By J Hutcherson - WASHINGTON, DC (Apr 18, 2011) US Soccer Players -- This is Bolton manager Owen Coyle, after losing 5-0 to Stoke City in the FA Cup semifinals:
"When you get to this stage and this arena, if you play to your best and are outperformed then you can accept it. But today we didn't reach the levels that we previously reached throughout the season. We came to the semifinal in good heart after out preparations but, ultimately, we underperformed. The manner of the loss is hurtful because we know that we are better than that.”
This is Stoke City manager Tony Pulis, after beating Bolton 5-0 in the FA Cup semifinals:
"We have played well on many occasions this season without getting the credit that we deserve, but it happened for us on this occasion. I have a lot of respect for Owen Coyle and indeed for Bolton, so I feel for them. But we have earned the right to enjoy this moment.”
Fair enough if you want to give Stoke another win here. Pulis’s comments take the high road in a winning moment. Coyle went with a safe route, but do his comments change if it was 1-0 Stoke?
What Pulis did was an example of the coaching cliché of the teachable moment. It helps that his lead-in to that quote was talking about Stoke still needing to build slowly. Or, as he put it, “This is a well managed club, but we don't have the finances to transform it overnight. So it's a case of evolution rather than revolution.”
Pulis shows a quick and meaningful insistence here, resisting any urge to treat this single game as a justification or an excuse to skip a few steps in that process. Where he ends up is clever, turning quickly on the idea that, at this stage, a 5-0 result says more about the losing team than the winning team. All things considered, fair enough when the losing team is five places higher in the Premier League table.
Stoke made a statement with a lopsided shutout win. It’s that Bolton are now a team that can drop a significant game at Wembley and not keep it close. That could become the tag on Bolton’s season, a mid-table club that failed to take advantage when given an easier path to a Cup final. Or not. That’s what makes their manager’s response just after the game, not to mention the response they’ll show on the field over the rest of the Premier League season, so tricky.
Part of what’s made Bolton successful this season is keeping games close. A look at their results, and they’ve only lost by more than two goals twice in the Premier League: Arsenal away on September 11th and Chelsea at home on January 24th. Both are excusable, since Bolton isn’t expected to beat the top four. At the same time, most aren’t expecting them to return to their mid-2000’s form when they qualified for Europe twice. Though they’re supposed to be farther along in the process, it’s Tony Pulis’s comments about ‘evolution rather than revolution.’
Bolton are hardly the only club in this situation, but it’s a tougher strategy in between the bottom and top tiers of the Premier League table. Tinker too much, and mid-table obscurity can quickly become trying to keep a few points between your club and the relegation zone. We’ve seen that this season with teams that have had to fight their way back to where pundits had them in their preseason predictions.
Only a handful of clubs know they can spend without significantly disrupting their squad. A team of professionals tend to respond when the club brings in yet another all-star who can contribute early and often. Outside of that small group conveniently located at the top of the table, most Premier League clubs simply can’t afford it. It’s an odd space between not making Europe as a ruined season and not spending months fighting off relegation.
Right now, Everton, Bolton, and Aston Villa are 7th, 8th, and 9th in the Premier League table. All have been lower down the standings this season. Should the season end with these three clubs in the same spots, all – even the reloaded Villa and their -12 goal differential – should consider it a success. The question becomes what happens next for this ‘top of the middle tier’ group of clubs? They can swap positions. maybe one of them pushes up into 6th place, but there might as well be a wall between 6th and 5th.
As it stands, the difference between Spurs in 5th and Everton in 7th is six points, but competitively it’s much more difficult. All involved know this, realizing that it’s a combination of opportunity and expense to put together the kind of squad necessary not just to take a top-five spot, but to keep other teams out.
That’s the Stoke evolution vs revolution. One of several teams that believe they know what’s needed to survive in the Premier League while slowly building to that ‘top of the middle tier’ level. For the teams already there, it’s an attack from both sides and an easy slide into mid-table obscurity. For Stoke in 2010-11, mid-table obscurity is a success. For Bolton, it’s another lost season. Coyle is right, his squad is better than that. They have six Premier League games left to show why.
Comments, questions, solutions to problems that have yet to present themselves. Please, tell me all about it.
