Well that was a rather enjoyable evening in the Potteries! Had a glance on here at half time - bloody hell, get a ****ing grip.
We weren't much better before the penalty either. After the penalty we really came to life. We just seemed to ooze wirh belief. Mad what a goal can do.
Decent 2nd half. Especially the 20mins after Slater came on, he lifted the team. Wonderful result, great half. Good crack, I was happy to be back. Hopefully build some momentum & batter Cardiff
Peculiar game. Just like at the start against Sheff U, we were never playing awfully on the whole. But our final ball and shooting were absolutely abject. 7 minutes into the second half we'd ballooned three crosses absolutely miles off target and it seemed to be just getting worse. Then the penalty came out of nothing (stupid from their point of view but credit to Belloumi for being alive to it) and then suddenly we were clinical as anything for the next 15 minutes. Slater's goal was ****ing magnificent. Time to put to bed this nonsense about him being a League 1 player or that we need to replace him, he strikes a ball better than any of our more sexy and more expensive attacking players. He timed it perfectly too, waiting for Belloumi's overlap to create the space for him to shoot. Credit also to Millar for the assist, everything about that goal from Millar's interception onwards was spot on. I liked how he made sure to just get the ball through before the defender could smash him. We settle for a free kick in those positions too often. I think we've seen the pattern now. We're going to have a lot of the ball. There are going to be plenty of times where we're frustrated by an organised defence, and we'll be caught on the break at times, but we will get into a lot of good positions too. Our success, as ever, is largely going to be decided by how clinical we are with our attacks and how often we're punished by our opposition. Last week Sheff U were absolutely ruthless. Tonight we were clinical for a spell and Stoke never really were. We really do need to work on crosses and shots from the edge of the area, some of it was embarrassing tonight even though we did also score three goals.
Great first win, onwards now and eases the pressure on the manager and players a bit. On a side note, anyone think Millar is a bit of a knob?
Just reminds me of a spoilt brat. Sulky, stroppy, whingy and a face that looks like he’s about to burst into tears. He’s very good at driving us forward though and works his socks off.
It frustrates me that people are calling Omur. He only has his bad games when he is put on the wing. And today he was put there again. He is NOT a winger! Millar should never have been dropped. That was a mistake by Walter and nearly costly in the end. With this system, you need an attacking threat on both sides. Drameh was so much more forward thinking than Giles. It’s why I’ve been crying out for him! Pandur was the big pleasant surprise for me. His positioning and reading of the game was excellent. I’m really happy for Tim Walter. He’s had a lot of unfair criticism recently. I still don’t agree with a lot of his post match interview though - we weren’t that good. But it’s a step forward. All in all, I think we will continue to progress. I think we will hopefully learn to continue playing Drameh at left back and putting Omur back in the middle/Miller on the left. Slater justified why I wanted him to start. So underrated it’s baffling. Possibly because he’s small. Onwards and upwards now. UTT.
Kind of see what you mean. I'm really please that we finally have a proper winger with pace and trickery who likes to take players on and has a bit of 'attitude' about him. We haven't had one since, err, Philogene
Coincided with the subs, Mehlem looked like he was totally not bothered running off the pitch and Slater came on fired up and ready to play for the shirt. Surely Walter sees this in his analysis and does not pick Mehlem next match . So simple football, pick the players with heart and you can turn things around. Omur is a luxury player too, maybe use him as an impact sub instead of starting, he wastes possession all the time when he starts . They binned off Giles last week too. The defensive side is still poor and Stoke were crap so that's that's the reality check.
Always good to be in pub watching the game then come on here afterwards suicide squad first half on here thought we did some good things but nervous and theshooting was poor But we came good Onwards and upwards
I don’t think it could get any worse than the first half, totally abject in possession and our defence just kept opening up for them whenever they got the ball. The game should have been put to bed by half time. I still can’t see Walter lasting long, you just can’t be that wide open at the back at this level and expect to win games.
Ömür isn't a winger, but where does he fit in? Slater, Palmer and Mehlem are all scoring goals from the midfield position that is Ömür's most natural, while game after game Ömür looks great but ends up achieving nothing. It's becoming hard to see how we use him.
