No... this isn't the latest European fixture, although a few Stoke fans might wish it were so.
Rather, this is following on from an interesting discussion that I was listening to on TalkSport Radio the other night. It wasn't the first time that Stoke City's style of play was under scrutiny and inevitably the conversation drifted in the direction of Barcelona.
Yes, in the last few seasons the Catalan giants have wowed us all with fluid, one-touch passing football, awash with technical brilliance, almost to the point of embarrassing their opponents. Their 3-1 win away to fiercest rivals Real Madrid last weekend merely served to underline that quality.
Meanwhile, 1,100 miles North, Stoke City were employing their own brand of football against high-flying Spurs. The visitors were unbeaten in 11 games, with 6 straight league wins, and whilst an away win at Stoke was by no means a formality they were considered well capable of extending that run and pressing home their title ambitions.
Alas (I say, as a Tottenham fan) it wasn't to be. Spurs found themselves a goal down after just 13 minutes, and right before the break conceded a second. Neither goal could be described as a classic but there was a strong element of determination about both. For the first, Crouch had to battle hard with Gallas in the Spurs box before cutting back for Etherington to slot home. The second was "route one" stuff with Shotton launching in a long throw Rory Delap style, Walters finding space and flicking the ball on and Etherington again cropping up at the far post to loop the ball up beyond Friedel.
Not pretty by any means, but they all count. Despite plenty of Spurs pressure in the second half and Adebayor converting a penalty, Spurs couldn't do enough to get a result. The referee, Chris Foy, came under fire for a string of decisions and the consensus is that Spurs had a perfectly good goal ruled out for offside, were denied another penalty for a handball, and had Kaboul harshly sent off for a second yellow.
Had the result been different, the talk would most likely have been about the London club's title challenge. As it was, Stoke's reward for their victory was yet another scrutiny of their playing style, deemed by many to simply be physical, direct and lacking in entertaining flair.
"It's not exactly Barcelona", came the comments. "Everyone should play like Barcelona, shouldn't they? That's what we want to see, isn't it?"
Well I've looked hard and yet I still can't find anything in the Laws of the Game that say a goal has to start with 25 passes and end up with a volley into the top right hand corner. Or for a player to run the length of the pitch, twisting and turning and beating 8 players before coolly dinking the ball over the flailing keeper.
No, to win a game, you have to score, full stop. I'll say it again, they all count. And stopping the other team scoring is just as much a part of winning football matches as scoring goals yourself, and I will say, as a Spurs fan, that if you can restrict Modric, Van de Vaart, Adebayor and Bale to a single penalty over 90 minutes, then you deserve a result, even if you might need a little help from the ref now and then. :-)
We all love to watch Barcelona, but football is a competitive sport and if it works, it works. Credit to Stoke for playing the way that suits them. If you have a Messi and an Iniesta in your side then great, but if you don't you do whatever you can to succeed. When that ball crosses the line I don't hear many fans saying "Oh, that wasn't pretty". Instead I see thousands jumping up and down like crazy and celebrating the goal.
If Stoke have a poor run and can't win games, then no doubt the Stoke fans will make their feelings known and Tony Pulis will have to justify his tactics. But until then, if they're not complaining then why should anyone else?
Frankly, my dears, they just don't give a damn.
Follow me on Twitter! - @Tanel76
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