Founding members, but in their long history their achievements have been mediocre.

Their most impressive record was just winning the English League Cup in the 1971-72 season, and then winning two English third-tier league championships.

But since the 2008-09 season, when Stoke City appeared in the Premier League for the first time in history, they have brought many different things to the Premier League, making people remember the name Stoke City.

The head coach of their team at that time was none other than Tony Pulis, the same man who was later introduced to Crystal Palace by Pan Yi and achieved the best record in the history of Crystal Palace and the best manager in the Premier League.

He first led Stoke City to a runners-up finish in the Championship in the 2007-08 season and then promotion.

After that, they successfully avoided relegation in the Premier League in the following seasons, ranking between 11th and 14th. For a small team entering the Premier League for the first time, it was already very successful.

The traditional British bombing tactics tailor-made by Tony Pulis for Stoke City allowed Premier League teams to experience what "Renaissance" is and what "looking up at the stars" means.

There was a joke at that time that the best way to treat cervical spondylosis is to swim or fly a kite, because this can raise your head and relax your cervical spine.

But there is a better way, and that is to go to the front row of the stadium and watch Stoke City play.

Or more directly, become their opponent!

Because after the whole game, you will find yourself holding your head up, looking up at the sky at an angle of more than 45 degrees, watching the football flying around on both sides of the field.

At that time, the average height of this team reached a terrifying 187cm, which was the highest in the Premier League. Many players were over 1.9 meters tall, and center forward Crouch was more than 2 meters tall...

This is also the origin of the nickname "City in the Sky" for Stoke City.

Of course, this "City in the Sky" has nothing to do with Hayao Miyazaki's famous animated film, which means that the ball in the "city" of Stoke is always flying in the "sky".

In fact, Stoke City's official nickname is "The Potters" because the city is famous for its ceramics industry.

But it is precisely because their high-flying tactics are so famous that when people mention Stoke City, they often think of the nickname "City in the Sky" first.

A club gets a special title because of a style of play, which is quite special in the history of football.

Of course, if you just say it's "high" or "British style of play", it's actually not very special.

After all, in England, there are many teams that play long passes and lobs. Although it is difficult to achieve as extreme as Stoke City, there are still some.

What is truly impressive about Stoke City, and is even a pioneering tactic that can be recorded in the annals of football history, is the throw-in grenade tactic!

Listen to a song sung by Stoke City fans at the time: "We only score from throw-ins..."

This is the Irish midfielder Rory John Delap in their team.

The guy had a curious hobby of throwing things out of the window at home when he was just two years old, and was professionally trained in the javelin before joining football.

Delap, who had amazing arm strength and accurate throwing, did not have outstanding football talent. He could only start his career with Carlisle United, a low-level team in England, and later moved to Derby County, Southampton, Sunderland and other teams.

Tony Pulis, the manager of Stoke City who was still in the Championship at the time, had a keen eye and signed Delap on loan from Sunderland.

Then, the foul ball grenade tactic that can be said to shock the world appeared.

With an average speed of 60 kilometers per hour, a maximum throwing distance of 40 meters, and the huge power to throw the football directly into the opponent's small penalty area, Stoke City relied on this trick that worked repeatedly and eventually advanced to the Premier League.

In the Premier League, this tactic is also extremely sharp, especially when dealing with some technical teams, which makes opponents very uncomfortable.

Delap's real masterpiece came in the 11th round of the 2008-09 Premier League season, when Stoke City, as a newly promoted team, faced Arsenal at home.

In the first half of the game, Delap took a throw-in and directly assisted Fuller to score;

In the second half of the game, Delap repeated his old tricks, throwing the byline ball into the Arsenal team, crossing Shawcross, and was finally hit by Olofingyana in the chest. In the end, Stoke City won 2:

1 wins.

After this campaign, Stoke City only scored 13 goals in the first 11 rounds of the Premier League this season, one of which was directly scored by Delap, and the other 7 goals were all thrown by Delap.

Scored later!

Delap's grenade throw-in tactic has almost become unsolvable in the Premier League.

This defeat has made Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger always grieved, believing that the opponent used "hands" instead of "feet" to kick the ball, unlike real "football".

Even many years later, Wenger, who became FIFA's technical consultant, proposed that football's throw-in rules be changed to be kicked with the feet. This shows how deeply Delap "hurt" him...

Of course, Delap's foul ball doesn't just get thrown away, it still requires a lot of supporting facilities.

Needless to say about tactics, Tony Pulis has a throw-in tactic specially designed for Delap. There is even a proper name for this tactic, called "Drap Predator".

When it comes to introducing players, Stoke City only selects rugby-type football players who are about 190cm tall and strong in body to fight for the top in the penalty area.

In order to maximize the power of Delap's throw-in, Stoke City even reduced the width of the home stadium's Britannia Stadium to the limit within the limits of Premier League rules, only 64 meters (normal

About 68 meters), and increased the distance between the billboard and the edge of the football field (3 to 5 meters).

Also, at Stoke City's home court, there are special large towels on the sideline, including in the hands of the ball boys, specially provided for Delap to wipe the football to minimize the risk of slippery balls.

The friction is reduced.

All this is to allow Delap's throw-in ball to be thrown farther and more accurately!

However, now that Chelsea meets Stoke City, they don't need to worry about being hit by a grenade.

Because at the end of 2013, this "Popeye" had retired.

And precisely because of his departure, this classic tactic of Stoke City also disappeared.

After all, this tactic relies too much on this special skill. Looking at the world of football, there may never be another person who can throw throw-ins as fast, far and accurately as Delap.

After Delap left, the power of Stoke City's high-altitude bombing tactics also declined. Later, Tony Pulis also left, and only then did he join Crystal Palace.

The current head coach of Stoke City is former Manchester City coach Mark Hughes.

He is a person who advocates technical football, but he also knows that the transformation of Stoke City cannot be rushed. After all, the players in the team are still a group of high-level players, and they cannot be allowed to go to work overnight.

Therefore, Stoke City now combines the tactics of advancing from the backcourt and long passes.

The forward line is still composed of two tall men, 201cm Crouch and 192cm Arnautovic, but behind them is Bojan, who is not tall but has delicate skills.

This genius, who came out of the La Masia youth academy and almost swept the scoring records of all Barcelona youth teams, did not develop as expected as an adult, but when he came to a team like Stoke City with a lot of bad guys, it was indeed

Technology helps the poor.

And Mark Hughes' transformation of the team is obviously successful.

This season, their performance has been firmly in the middle of the standings. The two games they defeated Arsenal 3-2 at home and swept Liverpool 6-1 also made everyone realize that the new Stoke City team is in the process of

Rise up and become the terminator of the wealthy team!

Therefore, their home game against Chelsea also has high expectations.

——

When the referee blew the final whistle, more than 20,000 Stoke City fans in the Britannia Stadium cheered and celebrated.

But they didn't win.

The reason why they are so excited is because they did not lose either!

The score on the scoreboard at this time is 0:0.

Stoke City drew with Chelsea!

This can be said to be a very great achievement for a team whose mission is to avoid relegation.

After all, Chelsea this season is an invincible and powerful team!

And this draw also means that Chelsea's winning streak in the Premier League also stopped at the 16th game.

This made Stoke City head coach Mark Hughes so excited that he punched the fans in the stands in celebration.

But Pan Yi stood in front of the visiting team's coaching bench without saying a word.

It is of course impossible to say that he was not depressed.

If the team didn't win, how could he be happy as the head coach?

It's just that today is really a bit weird.

First of all, under the cold weather in the northwest of England, Chelsea's players seemed to suddenly become less good at playing football.

Errors in passing and receiving began to increase, especially under the pressure of Stoke City's midfielder composed of five strong men, making it difficult for Chelsea to organize an effective attack.

During the halftime break, Pan Yi immediately made adjustments and asked Kante to replace Chik in order to strengthen the defense and protection of the midfield.

This move also stabilized Chelsea's position and began to play an effective offense.

It's just that today Stoke City's goalkeeper Begovic also failed, making eight effective saves, and Lukaku also missed many scoring opportunities in a row.

In the end, Chelsea could only draw a goalless draw with their opponents and end their winning streak.

At the post-game press conference, reporters asked:

"The day after this game is Christmas Eve. Do the young players at Chelsea feel a little absent-minded? Is this the reason why Chelsea cannot continue to win?"

Pan Yi said that he is willing to take all responsibilities:

"My players have done what they can do. I know they have tried their best. The responsibility for not winning today lies with me because I was not prepared for the Christmas schedule."

In fact, Pan Yi also understands that the unstable state of Chelsea players has a lot to do with playing the game the day before Christmas.

Why is the Christmas schedule difficult to play?

In addition to the abnormal schedule of three games in five days and two games in three days, "Christmas" itself is also a very important factor.

In this most important holiday for Westerners, in most leagues, everyone should go home for the holidays and spend time with their families, girlfriends, wives, children, etc.
To be continued...