there's load of ways of looking at the "what if's" though, Relayer. It can't come down to the EL. What if Ade hadn't been sent off against Arsenal away, giving us 3 more points? What if we'd got our transfer business taken care of early? What if we'd signed a striker? I'm happy we went for the EL. We need to win a trophy, it's been 5 seasons now. Yes, for Arsenal it has been 8 or 9, but it's not like we've really got anything to brag about. The EL is a competition we stood a chance of winning and we were knocked out by a good side. The reason Arsenal haven't won anything in ages is because they are in a European Competition they have no chance of winning, but have to sacrifice other cups to deal with it, as well as the premier league campaign. This is the "holy grail" we are chasing, which (if we make it) is ultimately going to put us in the same category as Arsenal, as we won't win it either. There's no harm in chasing a trophy we had a chance of winning.
I know what you mean, Roo. But when you look at how Chelsea have coped - just - with the size and quality of their squad, it shows how tough it would be for a club with our comparatively limited resources. However, my main point was not the 'what if', just the fact that losing against Basel may prove to be the turning point of our battle for a CL place. Oh - and the Ade comment was very firmly 'tongue in cheek'!!!
I don't get why Huddlestone's not used for the small walls on opposition free-kicks near the box. He's crap in the air, but he makes a large obstruction for any balls whipped into the danger area. Got to be better than putting him on the edge of the box, where his lack of mobility might lead to another free-kick being given away or someone getting a shot off. Dempsey should never have given them such a soft free-kick at the start of the game anyway, but I guess he made up for it by scoring the equaliser and setting up the winner. He's a strange one, as he's put in some absolutely dire performances, but he never gives up and he's been involved in some extremely important goals for us.
We've wanted a goalscoring midfielder for ages and now we finally have one and we can't wait to get rid of him!
I don't think that the MOTD pundits watched our game. We were well on top before the Adam sending off, so saying that it changed the game is a bit disingenuous. We had about 12 shots to their 1 in the first half and the game seemed to be going the same way in the second. If anything, the red card forced them to defend more strictly and close up any holes.
bit of an exaggeration YV! I don't think he plays quite in the position we mean! He should be scoring goals from where he plays! or have i totally missed your sarcasm?
I was only being half serious. He does seem to be one of those players that just sort of attracts goals to themselves regardless of the way he doesn't really suit our style of play or contribute much apart from those one or two moments in a game.
It's a weird one. He scores goals, there's no denying that. But I would much rather he was used as an impact sub for 30 mins as the team would benefit from his work rate in the closing stages of a game. There' just something about him over 90 mins that just doesn't quite do it for me. I think it's how obvious he is on the ball, and that he takes up one of the 11 places on the pitch where we need someone with more creativity there instead.
We're you watching the same game Poll? NO doubts you deserved the win but first half apart from Bale's shot tipped over, what else did you do exactly? I would say we (Stoke) we're the better side first half and only a sloppy clearance gave you the equaliser, although it was well taken by Dempsy tbh. 2nd half was Spurs from the moment Adam got himself sent off. Shots 12 not that I saw Poll and I sat behind your goal 1st half. HOW many on target.. apart from your goal? Anyway, well done on your win, thought we may hold out but it was on the cards most of the 2nd half that you would score eventually. Re MOTD did you notice that they didn't show Bale going in twice studs up.. once on our keeper Begovic the other was N'Zonzi cos they didn't. And Bale was fouled rolled around holding his ankle in agony then got up within 5 sec's to receive a pass from the free kick, it was obvious he wasn't hurt did they show that? No they didn't. Before you mention Adam... yes he got himself sent off no complaints about that from me. Good luck vs Sunderland Poll
I don't think that we were watching the same game, Pottermouth. You scored from your only real chance in the first half and then sat back. Bale x2 , Dawson, Adebayor and Dempsey all had chances, whereas you had...? How many did we have on target? I think we only managed about 5. You? Just the one, I believe. Bale going in studs up? Can't say that I did see that. I did notice Adam doing it on Dempsey, though. No foul. Bale rolling around after being fouled? He does that a lot. Not one of his more attractive traits, but you may have noticed Walters doing the same.
The incident with Bale that I think he's talking about is in the first half when he was running down the right and got winded in a tackle, no freekick was given because the Stoke player got the ball and Bale stayed down and then gingerly got to his feet. I'm not sure it was in the interests of MOTD to show and discuss how hurt Bale may have been, you could do the same with pretty much anyother player in anyother incident where they go down.
We are all praising Ade for his goal but any old donkey would have scored from there with an open goal. I just hope he finds the net against Sunderland,not just once but twice. If Bale went studs up twice then it's the only way to counter Stoke's brand of football.
Fair enough comments guys.. I just thought Poll was being a little OTT with shots etc.. From memory BBC stats 6 shots/attempts on target Stoke.. 3 on target for Spurs. I guess the others don't really count. Also shows us having overall 26 attempts to Spurs 15.. not that they are that reliable tbh. You have the Maj of shots etc 2nd half which was to be expected. You didn't see Bale go sliding towards Begovic? Watch it again, didn't touch our keeper but you are also right about Walters too! It's all oppinions that's what this board is for so all the best for your remaining game. Just reading through this thread made me smile tbh.. as much as you guys seem to dislike Pulis.. If you talk to the Stoke fans we hate him more. I want him OUT this summer and hope we can move on. I think Pulis has hit the ceiling personally. I would just like to smack him full stop.... First class numpty with clueless idea's and tactics.
Wouldn't be a bad idea. Unfortunately for you guys, I think Pulis would have to get you relegated before he gets the push. No, most of us here don't like him, or the way he plays football. As clubs like Wigan & Swansea have shown, you don't have to have Chavski or City's money to put together a team that can play a bit. Maybe Wigan is not an ideal example, on reflection, given their current plight. But you get the idea.
No worries, I forgot to mention that I didn't think we were any good in the first half, after about half an hour I said I'd take 1-1 at half time with a chance to change things around at half time and I don't think we particularly deserved to be ahead at that point. I wouldn't trust the Beeb stats but they have us down as 15 shots on target to your 3. OPTA differentiate between shots that are blocked before they get anywhere near the goal and ones that you can actually say are on target which has us as 7 on target to 1 but that doesn't really tell the full story, although we were kind of running riot against you once you went down to 10 men.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22417723 When you tried to play your passing game, rather than simply trying to stop us, it looked fairly decent to me. The problem is the elbows and stop them at any cost attitude that pervades throughout the team. We all like our players to be competitive, but violent play will just lead to red cards and suspensions. Adams is a liability; He was for Liverpool and he is for you. His challenge on Vertonghen for the first booking was knee high and although Pullis seems to think it's okay as long as contact wasn't made, (if it had then Vertonghen would almost certainly have been out for a sustained period) it's actually not. I appreciate that you develop a seige mentality about these things, but one thing we all agree on is that Pullis and his brand of football is past it's sell by date and you will be well rid of it. As for yesterdays game, I thought you started well, but after our equaliser looked happy with a point. The match report from the BBC that I saw (enclosed) carries a different set of stats to the one you read and looks about right to me; Particularly telling is the figure for corners 2-11 in our favour. That says to me that most of our possession was in your half, particularly after Adam's dismissal. The shot count was actually 23-6,again in favour of Spurs.
All in all decent comments from you guys and thanks for not jumping down my throat.. a certain teams fans in North London would have. I'm almost sure PULIS will not be here next season... Cheers guys.
As far as we (the fans know/heard) he's left the club along with another coach. Just a pity Pulis didn't join them. "Relieved of his duties" I think the quote was.
I can't think who you mean we don't tend to jump down anybody's throat here, unless they start wumming, or a just talking bollocks.
