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Post by cheekymatt71 on Oct 25, 2014 17:54:06 GMT
I was expecting the worst today to be honest so not too down about a 1-0 defeat in all honesty.
Must say though that long gone are those early season expectations of us finishing top 7 or 8.
We wont get relegated but there are at least 10 teams looking better than us this season. We have gone sideways in development whilst other teams have really taken a leap forward (West Ham, Southampton, West Brom).
Other than Moses the rest of the transfer business looks fairly mediocre
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Post by StokieAsh13 on Oct 25, 2014 17:55:44 GMT
Ill take 15/16th with the games we have coming up.
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Post by The Drunken Communist on Oct 25, 2014 17:59:21 GMT
Who in their right mind was expecting us to finish top seven?
Fuck sake man, every defeat & we're the shittest team ever, doomed to failiure. Every victory & we're by far the greatest team the world has ever seen & Europe is guaranteed.
The Premier League is a hard bastard league, sometimes we'll go on winning runs, sometimes we'll go on losing runs. Sometimes we'll get played off the park, other times we'll play teams off the park. Sometimes we'll feel hard done to, sometimes we'll feel lucky. Haven't you leart anything from over the last few years? (Or from football in general? It was the same shit in the bastard lower leagues!)
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Post by wuzza on Oct 25, 2014 18:36:15 GMT
double post - sorry.
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Post by wuzza on Oct 25, 2014 18:36:49 GMT
Its been poor fare and to deny it is doing nobody any favours.
The side lacks any sort of master plan at the moment and we stagger from game to game never really getting a grip of any of them.
Peoples expectations at the start of the season were frankly ridiculous - built on every one of our transfer gambles working out well and some of our notoriously unpredicatable players like Arnie continuing to perform as they were at the end of last season. In the cold light of day it was never going to happen and there is little to distinguish us from about 10 other clubs who are going to struggle all season.
It was slightly worrying to see Mark Hughes saying he thought things were going well (or words to that effect) but I suppose its the sort of thing he has to say.
All in all it does indeed look like its going to be a bit of a grind of a season not the fiesta so many predicted.
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Post by Pugsley on Oct 25, 2014 18:37:14 GMT
Its been poor fare and to deny it is doing nobody any favours. The side lacks any sort of master plan at the moment and we stagger from game to game never really getting a grip of any of them. Peoples expectations at the start of the season were frankly ridiculous - built on every one of our transfer gambles working out well and some of our notoriously unpredicatable platyers like Arnie continuing to perform as they were at the end of last season. In the cold light of day it was never going to happen and there is little to distinguish us from about 10 other clubs who are going to struggle all season. It was slightly worrying to see Mark Hughes saying he thought things were going well (or words to that effect) but I suppose its the sort of thing he has to say. All in all it does indeed look like its going to be a bit of a grind of a season not the fiesta so many predicted. Injuries are killing us. |
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Post by wuzza on Oct 25, 2014 18:39:28 GMT
They are Pugs but I also cant think of many of the fit players that are performing to their full potential either which is a bit worrying.
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Post by geoff321 on Oct 25, 2014 18:40:18 GMT
We've started better than last season.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 25, 2014 18:45:40 GMT
We've started better than last season. I just feel so enlightened now. |
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Post by rogerjonesisgod on Oct 25, 2014 19:27:36 GMT
We've started better than last season. Good evening Geoffrey. That's a fair point. 2013 -14 - Liverpool, Palace, West Ham, Man City, Arsenal, Norwich, Fulham, WBA, Man United = 8 points
2014 -15 - Villa, Hull, Man City, Leicester, QPR, Newcastle, Sunderland, Swansea, Southampton = 11 points
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Post by thedeadlyshart on Oct 25, 2014 19:32:29 GMT
We've started better than last season. Good evening Geoffrey. That's a fair point. 2013 -14 - Liverpool, Palace, West Ham, Man City, Arsenal, Norwich, Fulham, WBA, Man United = 8 points
2014 -15 - Villa, Hull, Man City, Leicester, QPR, Newcastle, Sunderland, Swansea, Southampton = 11 points
last year we had played 4 top six teams, this year we've played one, perhaps two, if Southampton can continue their form for the whole season. It'll be interesting to compare the first half of this season to last season's when we get there, as I think we are in for a brutal holiday season again. |
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Post by sheikhmomo on Oct 25, 2014 19:35:23 GMT
Beaten by a better side today. It happens, I can cope with that. It's being beaten by poor sides, which we have too often this season, that fucking burns.
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Post by Pugsley on Oct 25, 2014 20:11:00 GMT
They are Pugs but I also cant think of many of the fit players that are performing to their full potential either which is a bit worrying. Correct, but it can't help when the Manager has to chop and change. The only constant this season is the defence where we have been solid enough - 4th best in the league - yet we have people wishing to rip that apart. Up front we are pretty toothless and the manager appears to have little clue on his best line up given the the disruption. It's not great, but it isn't the crock of shit some would make out. |
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Post by Kjones9 on Oct 25, 2014 20:51:13 GMT
Cwiiiiiiing over you, cwiiiiiiing over you.
Get a fucking backbone.
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Post by stokefanone on Oct 25, 2014 22:37:59 GMT
Losing Odie has cost us as an attacking force, and now Glen, we seem to miss his leadership in centre mid today. Too many lacklustre performances. Worrying performance today.
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Post by sufolkstokie on Oct 25, 2014 22:39:44 GMT
Ill take 15/16th with the games we have coming up. Indeed |
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Post by blackpoolred on Oct 25, 2014 23:15:34 GMT
To be honest this season is no different from any other we have spent in the prem, as in we will probably spend the whole season looking over our shoulder and flirting with relegation(hopefully avoiding)
If we are honest though we all thought and hoped it would be us that started the season like Southampton have done, with flamboyant and comfortable victories, given the end to the season we(Stoke) had.
It has not materialised as yet and we don't look in any sort of form at the moment to be turning any corners. In all honesty Southampton looked a lot better than us today, but 4 or 5 weeks is a long time in football and the tables can change quickly, so I would not lose hope just yet.
Hughes eluded to the fact that because we lost our opening 2 home games that there was an air of disillusion around the place, when in fact we have not done too badly and had a fair start to the season. For me we have been mediocre in some games, poor in others and have thrown in a good half of football here and there.
Let us hope we can get a bit of luck with injuries and get some key players back to form in the coming weeks and that Christmas comes early
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Post by stokiejoeofalsager on Oct 25, 2014 23:21:09 GMT
A win around Christmas against one of the big boys on TV will kick-start our season again. Just like last year.
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Post by rogerjonesisgod on Oct 26, 2014 0:27:30 GMT
Good evening Geoffrey. That's a fair point. 2013 -14 - Liverpool, Palace, West Ham, Man City, Arsenal, Norwich, Fulham, WBA, Man United = 8 points
2014 -15 - Villa, Hull, Man City, Leicester, QPR, Newcastle, Sunderland, Swansea, Southampton = 11 points
last year we had played 4 top six teams, this year we've played one, perhaps two, if Southampton can continue their form for the whole season. It'll be interesting to compare the first half of this season to last season's when we get there, as I think we are in for a brutal holiday season again. Too true TDS. The fixtures from the end of November to Crimbo this year are tough. But statistically speaking the games against the top six clubs we had played by this time last season was: W0 L3 D1, so I don't think playing those teams skew the figures. True we had played 'better' teams after 9 games last year but we ended up with fewer points. I think Momo's comment is an important point. In that Villa could have gone either way but it went to them. Hull was poor because they were down to 10 men and we scrapped a draw. Leicester had what? A couple of breakaways and scored from one and we didn't convert any of our chances. QPR was a needless late free kick and we threw away 2 points. Sunderland we were dog shit. Southampton I've no complaints, but funnily enough (as I type) I'm just watching a full replay of the game and the first half isn't as bad as some of the Oatie poster's were making out. Basically, how we've lost is the worst 'statistic'. Inconsistency bothers me not relegation. Of course, if not taking your chances, conceding soft goals and playing like strangers continues then a relegation battle will become a concern. |
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Post by Davef on Oct 26, 2014 0:32:46 GMT
When has it any been any different?
Since promotion we've won an average of 46 points per season.
There are 116 Premier League points up for grabs.
I'll leave you to work out how many of them we don't win every season.
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Post by march4 on Oct 26, 2014 0:33:27 GMT
There are plenty of worse teams than us around.
We have played Leicester, QPR, Swansea and Villa. They all looked dreadful - shame we didn't take many points from those games.
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Post by stokesaint1 on Oct 26, 2014 1:52:59 GMT
When has it any been any different? Since promotion we've won an average of 46 points per season. There are 116 Premier League points up for grabs. I'll leave you to work out how many of them we don't win every season. Actually there are 114 points to play for but that's not important, the point is that we need to progress. Just making up the numbers year after year was ok for the last six years but for me, it's time we moved on and made a real fist of it and made a statement of intent. |
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Post by stokesaint1 on Oct 26, 2014 1:57:52 GMT
There are plenty of worse teams than us around. We have played Leicester, QPR, Swansea and Villa. They all looked dreadful - shame we didn't take many points from those games. Don't agree with Swansea being on this list, they weren't dreadful and against Villa we were worse than dreadful, as we were against Sunderland, Hull and Leicester. You have to beat the dreadful teams and as you say, we didn't beat many of them. 4 points out of 12. |
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Post by stokemanusa on Oct 26, 2014 2:01:15 GMT
Hopefully the club will cancel all xmas related activities and spend the money on a cb.  One could hope. |
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One could hope.
