Stoke reax

Paul Wilson, The Guardian

Even with Abdoulaye Faye, dismissed with more than half an hour left, Stoke were deservedly winning until five ­minutes from the end when Barry showed determination to hook in a second effort after his first shot had been touched on to a post. Liverpool themselves will be putting City back in their place at Eastlands on Sunday unless Mancini can effect a dramatic improvement.

Sandy Macaskill, Daily Telegraph

Aggression, intensity, authority — call it what you want — City lack it. After losing to Everton, Hull, and now drawing at the Britannia, we are left with one immutable fact, one which brings to mind Lance-Corporal Jones of Dad’s Army: Manchester City don’t like it up 'em.

True, Roberto Mancini’s side have moved into fourth place, ahead of Liverpool, but this was not a performance that suggested they will stay there long. Mancini had ordered full attack mode, but he was rewarded with a sluggish start and a lapse in concentration just when things finally started going their way, Glenn Whelan’s shot from outside the area burying itself in the bottom corner after 71 minutes.

Tom Dart, The Times

The point pushed the visiting team above Liverpool into fourth place, and they still have a game in hand on Rafael Benítez’s side, whom they host on Sunday, but it was impossible to feel optimistic about City’s Champions League prospects after this display. It was a night to reinforce prejudices: Stoke the bustling bullies, City the flaky travellers.

Phil Shaw, The Independent

A surfeit of draws cost Mark Hughes his job as manager of Manchester City, but Roberto Mancini should have been grateful for the one he scraped against Stoke last night because his team would have been deservedly beaten by 10 men but for a contentious refereeing decision deep in stoppage time.

Stoke player ratings

Given He hasn't been at his best level for a while but today was a real step down. His error - letting Glenn Whelan's shot through his hands - was his worst since he's come to City. It could well have cost us the game. He could also be blamed for losing out on Rory Delap's long throw in stoppage time when Ryan Shawcross headed in. 4

Richards Back into the side after injury, and he had another good game. Defensively competent, and demonstrated the pace and audacity that makes him a much more exciting right back than Zabaleta. 6

Touré Yet again he seemed to hide in a big game, providing half-hearted leadership at the box, failing to organise the back four sufficiently well. He's our third best centre-back, and not near our third best captain. 5

Lescott A good performance, he did himself proud under Stoke's aerial bombardment. Should form a good partnership with Vincent Kompany when the Belgian is fit. 6

Garrido It's not very clear to me why he started ahead of Wayne Bridge. Clearly this is not his sort of game, and he was given a rough time by the pace and strength of Stoke but there was nothing too disastrous. 5

Johnson Started wide on the right, but free to drift forward and across as desired. His pace and quick feet were effective, and while he never quite had the impact as he did against Bolton it was still a bright performance before he came off. 6

de Jong As he predicted the ball often went over his head but he cleaned up possession well when it was on the ground. His passing was good but again he didn't look 100% fit. 5

Vieira Again, far off the pace. I don't just mean his speed running across the ground. But when he gets the ball he cannot move it quickly enough before he is caught in possession. Improved, naturally, when Stoke went down to ten. Should have been sent off for an early stamp on Whelan. Nowhere near good enough. 4

Barry Passed the ball around nicely some of the time, but still not as much influence as we hoped for when we bought him. Took his goal well from a prone position, but did miss a good chance at the end of the first half. 5

Adebayor Aside from winning the red card his contribution was limited. We got ten minutes of effort and running, but in terms of all-round contribution it still wasn't there. 5

RSC I hope that he can become a good player for us, and I do like his style, but he's never anywher near full fitness. He was barely in the game today, never quick or alert enough. A real shame. 4

Subs:

SWP Sparked things up when he came on, running at defenders and getting into good positions. 6

Petrov Poor delivery from decent positions. n/a

Zabaleta Too late to mark. n/a

Stoke 1 - 1 City

• A decent performance, but a seriously good point. We're up to fourth, and we still have one game in hand. It was a strange game - we were under pressure for most of the first hour, before Abdoulaye Faye was sent off. After a spell of a pressure we conceded from a rare Shay Given error, and it looked like we would lose to ten men for the second consecutive season at the Britannia. But a late Gareth Barry goal belatedly brought us level and we hung on for a point.

• It ought to be said, though, that we were lucky with Ryan Shawcross' stoppage time header. He jumped against Shay Given from a Rory Delap long throw and headed home. It was disallowed; Shawcross having allegedly held Given down. It was a very marginal call from the referee. We won't always get this lucky. And it raises serious issues: we conceded two good goals against Stoke from long throws in two games. Only one of them was given - but we shouldn't be in this position.

• Until the sending off we were poor. Stoke were as bold and aggressive as expected. They dominated possession and threw balls into our box. For the most part we defended bravely, Joleon Lescott again proving that he is better than Kolo Touré. But we did concede chances. And we again proved that we can't dominate possession. The Vieira/de Jong/Barry triangle was as slow and damp as it has been in the past. It was not until Faye was sent off that we got in the game.

• From that point we got the space and possession we had been waiting all game for. Johnson on the left, and Shaun Wright-Phillips attacked down both flanks and we finally looked like the better side. But we couldn't make it count and the rarest of Shay Given mistakes led to our going 1-0 behind. Imagine losing to ten men of Stoke in consecutive seasons. Given's one of my favourite players so I'm delighted I'm not now cursing him for causing our defeat. But it shouldn't have happened and it was almost fatal.

• We managed an equaliser, and a found a few half-chances for a winner. It shouldn't have come to this, and we should have lost it in stoppage time. I wanted a brave performance more than anything else. Did we get it? Probably not. We were cautious and timid, again, for too long and required lucky breaks to get level. But it's a point on the road, and one from behind as well. Enough to keep us in a decent positon for now. But enough to generate momentum for good results against Liverpool, Stoke and Chelsea? Probably not, I fear.
  

NdJ labels Stoke 'kick and rush'

True enough, although Stoke don't mind being patronised by those associated with bigger clubs, if only because their siege mentality and club unity feed off it. So I don't know how wise it is for players who grew up in the Ajax youth teams to criticise Stoke for their style:

"I like the ball played along the ground a lot, but I think we can expect a lot of long balls against Stoke, so you have to be prepared for the second ball and knock-downs.

“It’s going to be a battle and it’s probably not the best pitch in the league to play football on at the moment, but we know Stoke away is going to be hard whenever you take them on...

The former Hamburg star added: “In Germany and Holland all the teams try and play football - here you still find teams who play kick and rush. But they are doing what they feel they have to in order to survive in this league."

That said, if we're going to beat Stoke we're going to have to beat them at their own game. Few teams go to Stoke and win, and those that do only triumph on Stoke's terms. And so de Jong is going to be more engaged and more involved than he was on Saturday evening.

Stoke preview

After a bit of a stutter this is where it starts to get real. We've got four matches in the next eleven days: two trips to Stoke, Liverpool at home and then Stamford Bridge away. If they all go to plan we return to Stamford Bridge for an FA Cup quater-final before resuming our push for fourth from a position of real strength. But if they go wrong we'll only have fourth left to play for, and will be chasing it without any momentum.

So it's crucial to get this four game stretch off to a good start. And I don't necessarily mean a win, either. This is one of our games in hand, and it is not a surrender to acknowledge that a point won at the Britannia is a good one. It's more than we managed last season. The most important thing tomorrow is to arrest our slide into a rather ponderous, damp brand of football we've been playing recently. I don't want to see a return to 3-3s and 4-3s but we're not looking more like a side going through the motions than one fighting for big prizes on two fronts.

Unfortunately our team selection isn't going to much help here. Our two attacking talismen, Carlos Tevez and Craig Bellamy, are both absent, and there are doubts over our two experienced wingers (Martin Petrov and Shaun Wright-Phillips) and our best playmaker in Stephen Ireland. Much responsibility, then, should fall on the shoulders of Adam Johnson in only his second start. My guess is that he will start in a free role behind a pairing of Emmanuel Adebayor and Roque Santa Cruz, which could threaten to make Georgios Samaras and Bernardo Corradi look like a partnership of exceptional mobility and effort. Johnson, as against Bolton, will drift onto whichever wing he smells weakness. Based on Shaun's successes on Saturday he could well succeed.

Behind Johnson I imagine Mancini will go for three defensive midfielders again. While Patrick Vieira could partner Nigel de Jong and Gareth Barry, he doesn't look anywhere near full fitness to me. My guess then is Pablo Zabaleta in midfield with Micah Richards returning to right back.

It's a solid team and a physical one which might be the best way to succeed at Stoke. I'm not very confident of a win - I worry where the goals are coming from - but it's not impossible and I've just got a feeling this evening that a brave, battling performance could well give us the momentum to come through this difficult run we've got coming up. I predict a fiery score draw.