Robbie Earle: Time for Pulis to Stoke up fire
TONY Pulis should put out his strongest side in the quarter-finals of the Carling Cup, no matter who Stoke pluck out in tomorrow's draw.
The Stoke boss has fielded largely his reserve side in the cup so far but, with the chance of repeating the 1972 triumph just three games away, I reckon he will wheel out the big guns in the next round.
The Premier League is the priority, but I don't see the Carling Cup as wrecking Stoke's survival plans.
Sure, it is always possible a key man such as Ricardo Fuller, Abdoulaye Faye or Rory Delap could get injured in the quarter-finals.
But who is to say they wouldn't get injured in training? Let's face it, Liam Lawrence got injured tripping over his dog at home, so you might as well let the lads play.
I thought Gary Megson was completely wrong to rest Bolton players for a UEFA Cup match last season.
Megson could argue his methods were justified as Bolton stayed up. But they blew their chance of a bit of glory, and having rested his players for the mid-week UEFA Cup game, they lost the following weekend against Wigan anyway.
If I was one of Stoke's Premier League regulars I would definitely want to play in the Carling Cup.
For a start, playing is much more enjoyable than training. Besides, chances to play in the semi-finals or, fingers crossed, the final, of this cup don't come along every season. Stoke will be hoping to get Watford, Derby or Burnley at the Britannia, while the draw I would most want to avoid is Arsenal or Tottenham away.
Harry Redknapp won't be resting players from now on because he will badly want to win this competition as it is his best chance of getting Spurs into Europe.
Arsenal's youngsters are a force to be reckoned with and, on the evidence of the Gunners' win against Wigan, I would sooner take on Manchester United's reserves in the next round than Arsenal's youth team.
Still, getting Arsenal at the Britannia would be interesting. Having beaten up their first team, let's see what Stoke would do to their Carling Cup side. Only kidding, of course.
What is true, is none of the sides will want to draw Stoke out tomorrow. City have fast established a reputation for being physical and hard to beat and no one will be hoping for a trip to the Britannia in the quarters.
Stoke won't have much time to digest tomorrow's lunchtime draw before they face the small matter of Manchester United at Old Trafford.
But at least Stoke don't go there rooted to the bottom of the table and desperately in need of a point or three.
They won't want to suffer a morale-sapping hammering, but there is very little pressure on them as no fans would have looked at the fixture list in August and thought 'Old Trafford eh, there's points to be had there'.
I'M delighted to see Dean Glover making such a great start to management at Vale Park, particularly as he has had to win over plenty who questioned whether he was the right man for the job.
His record of five wins from seven games is excellent considering he took over a struggling side which even looked in danger of being sucked into a relegation battle.
He's done it with largely the same group of players he inherited, so couldn't have done much more to prove himself in his first couple of months in the job.
Last week's incredible comeback win at Huddersfield was just the sort of game that will make Glover's task so much easier at Vale Park.
I doubt whether Vale would have pulled off a comeback like that three months ago, so it shows he has had an effect.
As well as thrilling Vale's 1,100 away following, that victory will have helped win over any doubters in the dressing room.
You always have players who question the manager. But memorable wins like that will earn Glover respect and make players more likely to put their faith in him.
MUCH TO THINK ABOUT: Stoke manager Tony Pulis should think about using some of his stars in the Carling Cup.
Comment on this story