Sorensen set for Potters return

Posted Saturday, October 31, 2009 by PA

Stoke boss Tony Pulis is expected to recall goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen to his line-up to face Wolves following the Dane's late withdrawal at Tottenham last weekend with flu.

Steve Simonsen stepped in and performed heroics to secure a 1-0 win at White Hart Lane, and was again in the side that lost 4-0 at Portsmouth in the Carling Cup on Tuesday.

Pulis also has to decide whether to bring Mamady Sidibe into the reckoning after the striker's return to action at Fratton Park following a knee injury.

Tuncay also performed well at Portsmouth and could force his way into a side still missing the suspended Robert Huth.

Stoke have lost in the league this term only to Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United and sit in ninth spot.

But Pulis still believes his side are not getting the rub of the green with referee's decisions.

He said: "I still think we are looked on as a downtrodden club and the stats show we are being hard done by.

"We will just have to roll our sleeves up and get on with it. There's no point in complaining about it to any level of officialdom. We know it is happening, we know the facts and we have to understand it.

"The fans must realise it. We have to realise it as a group, the club must realise and be more resilient. There are things going against us that shouldn't go against us for no good reason.

"Our fans are fantastic. They recognise what is going on and that makes them more determined. It is important for them to stay behind us.

"I have been looking at the statistics, we get slaughtered both ways. Winning or losing we get more and less time added on. What happened at Spurs was scandalous."

Wolves welcome back striker Stefan Maierhofer after the Austrian served a one-match ban.

However manager Mick McCarthy is poised to name an unchanged starting line-up, with Maierhofer on the bench as Kevin Doyle and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake continue in attack.

On-loan Chelsea central defender Michael Mancienne is available again after missing the last two games through illness.

Ahead of the encounter, McCarthy has ruled out using Stoke's success as a blueprint for his own pursuit of Premier League survival.

McCarthy is wary of focusing too much on the success of other sides and aims to follow his own instincts to try to ensure that Wolves are not one-season wonders in the top flight.

He said: "We used to say that Charlton were the blueprint for everyone to follow and look what has happened to them.

"That blueprint has been thrown away hasn't it. That was everyone's blueprint wasn't it. It was `Oh, we all want to be like Charlton'.

"Well I say let's be like ourselves and let's see if we can stay up on our own merits and not by anybody else's."

While determined to focus on doing things his own way, McCarthy admits he has been impressed by what Stoke have done and thinks it would be a major mistake to just believe that success has been achieved because they are a physical side who are good at set pieces.

He added: "I think you might be doing them a disservice by saying they are good at set pieces.They have got more to their game than that.

"Just look at their players, the likes of Liam Lawrence, Glenn Whelan, Matthew Etherington, they are far from devoid of ability.

"Let me tell you a team that goes down to Tottenham and wins like they did last weekend shows what they are about. They did well last season and they are a good side.

"Tony Pulis is a pal of mine and his teams are always very competitive and very well organised.

"But what has impressed me most about them is that they got promoted and stayed up."

Wolves head to Stoke on the back of impressive draws against Everton and Aston Villa.

But McCarthy knows they need to start turning those draws into wins to stay clear of trouble at the foot of the table.

He added: "It is all right playing well. But we would have been better off winning one and losing one as we would have more points on the board.

"That doesn't take away from the fact that they were two good performances and two good points.What we have to do now is turn those good performances and draws into wins."