Nowhere to hide as Lambert looks on

THE Manchester rain was clattering on the main stand roof and Paul lambert, whose complexion suggested he’s been somewhere more sustaining than the freezing depths of a Premier league dog fight, looked like a man who wondered what he’d stumbled in on. He is unlikely to have spent yesterday flicking though the thousands of comments on Stoke City’s announcement of his appointment, but they didn’t look pretty. ‘Disgusted’, ‘last straw and ‘season ticket for sale £1.50’ all featured. Rarely has a managerial announcement seemed more panicked and imbued with less ceremony. It seems someone forgot to tell the team and coaching staff, who found out on social media. And though lambert’s Premier league win ratios don’t make attractive reading, either — 24.8 per cent at Aston Villa and 31.6 per cent at norwich City — the evidence of another desperate night suggests they would be wise not to sniff at him in this kind of crisis. The problem with Stoke is the same one that Manchester City faced when they parted company with Mark Hughes in the winter of 2009: a defence with the properties of a colander. Abu Dhabi offered City help to resolve

the problem, although hughes didn’t feel he needed it. the same myopia had led hughes to feel that there was no one better to get stoke out of this fix than him. But they’ve leaked eight more goals than the next worst defensive side in the Premier League and shipped a greater total than any other side in europe’s top five divisions. Put aside Lambert’s charisma bypass — ‘there is a personality in there somewhere, but he likes to reserve it for those closest to him,’ readers of the stoke sentinel were advised yesterday — and you will find someone capable of putting right the organisational mess that lets other sides walk through at will. the way the side conceded here underlined the challenge. Defending starts high up the team but it was absent without leave as Paul Pogba cantered beyond stephen ireland and found antonio Valencia. he toyed with 18-year-old Josh tymon and then devastated him to despatch the 48th goal stoke have conceded this season. the second goal was enough to have Lambert (above) disappearing even deeper into his dapper black and grey scarf: loose concession of possession by the unfortunate tymon seized upon by Paul Pogba. When the Frenchman’s square pass reached anthony Martial, two stoke defenders were watching Jesse Lingard instead. Martial accepted the opportunity. Up ahead, there was evidence of the blend of flair and warrior spirit which has always characterised hughes’ teams. Xherdan shaqiri, such a sign of stoke ambition when the hughes reign felt so fresh three years back, crackled into life with a scissor kick. then came a smart turn and shot which drew the best from David de Gea. Peter crouch displayed the usual formidable threat, hair plastered down in the rainstorm, leaping to head down Darren Fletcher’s cross for eric choupo-Moting, whose shot was deflected wide by Phil Jones. hughes turned to an old guard as his stoke career ran down and the side he has bequeathed is also short on pace. But the more fundamental problem facing the new manager left little doubt about what he and owner Peter coates’ son John were discussing with such animation in the directors’ box. romelu Lukuku hammered home the last nail, dragging the ball away from Kurt Zouma and substitute Kevin Wimmer to score after his team had eased across 40 yards of stoke territory. With the game up, the away end struck up a long, continuous chorus of ‘Paul Lambert’s Barmy army.’ any port in a storm.