We always seem to be the better side, but we never seem to win when we play Stoke City. Despite their poor showing this season, and the removal of Pulis, I still look at this fixture and expect us to draw. They have this unshakable habit of ruining my enjoyment of a Saints game. So yes, Stoke City — you started this. Surely this time Saints? Free me of this need to hate.
You can put a stop to this. You put Stoke City to bed and I can get on with my life. FB house promo. Share this article via facebook Share this article via twitter Share this article via messenger Share this with Share this article via email Share this article via flipboard Copy link. Share this article via comment Share this article via facebook Share this article via twitter.
What on earth difference will it make in the Potteries if Van Gaal stays or goes? Perhaps Stoke are simply the sort of team to take delight in getting a rival manager the sack, even though their results against leading sides this season suggest they are confident and strong enough to beat anyone.
Occasionally it happens that results against certain sides drain boardroom confidence and indicate that it might be time for a manager to go, though, that usually only comes into effect because the side in question is perceived to be struggling itself and therefore easy to beat. Yet clubs who have this kiss of death effect can hardly be expected to celebrate the matter — they are usually too busy worrying about their own prospects of survival. Stoke have absolutely no concerns on that score.
While neutrals were raving about their almost contemptuous dismissal of Manchester United, seasoned Potters watchers were pointing out that because of the hopelessness of the opposition the performance could not be considered as satisfying or complete as the victory by the same score against Manchester City a few weeks earlier.
So why cannot all Stoke fans simply express pride in the progress of their own side, rather than indulging in schadenfreude and gloating at the expense of others? One does not want to be too po-faced about this sort of thing — a degree of opposition-mocking comes with the territory at football matches — but it is not as if Stoke v United is a local derby, is it?
It could be that Stoke see themselves as a blue-collar, mid-table, medium-budget operation who get a real buzz out of embarrassing the spendthrift aristocrats above them, but that is precisely the image of the club Mark Hughes is doing his best to dispel.
With some success, too. The old inferiority complex can be left at home now, guys. You have some of the most entertaining and effective players in the division. Why not celebrate the prowess of Marko Arnautovic or Xherdan Shaqiri rather than lampoon opponents who are struggling to be half as good? Perhaps that is too simple and naive an idea for modern football. As away fans often tend to be, they were more committed, more voluble and more loyal than is common on matchdays inside Old Trafford.
And before anyone writes in to make the point, they have been far nastier to rival managers such as Wenger in the past than merely going to elaborate lengths to suggest his job may be on the line. But the bigger the name — and Manchester United is pretty big — the more followers want to attach themselves to it.
The modern football phenomenon of supporters defining themselves more by the teams they hate than the ones they admire is almost by definition a product of the envy felt at smaller clubs. This is not for one minute to suggest that Stoke are a small club.
Rather to suggest that Stoke might be a lot bigger than some of their supporters seem to think.
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