Thursday 10 April 2014

Osaze targets Stoke revival against Newcastle


Osaze

Osaze Odemwingie says Stoke will be judged on how quickly they can pick themselves up after last weekend’s poor result against Chelsea. They face Newcastle next on Saturday.
The 32-year-old forward was at the fore as Stoke picked up 18 points out of a possible 27 over February and March.
And he wants to prove a 3-0 defeat at Chelsea was just a blip rather than a change of fortunes.
“Things can always get worse quickly if you don’t react right,” he told The Sentinel.
“Defeats can affect the team so we have to pick ourselves up. We have to be at 100 per cent against Newcastle (on Saturday).
“It will be a very difficult game so it’s important to come out fighting for three points at home.
“We didn’t have much to say in the changing room to know we want to get back to our best straight away. If you don’t win the next game we will start forgetting how good the last two months have been.
“It’s important to come back and really give everything against Newcastle.”
It was a bump back down to earth for Odemwingie, who had been on a three-game scoring streak himself and collecting the plaudits after his January switch from Cardiff City.
Stoke have now lost on their eight visits to Stamford Bridge since Paul Peschisolido inspired a 1-0 League Cup win for the Potters in October 1995.
They have not scored in 660 minutes of action at the ground since Rory Delap netted the opener in a 2-1 loss in 2008/09.
Odemwingie said: “It’s a reminder how tough the Premier League is. With a performance like that you can’t expect to come away from Stamford Bridge with any points.
“We are playing in a big league and if you are not at 100 per cent you don’t get anything.
“Our forward line didn’t get chances, but it’s one of those days. We have to pick ourselves up.”
Chelsea had lost two of their three previous league games and Odemwingie believes they needed to win to keep their title hopes alive.
But he says it was a tough fixture and Stoke should still focus on where they should have been better themselves.

The Nigeria international reckons they did not do enough to put Jose Mourinho’s side on the back foot.
He said: “We knew it was going to be a hard one. There is a lot of pressure on Chelsea and after losing two games we knew they were going to come out and show their teeth.
“But our own performance wasn’t the best and we only have ourselves to blame for going down 3-0.
“Their squad is strong enough that they could afford to leave their player-of-the-year (Eden Hazard) on the bench. They showed quality, moving the ball well and making chances.
“But I think we should look at what we did. On the ball we didn’t do enough and we didn’t create enough chances. If we could have just scored one you never know, but we were just resisting the attacks rather than attacking ourselves."

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