Stoke surrendered a two goal advantage at the Britannia Stadium to leave themselves hanging on for a point in the 2-2 draw with Wigan following one of the worst halves of football in recent memory.
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Hand on heart, I was ready to sing the praises of manager Tony Pulis for trying a new shape, and despite Peter Crouch starting over Kenwyne Jones, I was looking forward to seeing Charlie Adam in the middle - a position in which he made his name at Blackpool. It was Adam who ran the show in the early stages as Stoke looked as comfortable as I can ever remember seeing them. It looked like the Potters had two extra players over their opponents as bodies flooded the middle third, with the men in red and white launching attack after attack on an incredibly suspect Wigan defence.
Stoke's dominance was clear but the lack of pace up front still proved to be the main stumbling block to extending that dominance into chances. All too often the impressive Adam would thread the ball inside the full-back only to find a static Crouch or an exasperated Jon Walters, neither of whom could get on the end of them.
What happened next was the most spectacular of capitulations as Pulis completely lost his nerve as soon as Wigan got a goal back against the run of play. He somehow thought it would be sensible to bring on the pace we needed (great) but take off the player best able to utilise it (bad). This was a head scratcher but at least the team still had the composure of N'Zonzi to keep the midfield going, alas that was the case for a mere minute or two as Pulis, in what has to be amongst his most bizarre substitutions, took him off for Wilkinson.
The move was met with a chorus of boos as the manager reverted to cautious and fearful type by removing any composure the team had, rendering the midfield to mere spectators, watching hoof after hoof flying over their heads as the ball came back time and time again.
The players looked anxious as they struggled to get a foothold in a game they completely dominated with their initial shape of 3-5-2. What followed was the most abject display you're likely to see as Wigan passed around the team with ease. Each occasion that Stoke got possession it was passed back to goalkeeper Begovic in utter panic, only for him to launch it to the hapless Crouch, who did nothing and so it came back... repeat to fade.
I find myself still shaking my head in disbelief at what I just witnessed, it was almost as if Wigan boss Roberto Martinez made those decisions for Pulis as they sought to cancel out any tactical advantage Stoke had, handing the initiative to his side, who were unlucky not to come away with all three points.
I'm at a loss to attempt to explain Pulis' thinking and find myself grasping at the positive that at least Stoke can play a different shape, and play it well. In fact, adding two decent strikers into that formation would see the Potters fare even better, but I'm not sure it is something the manager will try again, such was his cowardice in seeing it through.
At the end of the day, that was the difference between the two sides; one manager had the strength of conviction in his tactics whilst the other seemed completely lost away from the comforts of his own tried and trusted methods. I'll let you guess which was which.
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