Stoke City boss Tony Pulis is happy for his club to still be written off by critics.

He said: "I read the other day where someone said we should not be in the Premiership. That is music to my ears as a motivational tool because we are all spurred on by talk like that.

"The players will react to it and so will the people of Stoke-on-Trent because they see us as underdogs. They would love to see us prove people wrong and I'm confident we will do.

"Teams get pigeon-holed and Sam will know all about that, despite doing a magnificent job at Bolton for which he will always be remembered.

"If people think Stoke City are a one dimensional team who just lump the ball forward, that suits me fine. We've got Ricardo Fuller, James Beattie, Matty Etherington, Liam Lawrence and Glenn Whelan, who are all good footballers.

"There is a lot of nonsense talked, but we just use that to our advantage. We do like to get the ball forward rather than passing it about between the back four, but we showed against Newcastle that we can play good football."