Pulis’ Stoke applauded by Jewell

Pulis said: “People who haven’t seen us pigeon-hole us and talk about what other people perceive, but we’ve got some good players. If people want to perceive us (to be ugly) then brilliant, I’m quite happy with that.

“We’ve got Beattie, Lawrence, Fuller, Etherington and Whelan who are all good footballers but let everybody think we’re one-dimensional because it seems to be working for us.

“Paul Jewell watched our game against Newcastle on Saturday and he rung me yesterday to say I was conning people by playing the ugly tag up. I just told him make sure you don’t tell anybody the truth!

“There’s teams that play through the pitch and there’s teams that play backwards, square and sideways. If teams want to do that in their own half of the pitch and not hurt you that’s fine, but I’d rather my teams play through the pitch.

“I watched Chelsea play against Liverpool on Tuesday and I thought it was a great game because both teams played through the pitch and I like teams who do that.”

The Potters have been heavily criticised in the media this season for their ‘route one’ style, but there has been a noted change in recent months with Liam Lawrence and Glenn Whelan playing with more regularity.

And the January arrivals of winger Matthew Etherington and striker James Beattie have added a new dimension to Stoke’s play, which should see them avoid Premier League relegation.