An encouraging start to the League Cup campaign has seen us into the last 16 of the competition. With the big guns of Chelsea, Everton and Liverpool out along with a number of other Premier League clubs, some might argue this is our best chance of silverware in a long time and a win in the final would mean Stoke would be plying their trade in Europe next season for the first time in 38 years.

Deadly Danny... ©PA Photos

Our latest win saw a much improved performance and a comfortable win over Fulham, who themselves were involved in European football and even got to the final, however they looked a shadow of their former self on Tuesday night and unfortunately for them it seems that Arsenal’s interest in Schwarzer has turned him into Rob Green since the window closed. I didn’t actually go to the game so any views here will be from what I heard from listening on the radio and also read in the aftermath from people who did go.

The Goalkeeper Debate – Asmir came back into the side after allegations in the previous round of refusing to play. He had little to do though commanded his area well and showed shorter distribution to the defence, though that could be just because we were trying different ways of retaining possession in the relative comfort of a cup competition. There was one simple ball in that he failed to deal with and dropped, but that could well be down to lack of game time and a quick pat on the back and word in his ear from Whelan helped him get over that one. In terms of who should be starting, Sorensen has been questionable on the command of his area recently, but he has also made a number of saves which have earned us points so I don’t see any reason for Begovic to displace him just yet.

Good football – I find it frustrating, as do many others I would expect, that we only really play well and with good movement and pace when we are either chasing a game or when it is a Cup match. Pulis now has players at his disposal with a lot of experience who are technically able, certainly going forward, yet when there are league points at stake we rarely see the kind of set up or free flowing attractive play that was encouraged from the outset on Tuesday evening.

Fuller – Ric had another uninspiring game, it seems he is a shadow of his former self right now. This is down to one of two things in my opinion; firstly he had lost a lot of weight and had a pre season of worry following the riots in Jamaica and the destruction of his family home. The other reason is simply that his nose has been put out of joint by the new arrivals and his demotion to the bench. Ric has been the best player in my generation and in my opinion should be starting up top with Jones, I had assumed that this was the plan all along but it seems Pulis has surprised everyone by changing things around a bit up front.

The Striker roles – Every single fan has recognised the need for a Mama with goals and we all thought that’s what Kenwyne Jones was bought in for having excelled in that position in this league already with Sunderland. It was a huge surprise in that respect then when we saw that Jones seems to have been bought to play in Ric’s position of the advanced striker and not in the obvious position of the deeper role. Instead Mama has effectively been replaced by Walters as the target man, and I know that even after the signing of Jones, Pulis was still looking at Carlton Cole when most assumed it was either/or for that target man role. It’s hard to argue though with the facts though which are that KJ has scored 3 goals in hi last 3 games so it seems that there is some logic in the setup, I just get the nagging feeling that we could be doing even better by starting Fuller alongside the in form Jones.

Tuncay – Tunny had a very good game and was full of beans as ever, it was clear that the diminutive Turk had a point to prove to the Manager and I would be very surprised if he was not in the squad to face Newcastle on Sunday. I think part of the thinking behind his inclusion on the left of midfield was that Pennant is unlikely to be fit in time for the next game and Pulis wanted to try him on the left and Etherington on the right. On the face of it, It seemed to work and Tunny played well cutting in but on the opposite flank we saw an isolated Etherington going forward as he was left frustrated covering the attacks down the flanks and helping out Wilko, which takes me onto..

‘That’ tackle – A lot has been said about the tackle that happened in time added on when we were cruising to a comfortable win. It was a poor decision by Wilko to tackle in the manner he did at that stage of the game and it seems Dembele could face a spell out due to Wilko’s keenness to make an impression on his Manager having been left out of the side this season. We know Wilko is a passionate local lad who would die for the club but he perhaps showed a little immaturity on this occasion and this tackle if anything served to illustrate why he isn’t in the side of late. Hughes’ reaction to the whole affair was a little over the top and the nature of his ‘handshake’ with Pulis was perhaps unnecessary but I think he is under a bit of pressure at the moment as Fulham struggle to adapt to his way of doing things and he must be praying to anyone who will listen at the moment that Dembele doesn’t suffer a similar fate to that of Zamora and I think that was the driving force behind his words and actions after the event.

As for the League Cup, we’re into the last 16 now and a short 18/1 to win the competition, let’s keep our fingers crossed for a nice home draw in the next round to take us into Quarter Finals, and how I would love a Final against Arsenal to put to bed a lot of bad blood from years gone by in this competition, not that I’m getting ahead of myself or anything…

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