Fixtures Discussion: Official Thread
- Thread starter stoke-th97
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thanks PP and JM 
That has to be the worst 45 minutes I can remember from Stoke. Lazy and careless on the ball, Pieters has been woeful, Bojan totally marked out of the game (again), I just don't rate Wolly - he made no effort to pick up the run when Shawx closed the ball down.
We have no outlet pass, penned in by the back four and Bojan totally out numbered. Shawx's distribution has been excellent, Arnie has been as industrious as ever and Johnson has looked pretty good. Half time changes desperately needed.
We have no outlet pass, penned in by the back four and Bojan totally out numbered. Shawx's distribution has been excellent, Arnie has been as industrious as ever and Johnson has looked pretty good. Half time changes desperately needed.
I just think Hughes got it wrong. That team hasn't been rotated and we looked tired and lethargic.
This was another example of the false No9 system struggling and the subs didn't make sense to me. Not being able to get beyond the back 4 needed a target man or someone who can run of the shoulder and stretch the channels - Walters doesn't affect this - however he did make a difference with his personal impact.
For me Crouch should have come on at half time, because subbing Shaq who is the main crosser and moving Walters to his position was pointless and fruitless. The amount of dangerous crosses we put in prior to Crouch coming on was much higher, but we had didn't have a target to hit. Crouch comes in, Shaq goes off and the crosses dry up!
Thought Shawx and Johnson were excellent, Arnie and Shaq were positive and cause problems. Wolly and Pieters were very poor.
On a positive note, considering how bad we played coming out only 1 goal down was a result in itself and we are still in the tie.
Didn't like the booing and thought the atmosphere was shamefully flat for a night game.
This was another example of the false No9 system struggling and the subs didn't make sense to me. Not being able to get beyond the back 4 needed a target man or someone who can run of the shoulder and stretch the channels - Walters doesn't affect this - however he did make a difference with his personal impact.
For me Crouch should have come on at half time, because subbing Shaq who is the main crosser and moving Walters to his position was pointless and fruitless. The amount of dangerous crosses we put in prior to Crouch coming on was much higher, but we had didn't have a target to hit. Crouch comes in, Shaq goes off and the crosses dry up!
Thought Shawx and Johnson were excellent, Arnie and Shaq were positive and cause problems. Wolly and Pieters were very poor.
On a positive note, considering how bad we played coming out only 1 goal down was a result in itself and we are still in the tie.
Didn't like the booing and thought the atmosphere was shamefully flat for a night game.
Thanks for that Smithers, always good to get the views of someone at the game. It does seem that not resting players for the WBA game was a bad move with such an important game coming next. Liverpool were defensively poor against WHU at the week-end and I had hoped we would exploit that even if it meant changing our set-up.
We are still in the tie but I can't see us going getting the required result at Anfield tbh. I would love to be proved wrong though.
Thanks Smithers, on the radio it sounded like they were all over us in the first half, think Pieters and the wolf aren't cutting it.
Absolutely horrendous would be how I would describe our first half performance. I'll tell you what I think our problem has been in the past 2 games and that is that we are playing far too narrow. There is no space to run into because everything is so conjested. I agree with Smithers we need a striker and sacrifice Affellay who is a very good player but very hit and miss. The second half was better but still not good enough. We need Arnie and Shaq to be hugging the touchline to open the game up and allow them to cut inside and have a pop or deliver a cross.
Well that's my opinion for what it's worth lol
Well that's my opinion for what it's worth lol
I agree again smithers (we should get married), I compare any player who comes into that position alongside Shawcross to Huth, and Wolly is nowhere near the player Huth is. I hope we get a new CB in the January sales
Sort of expected this, the good ship Stoke City, with A Shawcross size hole below the water line and our goal scoring propulsion tangled by selection, floundered to a 3-0 defeat. It is starting to look like Shawcross makes the rest of the defence look better than they are.
I can't see Bournemouth being overly concerned with our visit this weekend, after we have lost the last two games 3-0.
Home to Villa this weekend, thought this should be a comfortable win but Lawro has predicted a 2-0 to Stoke so that will probably put the mockers on it. 