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Post by philm87 on Mar 18, 2012 18:13:24 GMT
First half was probably as well as I've seen us play in a while. Our pressing game was excellent and Liverpool only scored by virtue of a solo effort from a bloke who cost 24 million. We deserved our equaliser and created the better chances than they did in the first half. Crouch showed some great touches, Wilson played as well as I've seen all season, Deano was excellent as well.
We tired in the second half and Liverpool got a bit of luck with their goal (from a player who cost 20 million). Taking the lead allowed Gerrard to drop deeper and help Spearing mop up between defence and midfield. Ryan and Huth both defended very well and Whelan and Whitehead were both 'triffic' in the middle... we just didn't have enough about us to create any meaningful chances.
Wilko and Shotton were both extremely wasteful in possession and that made it a lot harder for us in the second half. We would probably have had a better chance had we started with Pennant and kept Matty on too.
Sometimes against the bigger teams you need a bit of luck and we didn't really get that today. Neither of their goals came from clear goal scoring opportunities. I think our players can be proud of their efforts and the performance today. If we play like that in the League every week we should have enough to finish in the top ten.
KTF
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Post by wuzza on Mar 18, 2012 18:23:44 GMT
You will get no support for this - correct as you are. The armchair experts / doom merchants are taking a grip again.
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Post by MarkWolstanton on Mar 18, 2012 18:23:44 GMT
Decent enough on the whole and indeed the first half was promising.
However our limitations and inadequecies were there for all to see without our red and white blinkers on.
Some deep thinking and action required in the summer to progress what should no longer be seen as Plucky Little Stoke. It will be our fifth season in the land of riches next season and we are a very well financed football club in terms of mid-Premier League clubs.
The football standard of our peer group and even the some of the clubs a lot newer to the Premier League has far suppased our own. We will hopefully take the required measures to ensure the seasons ahead do not come down to hoping we avoid anyone half decent for as long as possible in cup competitions to provide us with football excitement.
Anyway thats all for the summer. Today is no reason to be over critical depite the frustration.
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Post by ches47 on Mar 18, 2012 18:25:26 GMT
The Liverpool right back was obviously told to do a job on Etherington, which he did in the first 5 minutes,. In my opinion that tackle was bordering on a red card but he got away with it. Wilkinson and Whelan's yellows were nowhere near that in comparison.
My point is that take Etherington and Pennant out the equation we are knackered. We are as exciting as watching paint dry after them and that is against a team that was there for the taking.
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Post by philm87 on Mar 18, 2012 18:28:58 GMT
The Liverpool right back was obviously told to do a job on Etherington, which he did in the first 5 minutes,. In my opinion that tackle was bordering on a red card but he got away with it. Wilkinson and Whelan's yellows were nowhere near that in comparison. My point is that take Etherington and Pennant out the equation we are knackered. We are as exciting as watching paint dry after them and that is against a team that was there for the taking. Yeah I agree. Both wingers are vital but Whelan and Whitehead I thought passed the ball very well today. Glenn looks a much better player on big pitches where he's got more space to play.
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Post by philm87 on Mar 18, 2012 18:32:11 GMT
Decent enough on the whole and indeed the first half was promising. However our limitations and inadequecies were there for all to see without our red and white blinkers on. Some deep thinking and action required in the summer to progress what should no longer be seen as Plucky Little Stoke. It will be our fifth season in the land of riches next season and we are a very well financed football club in terms of mid-Premier League clubs. The football standard of our peer group and even the some of the clubs a lot newer to the Premier League has far suppased our own. We will hopefully take the required measures to ensure the seasons ahead do not come down to hoping we avoid anyone half decent for as long as possible in cup competitions to provide us with football excitement. Anyway thats all for the summer. Today is no reason to be over critical depite the frustration. In the context of today's game though... we are still plucky little Stoke. Add up the cost of their team and compare it to ours. There is a massive difference. I can accept people moaning when we are beaten at home by West Brom and QPR... I find the wristlasting on here at the moment slightly more difficult to fathom. Bottom line is Liverpool are a much better team and only narrowly beat us at home. To reach the quarter-finals of the FA Cup for 3 consecutive seasons is a great effort IMO
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Post by Deleted on Mar 18, 2012 18:34:31 GMT
good performance who you trying to kid
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Post by Deleted on Mar 18, 2012 18:35:14 GMT
p.s are you pulis in disguise
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Post by tqstokie on Mar 18, 2012 18:35:57 GMT
Finish in the top ten you are jesting. Be thankful there are at least three teams worse than us. 15th or above would be a bonus.
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Post by Paul Spencer on Mar 18, 2012 18:37:00 GMT
First half was probably as well as I've seen us play in a while. Our pressing game was excellent and Liverpool only scored by virtue of a solo effort from a bloke who cost 24 million. We deserved our equaliser and created the better chances than they did in the first half. Crouch showed some great touches, Wilson played as well as I've seen all season, Deano was excellent as well. We tired in the second half and Liverpool got a bit of luck with their goal (from a player who cost 20 million). Taking the lead allowed Gerrard to drop deeper and help Spearing mop up between defence and midfield. Ryan and Huth both defended very well and Whelan and Whitehead were both 'triffic' in the middle... we just didn't have enough about us to create any meaningful chances. Wilko and Shotton were both extremely wasteful in possession and that made it a lot harder for us in the second half. We would probably have had a better chance had we started with Pennant and kept Matty on too. Sometimes against the bigger teams you need a bit of luck and we didn't really get that today. Neither of their goals came from clear goal scoring opportunities. I think our players can be proud of their efforts and the performance today. If we play like that in the League every week we should have enough to finish in the top ten. KTF Really Phil? I'm not sure we would have scored if we hadn't got lucky with the corner the ref awarded to us that never was. I thought we played really well in the first half, although Shotton was woeful and is clearly out of his depth at this level. In the second half we tired incredibly and we were a shadow of the team that played in the first half. Personally I would have replaced Walters with Jerome and left Etherington on the pitch ... they had Carragher at centre back and not once was he tested for pace - we made it easy for him all game. Crouch was ridiculously isolated in the second half and we did bugger all to address the problem.
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Post by philm87 on Mar 18, 2012 18:38:23 GMT
good performance who you trying to kid What was wrong with our performance? Apart from Shotton and Wilko everyone played pretty well. We created the better chances in the first half. We defended well throughout. They didn't really create enough to merit scoring 2 goals. Ryan, Huth, Crouch, Whelan, Whitehead ... all played very well. Wilson was very good in the first half but not in the second. Walters wasn't brilliant but he put in a great shift and worked himself into some good positions. If we played like we did in the first half every game in the League we would probably be ahead of Liverpool.
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Post by bristolpotter123 on Mar 18, 2012 18:39:35 GMT
First half we matched a team that has spent significantly more than us but second half the players who really are't up to it in Wilkinson,Shotton and Walters were shown up.
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Post by fca47 on Mar 18, 2012 18:41:05 GMT
We criticise other teams for passing round at the back, the only time we were keeping possession was then, just about every ball played forward went to them.
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Post by philm87 on Mar 18, 2012 18:41:09 GMT
First half was probably as well as I've seen us play in a while. Our pressing game was excellent and Liverpool only scored by virtue of a solo effort from a bloke who cost 24 million. We deserved our equaliser and created the better chances than they did in the first half. Crouch showed some great touches, Wilson played as well as I've seen all season, Deano was excellent as well. We tired in the second half and Liverpool got a bit of luck with their goal (from a player who cost 20 million). Taking the lead allowed Gerrard to drop deeper and help Spearing mop up between defence and midfield. Ryan and Huth both defended very well and Whelan and Whitehead were both 'triffic' in the middle... we just didn't have enough about us to create any meaningful chances. Wilko and Shotton were both extremely wasteful in possession and that made it a lot harder for us in the second half. We would probably have had a better chance had we started with Pennant and kept Matty on too. Sometimes against the bigger teams you need a bit of luck and we didn't really get that today. Neither of their goals came from clear goal scoring opportunities. I think our players can be proud of their efforts and the performance today. If we play like that in the League every week we should have enough to finish in the top ten. KTF Really Phil? I'm not sure we would have scored if we hadn't got lucky with the corner the ref awarded to us that never was. I thought we played really well in the first half, although Shotton was woeful and is clearly out of his depth at this level. In the second half we tired incredibly and we were a shadow of the team that played in the first half. Personally I would have replaced Walters with Jerome and left Etherington on the pitch ... they had Carragher at centre back and not once was he tested for pace - we made it easy for him all game. Crouch was ridiculously isolated in the second half and we did bugger all to address the problem. Agree it wasn't a corner but then we could have easily had a penalty from it. Huth would have got to the first one if Skrtel wasn't pulling him back. The luck I was referring to was the ricochet back to Downing for the second goal. The first goal also... not lucky but world class... you need luck to defend against that because there's no other way of stopping it.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 18, 2012 18:41:29 GMT
the passing the best team won we stayed in the dressing room at half time and never came back out. Liverpool arent a good side huth and shawcross kept the score down with great defending.
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Post by numpty40 on Mar 18, 2012 18:42:08 GMT
I'm more frustrated tonight than at any stage since we've been promoted. We played really well first half but two players were having absolute shockers, Walters and Shotton. I'm convinced if we'd have brought on Jerome and Pennant at half time we'd have won that. Some things stand out so clearly you question why the manager can't see it. As it was in the second half Walters and Shotton got unbelievably worse and you could see the game slipping away within 5 minutes of the restart. Jerome and Pennant would have given us an impetus to take the game to Liverpool and put them on the back foot. As it was we keep Walters on the whole game and then replace a natural winger with a quick striker who we promptly put on the wing. Pulis fucked this game up big style today. Liverpool were poor and there for the taking if he'd have shown a bit bottle!!
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Post by Paul Spencer on Mar 18, 2012 18:43:49 GMT
Ah got yer Phil ... you were just being selective about the luck you remember us having this afternoon.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 18, 2012 18:46:40 GMT
i think mark wolstanton sums it up perfectly, good post, mark.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 18, 2012 18:47:23 GMT
Paul,spot on! To say we didn't get any luck?? Forvet about the goal,what about the corner they should have had,about three free kicks they should have had and a couple we should never have got.i agree,first half we showed some good hustle and harried them well not allowing them to play but second half.....reverting to type away from home.sit back,invite pressure,defend faaaaar too deep and try to catch them on the break which is never going to happen when all we seem to be able to achieve is to give it to wilko,shotts or wilson who in the second half were awesome at giving it straight back to the opposition! beaten by a better team so i can accept that but say that people who can see the very obvious failings and reasons for those failings are wrist slashers or doom merchants is daft as well as blinkered and insulting.at least shotton proved (hopefully) to pulis that he definitely is not a winger! Every cloud and all that....
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Post by Paul Spencer on Mar 18, 2012 18:47:53 GMT
I'm more frustrated tonight than at any stage since we've been promoted. We played really well first half but two players were having absolute shockers, Walters and Shotton. I'm convinced if we'd have brought on Jerome and Pennant at half time we'd have won that. Some things stand out so clearly you question why the manager can't see it. As it was in the second half Walters and Shotton got unbelievably worse and you could see the game slipping away within 5 minutes of the restart. Jerome and Pennant would have given us an impetus to take the game to Liverpool and put them on the back foot.As it was we keep Walters on the whole game and then replace a natural winger with a quick striker who we promptly put on the wing. Pulis fucked this game up big style today. Liverpool were poor and there for the taking if he'd have shown a bit bottle!! Allmost word for word what we were all saying in my living room BEFORE Liverpool scored the second goal. Incredible that Walters stayed on for the 90 minutes.
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Post by philm87 on Mar 18, 2012 18:48:05 GMT
Ah got yer Phil ... you were just being selective about the luck you remember us having this afternoon. Not I'm not saying we were unlucky... I am saying that when the opposition can do what Suarez did in the first half then you sometimes need a bit of fortune to get a result.
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Post by philm87 on Mar 18, 2012 18:50:47 GMT
Finish in the top ten you are jesting. Be thankful there are at least three teams worse than us. 15th or above would be a bonus. I said IF we play like we did in the first half we can finish in the top ten. Had we beaten Wigan on the last day last season we would have finished in the top ten so it's hardly as far fetched as you're making out.
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Post by Paul Spencer on Mar 18, 2012 18:56:03 GMT
Ah got yer Phil ... you were just being selective about the luck you remember us having this afternoon. Not I'm not saying we were unlucky... I am saying that when the opposition can do what Suarez did in the first half then you sometimes need a bit of fortune to get a result. We had a bit of fortune ... the ref gave us a set piece that we shouldn't have had and we SCORED from it. I thought you were being selective in your memory of this afternoon's events Phil but actually what you're doing now, is putting your fingers in your ears and muttering la, la, la, I'm not listening.
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Post by tqstokie on Mar 18, 2012 18:57:10 GMT
Philm87
All will be revealed in abut eight weeks.
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Post by philm87 on Mar 18, 2012 18:58:16 GMT
Not I'm not saying we were unlucky... I am saying that when the opposition can do what Suarez did in the first half then you sometimes need a bit of fortune to get a result. We had a bit of fortune ... the ref gave us a set piece that we shouldn't have had and we SCORED from it. I thought you were being selective in your memory of this afternoon's events Phil but actually what you're doing now, is putting your fingers in your ears and muttering la, la, la, I'm not listening. Maybe I'm being biased as I am a Stoke fan but the corner from which we scored was not a corner, it was a peno.
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Post by Paul Spencer on Mar 18, 2012 19:02:31 GMT
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