Ricardo Fuller: Fuller set to miss West Brom match
TONY Pulis fears Ricardo Fuller will be in no fit state to repeat last season’s demolition job on West Bromwich Albion when the Baggies come to the Britannia Stadium later this month.
Stoke will be chasing their fourth successive home win in the Premier League when the Baggies are the next visitors to the Britannia on November 22.
But Stoke are set to be without star striker Fuller in their starting line-up as the Jamaica international isn’t due to return from a November 19 World Cup qualifier against Canada until the morning of the West Brom game.
Fuller destroyed the Baggies with a hat-trick in Stoke’s 3-1 win at the Britannia last December.
However, Pulis is unlikely to risk Fuller from the start while the striker is still feeling the effects of the 12-hour return flight from Jamaica.
He said: “We lose Ric in two weeks. He is off again. He is going to Jamaica and we won’t get him back until the Saturday morning of the West Brom game.
“That is a vital game for us. Ric has absolutely terrorised West Brom over the last couple of years and we are going to be losing him.
“He’s off to Jamaica straight after the game before and we won’t see him until the Saturday morning. That is massive blow to us as a football club.”
Pulis accepts players should play in qualifying games, but feels he loses players too often.
He says international teams should cut down on what he sees as pointless friendlies.
He said: “I don’t like it at all. I think the fact they play so many friendlies is a situation clubs should look at.
“I think if there are any friendly games then the countries arranging them should pay the players’ wages.
“It is different for European Championships and World Cups. I understand that every player wants to play for his country.
“But play for your country for a purpose. For me, friendly games are just a waste of space.”
Pulis was speaking at last night’s meet-the-manager evening in front of around 200 supporters in the Britannia Stadium’s Delilah’s Bar.
Pulis told fans he had mellowed since his early days in management. He said he was now prepared to be less of a disciplinarian with his players, providing they produce on the pitch.
He said Fuller is a case in point as the £500,000 signing from Southampton doesn’t always throw himself into training with the same gusto as some other players.
Pulis said he would have been less successful with Fuller had they met earlier in his management career.
He added: “When I was at Portsmouth, me and Ric would have been falling out every five minutes, but you just bend with him and work with him.
“He is an individual and a fantastic player, a great talent. He can be frustrating at times, especially when balls are played in the corner with a couple of minutes to go and you want him to chase after it.
“He just stands there looking around as though every day is Christmas Day!
“But he is a great lad and has been a great player for this football club. When you think of the money we paid for him, he has been an absolutely fantastic signing.
“But he is one of those we have to bend with.”
Pulis defended Fuller’s fellow striker Dave Kitson, who has yet to score since his club record £5.5m summer move from Reading.
Kitson has been relegated to the bench for Stoke’s last three games. However, Pulis said he can’t question Kitson’s commitment to the club and believes the striker just needs a goal to kick-start his Stoke career.
He said: “I think Dave is a good player. He played well at the beginning of the season without scoring.
“He is one of the few players we signed who moved house straight away after we signed him.
“He is in a different environment. He has brought his wife up here and they have just had a baby. If anything, Dave needs a goal. I honestly thought we had made a really good signing when we got Dave and it just hasn’t worked out so far.
“But I’m hoping that once he gets a goal then the confidence will come back and he will help us.
“I think strikers live on confidence. At the moment a tractor couldn’t knock Ricardo Fuller over. He is so confident and bubbly that he thinks he is going to score two or three goals every game. That’s because it is running for him, whereas Dave now can’t see the back of the net.
“With forwards, more than any other position, it is confidence.”
Pulis told fans that his young midfielder Nathaniel Wedderburn is likely to join Blue Square Premier outfit Wrexham on loan.
However, the manager rubbished speculation that striker Mama Sidibe could be on his way to Wigan.
Pulis also said he was in no rush to loan or sell any of his experienced squad players.
The likes of Danny Pugh, Glenn Whelan and Richard Cresswell, along with young defenders Carl Dickinson and Andy Wilkinson, have had little opportunity in the first team this season.
Pulis said: “We will see when the window opens, but every one of those players played a big part last year in getting us out of the Championship. They deserve the chance, and I think they want the chance of playing in the Premier League.
“Every player in the dressing room has really worked hard in pre-season to give it their best shot and be prepared to have a go.
“We watched our reserves beat Chelsea 2-0 on Monday and the 11 players I picked was a team that would compete and do very well in the Championship.
“Those 11 weren’t really involved on the Saturday, apart from one or two as substitutes.
“If I was a player, I would be desperately disappointed to have missed out on what was a fantastic result against one of the top sides in the world.
“But we went down on Monday and the commitment and attitude of what is really the second group was absolutely first class.
“They are disappointed and rightly so because they want to play football, that is what they are paid to do.
“But the important thing for us as a football club – and they get paid by us – is for them to keep their heads down and keep working hard. If the situation changes then it changes, but at the moment, no one is going anywhere.”
Pulis praised supporters for the way they have backed their team, win, lose or draw, and helped earn the Britannia Stadium a reputation as a formidable venue for visiting teams.
The manager got a much easier ride last night than in some previous supporter meetings.
Shortly after returning to the club two years ago, he was heckled by one fan who warned him to only rent accommodation as he wouldn’t be staying that long.
“I have been looking for him,” Pulis quipped. “Every day I wake up I feel I have a point to prove. I said the first day I joined this football club, and it still rings true, that I am very proud to be manager of Stoke City.
“I think it is a fantastic football club. It is a club that has been on its knees for far too long. Given the opportunity and the chance that Peter Coates has given me, I always felt we could push on and grow as a proper football club.
“I’m sure the supporters are enjoying this season. Let’s hope it is one of lots and lots in the top flight, but there is still a lot of work to do.
“You get people who think you can do the job and people who think you can’t. You have to accept that as a manager and just try to keep proving the b******* wrong.”
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