Stoke silence shows difference

27 April 2010 16:25
TEAMtalk's Mark Holmes reckons the reaction to Thomas Sorensen's injury would have been completely different if he played for a top team.[LNB] First of all, let me get it out of the way that I am a die-hard Stoke fan and make no excuses for any bias I show towards the Potters players.[LNB]Perhaps that is why I am the only journalist in the national media to be blogging on the injury Thomas Sorensen picked up at Chelsea on Sunday.[LNB]If you didn't see it, the Denmark goalkeeper suffered a dislocated elbow when Salomon Kalou slid in two-footed to score the Blues' second goal at Stamford Bridge.[LNB]Former referee Graham Poll has said the goal should have been ruled out and there are those that believe, by the letter of the law, that Kalou should have been sent off.[LNB]I actually have no problem with Kalou and I'd have been spitting feathers if a Stoke player had been punished for doing the same at the other end. So I certainly do not want to attack Chelsea or their players.[LNB]However, I can't shake the feeling that a Stoke player would have been punished for sliding in as Kalou did. Put it down to paranoia if you like, but I've seen enough in our two seasons of Premier League football to suggest the top sides are treated differently than the rest.[LNB]It is a claim Tony Pulis has made himself recently but unfortunately I don't see it changing whilst we continue to employ English referees that clearly want to be bosom buddies with the league's top stars.[LNB]But even this is not what has annoyed me most about the Sorensen incident. Stoke, as I have come to expect over the years, have not cried foul over it and Pulis has not ran to the newspapers to complain or to call for Kalou to be suspended.[LNB]Sorensen has come out to describe Kalou's challenge for the ball as "reckless" but otherwise there has been next to no mention of the incident since Sunday's game.[LNB]As already stated, I hold Kalou in no disregard so am not bothered by the lack of a witch-hunt but I can only hope a Stoke player is given the same treatment next time he accidentally causes an injury.[LNB]Will that be swept under the carpet too, or will Stoke once again have its name dragged through the mud by clubs with an agenda? Sadly, I think I already know the answer.

Source: Team_Talk