T’S NOT often Stoke City’s and Barcelona’s styles are mentioned in the same sentence. But Swansea City boss Michael Laudrup insists he has as much respect for Stoke’s direct approach as Barcelona’s famous tiki-taka.
Former Nou Camp legend Laudrup makes his first visit to the Britannia Stadium tomorrow and while Stoke’s tactics may be a world away from the elegant style with which Laudrup made his name, the Swans boss has refused to criticise Stoke’s tough-tackling approach.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger famously compared Stoke’s style of play to a rugby team’s after seeing his slick-passing side bullied by Pulis’ men on a number of occasions in recent years.
But while Laudrup admits Pulis’ team of giants present a unique challenge for his stylish Swans, the 48-year-old says he would never judge another side’s system.
Laudrup said: “There is no-one like Stoke in Spain, it’s very different. Even if they have players of the same size they do not play that way but that does not make it the wrong way to play.
“I respect Stoke for the way they play as much as I respect Barcelona for the way they play.
“We can all have the way we want to play but there are lots of ways to win games.
“I will never be the one to say ‘I don’t like their style’ because that is not me.”
Swansea were stung by two set-piece goals at the Britannia in the same fixture last season with Peter Crouch and Matthew Upson making the most of their physical advantage to sink Brendan Rodgers’ side.
With only Ashley Williams,Ki Sung-Yeung,Danny Graham and new signings Chico Flores and Miguel Michu above 6ft in Laudrup’s squad they face a huge challenge to stop the likes of 6ft 7in Crouch and company. Laudrup had expressed his disappointment at the number of free kicks and corners Swansea conceded in their 3-0 mauling at the hands of Everton last weekend which directly led to two of the Toffees’ three goals.
He’s warned his side they cannot make the same mistake at the Britannia or they risk playing straight into Stoke’s hands.
“They have a very physical team and set pieces are a very big part of football these days,” said Laudrup.
“Stoke rely on their set-pieces and we certainly can’t give eight or nine free kicks away in the first 10 minutes again.
“Everybody knows about their direct style of play and of course, they scored from two set pieces last season.
“But some times it’s impossible to avoid set pieces. You can talk about free kicks but we still want to be aggressive in our pressure, it’s more about the way we defend.
“There’s still only one ball so if we play it around they can’t hurt us.
“We have to pay attention and not give them free headers, and when we have the ball we have to make sure that we use it.
“You have to take chances, but they will be calculated in whatever we do.”