

"But we have to go there, look forward to it and enjoy the moment. That's what we play football for and we have to believe in ourselves."

He says he saw little of Arsenal's 2-1 Champions League win against Barcelona on television last week, but didn't switch off because he was scared.

He goes gunning for a third goal in Stoke colours tomorrow after quickly impressing management and fans alike since joining the club.

But Carew remains guarded on his long-term plans in the summer when he becomes a free agent.

The 31-year-old striker acknowledged: "I have settled in fantastic and it has been great for now. The other lads have been fantastic for me and I hope it continues."

STOKE will face West Ham in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup on either March 12 or 13 after Avram Grant's team beat Burnley 5-1 last night.

 

Will be interesting to see if Carew stays after the season ends. If he continues to do well then Villa may want him back but more likely he may get a better offer

 

Houllier doesn't like Carew, he's already sold him once in his career, he won't have to this time as Carew's contract is up in the summer.