Lou Macari: Stoke City must not go the same way as Cardiff City
By The Sentinel | Posted: January 20, 2014
"I’ve never known the bottom of the table so tight at this stage of the season with only six points separating the bottom 11 clubs.
Usually by now you’ve got one or two clubs cut adrift and odds-on to go, but the two clubs that were in that position (Sunderland and Crystal Palace) are very much in the mix again.
Stoke are obviously in the thick of that bottom 11, but when I look at the clubs involved I’d only be happy to put my money on one of them when tipping relegation.
That club is Cardiff City, I’m afraid, because I would worry about all the upheaval going on there.
They have taken a huge gamble on bringing in Ole Gunnar Solksjaer as manager and what a baptism of fire he’s walked into.
At least he’s the choice of owner Vincent Tam and there seems to be a bit of a love-in going on there now.
Solksjaer has described his boss as a winner, but I’m scratching my head to find out what he’s won exactly.
I looked down their teamsheet at Manchester City at the weekend and I’m afraid I didn’t see a lot to make me optimistic for their chances.
I was also puzzled by the sight of one of their unused subs, Peter Odemwingie, coming onto the pitch after the 4-2 defeat to put his arms around Yaya Toure and looking like the happiest man in the world.
I’m not saying you can’t have mates on the other team, but there’s a time and a place.
I know I never felt like speaking to anyone after losing, in fact I didn’t usually speak to anyone, and you do wonder if losing hurts some of today’s players enough.
I’d like to think the Stoke lads were really hurting after not only losing to Crystal Palace, but also to their old manager."
* Read Lou's hard-hitting column in full in tomorrow's Sentinel
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