One From My Inbox

The following email has just dropped into my inbox from Vital Stoke's Ryan Kalisz who offered his pre-match thoughts to us earlier in the week...

Hi Eamonn,

Just thought I'd drop you an email to give my post-match comments, just in case you wanted to do a brief article on it, especially seeing as I've very much underestimated you in my Q&A. So here goes:

Well. What can I say? Have you got a spoon for the tangerine humble pie I need to eat? Earlier on this week I said that it'd be a late 2-1 victory for Stoke and admittedly, although I knew you were a team capable of causing an upset, I backed the Potters to "put you off your game" and "bag the 3 points".

I hate to say it but you were better than us. Your pace was high tempo, and your passing was slick, and it gave our lads a right fright.

Not to knock you off your stride but I think this result was a hiccup for us. Individuals had a bad day and it was out of character which is disappointing, especially as we know and have seen that they can produce so much more.

We did have chances; near misses, great saves from your 'keeper Richard Kingson, and unlucky rebounds from that annoying frame of the goal. But equally you had the same, and only needed to take that one chance to score.

Now that I have watched 90 minutes of you, I can say that based on today's match you have a fantastic chance of staying up. One of the Premier League qualities is pace and your team showed that against us today. Pace, plus passing equals another quality this league has and again, you had that today, and I'm sure other days too. If you continue your style of play, and your success rate, a second season should be in the offering for you guys.

Although I'm deflated, I'm still proud to be a Potter and I'm still confident that we can go on to achieve bigger things. This was a bad day at the office and we'll put it behind us to focus on a tough away trip to Arsenal next week. It's a learning curve for us for when we face you on the 30th April at your bright lit home town, and also a warning to your next opponent Tottenham.

Good luck against Spurs and best wishes for the rest of your campaign. Apart from when we next meet of course... I'd like some revenge along with my rock!

Cheers again

Ryan

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