Stoke City 1.
Liverpool 0.
Any Liverpool supporter watching their side at the Britannia will feel they deserved something out of the game.
The bad news for them is - they didn’t.
Absolutely nothing.
Another cracking result for Tony Pulis and his boys.
I’m a big fan of Tony.
A really big fan.
Tony set his team out to win the game 1-0 and that’s exactly what he got.
He couldn’t do much else to be honest - if he really wanted three points.
Liverpool are far superior in almost every department.
But this Stoke side are made of something special.
Not the sort of thing you can buy in the transfer window.
The sort of thing you must grow on the training ground.
Through hard work, dedication and most importantly - time.
Stoke will never be able to attract the type of player that Liverpool can.
But what they do get in, are players who never say die.
An attitude of guts, determination and a fighting spirit that brings 1-0 victories over better teams.
They are used to being told they are not good enough so when it comes to getting the chance to test themselves against the players who are, they have some serious issues to prove.
Tony has drilled this into them.
He has been doing it for 6 seasons since his return to Stoke as manager.
And he should know how to drill it into them.
He’s the managers equivalent.
Not quite good enough for the top.
But don’t let that stop him doing everything in his power to still get there.
Tony knew Liverpool would have chances.
Lots of chances.
And they did.
11 shots on target.
20 attempts at goal.
12 corners.
But if these Stoke players defend for their lives, fight for every ball and throw everything they have in the way of Liverpool, they know they can keep a clean sheet.
It’s up to great teams to break this resolve down and grind out a result.
But Liverpool aren’t a great team - yet.
Tony knows this.
He also knew he’d get one chance.
He always does.
Turns out he only got 1 shot on target.
But with the spirit his team has - sometimes that’s all he needs...
