The reason why Stoke City lost to Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday was not due to poor refereeing decisions or the fact that Eidur Gudjohnsen had the strength of a Viking to knock Abdoulaye Faye off his feet but the real problem is we don’t have a goal scorer in our team.
The stats show for themselves Stoke have scored only 29 goals in the league this season and our leading marksman is Matthew Etherington with just 6 goals in all cup competitions and he plays in midfield.
The current side sit in 11th place in the best league in the world and this is a superb achievement especially when you look at how few goals we have scored this season. This statistic proves that scoring bucket loads of goals is not all that important but things can change very quickly.
The problem is that Stoke do create chances and they do have opportunities to beat teams and to be fair they are not all set pieces and throw ins. On Saturday Ricardo Fuller missed from 5 yards when it was harder to miss then Mama Sidibe unfortunately slipped at a crucial stage and lost his footing when he should have slotted the ball past Gomes. These are chances in the Premier League that strikers thrive off.
In the best league in the world you don’t get two bites of the cherry you get one and Stoke didn’t take their chances at the weekend.
Last season James Beattie scored 6 goals in 13 appearances which undoubtedly helped the potters avoid relegation with relative ease after his January transfer window move from Sheffield United. There were games in the season where chances were few and far between and this is where Beattie was worth his corn. The home game against Bolton was a prime example. In the game Beattie was played through on goal and smashed the ball past the Bolton goalkeeper which set up the potters for a comfortable win. The perfect example was the 1-0 victory over Manchester City where Etherington’s superb cross was met by Beattie arching his neck like a bull to power home a true centre forwards headed goal to win the game.
Stoke are currently not scoring the kind of goals from open play that we were at the back end of last season and this is down to the fact that we don’t currently have a proven goal scorer in our side.
Yes Ricardo Fuller is our best striker but he isn’t scoring enough this season, Mama Sidibe will never be a goal scorer, Tuncay is not in my opinion an out and out centre forward and Dave Kitson who showed so much promise at times doesn’t seem to be able to adapt to the style of football we play.
The problem with James Beattie though is that he has put his personality before his game, his attitude has not sat well with the management staff and this sadly has been the case this season. He now seems to have burned all his bridges at the club this week by asking for an internal investigation into his treatment by the manager since 'Partygate' and so will move on in the summer.
A fully fit and happy James Beattie would have put both those chances we squandered away last Saturday and Stoke would have won the game regardless of what the referee did.
The team have performed superbly all season and deserve every ounce of praise for their work ethic and ability to become one of the hardest teams to play against in the league.
Aston Villa were delighted with a point at the Brit and the Tottenham players looked like they had secured the 4th Champions League spot with their celebrations at the end. If we are to push on and finish higher up the table than last season then we need to get a striker in who doesn't need several attempts on goal to score. These players don’t come cheap but if anyone can find one it’s Tony Pulis. Chequebook needed Mr Coates please
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