John Carew has defended his Stoke team's style of play insisting they are not just a long-ball side.
Norwegian hoping for Wembley return
Stoke striker John Carew has defended his new team's style of play insisting they are not just a long-ball side.
The 31-year-old has slotted into Tony Pulis' plans since his loan move from Aston Villa, but insists that he has not just joined a side reliant on long-balls and set-pieces.
The Norwegian striker has risked angering fans of his parent club Villa by claiming they were more of a long-ball team than the Potters.
Carew shared his belief that there is a lot more to the Stoke style of play than meets the eye.
"People say to me I must enjoy playing in this team because I get so many balls in the air," said Carew.
"But, first of all, I want to kill that rumour a bit because I think I got more long balls at Villa when I was playing there than here.
"Here we also get the ball on the ground. We also have football players.
"We can play the long ball as well when we need to but, even on a difficult pitch at Wolves, we still tried to play."
Partnership
Carew also admitted that he is seeing the benefits of playing alongside an accomplished striker in Kenwyne Jones, rather than as a lone target man.
Carew will hope the partnership can be a factor at Anfield on Wednesday night when Stoke travel to Liverpool.
He added: "It is a team that suits me as well and, with myself and Kenwyne up top, the job is not hard. Before it was only me.
"I can run off him sometimes, because he will win the flicks as well, and we can create a lot of danger.
"It is difficult for defenders to cope because the focus is on two and not one of us."
Wembley run
Carew helped the Potters into the last 16 of the FA Cup with a 1-0 win over Wolves in the fourth round.
The striker reached Wembley twice with former club Villa last season and is looking to make it a third with his new club.
"It would be fantastic to have another good cup run with Stoke and two more games and we are there [Wembley] again," added Carew.
"I played at Wembley twice last season. It would be a dream to come to Stoke and play at Wembley again.
"I love this competition. It has gone well before and hopefully it will continue.
"It was disappointing to lose the two games at Wembley - although playing there two times in one season is not too bad!
"But, of course, it would be good to first get there and win this time and I think we have a good chance.
"We have a lot of power, a way of playing which is very difficult for other teams to play against."
