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Post by Deleted on Aug 2, 2015 20:13:25 GMT
I dont see us keeping many clean sheets this season. I think Hughes will be hoping we score more than the opposition. It should be exciting at the very least We don't have the quality to score many goals.
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Post by Gods on Aug 2, 2015 20:13:38 GMT
I dont see us keeping many clean sheets this season. I think Hughes will be hoping we score more than the opposition. It should be exciting at the very least Yep, Keegan-esque 4-3's aplenty - it won't be dull, that's for sure... I am not being funny but seriously how are we going to suddenly find ourselves embroiled in a whole series of 4-3 games? We have just completed a whole close season with to the best of my knowledge one attempt on goal on target against League opposition in the entire blinking program!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 2, 2015 20:14:04 GMT
I think we are fucked. It looks like a massive cock up to me since the Liverpool game 10 short weeks ago everything has gone wrong. We have failed to keep our best players, failed to sign our top targets and with Shawcross our luck seems to have run out too. Worried doesn't start to say how I feel. Give over. We could quite conceivably start next weeks game with only one player less who had an impact on the last game we played against them. Trouble is they have half a new team that's cost millions since then. You have to understand Liverpool is and always will be a big club in the eyes of Sky sports and the media , they can not afford for them to lose to little Stoke 6-0 again it would so badly affect the sales of their newspapers and Sky sports, not to mention what it would do to Phil Thomsons face. Football in England is becoming show biz just like wrestling and little old Stoke are just not box office. Am I insane? probably, do I believe what I have said YES. I think we have just missed a massive opportunity to become a bit more than a fall guy team, withy the right investment we could have become a poor mans Tottenham, now I think we have accepted our fall guy lot once again. I hope I'm wrong I truly do.
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Post by boskampsflaps on Aug 2, 2015 20:17:32 GMT
They got the run around needed, all's good.
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Post by boskampsflaps on Aug 2, 2015 20:20:01 GMT
If needs be , Is this starting 11 good enough for 10 wins? Butland cameron shawcross muniesa Pieters whelan van Ginkel Odemwingie Bojan Arnautovic Diouf. We will be fine. Put Walters and Johnson in there and I think it is.
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Post by st4scfc on Aug 2, 2015 20:22:43 GMT
Registered to say that our back four scares the shit out of me.
Two injury prone centre halves are our first choice pairing and the back up is lower half championship standard at best. It will be an absolute miracle if we make top 10 or even 12 if we go with what we have in the defensive department.
I don't care what the self proclaimed "sane" experts believe on here, if they think we arn't in a defensive crisis they are deluded. People have right to be concerned without being labelled "knicker wetters" by the know it alls. Our defence is awful. Take Shawcross out of the equation with injuries and we have dismantled the spine of our team in one summer and up to yet bought in cheap options, It's glaringly obvious we are weaker than we finished last season for the beginning of this one.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 2, 2015 20:22:56 GMT
I still think we have done far too much travelling for friendlies, and we should have had one game at the Brit and give the new signings a run out. Hughes has had a good look at the squad and everyone as had a run out (apart from Ryan) he will fine tune his team this week and get us raring to go. Admittadley I don't fancy us one bit next Sunday. Hope I'm wrong though. Come on stoke
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Post by Gods on Aug 2, 2015 20:27:29 GMT
They got the run around needed, all's good. Is that really the full extent of our ambition for these games? Wouldn't we like to also see some stuff gel too? I saw on a stream Arsenal tidy up Lyon 6-0 a week or so ago and while I know they are not a direct rival would we not want to see a mid-table equivalent of that? Just some stuff working and the players looking as though they know one another...
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Post by scfc1863 on Aug 2, 2015 20:28:40 GMT
I'm keeping calm, despite some poor results in the last few games I've just checked the Premier league and we're still on the same points as Chelsea, Man City, Arsenal....
Relax.
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Post by Gods on Aug 2, 2015 20:30:29 GMT
Registered to say that our back four scares the shit out of me. Two injury prone centre halves are our first choice pairing and the back up is lower half championship standard at best. It will be an absolute miracle if we make top 10 or even 12 if we go with what we have in the defensive department. I don't care what the self proclaimed "sane" experts believe on here, if they think we arn't in a defensive crisis they are deluded. People have right to be concerned without being labelled "knicker wetters" by the know it alls. Our defence is awful. Take Shawcross out of the equation with injuries and we have dismantled the spine of our team in one summer and up to yet bought in cheap options, It's glaringly obvious we are weaker than we finished last season for the beginning of this one. Yes indeed.
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Post by bayernoatcake on Aug 2, 2015 20:30:53 GMT
Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit.
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zelem
Academy Starlet
Posts: 164
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Post by zelem on Aug 2, 2015 20:31:46 GMT
Definitely going to be a long hard season, a team that was not far off the top 6 replace the established world class players with inferior ones is always taking a backward step , simples ???? I get the feeling a lot of the good work is getting undone, hope mh proves me wrong obviously
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Post by mrcoke on Aug 2, 2015 20:36:51 GMT
My thoughts are: We have acquired a lot of talent for the future, but it is going to some months before all the players are up to full match fitness and it comes together.
I think we are going to be under the cosh for the first few weeks of the season and it is vital we beat the weak teams who come to the Brit. or we could get into deep trouble. But even if we do get into deep trouble, I'm have every confidence in MH and his team.
We still have 29 days to get the players we need and I'm confident PC would stump up any finance required.
"It is always darkest just before the day dawneth." Thomas Fuller, 1650
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Post by Kjones9 on Aug 2, 2015 20:40:14 GMT
I'm keeping calm, despite some poor results in the last few games I've just checked the Premier league and we're still on the same points as Chelsea, Man City, Arsenal.... Relax. I wouldn't waste your bandwidth.
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Post by boskampsflaps on Aug 2, 2015 20:44:02 GMT
They got the run around needed, all's good. Is that really the full extent of our ambition for these games? Wouldn't we like to also see some stuff gel too? I saw on a stream Arsenal tidy up Lyon 6-0 a week or so ago and while I know they are not a direct rival would we not want to see a mid-table equivalent of that? Just some stuff working and the players looking as though they know one another... Yep, its all they are for, we haven't played a first 11 yet so we don't know what they're like together, I'm not concerned, we've had worse pre-seasons.
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Post by NG4POTTERS on Aug 2, 2015 20:47:44 GMT
My feelings are that the season can't come quick enough. As soon as the new players start playing in full throttle games like the Liverpool one the better. Same goes for the whole team. A lot can be said for atmosphere and high intensity games. I worry about the defence but it's a clean slate. Every player needs to start putting it in. Starting Sunday.
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Post by st4scfc on Aug 2, 2015 20:52:59 GMT
Is that really the full extent of our ambition for these games? Wouldn't we like to also see some stuff gel too? I saw on a stream Arsenal tidy up Lyon 6-0 a week or so ago and while I know they are not a direct rival would we not want to see a mid-table equivalent of that? Just some stuff working and the players looking as though they know one another... Yep, its all they are for, we haven't played a first 11 yet so we don't know what they're like together, I'm not concerned, we've had worse pre-seasons. Is the game before the first match of the season not a game to show the manager you deserve a place in the starting eleven for the opening game then? I'm sureI read earlier that Hughes said he was about to play a strong team for this Porto game? if that was a strong team we're up shit creek without a paddle. There are no excuses for not replacing proven quality with proven quality, we have had all summer to do so. MVG might turn out to be a decent signing, but N'Zonzi was an integral part of our team last season and replacing him with a player who is unproven in English football doesn't cut the mustard. Neither does our defensive ins and outs. Affelay has it all to prove, as does Johnson and Joselu a player that was less than consistent and potent in Germany expected to be so in the Premiership, pull the other one.
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Post by stokemark on Aug 2, 2015 21:03:36 GMT
The back four without Ryan need proper protection from our midfield - protection that I don't think what we have today can provide
We went into this window needing a right winger and possibly a Whelan replacement. We lost Nzonzi, Bego, Huth and it now appears we need a defensively minded centre half, a defensively minded central midfielder and a right winger.
We are, so far, weaker than when the window opened and others much stronger, in particular defensively and I don't understand what the plan was / is signing Wollscheid and Johnson and not replacing Nzonzi.
Very worrying
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Post by stokemark on Aug 2, 2015 21:04:51 GMT
Registered to say that our back four scares the shit out of me. Two injury prone centre halves are our first choice pairing and the back up is lower half championship standard at best. It will be an absolute miracle if we make top 10 or even 12 if we go with what we have in the defensive department. I don't care what the self proclaimed "sane" experts believe on here, if they think we arn't in a defensive crisis they are deluded. People have right to be concerned without being labelled "knicker wetters" by the know it alls. Our defence is awful. Take Shawcross out of the equation with injuries and we have dismantled the spine of our team in one summer and up to yet bought in cheap options, It's glaringly obvious we are weaker than we finished last season for the beginning of this one. 100% correct
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Post by swampySCFC on Aug 2, 2015 21:10:04 GMT
We sure could use Robert right now. Big issues this season with some fancy dans
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Post by Gods on Aug 2, 2015 21:11:18 GMT
The back four without Ryan need proper protection from our midfield - protection that I don't think what we have today can provide We went into this window needing a right winger and possibly a Whelan replacement. We lost Nzonzi, Bego, Huth and it now appears we need a defensively minded centre half, a defensively minded central midfielder and a right winger. We are, so far, weaker than when the window opened and others much stronger, in particular defensively and I don't understand what the plan was / is signing Wollscheid and Johnson and not replacing Nzonzi. Very worrying You can add Moses to the lost list too even though he was on loan. I honestly thought we would go balls out to bottle what we had against Liverpool but its been rip and replace. And we seem to have used the close season to play ourselves out of form just to compound the misery. I have a very uneasy feeling right now, I'm not going to lie to you.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 2, 2015 21:16:26 GMT
Oh how we could do with a Gerry Taggert like signing to tide us over. I haven't been this pessimistic going into a season in years
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Post by benjaminbiscuit on Aug 2, 2015 21:20:35 GMT
Sad to say the tide has turned the sceptics are out n I force as the evidence becomes irrefutable commercially we left the back door open and never got out of the front own ourselves ,but some of us have warned for a while. Commercially we have now outgrown the bloke who thinks he is Doing a great job and is telling the national media he is too .
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Post by crapslinger on Aug 2, 2015 21:21:30 GMT
The back four without Ryan need proper protection from our midfield - protection that I don't think what we have today can provide We went into this window needing a right winger and possibly a Whelan replacement. We lost Nzonzi, Bego, Huth and it now appears we need a defensively minded centre half, a defensively minded central midfielder and a right winger. We are, so far, weaker than when the window opened and others much stronger, in particular defensively and I don't understand what the plan was / is signing Wollscheid and Johnson and not replacing Nzonzi. Very worrying The problems we have are self inflicted, you can not replace your best players with freebies loan players or proven flops, I am beginning to question Hughes and his teams ability to do the job, our defence without Ryan looks fucking dire our back up is horrific.
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Post by StokieNath on Aug 2, 2015 21:23:07 GMT
Well... 1. Wollschied is Wollschied 2. Our fans are fucking mint 3. We need a new defender 4. We need a winger. That's it from me.
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Post by dwr17477 on Aug 2, 2015 21:30:45 GMT
So from the Liverpool game to now we have lost three/four of our spine of the team(including Shawcross - clearly something not right) and we are seemingly clueless without them and no real solution imminent. Yet we were all so looking forward to this season after such a great two years under Hughes. If any Stoke fan can seriously say we aren't going to struggle as it stands then they are deluded. This isn't knicker wetting - it's just being realistic.
Surely Hughes et al have something in the pipeline - otherwise this could be a long, hard season just when we thought we were going to make another step forward.
Four weeks on Tuesday and that transfer window is locked down till New Year - will we have sorted the defence out?
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Post by crapslinger on Aug 2, 2015 21:32:16 GMT
Well... 1. Wollschied is Wollschied 2. Our fans are fucking mint 3. We need a new defender 4. We need a winger. That's it from me. 1. Shit is Shit you can not polish a turd. 2. Mint as always 3. We had one see 1 as replacement. 4. We need a winger (still) 5. We need a decent Right Back 6. We need to replace Zonz
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Post by StokieNath on Aug 2, 2015 21:32:36 GMT
I bet no bugger is as positive now as they were before the colonia cup
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Post by danceswithclams on Aug 2, 2015 21:37:08 GMT
Sad to say the tide has turned the sceptics are out n I force as the evidence becomes irrefutable commercially we left the back door open and never got out of the front own ourselves ,but some of us have warned for a while. Commercially we have now outgrown the bloke who thinks he is Doing a great job and is telling the national media he is too . Why does everything you post read like it's been run through Google Translate (with the original having been transcribed from an interview with a pissed-up Yoda)?
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sutt
Youth Player
Ole Ole Ole Ole
Posts: 296
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Post by sutt on Aug 2, 2015 21:38:34 GMT
Not at all worried about the pre-season results, has MH really picked his strongest 11?
The biggest concern for me is having no Ryan.
hear people saying that we need a new centre half, a better Nzonzi replacement, and a star quality winger.
But we have a very large squad and is there really room for 3 additional signings? as it is I think Hughes is going to struggle to keep all the current players happy, with probably 4-5 first team players not even making the bench.
We have a good squad, with a lot of quality so why the negativity? Roll on sunday
Id go with
Butland
Bardsley (Cameron if ryans fit) Cameron (Ryan if fit) Muniesa Peiters
Whelan Van Ginkel
Odem Adam Arn
Mame
Bojan on at 60 for a huge reception
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