The Manager: Well what can we say? He divides opinions whether we win, lose or draw. Some of his team selections baffle every Stoke supporter, but he has this uncanny knack of showing 2 fingers up to the supporters everytime we start too criticise him, and comes out with a win (especially away from home) to quietly silence the crowd. Rating so far 8 Summer Signings: Woodgate: I think this guy has come in for the most criticism (rightly or wrongly), out of all 5 summer signings, is he being shoehorned in to play when he is fit? Personally i think, even though he as not produced the quality that his (Real Madrid) name suggests, behind the scenes the guy is an absolute quality signing for our youngsters learning curve. Rating 5 Upson: Many, many stokies wondered why we signed Upson, I still cannot understand myself? He has played a couple of games here & there, but will he ever get infront of Huth & Shawcross, never in a million years. When he as played he as done OK Rating 6 Jerome: Now this is another signing that flummoxed us Stokies, when he as been on the pitch, personally i think he as not let us down (ok the red card in the Europa was harsh), worked well & scored a couple of important goals. Is the jury still out? I think it is Rating 6 Crouch: The question was when we signed him was, would he fit into our system? Well, for the first 2-3 games he played, most people thought not. Now this is the class of the man, he adapted & also made us adapt too playing to him. What a difference in the last 2 months, everytime he scores, he as a grin that shows he is deffo enjoying his time here. Crouchy for England? Just give him a chance Mr Capello Rating 9 Comments most welcome
Huthy I pretty much agree with that comment about T.P. WHEN did we EVER doubt him Joking aside.. Woodgate I'll give a 4 Upson 5 Jerome 7 Palacios 7 Crouch 9 and I said he would score 15 goals for us this season, with 8 he is halfway there almost anyway and he's not played every week. All in all well chuffed with Tony Pulis seeing as I felt like ripping his head off a few games back re. We were sitting on just 12pts at the time. To more than double that in 8 games, given the fixtures NICE ONE Tony Pulis.. P.S. does he have a chance of Manager of the month for December or are they already decided? I think he more than deserves it. Put those League results along with the Europa games + and, we've done really well there too!
I guess our ratings will differ based on how we expected these players to perform when they arrived at the club. With 7 being par, I'd go for: Woodgate 5 Upson 7 Jerome 6 Palacios 6 Crouch 8
Upson-6 some good performances, some average Woodgate-5 Been poor but apparently he isnt "fit" so...... but played well against blackburn Jerome-7.5 Done well for me, unlucky with the red card in europe but i think hes played well pretty much everytime hes played and deserved his goal vs wigan(should of been the winner) Palacios-8 finally getting played, and has done really well! he gets the ball off shawcross/huth and tries to find ethers and pennant all the time, what we need! Crouch-8 Done really well to adapt to the long ball, has a lovely first touch! shown by his 2 goals vs blackburn and getting goals which is good.
Nice post Huth, and agree with what you say! Just happy to be where we are with a dcent run of form under us.
Woodgate 4 - seems a bit of a liability for me and a bad signing in my opinion. Won't put his foot where Huth will stick his head too flaky and not at all composed. Upson 7 - I think when he has been called upon he has handled the task well and looked steady and composed at the back like a true professional. Jerome - 7 Not really been given chance to shine to be honest but I like his aggression and desire to win and get into the box. Crouch - 8 10 million quid with no re sale value whatsoever but he is quality and so long as he re pays us with goals like yesterday it could be 10 mill well spent. At least he looks interested unlike Jones who was a total waste of 8 million. Palacios - 7 Passing is still a bit rusty but the aggression is there and you can see flashes of brilliance every now and then. Totally out on a limb in our bereft midfield and looks at times like he is all on his own with no one to lay a pass onto. Just feel with a couple of quality midfielders around him to link up with he could be so much more.
Just realised i didn't include palacios Was totally unfit , now finally getting there, and showing the glimpses of quality that our ( rather poor midfield ) requires, keep it going wilson & i believe next year will see him perform even better Rating 7
Upson a 4?! How did you get to that? Upson has been superb this season when called upon, minus the Newcastle game. I had my questions about him signing, but I'm currently very happy about him being backup to Huth and Ryan, more than adequate. I'm going to go for Woodgate -6. A few weeks back it would've been a 2 but he's picked his form up lately. Upson - 8 Palacios - 8 Jerome - 7 Crouch - 10
For my part only seeing the home games and a couple away. Woodgate 5. - he by his own admission has been up and down in his form. Upson 7 I think when I have seen him he has peformed well. Went AWOL in the Newcastle game!! Otherwise he has a very sweet left foot and can on occasion pass to our team!! Palacios - 7 Pleased he is gettng some game time now. Think he was lucky not to be booked or worse against Villa and Wigan, Jerome- 6/7 Want to see more of him. Thought he was better left midfield when he came on against Spurs??? Had to leave early against Wigan so missed his goal. Crouch 9 Well impressed to date and I think he is getting better with Walters as each game goes on. 15 would be good for the season IMHO
Mice post Huthy and good points from others Woodgate - 6 up and down Upson - 7 better than expected Palacios - 7 but I want 8/9 - needs to be 1st choice if and when fit Jerome - 7 - done most things asked of him Crouch - 8 and deserves extra credit for how he has settled in the team as a a whole TP - 8 - Nice touch doing so much business with Arry PC - 9 - Long may he reign Loving being a stoke fan more than ever - that my daughter can also gain a love of football at this time is heaven sent.
