Thought we lost the midfield battle too often again today. Teams have figured out Seri is the focal point. We need someone to drop deeper and/or step up to the plate creatively. Given all the ongoings throughout the week I thought Tufan played well and he's one I would look to help out centrally more now the wide players are coming back Interestingly we switched to a 4-3-3 late on. Probably lead to our worst period in possession but had some potential going forward. Alfie and Sean are turning into proper championship CB's as well. Another point gained hopefully a better performance in Norfolk (Also the Stoke Stewards were proper heavy handed today which seemed odd)
I thought Estupinan had a good game. Did the simple stuff well, won some challenges, simple touches, controlled the ball, laid it off. Basic centre forward stuff but did it all and did it right. Decent long effort he had which forced a good save from their goaltkepper too.
Our midfield excels against teams which sit deep and give us time to pass around the back and allow Seri to dictate play. Stoke pressed high and were very energetic. We barely played out from the back today because Stoke didn’t let us and their forwards harried us and were breathing down our necks. Seri lacks the physicality to hold onto the ball against more aggressive midfielders. Not his fault as it’s not really his job. Issue is, we don’t have an enforcer next to him and haven’t all season. Doc provides energy but isn’t that player, Slater definitely isn’t that sort of play and neither is Woods. Simons could be but it would take some courage by Rosy to stick him next to Seri week-in week-out in league games. Could also play Alfie there as we have before but he was my MOTM today and him and Macca have been solid at centre-half since Rosy came in.
I think first half they pressed our defence really well, they had deffernetly done their home work, they knew how we like to play the ball about at the back but give us no time to do it. Often it ended up with Ingram kicking it out to Christie but they haddled it well because the kick always went to him and they knew that. They didn't give Seri much time on the ball and immediately got two players around him. Second half we came out much better but unfortunately the substitutes coming on disrupted us. Having said all that When Longman got through it was a decent chance and the Connelly one should have been buried. They had more possession and at one point seemed to have about six corners in a ten minute period but we'll done to our defending because I don't they they really bothered us to much. It's a well deserved good point and three clean sheets on the trot.
Rosenior said Ebiowei had 2 training sessions with us. That and lack of fitness probably explains the nervy performance
Greaves didn't impress when he came on but maybe just gamestate. Thought elder was more than capable.
He's been excellent last couple of games, even when he hasn't scored. We have a real team ethic now. The more it continues the more our flair/technical players will come to the fore. We need to remember the current setup is still in its infancy. There is a lot of potential in this team and not losing/ grinding out points when it's attritional like today and last week is a big indicator that the best is yet to come. IMHO.
He was on a booking. Think that's why he was subbed. To be fair to Elder - I still wonder whether he gives too much away defensively but he's certainly not looking out of place in the current line-up.
Just watched that back and some of our chances were better than perhaps looked in real time. Connollys one especially. That's a ****ing sitter. Tufan was creatively excellent. We lost momentum when he came off. Woods adequately replaced Seri for me today. The one Oscar claimed should be a corner came off him. Should have buried it. They created minimally. Nothing reallly clear cut.
Should have asked the **** for the Brittania insurance policy on earthquakes. Especially given their pitch is about as narrow as the shambles in York. It's not a club that's setup to play expansive football., or known for being accommodating now is it?
Well hugely disappointed with ifollow which wouldn't work, managed to see the first half on a stream put up by someone on here, but that went down at halftime so didn't manage to see the 2nd half. However, from what I saw and heard about the 2nd half, not the best performance but a point away at Stoke is never a bad point. I think we should always respect a point away from home, so we go on to the next one getting another clean sheet and a point on board. Liam so far has taken us from 21st when he arrived to 11th, stopped our leaky defence, and made us much harder to beat. Still work to do going forward, but given time that will come. Tetteh to come back next game, Allahyar and Traore on the verge of coming back into contention, so he has done an amazing job so far. I can't understand some of the tossers on Twitter saying negative comments, they are either attention seekers or no nothing about football. I would be happy with another similar performance and a point at Norwich, getting that game out of the way and not beaten will be a good return for these 2 games..
Ifollow has been **** since the club stopped using the humberside feed. Fletch's heart is in the right place but its far from a professional broadcast. City ifollow audio should be humbersaard. 2pm til 6pm. Why bother with Fletch when half the time we get the away bbc commentary cos he can't get his **** to work anyway?
