Today I've decided to write about someone who is probably the best striker Stoke City have had for years, but one that comes at a price, though not a financial one. The price is having someone on the squad who can variously be brilliant and imaginatively creative or as has been for the last two games, destructive and carelessly sloppy.

During the Boxing Day game against Manchester United, on a number of occasions he came close to breaking the deadlock that held over the first 70 minutes, but also lost his left boot on no fewer than 3 times. Can anyone explain to me how a Premiership footballer can't keep his footwear on? I could understand if he had been trod on from behind repeatedly, but that wasn't really the case - the first time it happened, he was one on one with Edwin Van De Sar and lost said boot in full flight. You don't half look stupid when that happens and more to the point a rare opportunity to get in front was missed. To then lose your boot twice more is past the point of comedy and suggests that your approach to the professional game is seriously lacking.

Today's incident at West Ham would be funny if it were not so serious. Having once more conspired to throw away a precious lead to a not particularly threatening West Ham team, our leading scorer decides that he's going to start having fisticuffs with the team captain, Andy Griffin. For his trouble, he then gets a red card and an early bath. There is something decidedly unsettling about Ricardo's temperament, as this is not the first time it has resulted in him being sent off. You understand that your defenders are sometimes going to pick up that extra booking in a last ditch attempt to halt the oppositions' progress, but when your strikers go for a walk because they can't keep their opinionated traps shut, it really is too much to keep quiet about.

I should at this point say, that I wasn't at the game and haven't yet seen it on Match of the Day. I can only go on my reaction to the Radio 5 Live reports I heard as I was travelling north from Peterborough.

I'll reserve final judgement until I've seen the incident myself, but at the moment, I'm thinking that Tony Pulis should be seriously thinking about letting Ricardo go during the January transfer window. Sorry son, but you are beginning to look like a bit of an extravagant liability.