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Post by foster on Aug 10, 2015 18:48:05 GMT
Is that Albert in the middle?
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Post by cheeesfreeex on Aug 10, 2015 18:56:29 GMT
Hi all, Long time reader first time poster here. Had to respond to this, I mean really, we were far better yesterday and unlucky to loose, so many positives from that game, Whelan the unsung hero, Cameron keeping benteke quiet, Affaley and Van Ginkel look quality, Muniesa back to his best, and Glen Johnson, well, I think he's proved his doubters wrong. Regarding pre season, I for one didn't give a toss about the results tbh, it was plainly obvious by the players body language in pre season that it was just for game time and raise fitness levels, with pulis he made sure that it was all fitness work, total opposite with Hughes, fitness builds up through the season, that's why we have finished strongly in the past 2 seasons, as have all Hughes's sides I think. Really makes me wonder what people are thinking sometimes when they create threads like this......its a good time to be a stokie I agree with what you're saying about the incremental fitness. The theory seems to be that by xmas when other teams are knackered {and have to buy big in the window} our team should be getting stronger. It should also see us peaking in the latter stages of the Cups. That plan was ruined a bit by key injuries last year. It's an approach that requires patience early doors, but it is something that irks me as a supporter. I understand the logic but hate the thought that we sacrifice points {and performances} early on to achieve the end. It's hard to accept those damp squib games from August last year becoming a norm. I'm hoping that improved quality signings will lessen the impact of this, the ability to carve open an early stalemate. Arnautovic, Bojan, Afellay, Diouf, Joselu {and Shaqiri} and Johnson have that ability in abundance. Potentially. I thought that Milner, Ibe and Benteke gave Liverpool far more bite, they set about the job shit scared of conceding. If we could have chucked Arnie or Bojan on in the second half we'd have done 'em I'm sure. Defeats are always disappointing but there's a silver lining, we were a tough nut to crack with key players absent/ill. Room for improvement, but a solid foundation to build on. Positive and confident.
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Post by robwahlmann on Aug 10, 2015 20:01:54 GMT
It pains me to say it but what a dire spectacle I had to give my ST to someone else as I couldn't get there but watched it on Sky and it was about as exciting as watching paint dry. Liverpool were fucking dogshite as well, along with their new long ball tactic to crash hat head. We desperately missed N'Zonzi and the players didn't look sharp or very fit. Has Hughes been concentrating so hard on signing Kono, Yarmo or Shaqiri that he's neglected other areas of the pitch? How have we gone from looking amazing at the end of May to looking complete wank by the beginning of August against a team that looked even worse yesterday than they did in that match in May? No pace no creativity no urgency (except for the last 3 minutes) shit crossing unable to go past a player and as the title says "slow ponderous and boring". We need to improve drastically in the next few weeks or we could be looking at ending August without a point in the league. Gouranga. Yes, but much better than in our recent friendlies and better than the team that stole the 3 points!
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Post by reddipotter on Aug 10, 2015 20:11:10 GMT
Hi all, Long time reader first time poster here. Had to respond to this, I mean really, we were far better yesterday and unlucky to loose, so many positives from that game, Whelan the unsung hero, Cameron keeping benteke quiet, Affaley and Van Ginkel look quality, Muniesa back to his best, and Glen Johnson, well, I think he's proved his doubters wrong. Regarding pre season, I for one didn't give a toss about the results tbh, it was plainly obvious by the players body language in pre season that it was just for game time and raise fitness levels, with pulis he made sure that it was all fitness work, total opposite with Hughes, fitness builds up through the season, that's why we have finished strongly in the past 2 seasons, as have all Hughes's sides I think. Really makes me wonder what people are thinking sometimes when they create threads like this......its a good time to be a stokie I agree on Whelan, Cameron and Johnson, and Muniesa was decent. Afellay has some tricks but didn't influence the game and was finished by half time, not surprisingly. Van Ginkel looked neat but again didn't really influence the game. But my problem was not with individual players, rather with the lack of fitness and the way the team was set up.
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