Eight Hundred and Sixty-Six Fight, My Warriors!

Stoke City are not a team to write about in Premier League history.

Although it has a long history behind Notts County, it has played in the second tier of League One and later the Championship, and even the third tier for the first dozen years of the Premier League.

In 2002, Stoke City welcomed Tony Pulis.

At that time, Stoke City had just been promoted to League One from the third tier. Under Pulis's coaching, Stoke City played a stable role and was always in the middle of League One. However, due to conflicts with the new boss, Puli Si angrily resigned, and it was not until a year later when former owner Coates returned to take charge of the team that Pulis was invited back.

This time, Pulis took two years to bring Stoke City to the runner-up of the British Championship and successfully promoted to the Premier League.

From the relegation in 1985 to the return in 2008, it took Stoke City a full 23 years.

This is Tony Pulis' first time in charge of a Premier League team.

Almost under the circumstances that no one was optimistic, Stoke City won the 12th place in the Premier League that season and successfully avoided relegation.

Ranked eleventh last season, and temporarily ranked eighth this season.

Tony Pulis has led Stoke City to the fore in the Premier League.

During three years in the Premier League, Stoke City earned a nickname for themselves, the City of the Sky.

The origin of this nickname is mainly because of the style of play of the Stoke City team coached by Pulis.

Do you know which of the 20 teams in the Premier League this season has the highest average height?

Which team has the heaviest average weight?

Yes, congratulations, you guessed it.

Stoke City!

The average height of 1.87 meters and the average weight of close to 82 kilograms make Stoke City the most special team among the 20 teams in the Premier League, which can be called the unique landscape of the Premier League.

In this team of Pulis, there are no complicated tactics, no fine ball control, and no imaginative cooperation. They don't need all of this at all. They have brought football tactics back to the most primitive traditional way of playing.

This is also a tradition in English football, with long passes and rushing.

With one hand, and their very good throwing grenade tactics, Stoke City are currently eighth in the Premier League.

Even Ferguson felt incredible, that Tony Pulis's team is the most unique landscape in the Premier League.

"Their footballs are always in the air, and it looks like they don't even need to hit the ground to be sent to the goal!"

Thus, Pulis' team earned the nickname, City in the Sky.

Manchester City is the team with the shortest average height in the Premier League, about the same as Arsenal, and Manchester City's tactical play is to control the ball at the feet and penetrate the opponent's defense by passing and cooperating.

This is completely two extremes with Stoke City.

The tallest and the shortest in the Premier League, the long pass and slam hit the pass and control penetration, coupled with Ferguson's arch fire before the game, made Stoke City's away game against Manchester City very eye-catching.

Who is better?

This battle is related to the ownership of the Premier League champion this season, and also determines the arrival of Manchester City's first ever Premier League champion. Therefore, on the night of the game, the Etihad Stadium was full of seats, and there were even a large number of fans gathered outside the stadium. .

None of them could buy tickets to the stadium, so they could only stay outside and listen to what was going on inside.

...

Before the game, in the visiting team's locker room.

Tony Pulis looks at the Stoke players in front of him.

The central defender Shawcross is 1.91 meters tall, Collins and Wilson are both over 1.85 meters high, and even the favorite Wilkinson is 1.8 meters tall, plus midfielders who are generally over 1.8 meters tall.

After sweeping around, Tony Pulis felt a little relieved.

In the face of Su Dong, it is not safe to be short in height.

That Chinese is just like a monster!

Sometimes he even wondered if Su Dong was a biochemical man developed in the Chinese military laboratory?

otherwise,

How could he be so perfect?

Thinking of this, Tony Pulis shook his head with a smile, and got rid of this nonsense thought.

"Guys, this is our penultimate game of the season. The opponent is Manchester City, who are aiming for the championship, and we are still away, but I believe that Etihad fans can't scare us!"

Tony Pulis is in the final mobilization before the game.

"Ryan, did you hear Sir Alex Ferguson's call? Manchester United need you tonight more than ever!"

Tony Pulis looked at central defender Ryan Shawcross.

Shawcross was born in Manchester United's youth training and was once one of the first-team players, but after being loaned to Antwerp, Belgium, he was sent to Stoke City. It has always been Shawcross's wish to return to Manchester United.

Ferguson is also his godfather!

Hearing Tony Pulis's encouragement at this moment, the fierce Shawcross eyes flashed fiercely.

"He doesn't want to pass me tonight! Don't even think about it once!"

This ruthless color, even the surrounding teammates shuddered.

This is the ruthless role who can tackle Arsenal midfielder Ramsey's leg in the game!

Tony Pulis was satisfied with Shawcross's ruthlessness. After nodding in encouragement, he turned to look at the team's Norwegian center John Carew. He looked solemn.

He is 1.96 meters tall and is 31 years old. John Carew is not the main force of the Stoke City team. He even just came back from injury not long ago, but tonight, facing Manchester City, Tony Pulis still takes him. into the starting lineup.

He knows John Carew, although the Norwegian has only moved from Aston Villa to Stoke this season.

"John, I know, you can't let go all the time, you always want to prove yourself, and now is your chance! Beat him, in front of him, score Manchester City's goal to prove that you are no worse than him!"

Tony Price's remarks seemed to touch a certain point in John Carew's heart, which made him ignite a raging fire, and suddenly the whole person became high-spirited.

In the eyes of many people, John Carew is just a center in the Premier League. He doesn't score many goals, he is not famous, and he often fails to play as the main force. He just has a burly body and is used by many people to follow Su Dong for comparison.

This is what John Carew hates the most.

Because in Valencia that year, it was because of Su Dong that he completely lost his position and was swept out by Benitez.

John Carew will never forget, at that time, the people in Valencia told him that the team must make room for Sudong.

Also from the time of leaving Valencia, John Carew's career has gone downhill until now.

He hates being compared to Su Dong. The more he compares, the more he hates and becomes more angry.

Tony Pulis saw through his mind, so let him start, hoping that he can unleash the beast in his heart and break Manchester City's goal.

"Everyone!"

Tony Pulis stood in the middle of all the players and grabbed their attention.

"We are not a strong team, we don't have any big-name players, and even our rankings are only in the middle, we are always so inconspicuous, no one pays attention, no one pays attention, we are like dragon characters in a movie, no one A passerby who will care."

"I know that you have had enough of all this, and you are eager to appear on the front pages of major newspapers like those football stars. Now, I tell you, the opportunity is here!"

Tony Pulis' mobilization was really provocative, and he easily made everyone in the locker room ignited and excited.

"Get out of this dressing room, onto this stadium, and kill the team in front of you that is about to win the Premier League title, then you, everyone present, will be the headlines of the major media around the world tomorrow, you will Enjoy unprecedented attention, you will become the most attention!"

"Fight, my warriors! Unleash the beast within you and devour our opponents!"

…………

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Manchester City are also well prepared for their home game against Stoke City.

Ferguson's arch fire before the game did not affect the preparations of Manchester City's coaching staff.

For beating Stoke City, Manchester City are full of confidence up and down.

But when it came to the game, from the moment the whistle sounded, everyone in Manchester City, even the fans in the stands, felt that Stoke City was different tonight.

They just like to go out of their way, to give up their lives, to press Manchester City all over the court, not to let Manchester City easily get the ball and control the ball.

Relying on their excellent physical confrontation and height advantage, they kept making fouls on the court, kept interrupting Manchester City's passing and controlling rhythm, kept destroying Manchester City's offensive line, causing the game to be interrupted again and again.

Stoke City is a very smart team. They know how to handle the referee's law enforcement standards and let their fouls drift between getting a card and not getting a card, which makes Manchester City players have nothing to do with them.

Even though it was a home game, even after a week of rest, when Manchester City encountered such a desperate opponent, they were really helpless for a while.

Whenever Stoke City catches a chance, gets close, and makes a physical contact, Manchester City players will immediately turn their backs.

Physically, the gap between Manchester City and Stoke City is still obvious.

Tony Pulis's team, nicknamed "City in the Sky", is good at long balls and dunks. This style of play has a low success rate but a fast rhythm.

As soon as he steals the ball, he plays a long pass, and after a long pass is wrong, he grabs it. The rhythm of the whole game is pulled very fast, like a wild horse that has lost its reins. No matter how much Manchester City pulls, it cannot slow down the rhythm.

Stoke City really have nothing to pursue, but they are happy to defeat the team that is about to win the championship on the road, and even snipe the local team that is about to win the championship.

For nothing else, just to let the world see them and let all the fans know them.

This is more attractive than anything for a team that has been struggling in the lower leagues for a long time and has been in the middle and lower teams for a long time.