Phil Thompson feels Bolton gave Stoke a harsh lesson in the realities of Premier League life.
Thommo says Stoke need to improve quickly
Bolton 3-1 Stoke
Soccer Saturday analysis
Phil Thompson feels Stoke were given a harsh lesson in the realities of Premier League life in their 3-1 defeat at Bolton.
The Premier League new-boys were 3-0 down by half time as goals from Gretar Rafn Steinsson, Kevin Davies and Johan Elmander gave Bolton a comprehensive advantage and Ricardo Fuller's late consolation strike barely disguised Stoke's failings.
Thompson was critical of Stoke's style and suggested they could learn a lot from the way Bolton took and defended set pieces throughout the match.
"Welcome to the Premier League," said Thompson on
Soccer Saturday.
"They did alright in the early part of the game but once Bolton got into their stride they showed Stoke how to take free-kicks and how to deal with them defensively. They were the much better team.
"The first goal was quite sensational and I'm going to give Steinsson the benefit of the doubt on the first game of the season.
"He was wide on the right and hit the ball with bend, dip and everything. He might have meant it as a cross but it hit the underside of the bar at the far post and went in the back of the net.
"It was quite sensational and from that moment Stoke were never in it.
"I think they rely on set-pieces and they forgot to play football; they didn't build up through the middle and it was Bolton all the way."
Exceptional
Thompson was impressed by the performance of Bolton new-boy Elmander who played up front on his own and marked his Premier League debut with a goal.
Bolton have often been accused of playing long-ball football, but Thompson insists that was not in evidence on Saturday afternoon.
"Elmander played very well," he continued.
"After 15 or 20 minutes I was thinking the boy hadn't had a kick - he was just running around and hardly got near the ball.
"But once he got into the game he was quite exceptional and he got a goal with a simple header into the bottom corner.
"It was in injury-time when Stoke got their goal, a fantastic header from about 10 yards past Jussi Jaaskelainen who had very little to do.
"Before that it could have been five or six and Bolton played very well. They only played one up front but it wasn't direct. They got support to Elmander and they played some really good football.
"For me it was a great team performance - but Stoke have got to do a lot more."
