PAUL ELLIS/AFP/Getty ImagesStoke's Ryan Shotton, left, fared poorly against Carlos Tevez, right, and the rest of the Manchester City attackers.

Manchester City overcame their Britannia hoodoo by making it their first win in the Potteries for 13 years. It took Roberto Mancini's expensively assembled side until the 85th minute to score against a Stoke team who were nowhere near their best.

- Match report: Stoke 0-1 Manchester City

Tony Pulis said he would play his strongest side and I, like many, breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of Kenwyne Jones and Jonathan Walters up top with two wingers on the pitch. However, it's when the team is exactly as it should be that enables you to see exactly where it needs to be improved, and today the fullback and wing positions were well and truly under the microscope as both struggled terribly.

Ryan Shotton -- Shotton had done well at fullback earlier in the season (if not so much lately) so his inclusion in the side wasn't too much of a concern, but unfortunately he let himself down again by constantly passing to the opposition and losing the ball in the most dangerous of areas. If Stoke are to move on, I'm not sure they can take Shotton with them. Despite what the manager says, he is no longer a kiddie and given he is unlikely to improve at this stage in his career, it would be best for all parties to move him on to free up a space in the squad.

Andy Wilkinson -- Wilkinson will always give 100%, but like Shotton, he too isn't quite up to scratch. That said, I do think that he is the best right back we currently have despite his faults. While that perhaps says more about the options available to the manager than the player himself, I would keep him for the bench as back up right back.

Matthew Etherington -- Etherington looks a spent force these days despite the odd game where he looks to have turned a corner. There's no doubt his game would improve with a left-footer behind him, but if Stoke are to think about reshaping the squad, you'd have to think that his role would become less critical in favour of a younger, hungrier option.

Michael Kightly -- Kightly has had a couple of shockers recently and today was the latest for a player who started the season in good form. Despite how poor he has looked of late, I have come to the conclusion that he is a confidence player and at the moment that confidence is rock bottom. I think there is still a good squad player in there and that he is a good option to have from the bench when indeed he is on form.

With the above in mind, the work to do to take Stoke into the next 3-5 years seems quite a lot, with all four of the aforementioned positions, in my opinion, needing fresh faces. The most important of those four though is left back, and if there is one player I'm most hopeful of coming in, it will be someone for that position. Unless there is a great deal available in the other positions, I would hold tight until the summer when we will get better value to address the remaining three. It's been a heck of a long time since we last had a specialist fullback in Marcus Hall, so the Potteries faithful will be hoping and praying Pulis breaks his cycle of smashing square pegs into that particular round hole in the next few days.

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