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Post by chiefdelilah on Mar 2, 2015 0:18:10 GMT
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Post by Billybigbollox on Mar 2, 2015 0:28:50 GMT
Got to go to bed so couldn't be arsed to read it all, but what I did seemed good. Is that actually a pic of Irelands leg? Coz it looks more like Waggy's than a pro footballer?
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Post by prem4stoke on Mar 2, 2015 0:34:06 GMT
Got to go to bed so couldn't be arsed to read it all, but what I did seemed good. Is that actually a pic of Irelands leg? Coz it looks more like Waggy's than a pro footballer? Got to agree this really doesn't look like his leg. You would expect more muscle?
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Post by Olgrligm on Mar 2, 2015 0:46:09 GMT
Broadly agree with most of that. Moses is frustrating. The man is electric and has tremendous close cobtrol, but he just doesn't seem to care about playing against the lesser lights. He was the same at Blackburn, after being right at his best in the Man City game a few days earlier. It's so difficult to know what to make of him. He's the focus of all our attacking play, but his end product can lack sometimes. I'd like us to sign him and if Hughes can make him a bit more motivated and consistent then he'd be incredible. I still think he won't come, though.
As for the referees, what's the solution? Where are the better referees coming from? What can be done to improve those referees at the top? I'm almost inclined to say that the way the referees have been run over the last few years means that it would take a decade of repair work to bring through top quality officials.
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Post by S.O.N.S. on Mar 2, 2015 1:12:16 GMT
The smug pleasure of the three points has now almost engulfed the sour experience of the fixture, particularly the last 200 hours of misery before half time, thank goodness. I think the FA need to get their cheque books out and start using former players as referees. To hell with FIFA and its piddling directives - the time is right for the FA to go it alone. Enough is enough, the meddlers at FIFA are killing our game off the pitch with corruption and on it with serial rulemaking. Irelands injury is the physical proof; you made an excellent point there Rob. Truly we have arrived at the point where the wobbling arse cheeks of Austrian corruption combined with the tinkering tentacles of the Swiss rule makers notepads have tipped the scales of adjudication so far out of kilter that the ref's own assessment using eyes, ears and common sense are no longer trusted until all this sensory data has been flashed through the complex FIFA algorithm in his skull. No wonder refereeing is in such a bloody mess. A bingo-caller in a gold-lame dinner suit spinning a glittering wheel of fortune would have called more correct decisions. Thanks for trying to make sense of a very forgettable *game* - is that the right word?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 2, 2015 1:26:52 GMT
Got to go to bed so couldn't be arsed to read it all, but what I did seemed good. Is that actually a pic of Irelands leg? Coz it looks more like Waggy's than a pro footballer? Well to the side of the gash you can definately see two more scratches that appear to have been made by studs ...so I would say so yes ....nasty
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Post by withnall on Mar 2, 2015 3:01:26 GMT
"The hefty Dundonian".
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Post by lawrieleslie on Mar 2, 2015 6:44:33 GMT
I didn't read the article but having watched the game on a stream, Hull came for a point. They parked the bus and frustrated our attacks time after time by going to ground feigning injury and time wasting. They failed and some very astute subs finally broke them down. Once 1-0 down they didn't have any ideas what to do. Crouch's winner may have been marginally offside and I hope it was because that is just desserts. They remind me a bit like us in our first couple of seasons up....but we didn't do the cynical cheating by falling down to break up play, although we were sneaky at time wasting with Rory's long throw set ups.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 2, 2015 10:12:22 GMT
Excellent write up mate. I thought the back 4 deserved a bit of praise though. I expected them to feature as one of the conclusions. Wolly has been in for some serious and unwarranted criticism from certain supporters. He put in another solid display at the back. If you'd have said a few months ago that we'd be without Shawcross for a number of games, something that has never happened since promotion back to the top flight, I'd have thought we'd be in serious trouble. Wolly has stepped up to the plate.
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Post by sheikhmomo on Mar 2, 2015 10:25:48 GMT
Excellent write up mate. I thought the back 4 deserved a bit of praise though. I expected them to feature as one of the conclusions. Wolly has been in for some serious and unwarranted criticism from certain supporters. He put in another solid display at the back. If you'd have said a few months ago that we'd be without Shawcross for a number of games, something that has never happened since promotion back to the top flight, I'd have thought we'd be in serious trouble. Wolly has stepped up to the plate. Wilson was the vastly better of the two in my view. Wollscheid got turned inside out for Hull's one and only chance.
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Post by okeydokeystokie2 on Mar 2, 2015 10:37:29 GMT
This is the biggest problem for a club like Stoke City. If a team comes to kill the game, have we got enough quality to break them down?
On our wage structure and budget, it's hard to get those kind of players. Bojan is the obvious exception. Without him we huff and puff and struggle to blow the house down. Sometimes we leave our own back door open too, as we saw earlier in the season.
That's where the introduction of Charlie was a good call. For all his perceived faults, he makes things happen. I have often argued that he deserves more time at home in these kind of games. He gets the crowd going and creates chances.
With time to prepare, will Hughes reward him with a start and trust his defensive duties? Probably will, but I think Everton will try to play a bit more and wouldn't be surprised to see Charlie back on the bench, with Sidwell coming in and N'Zonzi pushing on. Our squad is strong though and either option looks good to me.
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Post by onlyonesirstan on Mar 2, 2015 10:55:13 GMT
Brilliant report as usual
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Post by Deleted on Mar 2, 2015 10:58:05 GMT
Excellent write up mate. I thought the back 4 deserved a bit of praise though. I expected them to feature as one of the conclusions. Wolly has been in for some serious and unwarranted criticism from certain supporters. He put in another solid display at the back. If you'd have said a few months ago that we'd be without Shawcross for a number of games, something that has never happened since promotion back to the top flight, I'd have thought we'd be in serious trouble. Wolly has stepped up to the plate. Wilson was the vastly better of the two in my view. Wollscheid got turned inside out for Hull's one and only chance. Wilson had a very good game mate. He made more than double the amount of clearances than any other player on the pitch, with 9 in total (4 being the closest figure by Wolly and Figuera). Wolly excelled with his distribution. He made 60 passes in total, second only to Pieters (66) with an impressive accuracy rate of 86.7% (just behind Glenn and NZonzi). There was that one moment where he got beaten too easily, that aside though, I thought he put in a very good showing.
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Post by sheikhmomo on Mar 2, 2015 11:01:52 GMT
Wilson was the vastly better of the two in my view. Wollscheid got turned inside out for Hull's one and only chance. Wilson had a very good game mate. He made more than double the amount of clearances than any other player on the pitch, with 9 in total (4 being the closest figure by Wolly and Figuera). Wolly excelled with his distribution. He made 60 passes in total, second only to Pieters (66) with an impressive accuracy rate of 86.7% (just behind Glenn and NZonzi). There was that one moment where he got beaten too easily, that aside though, I thought he put in a very good showing. I want to like him mate but as of yet remain unconvinced he is the long term answer at centre half. I'd have Shawcross and Muniesa as first choice when everyone is fit. A Shawcrossless future hasn't proved to be horrific as feared though and he has to take some credit for that.
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Post by chiefdelilah on Mar 2, 2015 11:03:37 GMT
The back four were decent but I didn't write more about them because they simply weren't tested enough. Hull had showed no ambition whatsoever until we scored.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 2, 2015 11:12:03 GMT
The back four were decent but I didn't write more about them because they simply weren't tested enough. Hull had showed no ambition whatsoever until we scored. A clean sheet is still a clean sheet mate. Our first in 7 matches, and a confidence boost with the two 4-goal hauls back-to-back not too long ago.
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Post by cousindupree on Mar 2, 2015 11:49:22 GMT
Well done Rob on being able to pen a decent length article for this game. I guess the officials got you out of jail for this one. Interesting insight into Mark Hughes from Bruce as I hadn't read that before.Goes to show you don't have to be a strutting 'look at me' extrovert to make an accomplished premier league manager. I know its been debated ad nausiam with regard to Woolly and Diouf but I remain unconvinced by both of them. They have been brought in to fill key positions in the 'spine' of the team and I honestly think we should be looking at better.Wouldn't necessarily shove them out of the door, although Diouf stella wages would be useful to be utilised for an alternative. I just think in key positions we should look for the best we can get. Appreciate the time you spend on these articles Rob, I always enjoy reading them, they accompany my morning cornflakes laced in Bourbon with a jug of Java perfectly.
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Post by chiefdelilah on Mar 2, 2015 12:06:16 GMT
The back four were decent but I didn't write more about them because they simply weren't tested enough. Hull had showed no ambition whatsoever until we scored. A clean sheet is still a clean sheet mate. Our first in 7 matches, and a confidence boost with the two 4-goal hauls back-to-back not too long ago. Delighted with the clean sheet mate but they didn't have a whole lot to do. Hence I didn't think it was enough of an issue to warrant further discussion really.
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Post by foster on Mar 2, 2015 12:07:47 GMT
Rob, why didn't you write anything about our defence and the clean sheet?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 2, 2015 12:21:19 GMT
A clean sheet is still a clean sheet mate. Our first in 7 matches, and a confidence boost with the two 4-goal hauls back-to-back not too long ago. Delighted with the clean sheet mate but they didn't have a whole lot to do. Hence I didn't think it was enough of an issue to warrant further discussion really. Fair play squire.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 2, 2015 13:27:15 GMT
...like a man trapped in a Rubik's cube... Worth reading just for that.
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Post by mcf on Mar 2, 2015 13:56:01 GMT
This is the biggest problem for a club like Stoke City. If a team comes to kill the game, have we got enough quality to break them down? On our wage structure and budget, it's hard to get those kind of players. Bojan is the obvious exception. Without him we huff and puff and struggle to blow the house down. Sometimes we leave our own back door open too, as we saw earlier in the season. That's where the introduction of Charlie was a good call. For all his perceived faults, he makes things happen. I have often argued that he deserves more time at home in these kind of games. He gets the crowd going and creates chances. With time to prepare, will Hughes reward him with a start and trust his defensive duties? Probably will, but I think Everton will try to play a bit more and wouldn't be surprised to see Charlie back on the bench, with Sidwell coming in and N'Zonzi pushing on. Our squad is strong though and either option looks good to me. Man City couldn't do it to us when we won at their place. Part of modern football. The answer on Saturday was yes. Both Charlie and Crouch had the quality. Moses, Arnie, Odemwingie (when fit) and Walters have shown they all can have an impact. I thought it was a good game as we pretty much controlled it from start to finish and you always felt that we would build up the pressure in the latter stages. We weren't under massive pressure to win the game either given the win at Villa and how well we are doing overall. Good fun from a crowd point of view as well with the ref getting loads of stick.
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Post by kustokie on Mar 2, 2015 14:03:54 GMT
Great article - articulate and well written. With respect to the game, these were games that we failed to win at the begining of the season, which shows how far we have come despite all the injuries.
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Post by reddipotter on Mar 2, 2015 14:33:02 GMT
Pretty much spot on as usual, but I'd take issue with the idea that we were 'patient'- a term Hughes used, too. In the first half we played the ball back and forth across the defence until we launched it hopefully forwards. That is not patient, it is lacking ideas.
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Post by mrcoke on Mar 4, 2015 17:17:17 GMT
An excellent summary as usual.
I am one of the ambivalent Stokies when it comes to Moses. A great talent, who terrifies the opposition when he sets off on a run, which is, at the same time, exciting and yet predictable that it will probable end up with him parallel with the pitch, instead of creating a scoring opportunity. Should we or shouldn't we buy him in the summer? I just don't know, maybe he will rule himself out with higher ambitions.
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