Stoke City v Dynamo Kyiv – as it happened

Preamble: And so it looks like England's last representatives in Europe could be Arsenal and Stoke, the two contrasting faces of English football. A team that could combine the merits of both would be formidable indeed. But wait, let's not get ahead of ourselves: Stoke may be top of their group, having won three and drawn of their four matches so far (and shown a remarkable ruthless streak by scoring with 50% of their shots in the competition so far) but they still need to get at least a draw tonight to be sure of going through. And that'll be no easy task because Dynamo need to win and have some proper slicksters in their midst. Get all snooty about this competition and tune out if you want to, but you'll only be depriving of larks: this could be a belter tonight. Aside: Musing earlier today on the transformation of Jonathan Walters from (what I thought was) an extremely limited player to an excellent Premier League performer who could play a prominent role for his country in Euro 2012 next summer, I and other twitter-based work-shirkers racked our puny brains to come up with players who've gone from seemingly being crud to crucial. For the Premier League at present, we settled on the following top six: (1) Lucas Leiva (2) Ramires 3) Fabricio Coloccini 4) Benoit Assou-Ekotto 5) Ali Al Habsi 6) Walters (7) Laurent Koscielny (8) Alex Song (9) Stephen Ward (10) Bobby Zamora. Care to broaden that out to include players from other leagues? Or perhaps do the reverse, i.e. players who've gone from being crucial to crud (excluding Spanish strikers to prevent collapse of my inbox). Teams: Stoke: Begovic; Shotton, Huth, Upson, Higginbotham; Pennant, Palacios, Diao, Delap; Jones, Jerome Subs: Nash, Fuller, Wilson, Shawcross, Whitehead, Walters, Crouch Dynamo: Shovkovskiy; Danilo Silva, Betao, Khacheridi, Vukojevic; Aliyev, Gusev, Yussuf, Yarmolenko; Shevchenko, Brown Subs: Koval, Milevskiy, Haruna, Adi, Ninkovic, Almeida, Correa Referee: F Meyer (Ger) 7.43pm: Gordon Stachan in the ITV studio says Andriy Shevchenko is just playing from memory these days and claims that when the Ukranian was at Chelewa "all he wanted to do was play golf ... let's see how he does tonight against people who are really hungry for it." 7.45pm: OK, spose get this one out of the way early doors. "Darren Fletcher was horrible - Roy Keane said so himself so he must have been - then he turned into the most crucial midfield player for Man United who was saved for all the big matches," recalls Jared. "Until suddenly he remembered he was total squad filler." 7.57pm: "From good to bad is far more fun," blurts Greg Shumyatsky before denouncing an entire segment: "ALL Russian players that went to PL have gone from good to horrible: Arshavin, Pav, Billyaletdinov, Zhirkov…" Anyone want to venture an explanation? 8.03pm: "Jon Walters is absolutely baffling," stammers James Roberts. "He looked dreadful and utterly out of his depth for Wrexham in League 2 a few years ago. So much so that when he joined local rivals Chester after a season I was delighted. He really doesn't seem to have changed very much, so presumably he is some sort of shapeshifter who can absorb the qualities of the better players he has faced every single time he's played a game of football." And hats (of cap) off to Tony Pulis for spotting his potential to do so. 8.05pm: Looks like a full house at the Brit, save for some spaces in the away section. All stand and clap fo a minute's appreciation for Gary Speed. 1 min: Kyiv are go. 2 min: Delap slings in hisa first missile of the match. Upson flicks on at the near post, but into the keeper's arms. 3 min: Delap slings in his second missile of the match ... can you see a familiar pattern developing? This one is nodded behind for a corner. 5 min: Dynamo piece together some passes for the first time in the game, and then Aliyev insults Begovic by attempting to beat him from nigh-on 40 yards. He hit it well, in fairness, and the keeper saved it with difficulty. 7 min: The definitive proof of Gordon Strachan's theory [7.43pm]: Shevchenko is muscled off the ball by Salif Diao. 10 min: Aliyev either fancies himself or has been told that Begovic is dodgy: he's just let fly from 35 yards + again. And again he didn't miss by much, sending a fiervce swirler narrowly wide. 12 min: Dynamo are starting to hog possession now and frantic pressing is posing less of a problem. They worked Gusex into a dangerous area jsut now but there was no one on hand to prod home after he smashed a low pass across the face of goal. 14 min: It's tepid enough stuff so far, which suits Stoke, who only need a point to progress. "If Sheva has lost even more pace then there's a good chance that Big Bob Huth might actually make contact with the ball rather than Sheva's shins when he clatters him tonight," snorts Ian Burch. 15 min: Ha! Just for Ian Burch, Huth catches Shevchenko late. But avoids a booking. 17 min: After more Dynamo building around the box, Hiugginbotham jurls himself in front of a Shevchenko shot. Good block. 20 min: Aliyev, a constant menace, wriggles to the by-line and then digs out a cross that Shotton has to head out from under his own bar. 23 min: After a prolonged lull, Gusev breaks from midfield and bears down on the Stoke box ... and then over-hits his intended pass to Yarmolenko. GOAL! Stoke 0-1 Dynamo (Upson o.g. 27') Or maybe the goal will be credited to Aliyev, whose latest shot from distance took a huge deflection off Upson to send it past Begovic. Dynamo deserve that. 28 min: Stoke are missing Glenn Whelan. Dynamo were allowed to stride forward from midfield to the box far too easily for the goal. Diao and Palacios just not cutting it at the moment. 30 min: Shotton launches a long throw into the box but he's not Delap: he's got the distance but not the power or trajectory. Dynamo clear without fuss. 33 min: Diao produces Stoke's bst corss of the match, but Shovkovskiy clasps it. They've dealt very well with the high ball tonight, and have been the onlny side to show fluency on the floor. They've got more goals in them for sure, and it's far from certain at the moment that Stoke have any. 35 min: Cameron Jerome, a player who cannot be said to have gone from crud to crucial, attempts to get into the game but instead fouls the defender. Service to him has been infrequent and sloppy and he has not made the best of it. 37 min: Aliyev and Gusev are continually finding space in midfield and they've just combined again to tee up Shevchenko, whose shot from a tough angle hits the outside of the post. Stoke are sinking here ... 40 min: Stoke can't get the ball. 43 min: Pulis needs to introducec Walters, Wilson and Whitehead at half-time if Stoke are to have any chance of avoiding defeat here. Dynamo have donned slippers. 45 min: Delpa take a short throw-in: since Dynamo have dealt with everything he's hurled at them so far, a change of tactic was called for. Same result though. 45+1 min: Ouch! After a fine run by Shevchenko, the ball breaks to Betao, who thunders it Aliyev's gonads. Half-time: Stoke have been royally outplayed in that first half and if things continue this way they are likely to lose heavily. Their forwards have had virtually no service, their midfield has been ponderous and irrelevent and their defence dreadfully exposed. Substitutions and a vigorous Pulis pep talk required. 46 min: We have resumption. Meanwhile, Marko Ristic has some thoughts on the lack of succcess of Russian players in the Premier League. "I think personally the reason offensive minded Slavic players don't tend to be a hit in the Premier League is due to playing football more technically and at a slightly slower pace. Slavic players in general (there are exceptions) tend to like the pastures of Italian, Spanish, and German football more where technique is emphasized. In England, technique is not the only requirement but the pace, and sheer tenacity of the English game is a MUST. You could date this back to Vladimir Pizon who played 24 games for Arsenal in 1983, and they were just confused by him, as he played more with and without the ball then with his body. Slavic players that have succeeded in the EPL have usually been defenders, and most notably in the past decade: Vidic, Ivanovic, Corluka, etc. It's not a coincidence that these strong defenders have made it in the EPL while the offensive minded have gone to other countries. It's almost as if Slavic players (e.g. Arshavin) are kind of like Cristiano Ronaldo, in his earlier years when he didn't learn yet how to play the English style. He took Ferguson's advice and changed his approach… I wonder if we would see that if a player like Arshavin went to United and got some serious discipline, which he probably could get away with at Arsenal. The only notable Slavic attacker that has been a success somewhat is Berbatov." 47 min: Surprised Pulis didn't make any changes during the break. Unsurprisingly, then, the game has quickly settled into the first-period pattern, with Dynamo knocking the ball about deliberately while Stoke scurry in their wake. 51 min: Stoke can't build their way towards the box so must maximise set-pieces: a freekick on the right gives them a chance to lob it in. A hectic scramble ensues and Delap eventually clips a ball through to Palacios, whose shot from 14 yards brings a good save from the keeper. 55 min: Pennant launches another into the mixer. Shovkovskiy punches out for a throw-in. You know what's coming next ... sure enough, he hurls it back into the aforementioned mixer. The keeper punches away again but it falls to Pennant, who fires hard and low through the thong .... and towards the net until Khacheridi boots it off the line! 57 min: After a good bout of Stoke pressure, Dynamo rumble forward again and Aliyev, of course, ends up having a shot from distance. But it's his worst effort of the night, wobbling way wide. 60 min: Stoke are working up a head of steam here. But Diao needed a cool one when the ball fell to him at the edge of the area just now ... in his eagerness to equalise he slashes at it and blazed miles over. 62 min: Jerome barges through two before losing it. But at least he's starting to see a bit of the ball now. "As a Bolton fan, I have to disagree about Ali Al Habsi going from crud to crucial," howls Nick Einhorn. "He played quite well during his only run in the Bolton team in the 07-08 season and had a nontrivial role in keeping us up. How about Carlos Tevez? Crud (in most of his first West Ham season) to crucial (until this season) to crybaby?" Fair point about Al Habsi, he was only crud in the sense that he very seldom got a game; and there can be no denying that he was superb last season for Wigan and has been again this term, suggesting that Bolton really should have kept him, especially with Jussi Jasskelainen clearly on the wane. 66 min: Pennant had time and space to size up a cross to Jones, who was bawling for it in the centre. It never came. 69 min: Stroke substitution, at last: Ricardo Fuller on, Diao off. 71 min: Fuller's first contribution is to seize on a slack backpass. He tries to weaves his way through four Ukranians. But doesn't get very far. 73 min: Dynamo change: Shevchenko departs, Almeida on. Dynamo, then, are switching to a five-man defence, seemingly intent on just hanging on rather than seeking to add to their lead. 76 min: Shotton shapes to fling in another throw, from right beside the corner flag. 77 min: Huth gets booked for a hilarious high kick to the face of Yussuf: the German will be suspended for the trip to Besiktas, where, if things stay the same here, Stoke will need at least a draw. 79 min: Peter Crouch is limbering up for Stoke. GOAL! Stoke 1-1 Dynamo (Jones 81') Lovely cross by Pennant, followed by a lovely leap by Jones and a tremendous powerful header from six yards. Stoke still have never been beaten at home in Europe! "I once managed to walk into the Dynamo Kyiv stadium (during a non-matchday) and made it all the way on to the pitch," confesses Hugh Collins. "Nobody questioned my right to be there, seemingly because i had a tie on. God bless the keep-your-head-down mentality." 83 min: Dynamo needs a winner, Stoke want a winner. We've got a roistering last few minutes here ... 84 min: Stoke switch: Jones off, Walters on (Crouch's limbering was for nowt, apparently). 85 min: Dynamo switch: Yussuf off, Ninkovic on. Back to an attacking approach. If they had kept on the front foot rather than reclining in the second half, they'd probably be home and hosed by now. 88 min: Stoke switch: Pennant off, Whitehead on. 90 min: A freekick wide on the left gives Stoke a chance to hoist one last punt into the mixer. but instead they play it backwards, content to take the draw. 90+2 min: Magnificent save by Begovic, who dives full-length to tip away a Yarmolenko blast from distance! Absolutely brilliant stop, and it's enough to give Stoke a point and progression to to the next round.