Is this the biggest test yet for Pulis? (From Northwich Guardian)
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Join Guardian reporter and Stoke City fan Ian as he gets used to life in the Premiership.
Hartlepool United 2 Stoke City 0: reaction
3:29pm Sunday 4th January 2009
THERE are no excuses for yesterday's defeat - and I don't want to hear any.
Spare me the cliches about concentrating on the league or the pointless efforts to make something about the fact that we made seven changes from the previous game.
Using either 'reason' to explain yesterday's result an insult to a Hartlepool side that clearly wanted to win the game more than the Potters did.
Stoke played plenty of similar matches in the League Cup earlier this season and came through them all, with a combination of good play and strong team spirit.
Similar numbers of changes were made for those cup matches, but we still came through them.
Our team spirit appears to be disappearing fast as a run of nine league games without a win takes its toll on our self-belief.
Stoke played plenty of similar matches in the League Cup earlier this season and came through them all, with a combination of good play and strong team spirit.
Ian Probert refuses to accept excuses for losing to Hartlepool
This is not as disastrous as Reading's horrendous run last season, where they lost about eight in a row. But it is worrying.
We've got forthcoming games at Liverpool, who just put five past Newcastle at St James Park and away to Chelsea.
We don't expect to win those games and we would be chuffed to get a point in either game.
The question is: can Tony Pulis raise this team's spirits?
Has he faced as tough a challenge as this? Certainly there was a period after Steve Cotterill had abandoned us in the Championship and we were hammered 6-0 by Nottingham Forest.
In that case, Pulis found a defence good enough to keep Stoke in games and a striker - Akinbyi - able to score the goals to win them.
Our first choice defence is certainly better than it was in May, but we must all cross our fingers that they stay fit for most of the remaining fixtures.
Sonko and Leon Cort haven't been good replacements, Dickinson has hardly had a look in and Andy Wilkinson's naivety at this level was cruelly exposed.
Assuming that we retain our most solid defensive unit, can we score enough goals?
Frankly I doubt it with the current team set up and players.
If we can't create chances against Hartlepool, we'll surely struggle to do it against Hull.
Whereas the Championship seems to be a league where you can get results with a hard-tackling, pressing, disciplined performance, I don't think the Premier League is the same.
Even so-called struggling teams have outstanding talents, capable of scoring unexpected goals.
Wigan have Wilson Palacios, Newcastle have Damien Duff.
Stoke have Ricardo Fuller, but he is hardly getting a kick with our current game plan minus Mama Sidibe.
We need an injection of talent and another of self belief.
A proven goalscorer would provide both of them, but a creative force on the left side is surely a must.
Liam Lawrence is capable of solving our wide right issues, but will this be enough?
Right now I am as gloomy about our prospects as I have been this season.
We need new players - and fast.
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