COLUMNIST KEN BUCKLEY

From my seat: Stoke City (H)

By Ken Buckley   ::  04/12/2011 The day started well when the Welsh national anthem greeted the teams onto the field where a posse of Gareth Speeds former Blue team-mates plus his father Roger all assembled for a rousing moment of reflection and applause. A nice touch was youngsters in the kits of all the teams Gareth had played for and his number at each club and national team on the back joining the others on the centre circle.

Standing there clapping and the big screen showing the man himself my mind went to his two lads left behind and felt a chill as I realised that they must forever ask themselves and each other ?Why did dad do that? A tragic event in any circumstance but the profile of the man has brought such things to the attention of the wider public. It would be nice to think that out of this tragedy others who suffer demons will seek help before their loved ones suffer.

The game itself did little to raise the spirits as Everton were as woeful as a Stoke team coming off the back of a Euro night on Thursday and finding it necessary to play Woodgate as a right back. The fact the game was settled by one set piece virtually tells the story.

The opening was non-descript with nothing more than a few long balls and the Blues playing well across the back and retaining the ball but not really finding anywhere to go in an attacking sense. Bilyaletdinov gave us our first yell when he got in a position to shoot, unfortunately he hit it horribly wrong but Vellios flicked a foot at it and the ball travelled the width of the pitch and didn?t even go out. Fair play Bilyaletdinov was not for hiding and he was getting involved whenever he could none more so than the 15min mark when he headed a corner from Stoke weakly out to the edge of the box where Whitehead drilled it back into a penalty area full of bodies yet the ball ended up in the net and Huth was named as scorer so he must have got a touch to it to send it past Howard. How it got through all those bodies I will never know.

Although only 15mins in I must admit I had that dreaded thought that it would be enough for Stoke to take the points and that was based on what I had seen to that point and we had really looked like a team with little purpose and even less conviction. We did try to play out from the back and a lot of stuff went down the left and Bilyaletdinov was involved quite a lot. Some of his crosses were good and one had the keeper clawing the ball away from under the bar but alas on other occasions he was less than competent in the ?choose the right ball stakes?. Stoke were just being Stoke and hoofing and looking to gain advantage from falling whenever possible to get a set piece within range but even this tactic ensured they had the better or more threatening chances even though possession was greater to ourselves. Howard had to tip headers over the bar and the resultant corners were always difficult to handle.

On the cusp of half-time we gained a corner and it was well taken by Bilyaletdinov and Fellaini headed wide but immediately claimed a penalty and from my seat he certainly seemed to be held by Shawcross. But our ref today Mr Lee Mason was having none of it and he did indeed ref the game in the same way as he always does seeming not to give a toss and give what he thinks with as little fuss as possible, certainly no obsessive card waiver. Well at least you could say he was consistent game on game which was more than could be said for our lot as the half drew to a close. I am not sure who the half-time boo?s were for, it could have been ref or players or very likely both.

Second half and no Blue changes and so began one of the most lack lustre turgid halves I have witnessed for years probably back to Walter?s or Walkers days. Not a lot happened worthy of note but rather a catalogue of misplaced passes, hoof balls, pretty play across the back four that went nowhere and nothing to worry either keeper.
Then on 70mins Cahill was in on goal the keeper came out and floored him without seeming to touch the ball. The ref gave a corner!!

Well I did say he didn?t seem to give a toss and certainly was not going to give a major decision to either side. The keeper then lay down then got up then went down again and the medics came on, they got him up and looked to walk him of but he struggled and indicated he wanted to stay on then went down again. The upshot of this lengthy episode was for him to be stretchered off and replaced by the reserve keeper to a cacophony of boos from the faithful. The new keeper I am sad to report was not to be tested for the rest of the game. The closest we came was when a Baines cross went across the box and only needed a slight connection to score yet a whole posse of Blues contrived to miss it, you really had to wonder how.

7 mins of injury time shown due to the antics of the Stoke keeper. It will be interesting to find out just what is wrong with him. Those 7mins brought nothing for me to tell you about.

MotM ? Fellaini

Overall a game to forget and summed up by Baines who last week at Bolton was superb yet today was at best woeful and the team followed suite thus making the word inconsistent applicable. Today in my opinion only Howard, Hibbert, Heitinga and Fellaini looked competent premiership players, which is really not very encouraging. It was sad to see Fellaini remonstrating fiercely with team-mates such as Baines, Coleman, Vellios and Cahill but it was even sadder to realise he was right and they did need the telling off. I am not sure what he was saying but I bet movement off the ball was one subject.

The manager tried subs. Rodwell on the hour mark, Stracqualursi and Gueye around 80mins but without much success. Rodwell looked ok but the other two I don?t think are to be with us that long.

Where do we go from here? Well its Arsenal next week and at the moment a drubbing could result but Footy is never quite like that well at least I hope it?s not. The manager didn?t look his usual self in the technical area today and I think the club itself quickly realised things are in poor shape as no sooner had I reached my watering hole for the inquest when I got a club text to say I could have a ticket for the Swansea game half price if I bought a Norwich ticket. I felt like yelling at the phone screen ?I am a season ticket holder I have already bought my Norwich ticket? Doh!

I always avoid rumours like the plague but after today?s performance I will share two with you. From impeccable sources of course!!

1. Drenthe will not play for us again after having the manager by the throat last Thursday at training.

2. An interested party in Qatar are at the due diligence stage.

I am sure I don?t really believe it but it did give some pain and cheer in equal measure on a lousy day to be watching the Blues. Play like we did today and Tamworth may become giant-killers. Only kidding.

See you at the Emirates.
UP THE BLUES

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