Pulis ´desperate´ for more points

Tony Pulis has challenged his Stoke side ‘to get as many points’ as they can from their remaining nine games of the Premier League season.

Wednesday night’s 1-1 draw with Tottenham saw Stoke draw level with 10th- and ninth-placed Everton and Sunderland on the table, with last season’s FA Cup finalists now just one win away from the ’40-point safety mark’.

However, with his side out of the Europa League and now the FA Cup following Sunday’s 2-1 quarter-final defeat at Liverpool, Pulis has insisted he remains ‘desperate’ for Stoke to get as many points on the board as possible.

“We’re desperate to get as many points as we can now and if we put the effort and commitment in that we’ve put in (against Tottenham) then we’ll be ok,” he said.

“On the back of playing Liverpool on Saturday, I thought that the commitment and the effort was absolutely first class.

“It’s what the club’s about, it’s what the players are about, it’s what the dressing room is all about.”

Cameron Jerome had given Stoke the lead in the 75th minute at White Hart Lane, only for Rafael van der Vaart to equalise deep into stoppage time to prevent Spurs suffering a fourth straight league defeat.

While Pulis admitted it was disappointing to concede so late, he hailed the effort of his squad, particularly with the other sides involved in domestic action last weekend falling to defeat in midweek.

“Yeah it was disappointing but you can’t switch off, and we switched off and we got caught, and that’s what top teams do, but full credit to our players,” the 54-year-old said.

“You look at the teams playing in the quarter final on Saturday and have a look at their results I think they’ve all lost games.

“I know Sunderland looked a little bit out on their feet against Blackburn and Liverpool have got beat late (against QPR), so it’s a credit for our players. (We’ve played) Chelsea, then Liverpool and Tottenham and then to put in a performance like this is fantastic.

“To be honest they had opportunities, but I was never biting my nails thinking it was just a matter of time until the tide was going to break and they were going to score. So it was disappointing at the end that they did.”

However, the former Plymouth Argyle manager was left to rue the amount of stoppage time played on Wednesday, with Pulis suggesting an extra minute was played after the allotted five.

“We actually played just over six minutes (of additional time), which was again very disappointing,” he said.

Peter Crouch returned to a former club for the second time in five days following Sunday’s trip to Anfield, with Pulis handing the striker the captain’s armband for the evening due to his ties at White Hart Lane.

“It was just because he was coming back to his old club, he had a great time at Tottenham and we wanted to do that for him. I just pulled him before the game (and told him),” Pulis said.

“Ryan (Shawcross) didn’t have a problem with it and I thought he was brilliant tonight Crouchy.”

Stoke welcome Manchester City to the Britannia on Saturday, and Pulis is fully aware his men will face a stern task in the shape of Roberto Mancini’s title-chasing side.

“What can you say? Whoever they play, their first team or their second team or third team their fantastic players,” he said.

“They’ve got what they’ve got because they’ve bought great players for a hell of a lot of money.”