http://efcfeelinblue.com/imagine-paying-to-watch-that/ Imagine Paying To Watch That It wasnât pretty, but we did it. Yesterday we played the most horrible side in the Premier League. I have witnessed some poor opposing sides in the past, but Stoke take the award for the least uninspiring, least ambitious, football spoiling team I have ever seen. Everton did not exactly perform as good as they did against City; the tempo wasnât the same and we took our time to get going, but we managed to grind out a gritty win against the Potters, and it showed that we can win ugly when we need to. It wasnât a case of us playing an ugly brand of football to get the win, more a case of us trying to play our usual good football and put up with the ugly style we were up against, adapting and thankfully winning in the process. From the off the opposition were at it, shirt pulling, niggly fouls, it is so frustrating as a spectator. Pulis designs his team to just go out and flatten the opposition. There is no desire to get the ball down and play, no desire to show some skills or play that killer pass, No, with Stoke, your aim is to basically frustrate the opposition by being bigger, intimidate them by trying to act harder, and to literally bully your man out of it. Shawcross is the prime example, he thinks heâs some sort of hardcase, just because heâs a tall centre half. He is the captain, the leader of the Stoke âfirmâ who try and strike fear into whoever they are playing. It is almost like watching Sunday League with Stoke, I have seen it in the past, a team full of yard dogs who get results because they tw*t f*ck out of teams who try to play football. The amount of times I heard âimagine paying to go and watch thatâ from our fans yesterday was incredible. I said it myself, in fact, I pity those loyal Stoke fans who travelled yesterday and paid good money to watch their side. They are used to it and donât know any different, but honestly how can you go and watch Stoke and enjoy it? âIt is effective, they get results and have cemented themselves in the Premier Leagueâ â fair enough, but their style is horrible, plain horrible to watch, and I for one never enjoy our games against them. Watching Ryan Shotton launch 40 yard throw ins at the goal? Yeah that is football lads, nice one. I was made up we beat them and I was made up Jelavic stood up to Shawcross and co, none of our team are gonna back down, no matter how tall and ugly you are. Mirallasâ goal was quality and I was pleased a goal of that quality was the one that beat them. That is football Stoke, see what Super Kev did right there? I have nothing against Stoke fans, just their team, nothing but a gang of thugs in my opinion. The win against Man City was amazing, but you know what, I was just as pleased beating that lot yesterday, I was proud our lads stood tall in the face of adversity and came away with all three points. and it was the three points that mattered. You can stick yer rugby up yer @rse Pulis.
Waddo I spoke to a neighbour who went to the game mate and he said quote.. "It was a big improvement on what we are used to" Denis Smith did say the same thing and also that " we we're the better team for half an hour" ?? We still LOST mate so as I did'nt listen to the game I can't comment any more on what (did) happen. I know we missed to great chances and can't really understand where that Everton fan is coming from. Re the Rugby comments is it me or is has he been strereo typed into making those comments?
It is a tad of stereotyping mate i watched the game on espn and we should of scored after 3 minutes admittedly it was from a shotton throw but how walters missed it i will never know, i think we played slighty better but its all about results now lads i dont care how we score, from set pieces, deflections or in off the ref as long as we win saturday. So opposing fans for the rest of this season can have their opinion as long as we stay up then the capped cretin walks in the summer.
I disagree with about 80% of what whoever that was said. Yes, we're **** and boring to watch, but stop harping on about throw ins and thuggery. Our defenders are no worse than any other teams for shirt pulling etc, and that's the first time in a while I've seen us making much of long throws.
Sandor Cheers bud, as I thought... a typical thick scouser and the throws are a real pain in the rear end re Shotton. But thuggery nah and I see Whelan was booked again?
I agree but lets try and take a step back and look at it from a neutral perspective. The large majority of the opposition we play seem to have a general perception of how we play. We are fully aware that "when" we play football we are a capable and creative side, but the "when" is too infrequent - infact almost never. What we have to appreciate is that our brand of football - whether justified or not - is now firmly etched in the mind of most of the neutral football world, and whilst I would hope they would be big enough to give us credit when deserved, I would like to think that we would acknowledge our short comings when appropriate. Opposing fans will never agree all of the time but we have to accept that the outside football world now detests us, and maybe for good reason. In the past we understood that we had to play a certain way to survive, and Tony Pulis got the deserved credit for keeping us in a league we should not have been in based on our core quality - or lack of. We fought with pride and honour, but more importantly we were humble in defeat and when we competed it infurated so called bigger clubs. Moving on a further 2 seasons and we are no longer the same team and we no longer abide or compete within the same dynamics. We have gone backwards and become more primitive in both our style and mentality and whilst we as fans are fully aware of the raw talent and abilty within the squad itching to play football, the outside world is both unaware and oblivious to our true talents. For the same reasons that TP should get credit for the fantastic achievments he should also take responsibilty for single handedly creating a brand which is not only detested by the vast majority but has become that ineffective it has the potential to relegate us. I like some on here will disagree with some of the one sided views in the article, but when taking a step back and trying to be impartial - well to be honest - I am ashamed.
I have to say I dread the Stoke fixture, out of all of the entire football calendar, it's the one I least look forward to. Last week was no exception, & it was a typical Stoke performance imo, plenty of niggle & little bit of snide here & there, but tbf I thought you created enough to justify getting on the scoresheet & whilst we were the better side overall, you were far from the worst side we've had at Goodison this season. As a outsider, I would agree with Smithers, Pulis is seen as 'anti-football' & your entire club is tainted with that stamp. If you're to progress then you need to change the way you play & that simply won't happen under Pulis.
So Master Holt is the sugar plum fairy!!! People in glass houses etc etc... It really is a bit much when other fans come on here bemoaning about our 'thugs' when they thugs of their own. Such is life
Thats the flip side Nick, most teams (if not all) have the ability to play and bahave ugly in the attempt to get a result. Without getting into the handbags of it Fellani in the previous game is a prime example. We have to detach ourselves from the pride we have in defending our team (rightfully so) and understand that we are now in the situations that if we turned up tomorrow and played like Barca it would take along time to repair the damage that TP has done to the brand, reputation and more imprtantly the effectivness of Stoke City.
Shogs So there we have it, ALL inhabitants in Stoke on Trent are thick and well known for it? If you say so mate it must be true then. Let me know where you studied for your'e degree and I'll do likewise... not braggin here far from it. I might be deluded because I happen to support Stoke City, I might make some stupid comments from time to time. But thick? nah just sick and tired of PULIS and his **** football. So we do have something in common there Shogs! Let's all hate Pulis welcome to the "We hate Pulis club"
Where ever i've been in life and i've moved about a bit i've found that there are some right daft buggers about.
too right jowler.fair playing fields and all that.perception and reallity! no one talks about us not trying to make more of fouls to get oppositoin booked,like many now. what we could really do with a fit ric fuller.
I wasn't the one who started the stereotypical bollocks mate. My reply was a throw away comment to show how much of an idiotic post it was. I have nothing against Stoke personally.
