Potters found some steel to make up for Cardiff collapse

AWEEK is a very long time in football. This time seven days ago we were bemoaning a once-in-a-generation capitulation from three goals up to dropping two points.

Michael O’neill was clueless, the defence was a porous as a colander and midfield as brittle as Arsenal’s mentality under Arsene Wenger.

I mean, being over-run by Cardiff…

But now, Potters fans have even lost the ability to use gallows humour to ‘boast’ of being the most recent football team to lose a three-goal lead as on Saturday Spanish giants Barcelona managed to pull off that almighty fall from grace; leading 3-0 in the 52nd minute, they conceded the ultimate equaliser six minutes into injury time. One can only speculate how this particular Barca team would fare against last weekend’s Stoke side in that mythical contest at the bet365 on a cold, wet and windy Tuesday night… Safe to say that the red and white hordes that were spitting feathers as they poured away from the bet365 Stadium are now, just a week later, basking in reflected glory following two consecutive 1-0 away wins that showed that Stoke City under Michael O’neill do not always roll over and have their tummies tickled by opponents.

That much-needed steel which has reappeared came most obviously in the physical form of Danny Batth at the back, who remains a player who has won all six of his starts this season, three in the league and three in the EFL Cup. Batth is a player who has his limitations, even he would admit that. But in the hurly burly of the Championship it often isn’t cultured passing out from the back which is needed. More often than not plain old-fashioned defending is the order of the day; heading away, blocking shots, putting your body on the line, whatever it takes. If that’s what you need, then Danny Batth is your man, as he has proved in marshalling the back three to two consecutive away clean sheets.

It’s another example of how the squad O’neill has forged from the embers of post-relegation disaster upon disaster can be utilised in a range of different ways to meet the varied challenges that the season presents.

We can only speculate what went on in the home dressing room last weekend following that atrocious capitulation, but if the way to judge a manager and their ability to motivate players can be summed up in simple terms, then winning the next two games following such a dreadful demise has to be one of the best ways possible.

That the week also included a hat-trick of sorts from Steven Fletcher – that hat-trick being scoring three goals that must count as amongst the flukiest any Stoke player has ever scored – and yet another win over everyone’s favourite ex-potters boss Nathan Jones. However well he has done at Luton before and after his abortive spell in the Potteries, he could never have achieved what O’neill has done, firstly in turning the bloated squad he inherited into one which can cope with calamity and turn it around immediately as has happened this week. And secondly, in dealing with triumph and disaster in such a measured fashion when facing the media amidst the tumult of supporter angst following last weekend’s humbling. Oh, and he’s now beaten Jones three times without Luton getting on the scoresheet, while his Stoke team have bagged six goals in those victories. In response, Jones took his childish anger out on the easy target of Josh Tymon by berating the Stoke wing-back directly after the game, jabbing his finger into Tymon’s chest. The watching O’neill merely shook his head and let his players sort out their former manager, which they did with glee.

If this week hadn’t already offered you enough evidence that O’neill is getting things more right than wrong at Stoke, then this direct comparison with his immediate predecessor surely finishes the job.