Probably a few teams. Stoke are STILL ****e away, and now they have the Europa League to contend with as well. That's another Merson dig right there. For a team like Sunderland or even Newcastle, beating Stoke 4-0 at home is not a "phenomenal result". Good result, yes, but nothing amazingly special for us to achieve.
Think its circumstancial tho mate, Stoke are notoriously hard to beat, even tho away they arnt the force they are at home, no1 put 4 past them all of last season (not even any of the big 4/6 home or away) and apart from us they havnt conceded more than 1 sofar this season. Fair enough Europa will be tough for them however they went on a long cup run last year (to get them into Europe) meaning more games and they coped ok then. Think the combo of our poor start and Stoke's reputation prior to last week, its understandable why every1 was so chuffed/relieved about last week. Pretty much every1 I spoke to was dreading the game even going as far to say Stoke is 1 of the worst games we could have when we needed a win. However afetr our start im easy pleased!
They aren't mate. Not away. In fact, in away games, they're one of the easiest teams to beat in the league. Look at the 10/11 season: Home record: Won 10, drew 4, lost 5. Away record: Won 3, drew 3, lost 13. I thought they might have solved that issue this season, but it seems they haven't. Plus, they now have the strain of the Europa League, so I expect that record to be even worse. Beating Stoke IS a good result, and the scoreline is a very good result. I'm just saying that it isn't such an incredible thing for teams like ours to beat Stoke like that at home, and I think it's an insult to say it is.
Funny isn't it that a mag thinks we didn't have to do much to beat Stoke - even though, before Sunday, they were unbeaten in all competitions so far this season home and away (Including games against West Brom and Dynamo Kiev) - although we must be better than Kiev as we hammered them!!
Home record: Won 10, drew 4, lost 5. Away record: Won 3, drew 3, lost 13. It doesn't take a genius, mackem or magpie, to figure out that they were utterly woeful in away games. Perhaps they've changed that glaring issue this season, but I doubt it. Away wins: Hajduk Split FC Thun West Brom And as soon as they came up against a decent side in Sunderland, who played well, they got creamed. No surprise there for me. I mean do you think Sunderland played ****ing incredibly to be able to beat such a "difficult" side? I think you guys played well, and because of the quality in your team, playing "well" is enough to do Stoke over when they're playing away. It's a compliment more than an insult.
This season: (in all comps) Home: P 5 W 2 D 3 L 0 Away P 5 W 3 D 1 L 1 They have Played 10 games so far this season and lost only 1 - and that was against Sunderland - 5 away games and 5 home games - They have also played against Chelsea and Liverpool and remained unbeaten - so obviously Sunderland are the 1st "decent" side they have come up against? Jog on chapparse
**** me. I'm talking about AWAY performances you mong. Obviously they're very good at home, but that's completely irrelevant, so why you're mentioning Chelsea and Liverpool I have no idea. Away wins: Hadjuk Split - Oh yeah, that awesome Croatian club FC Thun - Ah yeah, that awesome Swiss club who finished 5th in the almighty Swiss Super League West Brom - Have lost every home game so far and are having an awful start Away draws: Dynamo Kiev - Considering that Kiev had 66% possession and 13 shots on target to Stoke's 2, I'm calling this one a bit of a fluke. Norwich - 90+4 minute equaliser against 10-man Norwich But according to you, those results wipe away the 13 away losses from last season and prove that Stoke are difficult to beat away, right? But hey, if you honestly, honestly want to believe that Stoke are not a **** away side, and that they're difficult to beat away, then go ahead. You'll pretty much be the only person in Britain who does though.
**** off chappaz - As I stated - they had played 5 times away from home (including Dynamo Kiev) and had not been beaten - it's not about WINNING away when you're a team like stoke, more about getting the points you can you "mong" Stoke are difficult to beat anywhere - home or away - results only tell one story - look at your season so far - you've played **** 4 times and well once and are still unbeaten - results never tell the whole story - just because they got beat doesn't make them easy to beat
Home record: Won 10, drew 4, lost 5. Away record: Won 3, drew 3, lost 13. No, they aren't. I cannot fathom how you genuinely believe that Stoke are hard to beat away. Most times outside of the top 6 aren't THAT difficult to beat away, so how the hell are Stoke, arguably one of the worst away performers in the league, difficult to beat away? The evidence is there just by looking. They scrap some wins against some awful foreign teams in the Croatian and Swiss leagues, and then once they come up against a good EPL side who played relatively well, they get smashed. That isn't a coincidence. Their away form just blows ass. My whole point here is that claiming that Sunderland got a 'phenomenal' result against Stoke at home is an insult to Sunderland. Last season with Stoke's away record, it would be considered a very poor result if you DIDN'T get a win when you had Stoke in your home ground. There would have been something wrong if you were unable to join the 13 other away teams who beat them.
Sometimes they don't paint the whole picture, but if a team only wins 3 games and loses 13 games across a whole season, it pretty much points to one obvious fact, don't you agree? Stoke MIGHT have changed that this year, but I'm not sure. I'm not even sure how Pulis would even begin to do that considering his team is made up of mostly the same players as last season. There's just something about them which means that they're rock hard to beat at home, but easy to beat away. Very unusual. PS: Not taking anything away from your result here. As I said, Merson insinuating that Sunderland beating Stoke was such an unusually spectacular result for you guys is insulting in my view.
So you're telling me that 13 times last season Stoke City turned up and rolled over and made themselves easy to beat. FFS READ MY POST - a result is exactly that - the end result of a game. Sunderland played Blackpoool off the park last season and lost 2-0 - were we easy to beat?? Not really - A loss does not mean it's easy every time - Stoke were not easy to beat just because they got beat. Your own statistics above prove that (Kiev's 66% posession but they still failed to win and you say it was lucky) - Stoke are a hard team to beat full stop - we played well and beat them (and I accept that you said that) but no-one in the division will think Stoke are easy to beat home or away - results only tell half of a story
Touch out of context as I did state that the arnt the force away from home as they are at home, wz just trying to show that even tho they arnt comparoble they still dont get hammered by even any of the top teams by 4goals all last season. Therefore explaining away our performance as us just playing well, then does that mean that no one not even the top teams played well against them or does it mean that Stoke are going to get beat 4-0 on a regular basis this season? Know ur saying that ur kinda defending us by saying we should not be taken as an out of the ordinary result but given our start and form leading up to the games i think in the circumstances and the pressure the team/manager were under it kinda was phenominal. As i mentioned tho it is circumstancial.
Wonder what his thoughts are on Arsenal, Villa and errr Walsall?? Yes he is a prick, but that is why they are there. They say what they say from a script (because they don't have the brain capacity to make the words up for themselves. Although Merson can't even do that simple thing right) to get the fans talking. How many times does sky (and talk sport for that matter) get free publicity. Publicity gets advertisement and advertisement is money. It's a ploy, take my word for it. Another twat is that part time (when he fancies it) Irishman Townsend. His comments read something like this; I don't fancy Bendner, don't know where the goals are coming from, fancy Stoke to turn them over 2-1. Just wish they would come on and say they haven't got a clue. They have no better prediction skills than you, me and a gold fish. (By the way he predicted 2 correct results last week) Townsend, Merson,Thompson,Gray......................are all overpaid publicity seeking ****ers.
They didn't 'make' themselves easy to beat. They just were. That's why 13 teams managed to do it. There's one or two flukey results for every team. I think Stoke drawing with Kiev is one of them. However, when you have consistent results over a season in which you win only 3 and lose 13, it points to one thing: Stoke are **** in away games. Unless of course, you think that every one of Stoke's 13 losing games had a scoreline which painted the wrong picture, and in fact Stoke outplayed the opposition in all 13 games? And look at you guys. You came up after a bad run, played reasonably well and thrashed them 4-0. That just adds more weight to the argument. No team is "easy" to beat away in theory. If the home team rolls over and plays **** then Stoke can win. However, with the away form they seem to have, they are one of the easiest teams to beat by far. Wolves had the same awful away record, and you would be confident of beating Wolves at home, right? They don't get hammered often, no. But Sunderland did play well, so not only did you guys win (which is to be expected with Stoke's **** away ability) but you also scored three goals. But I do think Stoke are going to get hammered a few more times this season in their away games. They have the Europa League to deal with now which will fatigue them even more. Merson's comments are like him (hypothetically) saying that Newcastle got a "phenomenal result" by beating Wigan 3-0 at SJP. I'd tell him to piss off because it's an insulting statement.
This is also my point Chappaz - 13 losses doesn't mean 13 easy wins for opposition - any side is happy for a win against Stoke - they may look azt the stats but they will always know they're in for a hard game (our keeper took a battering at the weekend but stood up very firmly to it and, IMO, had one of his best games for us so far) I didn;t say they played well for those 13 games but I know for a fact that they would have been difficult to beat in majority of them - as I said - results don't paint the full picture
Know what u mean but theres a bit of a difference: On current form uz r a lot better than us at home, obv 3-0 compared to 4-0, uz r sitting pretty in the upper half of the division not bottom 3, not the pressure/furore round ur team/manager/fans etc. Stoke r a hell of a lot better than Wigan IMO (dont care if its home of away!) Personally I would say it was a pretty damn good result, id say we played a bit better than well however my overwhelming emotion after the game was not jubilation it was relief, which should give an accurate representation of where out current morale/expectations are, so forgive us for enjoying the moment maybe more than others (such as urselves would). Welcome to your opinion tho bud.
