Former Stoke City boss Tony Pulis has shared an insight into his once fiery relationship with former Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger – who wasn’t overly keen on going to the Britannia Stadium.
Arsenal were a team like so many others who just seemed to crumble when they stepped foot on that Britannia pitch.
The Premier League welcomed Stoke City in 2008 and the Potters would last 10-straight seasons in the top flight, finishing 9th three seasons-in-a-row and having a brief stint in the Europa League too.
But Pulis has been speaking on FootballJOE with Joe Cole, and he’s recalled a time when he bumped into former Arsenal captain Patrick Vieira.
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We never, ever talked about anything else other than being big, strong and horrible to play against. And psychologically, I can remember to Patrick Vieira at a coaching course.
He said that Wenger was absolutely, psychologically struck in going to the Britannia. The long throw… He always thought the grass was too long, and the pitch was too narrow.
He moaned and groaned like a drain. But when we went to the Emirates, the pitch was the biggest pitch in the league, the grass was cut like a bowling green, and watered before which suited his team.
So why moan about going to the Britannia when we’re doing everything that suits us?
And he said to us (Viera), ‘I can remember one game we were playing you, and he (Wenger) worked for the first time ever on defending long throws – and we turned up and Rory Delap was one the bench!’
Delap is a blast from the past. The long throw expert was one of Stoke’s most potent weapons during the Pulis-era, and he was backed up by the likes of Robert Huth and Ryan Shawcross in defence, Kenwyne Jones and Jonathan Walters up front.
Stoke set a trend and started the ‘cold Tuesday night at Stoke’ gag. Since then, the club has looked to move on from that tag, and Michael O’Neill has tried to bring about a more modernised Stoke City.
They look to be falling short in the race for a top-six spot in the Championship this season. But most forget that Stoke were a Premier League team for a whole decade, and it’s largely down to the hard work of Pulis.