Roberth Huth Fan

Stoke city manager Mark Hughes has stated that Ryan Shawcross will be a major miss as the club prepare to take on Fulham in their final home match of the season. Stoke will be looking to finish just about Newcastle United in the table and they have all the qualities to do so. They have managed to go on an incredible run of form over the last few weeks, which has seen the gap to Newcastle close to almost negligible levels in the last few weeks. Newcastle have also aided this progress by losing the last five matches without exception.

It is only because of the form that they showed in the first half of the season that they are still in the top half of the table. After the sale of Yohan Cabaye in the January transfer window, the club has totally collapsed in every area of the pitch. Since they take on the title chasing Liverpool in the final game of the season, not much is expected of Newcastle in terms of points from now till the end of the season. Hence, Stoke can move above Newcastle if results go their way. Finishing above Newcastle will help the club earn around £ 2 million more in TV money.

“Having lost Robert Huth early in the season, Ryan has had to show a great level of leadership. Maybe in a strange way losing Rob has helped Ryan to grow as a captain. Losing Rob was a big blow to us all and we’ve really missed him on occasions but Ryan and Marc (Wilson) have played well to fill that hole. We will miss Ryan tomorrow too, because he is a real leader and it would have been nice to have seen him play in every minute of every game. Unfortunately that wasn’t meant to be,” said Hughes.

2 goals from Charlie Adam pushed Stoke City to the 6th victory for them as they overcame what was yet another disappointing match for Manchester United. David Moyes opted to go out with Van Persie, Wayne Rooney and Juan Mata as the main attacking outlet for his side.

The attacking department of United was very well covered but an early injury from Jonny Evans forced Moyes on making a quick substitution as Rafael Da Silva entered the pitch only after 11 minutes had passed.

United enjoyed having more possession throughout the entire match with Wayne Rooney firing warning shots in the early stages of the 1st half and some moments later his partner Van Persie tried his luck with a few shots of his own but it was later deflected off of Stoke City’s goalkeeper Asmir Begovic.

The Dutchman Van Persie came close on scoring the opening goal of the encounter when he tried to score with a close range header that went just barely over the crossbar.

Even with all the superiority that the visiting team had over Stoke City, it was the hosts that got in the lead when Charlie Adam launched a free kick that took a deflection off of Carrick and found the back of the net.

Right before the conclusion of the 1st half, United suffered another blow when Phil Jones was removed from the pitch after crashing with Walters and the young defender left the match with an injury.

Manchester United got back in the game at the 47th minute when a pass from Juan Mata was finished off by Van Persie as he turned the scoreboard 1-1.
Unfortunately for David Moyes and his side, Charlie Adam managed to push Stoke City ahead as he scored the last goal of the match and defeated Manchester United.

The manager of Stoke City, Mark Hughes, has made it clear that Jermaine Pennant and Kenwyne Jones are not going to be sold during the mid season transfer window.

There had been speculations that these two players might be put on sale in January.

Jones returned to action for Stokes on Saturday after a gap of one month or so and made a match winning contribution straightaway. He found the net once in the FA Cup game against the Championship team Leicester City and helped his side pull off a 2-1 win.

As far as Pennant is concerned, he was not included in the match day squad for the last weekend’s game against Leicester City.

When asked about the future of these two guys, Hughes said, “Kenwyne needs to have a bit of patience. Yes, he hasn’t been given that many playing chances so far in the season, but, he will get them at some point of time. He just needs to keep playing the way he played the other day against Leicester.”

“We are not going to sell either of these two guys, at least not till the end of this season. We have struggled to find the net on a consistent basis, so, it’s important for us to keep those guys who are capable of scoring.”

Stoke City’s performance in the Barclays Premier League this season has been average. They haven’t done wonders, but, they haven’t put up too many pathetic performances either. They have secured victories in 4 out of the 20 matches that they have played so far in the league, while, in 10 matches, they have been beaten. The remaining 6 games have been draws. Their position in the points table at the moment is no. 12.

Mark Hughes, the Stoke City manager has finally confirmed that club captain and defensive stalwart Ryan Shawcross was indeed cautioned during the half time in their encounter against Manchester United at Old Trafford last weekend.

The Potters defender was involved in a bust up with Manchester United front man Robin Van Persie during the dying moments of the first half, just after Stole had retaken their lead and their verbal continued as the two sides made their way down to the tunnel at half time.

When the verbal bout didn’t show any signs of stopping after the two sides went into the tunnel, referee Lee Mason decided to take action against the Stoke player and cautioned him in their dressing room. According to reports, the referee entered into the Stoke City dressing room and cautioned the player for the part he played in the exchange with the England defender also grabbing United’s Dutch striker by the neck at the blow of the half time whistle.

And Hughes, who witnessed his side go down 3-2 after taking the lead on two occasions stated that he was completely baffled by what he saw. The Welshman reportedly stated that he was even unaware that a player could be cautioned inside the dressing room during the break as well.

Speaking to a media outlet, Hughes stated that Ryan Shawcross was indeed shown a yellow card in dressing room. He went on to add that the referee made it a point to knock on the Stoke City dressing room and book him and he mentioned that he has no idea why.

He also stated that he might have pushed Van Persie but couldn’t be sure because he didn’t see the incident and also stated that he hasn’t seen anyone get booked inside the dressing room.

Premier League side Stoke City is going the American way once again. The Potters already have American internationals Brek Shea and Geoff Cameron in their books as well as the rarely spotted former Glasgow Rangers midfielder Maurice Edu. And now, the side from the Britannia Stadium has been linked with a move for Los Angeles Galaxy player Omar Gonzalez on top of their chase for his American international team mate Juan Agudelo.

Gonzalez is a 24 year old centre back and standing at well over six feet, is a massive presence at the heart of the defense and in set pieces in the opposition area as demonstrated by his goal in the MLS All Star team’s 3-1 hammering of Italian giants AS Roma last week. According to a journalist from a local newspaper who was covering the match, a lot of scouts were present at the match and according to him; the player spoke to the officials of Stoke City before the match as well.

Gonzalez will see out his contract with Los Angeles Galaxy in December and the club will be facing a very difficult winter this year with the contracts of Gonzalez as well as that of Landon Donovan up. Born in Texas, Gonzalez holds dual American and Mexican passports and has been a part of the Los Angeles Galaxy team since 2009 and has also played alongside David Beckham.

Gonzalez made his debut for the United States Men’s National Team in 2010 and with head coach Jurgen Klinsmann preferring players playing in Europe rather than in the MLS, a move to Stoke City is something that will interest the player a lot. Moreover, being a free transfer, the club can also offer higher wages to the player and tempt him to play in the Premier League, which is a big lure.

Stoke City defensive stalwart Robert Huth has hailed the club’s transfer business in the summer and welcomed the arrival of defensive pairing Marc Muniesa and Erik Pieters to the Britannia Stadium.

The German international had been a regular in the four man defense of the club under Tony Pulis since he signed for the club from Middlesbrough back in 2009 but now faces increased competition to secure a first team spot under new manager Mark Hughes, who is already trying to stamp his own authority on the club with the signing of two new players and negotiations underway for another couple of signings.

Muniesa, the former Barcelona defender, can play at the centre of the defense as well as at left back while Pieters is primarily a left wing back. And speaking to the official website of the club, Robert Huth stated that it is always good to have competition for places because it improves the individual game.

The former Chelsea man went on to state that the game is on and added that all the places that were occupied last season under Pulis are now up for grabs with a new man in charge. He mentioned that he needs to keep his head together and stay in shape and then see what happens. Huth mentioned that he had only seen Muniesa and Pieters before taking a look at them first hand in pre-season training.

Robert Huth is also raring to give it a go after undergoing a strict fitness program and regimen while on holiday at the end of the season. The former German international defender stated that he likes to do some hard work in the gym before returning for pre-season so when the club’s pre-season officially starts, the aches and pains don’t appear that other players normally get.

The manager of Stoke City, Tony Pulis, has denied the fact that a few clubs have approached him to buy the Bosnian goalkeeper Asmir Begovic.

There have been some reports recently that Arsenal and Manchester United are interested in Begovic and both the clubs have approached Pulis for that.

Stoke City bought the young English goalie Jack Butland during the mid season transfer window and that led to the speculations that the club might put Begovic on sale in the upcoming summer, but, Pulis has denied that.

When asked if Arsenal and Manchester United have approached him for Begovic, Pulis said, “No, I haven’t got a call from anyone regarding Begovic. If anyone wants to buy him, well, they must be ready to spend a huge amount of money. We are not going to let a world class goalie go at a small amount.”

“We have bought Jack Butland, this doesn’t mean that we are in a mood to put Asmir on sale. We want him to stay at the club. He is a high class goalie and he is getting better and better with every season. Even in this season, he has been superb for us.”

Stoke City’s performance in the ongoing Premier League hasn’t been that good. They were in danger of finishing in the relegation zone a couple of weeks back.

At the moment, Stoke City is at no. 11 in the points table with 41 points in 37 matches. They have won 9 games, have lost 14 and the rest 14 games have been draws.

Pulis has been criticized for team’s dismal performance in the ongoing Premier League. Some experts have even said that he should be sacked.

When asked about that, Pulis said, “People who are criticizing me should have a look at my record. The team has performed wonderfully in the last few years. We earned promotion to the Premier League; we reached the finals of FA Cup and round of 32 in Europa League. People must look at these achievements before having a go at me.”

Stoke City has defeated Reading FC in a Premier League match played at Britannia Stadium on Saturday. Stoke won the match by 2-1. This was Stoke’s 7th victory in the league.

However, despite getting three points from this match, the Potters didn’t move up in the points table. They remained at the 10th position. Stoke currently has 33 points in 27 matches.

This was Stoke’s first victory in the last five matches. Out of their previous 4 matches, the Potters had lost three. So, they were under pressure before this match. But, they came up with a great performance against Reading.

In the first half of the match, the Potters looked a bit rusty. But, after the half time break, there was a considerable improvement in their body language. They attacked a lot more and eventually got up by 1-0 in the 64th minute. Robert Huth scored the opening goal for Stoke. This was the first time in the season that Huth found the net. He got a pass from Glenn Whelan and he cashed on that chance by heading the ball into the far corner of the net.

Stoke got a 2-0 lead in the 81st minute. The second goal was scored by Cameron Jerome who was sent onto the field on the place of Michael Kightly just a few minutes back. It was a fine strike by the English striker. The shot was so well placed that Reading goalie didn’t have any chance to make a save.

Just after a couple of minutes, Adrian Mariappa opened the scoring for Reading and made the game interesting. There were still ten minutes to go including the stoppage time. So, Reading had enough time to level the scores. But, they weren’t able to do that. The last 10 minutes went goalless and Stoke ended up winning the match.

The centre back of Stoke City, Robert Huth, has said that the upcoming Premier League match against Chelsea will be a special one for him and he desperately wants to perform well in that match. Stoke City will take on Chelsea on Saturday.

Huth had begun his career at Chelsea. He had joined Chelsea in 2001 when he was just 17 years old. He played for Chelsea for 5 years and then, in 2006, he joined Middlesbrough. During his tenure at Chelsea, Huth played 42 matches, but, he didn’t manage to score any goal.

When asked about the upcoming match against Chelsea, Huth said, “It will be a special match for me. When you play against your old club, you always want to do well. I also want to give my best in Saturday’s match.”

When asked how good Chelsea is as a team, Huth said, “They are a very good unit. They have got a lot of powerful strikers. Demba Ba scored a couple of goals in his debut game. Juan Mata has also been performing consistently and then, they have got Fernando Torres who is in the form of his life at the moment. So, they have got some really good attacking options.”

“They had struggled a bit with their defense earlier in the season, but, now it seems that they have sorted out that problem. Their defenders have really performed well in the last few games. So, they have got all their bases covered and to defeat them, we will have to play some extraordinary football.”

When asked about his tenure at Chelsea, Huth said, “Playing for Chelsea was really an enjoyable experience. I learnt a lot of things there. It’s my first club, so, it’s close to my heart. I still miss those days.”

Robert Huth has advised Roy Hodgson, the manager of the England national football team, that he should give Ryan Shawcross a few more opportunities.

Shawcross made his debut for England in a friendly match against Sweden which was played a few days ago. Shawcross didn’t get a starting opportunity in his debut match and he was sent onto the field when 15 minutes were left in the match. At that time, England was ahead by 2-1.
Shawcross looked pretty tentative in his debut match and made some mistakes which proved to be costly for England. He didn’t look a confident player during his 15 minutes stay on the field. During those 15 minutes, the match turned on its head. Zlatan Ibrahimovic fired in three goals in those 15 minutes and England eventually lost the match by 2-4.

Robert Huth believes that the potential of a player cannot be judged on the basis of his performance in one match. Talking to the reporters after the match between Stoke City and West Ham, Huth said, “Shawcross has been a quality defender for us since the last 5 years. He was fantastic in this match as well. He played for full 90 minutes and was at the peak of his game. He is really a fantastic, young player.”

When asked about the performance of Shawcross in the match against Sweden, Huth said, “Look, it was his debut match and every player gets nervous when he represents his country for the first time. His performance was pretty dismal in that match, but, it was only because he was nervous. There is no lack of ability in him. He is a highly skilled defender.”

“I think Roy Hodgson should keep persisting with him in a few more games. You cannot judge how good a player is on the basis of just one performance. You need to give him a go in at least five games and only then, you can judge his potential.”