Stoke City boss Tony Pulis believes Jermaine Pennant has proved critics who warned he was a ‘lazy’ player wrong

Jermaine Pennant – Stoke City, (Getty Images)

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Stoke City manager Tony Pulis has hailed his side and the performance of Jermaine Pennant in particular after a thumping 3-0 win over Wolves in which the former Arsenal and Liverpool man stood out.

The winger provided the assist for Kenwyne Jones’ opener and rounded off a counter attacking move to net his second of the season after captain Ryan Shawcross had made it two from close range.

Pulis, who initially signed Pennant on loan from Real Zaragoza before making the deal permanent in January, said that the winger had committed to the club’s playing philosophy, defying the doubters who told him that he was taking a risk on a “lazy” player.

“Look at Pennant, people say how well he’s played tonight, you have a look how hard he’s worked,” Pulis told reporters.
 
“He’s grasped and understood coming to a football club where everybody works hard, it’s not just the two midfield players or the back four, whoever you are we expect you to put a shift in.

“I thought Jermaine was fantastic tonight, as he was at Villa, where he was outstanding, as he was at Wembley the week before.

“He’s got the bit between his teeth like the rest of them,” Pulis continued, “it’s been fantastic to see that from a player who people told me was a quite a lazy player.

“You have a look at the stats since he joined the club, him and Matthew Etherington are as hard working pair of wide players as there is in the Premiership.”

The emphatic victory takes Stoke to almost certain safety on 42 points and in ninth position, and Pulis believes his side’s first-half display, which resulted in two goals, was the best performance of the club’s three-year Premier League spell.

“It was a big game for us tonight, the players’ attitude and application towards the job in hand was absolutely fantastic, and the first half was as good a half as we have played at any time in Premiership,” he said.

“I thought we really, really played well, and created chance after chance, and Wayne Hennessey was fantastic.”

Flying winger Etherington had to be taken off prior to the break, and is a doubt for the FA Cup final against Manchester City in May.

“It’s a massive disappointment for us,” Pulis said. “We won’t know the extent of the injury until tomorrow when he has scan.

“We’ll do our damnedest to make sure he is fit. We’ve got 17 or 18 days yet. The first week is very important we get sorted, then at least he’s got 10 days after that to get it as strong as he possibly can to play in the final.

“Having lost Ricardo Fuller and Danny Higginbotham as well, it’s a massive blow for the football club because we haven’t got the resources Man City have got.

“It would have been tough enough with our best players available, and that’s what we need.”