This is the choice my fellow Stokies? Who would you want in our squad? I give you the contenders: Cult Status = Ricardo Fuller Cant be bothered (by lots of people on most Stoke Websites) = Cameron Jerome Now the stats: Ricardo 32 in October Cameron Just turned 25 in August Their last 3 seasons in the Prem ( which is actually 4 because brum got relegated in the 2007-08 season & Jerome stuck with them in the Championship ) Ricardo: Played 97 Scored 18 Cameron: Played 99 Scored 21 So i ask you fellow Stokies Why is Ric a Legend, who everyone LOVES But Cameron is piss poor (we can do better than him Stoke) Just a personal thought How about we give the KID a chance in a Stoke City team, before we berate the guy even though he has not kicked a football for the team yet ( mmmm John Walters springs too mind ). PS. Sorry for the ric lovers, but beating 3 men & scoring a beauty every 10-15 games, does not make him a legend in my eyes.
Spot on Huthy - Ricardo makes KJ look like a workaholic. He (Ric) has given the impression of being disinterested for a while before his injury. A scorer of great goals, but not a great goalscorer - he is held in such affection because for most of his time at Stoke, he was the one person who could do something with the ball.As we have progressed, and have more people who can play (etherington, Pennant, Wilson), I certainly began to notice his petulance and total inability to buy into the team ethic more than his ability. Having said that, he has been good with us, and hopefully we can still get a productive 20 minutes a game from him on his return.
I have to agree with you when put like that Huth, after all, there is lies, dam lies and stats! I would be interested to see how many games they started because my understanding is that Jerome has pretty puch started everygame, where Fuller has often been used as a sub! Maybe the stat should be goals per minute? Either way i think you have made your point and anyone who wears the stoke shirt should get the support! Are you in favour of dropping Walters to allow for Jermoe to play because I cant see how else he would fit?
Smithers re our signings, I'm stuck!!! How do we drop, what has probably been our best attacker (Walters) for the past 6 months, too accommodate Crouch/Jerome? As a wild guess, i think TP will start with Crouch/Walters, Give KJ a big kick up the ass. Ethers & Pennant very rarely last 90 mins together 65-70 mins, bring on KJ for Pennant, push walters wide right, & then Jerome for Ethers & play him on the wing as well?????????? But what do i know.
I was thinking that myself! It would seem very unfair that the most hard working and without a doubt our best should be sacrificed for any new signing! Matybe TP felt that with another Striker, Walters could cover the wing like you say and Jerome would then be the impact sub with extra legs upfront!
I think if Fuller wasn't injured he'd have been sold during the window I reckon. There were a lot of murmurings toward the time he got his injury last season that he was moving on, rumoured abroad for one last pay day. It's very much possible to me that if he is fit again by January he will be moved on, same for Mama, but I'm sure he'll stay on in an ambassador role. The one thing you can say for Jerome is that he has pace and boy do we need it right now. Jonny looks like he's been running through treacle this season and Kenwyne's never been quick.
Huthy This is a great post... I honestly don't know but bear in mind, we do have TWO games every week for a couple of months. I'm sure as with the game v West Brom we will need to rotate the player's i.e. the forwards. Walters I can't fault him but, he's running his legs off week in, week out.. might need a rest now and again. Would love to see a front line of.... Pennant, Walters Crouch etherington with walters just behind Crouch. But maybe Jerome could be good foil for Crouch who can actually play a bit! NICE choices or what? SO many options now and, it's a nice problem for T.P. I wlll support whoever starts every game. Surly, the likes of K.J. and Fuller when fit can not start every week. Who knows what Tony Pulis will do.... but we are as a CLUB in a much better situation than we were. IF EVERY player realises this, fantastic.
Walters has been our best striker - BUT he still only scored as many as KJ so why is everybody saying drop him? And so far - it's Jones who's scored 3 for us and walters only 1. For me Walters is our best striker don't get me wrong - but for all his work he has still only scored as many as Jones last season - even if he was a sub more often than Jones. Personally I agree Walters is a better striker than Jones but I'm getting tired of all these 'Jones does nothing' posts. Walters and Crouch is a better strike partnership BUT Jones is still quality - and for the goals so far he's well worth it - maybe now there is m0re competition upfront we'll see more from him
Dave Your last sentence... let's hope so re K.J. NOW we have FOUR out and out striker's + Fuller when fit.. maybe Jones will be more "effective" for the fee Dave.. He's doing OK. But Walters was an absoulte bargain at what? 3 Million. I'm sure now we have competion for places K.J. with the right servies i.e. crosses could score even more for us. IF Jones doesn't get his head to it.. Crouch should do. Can't wait to see who lines up v Liverpool now!
Thats funny............I seem to remember everyone on here saying Upson was **** because Fuller ONCE turned him inside out?........now fuller is **** because he only beat 3 men and scored a screamer once. You cant put a players career into one mistake or goal, thats ridiculous. The reason I think Fuller IS a legend is that when he gets the ball at his feet you never know whats going to happen (lets remember football is a lot about entertainment), also when he comes on as sub the whole team and fans seem to get a big boost as you know hes capable of changing a game. Ill support any player who wears the red and white stripes and Jerome is good back up, but he is not good enough IMO to start in the first 11.............then again I did say exactly the same thing about Walters and look how good he is now! Fuller however is getting on now and is far too injury prone, it kills me to say but I think this is his last season for stoke. When he does go who is coming down the Brit to build the statue of him ????????????????????. Personally with crouch and Jerome coming in I would have let Fuller go as he probably isnt going to get into the 25 man squad with Crouch, Jerome, Walters and Jones. You have to remember before we had these higher status players there was only Fuller who could really do anything technical. He was to fans like me a lifeline of how football should be played. Youre stats would suggest he doesnt have the right to be called a legend (so I understand why people would not call him one) but sometimes you have to go beyond stats and look at what he brings to the game, and at £500,00 WHAT A BARGAIN!!!!!!!!!!. Ricardo Fuller has given me some of the best memories since I started supporting Stoke 16 years ago and in my eyes deserves the LEGEND status.
Ric, Well that is a fair enough view of Fuller. Certainly in the dire days of our early Championship years, and of course the year of promotion, Fuller was a shining light. I still have to say that for me, when we are prepared to lambast KJ for his work rate, we do turn a blind eye to the work ethic of RF. For me he has been a very good player, and for £500k, one of our best buys. I have been lucky enough to see some excellent players at Stoke in the 44 years that I have been a supporter, so he does not quite make legend status for me. In the past 10 years he has been one of our best, although for me, Hoekstra (when fit) was amuch more magical player than Ric.
I agree with you Ric and if you look at my 1st post on this thread I mention that stats do not always reflect what a player brings! I do think the fans give Fuller more slack then Jones, but Fuller creates so much more, he brings players into the game, makes defenders make choices and I have never seen a player win so many throw ins under the TP master plan by chasing SELECTIVE balls down. However, by nature he is down right lazy, is forever off side and cant tie his shoe laces for love nor money and I will never forgive him for slapping his captian in the centre circle at West ham! TP does have a record for allowing certain players to get away with murder andI remember a quote from TP something along the lines of "Fuller works ona different time to everybody else, thats the way he is and on the bright side his club fines contribute heavily to the charity fund". When questoned about KJ's history of discipline and work ethic he again said something similar to "they will be traveling in together so they can share the fines and blame it on each other"! Now I know TP has a dry sence of humour and every charachter needs to be nutured differently, but this would appear to be making a rod for your own back and basicly saying you are going to allow a certain type of behaviour! Like the West Ham incident, Griffin (our captain) was then sold and Fuller got to do what he wanted! Sometimes it is the nature of the beast and sometimes YOU create the beast!
Swervy If I bought a car for 500 quid I would expect it to give me some grief, if I then got another for 8 grand I would not be best pleased if it was just as unreliable.
