Source: Team_Talk
Pulis won't change style at Stoke
Stoke boss Tony Pulis has no intention of changing his philosophy to please outsiders or make it easy for his three deadline-day signings.[LNB] Stoke have finished 12th and 11th in their two Premier League seasons to date but Pulis was keen to freshen up his squad for the third campaign.[LNB]Already boasting a strong defence, the Potters captured forward duo Kenwyne Jones and Jon Walters and then made three more additions on the last day of the window.[LNB]Former Barcelona striker Eidur Gudjohnsen offers them more quality in attack, while Jermaine Pennant gives them pace on the right flank and Marc Wilson a wide range of passing in the middle.[LNB]Pulis will not be drastically altering his ways to accomodate the new signings, though, and has warned his three latest signings they will have to work to earn places in the side.[LNB]"I'm not bringing in players to curry favour," he said.[LNB]"I will always do it the way I think is right and suits this club and its fans, who want to see a team committed to the club and prepared to run around.[LNB]"Eidur and Jermaine have outstanding talent and we think Marc is technically talented as well, but until they work they'll not play.[LNB]"The team comes first and they've been told that. They have to throw off their individuality and join the group."[LNB]One of the other summer arrivals, Jones, has not enjoyed the best of starts to his career at Stoke having suffered an ankle injury on his debut at Wolves that forced him to miss the home game against Tottenham and curtailed his involvement against Chelsea just before the international break.[LNB]However, the subsequent lack of football has allowed the 25-year-old to regain his fitness and he now aims to make his Premier League debut a memorable one on Monday.[LNB]"When things get stale I guess that is the time when things get to change and at that time it changed and now I can only look forward," said Jones of his £8million August move to the Potters.[LNB]"At the end I am not bothered by what happened before, I'm looking forward to doing well.[LNB]"Just playing football week in, week out, and freeing my mind - more than anything else that was the most important thing for me.[LNB]"Moving to a new place is always hard and because it didn't happen in pre-season, it was when the season started I have to try to get into the team and the area.[LNB]"It is something different and something I have to take on board and try to further my career."[LNB]Jones' determination to establish himself at Stoke saw him play in the 2-0 defeat at Chelsea because he did not want to take a back seat and wait until he was 100% fit.[LNB]"It is difficult to play with an injury because you don't want to be playing games like that - or any in the Premier League - when you are half-fit, but I had to give it a go," he added.[LNB]"You always try to go through the pain barrier and try to test your injuries and that was one of those times."[LNB]Jones lasted 68 minutes before coming off at Stamford Brdge but he was fortunate to have had plenty of recovery time without missing any action.[LNB]He played 45 minutes of a behind-closed-doors friendly on Tuesday against Crewe, scoring in a 3-1 win, and is now targeting a first-team return against Villa on Monday.[LNB]Although Jones has already had a debut at the Britannia Stadium, when he was on loan from Southampton in 2005, he classes this one as the real thing.[LNB]"The injury came at the best time because having the international break has given me the time to get fit, so I guess my season starts on Monday night," he added.[LNB]"It was possibly the worst thing that could happen to me but I've had to deal with it, it has come and gone.[LNB]"Sometimes these things in football happen - at the time I thought it was serious but thankfully it wasn't - and you have to deal with it.[LNB]"I came through a decent amount of time against Crewe and hopefully on Monday I can push on a bit more.[LNB]"I look forward to every game but, at the same time, it is going to be special.[LNB]"I'm not really concentrating on Villa, we have to concentrate on what we are going to do and how we are going to win the game."
