I think I'd have given Ryan Bennet 15 minutes so that afterwards Lambert could have told him it couldn't get worse.
Ruddy: 7 bruises out of 10. Great first half, possibly could have done better for the goal Naughton: 7 bruises out of 10. Was, again, assured and nothing got passed him. Wish he wouldn't always shoot from range, though he obviously can Whitbread: 8 bruises out of 10. Had a really good match- gave as good as he got Ward: 7 bruises out of 10. Great positioning for offsides and generally had a solid match Martin: 6 bruises out of 10. Just doesn't look comfortable at right back without pace, but was good going forward and stood up to a beating Johnson: 6 bruises out of 10. Gave the ball away too easily, but battled away and gave as good as he got Howson: 5 bruises out of 10. Looked nervous and a windy/bruising match obviously isn't for him, but some signs of quality- hot prospect Pilkington: 4 bruises out of 10. Anonymous and obviously not up for being kicked around Bennett: 6 bruises out of 10. Worked hard but too often caught in possession. Good work supporting the defence and was the creator of several chances for us Surman: 6 bruises out of 10. Also had a quiet game, but didn't do much wrong Holt: 6 bruises out of 10. Took a lot of punishment, but also gave as good as he got Subs: Jackson: 5 bruises out of 10. Worked hard, but not much he could do Wilbraham: 5 bruises out of 10. As above and is good at brining others into the game, not much he could do either Fox: 6 bruises out of 10. Came on and gave us a bit of control on the ball- coincided with our best spell As the commentator said "this has resembled a rugby fixture"
What a horrible horrible team to watch, they make a game so s**t its unbelieveable, im glad im not a mug of a stoke supporter paying my hard earned cash to watch that dross! Get rid of the green kit aswell, it bodes bad luck against teams who play in red and white stripes...
Awful awful football - I would hate to have to watch that mascarading as football every week! Yes it is effective but my God its ugly! I wanna go home, I wanna go home, Stoke is a ****hole, I wanna go home!!!
To be fair to them, I don't think the wind helped, it made the entire game atrocious. On top of that, we played badly and didn't string anything together to actually make a football game of it, so it's not as if we helped. I hope this match isn't shown on MOTD as it doesn't deserve it.
that was the worst game of football I recall seeing in some time. Poor Stoke. Premier league exemplars? What a terrible example. I realise the wind today made the game a tad unplayable, but there is so little to their general play. Long throw. Corner. Long throw. Long throw. I am pleased we won't be seeing Stoke for a few months more. Bloody awful. I thought we did OK considering we were playing against anti-football, and well, another goal to a decision that went against us. We need to regroup and have a mini season resurgence in the last part of the season. ILWT OTBC
My ratings: Ruddy - 7 - Great for everything apart from the goal which was saveable, although struck very hard. R Martin - 6 - Defended fine, nothing going forwards although that is hard to blame him for. Whitbred - 7.5 - Defended magnificently and but for an iffy throw-in that should have been ours would of seen a tough clean sheet. Ward - 7 - See Whitbred Naughton - 5.5 - Defended fine I guess but some greedy shots towards the end. Pilkington - 5 - Anonymous to be honest, no surprise he was taken off. Surman - 5.5 - Too many missed passes, the main culprit for our lack of attacking by giving away possession. For such a scrappy game, you can't help but feel Crofts may have been a better choice. May he [Surman, not Crofts] have done better with some of those set pieces? Johnson - 6 - Helpful in defending, not great in attack. Howson - 5.5 - A pretty uninspiring debut if I'm honest, seemed to be trying to hard and making mistakes. Bennett - 5.5 - Not alot to talk about here, his pace didn't give Stoke any problems. Holt - 7 - A lonely day for this man - won some free-kicks, and fashioned one or two chances with no service whatsoever. Subs: Wilbraham - n/a - probably could of been introduced earlier if he was going to make a difference. Fox - 6.5 - As soon as he was in we stopped giving the ball away. Made the most of the time towards the end, the only time when we carried any sort of threat. Jackson - 5.5 - Dull game, nothing happening here. So to conclude, it was never a Stoke throw but they were much better than us and deserved the win for my money. The most boring game I've watched all season, and just like Leicester and Sunderland games it was a terrible performance in an attacking sense by the midfield, giving away the ball and hence not creating any chances.
No point blaming Stoke's brand of football here today guys, or the officials decision, we were really poor going forwards (abysmal may be the right word) and whilst we defended well and Stoke didn't have many chances, if someone was going to win, it was always going to be them and they deserved it on the basis of that game.
we don't have enough tall players in the middle to match Stoke at their game - we could have played morrison and Wilbraham as midfielders, that might have worked. oh well, move on, Wigan next, who lost at home to the Swans today.
From the BBC - In true management speak, Norwich manager Paul Lambert said he was "disappointed" that the linesman awarded Stoke a throw-in in the lead up to winning goal which appeared to come off Stoke full-back Mark Wilson. For 'disappointed', read furious.
Kind of clutching straws a little to be honest. If that throw-in hadn't been a goal it would never have been mentioned.
