KEEGAN FULLER PRAISE FOR RIC

[markscfc72]

Kevin Keegan cheekily asked about Ricardo Fuller after being impressed by his performances in Stoke's two FA Cup clashes against Newcastle.

But the newly-appointed Newcastle boss gave no indication whether his interest was anything more than a polite inquiry.

The news that Keegan, right, was returning to St James' Park for a second stint as manager was made public just a few hours before the start of Stoke's third-round replay against the Magpies.



Keegan emerged after 19 minutes and took his seat between Newcastle owner Mike Ashley and chairman Chris Mort.

And Stoke boss Tony Pulis revealed: "We were chatting after the game when he mentioned what a good and exciting player Ricardo was.

"He said he always liked him whenever he saw him playing for Preston a few years back.

"He thought Ricardo and Mama Sidibe were a real handful together in the first game and that we should have won it.

"He asked me if Ricardo could play in the Premiership. I joked 'no, he's rubbish really' because I want him here playing with us, nowhere else."

Pulis has been highly impressed with how the Jamaica international has not only led City's attack with 12 goals so far this season, but also recovered his best fitness during the 18 months since he arrived at the Britannia Stadium.

Pulis added: "He's so much fitter than when he first came.

"Ric deserves great credit for that because he listens to the experts and spends time on his own in the gym working on weights and stretches.

"He's a top player in our team because he can change things in the blink of an eye with his ability. He can carry that weight of expectation - in fact, I think he enjoys it.

"But the beauty of this team is that we are not totally dependent on the Ricardo Fullers of this world because everyone has made a telling contribution at some stage."

[Cabby_Shunt]

"no, he's rubbish really"

Nice one Tone.

;D

[Fred Astaire]

We might not be "totally dependent on the Ricardo Fullers of this world" but the Hull game proved how shat we are without them!

[powchirper]

cheekily asked,and cheekily told to koff

[only1clinthill]

i still don't think Ricardo would be good enough for the prem, he would need to improve his game and temper!

[Deleted]

I think the way an average Premiership defence like Newcastle's handled Ric shows the huge gulf between the two leagues.

[potters11]

iamfredastaire: The Preston match goes completely against your comment. Ricardo may as well have been sent off, he was that useless, and we still won 3-1 comfortably.

[Fred Astaire]

Potters11, the difference being against Preston he was useless, but Preston still had to be cautious of what he was capable of and therefore have 2 men marking him.

Against Hull they didn't need to do that against Parkin as they had a little old granny on her zimmerframe marking him one on one.

[potters11]

Fair point

[Stick It On Cort's Head]

if they offered 5 million tomorrow i would fucking take it


he is worth 2.5 million and no more

you look at players like ebanks blake, and fuller is in the same mould, ebanks blake is 5 years younger remember!

[daverichards]

stokecitypotter said:

if they offered 5 million tomorrow i would fucking take it


he is worth 2.5 million and no more

you look at players like ebanks blake, and fuller is in the same mould, ebanks blake is 5 years younger remember!

I wouldn't, we don't have time to replace him before the transfer deadline ends, sell him and we can kiss good bye to promotion. And I thought he wasn't that good against Newcastle myself, not up to his usual standards anyway

[spitthedog]

Think we might find there may be a few more games yet where Ric is ineffective because he is now ear marked as the dangerman and teams are putting 2/3 men around him.

That should be good news for the others.

It shouldn't be that much of aproblem for a four man defence to put 2 on fuller because he's usually up there on his own.

[Deleted]

Sylvain "He Wanks" Blake dreams of being the player Fuller is. He's not on the same planet.

[Dannyboy]

hands off him keegan