Stoke managed to extend their unbeaten run by taking a point following a frantic first half littered with deflections at a sparsely populated DW Stadium.

Hidden Talents… ©PA Photos

We made the short trip to the DW with high hopes given the poor form of the home side and I was confident of the 3 points, though it was not to be as Wigan played with the confidence and character of a side not befitting their current league position.

It was a funny game really, we were unfortunate that we had to move things around to accommodate the injuries to Pennant and Wilko and we lost the balance we have enjoyed these past few weeks and that plus a couple of deflections meant it was just the 1 point and not 3 that we got.

The talking points are as follows;

Team Selection/Setup – It was such a shame that we were unable to name the same starting XI as previous weeks but unfortunately injuries robbed us of the in form Pennant and Wilkinson meaning a reshuffle of the back line with Higgy coming into the middle and Robbie moving out to the right where he is much less influential. Walters was the choice to come in for Pennant and I think Pulis was right to choose him over Tuncay; Wigan were always going to attack and in N’Zogbia have one of the best wingers in the league, Huth was going to be exposed to that and it was important he had the protection of the more disciplined Walters in front of him. I think Wilko being in the team and indeed how much we now miss him is as clear an indication as you'll get at how much we need another Right Back in January.

Begovic – Man of the Match. Asmir continued his rich vein of form with another excellent performance between the sticks. He rescued us on a number of occasions and his save near the end of the game from N’Zogbia was World Class and duly secured the point. Asmir has made the No.1 jersey his own very much on merit and it’s good to hear the positive noises about how happy he is to be playing and I can only echo my words of weeks gone by when I say I hope he stays at Stoke for the long term.

Collins - I've namechecked Danny as a weak link on a few occasions these last few weeks and he had another poor game for me. His own goal was very poor defending, and his positioning once again was lacking as was his passing. I'd like Higgy to be given another chance on the left and for Pulis to make sure that position, along with the one on the right, is a priority for improvement in January.

Shawcross – Another good game from Ryan, he was the next best player on the pitch, even though he had to line up the wrong side of Huth as the German was returned to his less favoured position on the right. There are rumours of Ryan attracting the interest of Juventus, Man Utd, Liverpool and Wolfsburg in the press but I think he is happy at Stoke for now and whilst he is good enough to play for one of the big Clubs, he is enjoying his time as Captain of a top ten Premier League club at Stoke.

Whitehead – I’m glad Dean is getting better press recently, his importance in the middle was clear for all to see last week when he was moved to Right Back handing the initiative to Man City's midfield. He seems to have been unshackled from the cage somewhat this season and is getting forward well, in fact, he was very close to finishing off the second goal himself and when you think how quickly that move broke, he showed great determination to join up with the attack. Keep it up Deano!

Jones – Hmmm, KJ is a strange one, one minute he is unplayable, the next he looks uninterested. He did very well helping to create the chance for the second goal but then strolled about and forced Ric to chase the play more than he was comfortable with. I guess if he played as well as he could every week he wouldn’t be in a Stoke shirt but he is and Pulis will no doubt be earning his money by working hard to get some more consistency into his game.

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