Positives To Be Taken From Stoke

Paul Lambert believes the lads more than admirably matched Stoke's physical presence, and he was delighted to see us dominate the game.

Speaking to the Official Site after the 0-0 draw, the gaffer said he was pleased with how we coped in terms of the physical pressure Stoke are notorious for, but did admit he was a little disappointed we could create the clear chance and finish we needed to take a deserved victory from the performance.

'I thought we dominated the game, definitely. I was delighted with the way they coped with Stoke's strength. I thought we used our strength and we tried to play football too. I thought we were excellent in parts of the game, on another day we might have had one or two. If we can just get the finishing touch - it just didn't materialise.'

Speaking more about our goalscoring exploits - or the lack thereof, Lambert added he wasn't worried because it will come in time.

'It's not something I'm actually overly worried about, because I know it will come. I have belief that we will create and that we will score.'

Well defensively things are coming together, and midfield is looking better, the final piece is the combination up front. Some argue we need a truly creative midfielder, but we are creating chances as we go, but just not taking them. Benteke is growing in confidence, and some would say it's looking more likely that we need to stumble on a Benteke/Weimann combination that will give us the best shot of creating, holding and scoring but in terms of initial gelling if up front can follow the progress elsewhere on the pitch, this annoying draws will turn into three points over time.

Lambert's moves in January will be very interesting depending on how he focuses when it comes to strengthening.

Stoke Match Thread.

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