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Post by chiefdelilah on Sept 10, 2015 7:37:14 GMT
We're a million miles away from 'season-defining games'. You don't have 'season-defining games' in September.
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Post by Titan Uranus on Sept 10, 2015 7:48:29 GMT
We're a million miles away from 'season-defining games'. You don't have 'season-defining games' in September. When do you have "season defining" games then? If you had them in December or April for example the season would be half over and nearly over. So hence by the description ... not season defining at all. The point I am making is that if (big if I know) ... we don't pick up any points or say one point from these two home games it will create a massive pressure that may not be easily lifted. As stated earlier .... we are already on the wrong side of the equation. And as stated by myself earlier ...it's all a load of bollocks anyway. Just let's not get too complacent.
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Post by jwhpotter on Sept 10, 2015 7:53:39 GMT
No shock or wrist slashing neccessary if we lose to Arsenal but if we lose the week after there will surely be a serious meltdown!
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Post by kurt on Sept 10, 2015 7:57:19 GMT
Nothing will happen, cause at the end of the season we will be under the Top 10 teams. We have had an unlucky start so far, were the better team against Liverpool, WesBrom and also against Tottenham regarding the whole 90 minutes. I´m not scared.
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Post by chiefdelilah on Sept 10, 2015 7:58:30 GMT
We're a million miles away from 'season-defining games'. You don't have 'season-defining games' in September. When do you have "season defining" games then? If you had them in December or April for example the season would be half over and nearly over. So hence by the description ... not season defining at all. The point I am making is that if (big if I know) ... we don't pick up any points or say one point from these two home games it will create a massive pressure that may not be easily lifted. As stated earlier .... we are already on the wrong side of the equation. And as stated by myself earlier ...it's all a load of bollocks anyway. Just let's not get too complacent. In Hughes' first season we were 18th at 3pm on 1st February. We finished 9th. It'll be disappointing if we get nothing from those games, probably even mildly perturbing, but 'season-defining' - as in, defining the shape our season will surely take from this point onwards? In September? Nah.
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Post by generationex on Sept 10, 2015 8:07:47 GMT
So the general view of the board is that Arsenal away is .. oooh what's the best word to describe it... Ummm ... arrr... maybe you know like.. umm.. you know what - I'm just gonna say it - do we mean like a "bonus" game?
How times change!
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Post by The Drunken Communist on Sept 10, 2015 8:10:11 GMT
What if we lose our next 3 games? What if we win our next 3 games?
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Post by sheikhmomo on Sept 10, 2015 8:12:04 GMT
We're a million miles away from 'season-defining games'. You don't have 'season-defining games' in September. Lets not kid ourselves that failure to win at least one of those back to back home games wont create tremendous amounts of pressure, Rob. They're not season defining by any stretch but presuming we get nowt Saturday, they are a bit bigger than they might be. The press will love the angle that the team with all those Champions League stars are bottom of the table and being bottom (in what will be a very early but real league table to draw some conclusions from) is a situation I doubt that 2/3 of our team have ever been in before.
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Post by chiefdelilah on Sept 10, 2015 8:30:57 GMT
So the general view of the board is that Arsenal away is .. oooh what's the best word to describe it... Ummm ... arrr... maybe you know like.. umm.. you know what - I'm just gonna say it - do we mean like a "bonus" game? How times change! The difference being we'll probably actually have a bash at crossing the halfway line.
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Post by chiefdelilah on Sept 10, 2015 8:32:30 GMT
We're a million miles away from 'season-defining games'. You don't have 'season-defining games' in September. Lets not kid ourselves that failure to win at least one of those back to back home games wont create tremendous amounts of pressure, Rob. They're not season defining by any stretch but presuming we get nowt Saturday, they are a bit bigger than they might be. The press will love the angle that the team with all those Champions League stars are bottom of the table and being bottom (in what will be a very early but real league table to draw some conclusions from) is a situation I doubt that 2/3 of our team have ever been in before. Again, 'tremendous amounts of pressure' seems a wee bit hysterical to me at this stage mate. Much will depend on performances as well.
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Post by SamB_SCFC on Sept 10, 2015 8:39:25 GMT
It won't be 'season defining' but it'll certainly be important. Football is often about momentum and confidence, wins and goals breed confidence and defeats and pressure saps it. The further behind you get the more pressure there is to get some wins and catch up and it can become a vicious circle. There have been plenty of examples of teams who should be too good to go down but start badly and never manage to claw it back. We need to nip this in the bud quickly and get some points on the board because if we go into October with only 3 or 4 points and confidence low it could be difficult to turn around.
I'm not totally convinced either that Hughes is the man you need for a relegation dogfight should it come to that. For his many qualities organising a defence and grinding out results doesn't seem to be top of his list.
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Post by sheikhmomo on Sept 10, 2015 8:45:34 GMT
Lets not kid ourselves that failure to win at least one of those back to back home games wont create tremendous amounts of pressure, Rob. They're not season defining by any stretch but presuming we get nowt Saturday, they are a bit bigger than they might be. The press will love the angle that the team with all those Champions League stars are bottom of the table and being bottom (in what will be a very early but real league table to draw some conclusions from) is a situation I doubt that 2/3 of our team have ever been in before. Again, 'tremendous amounts of pressure' seems a wee bit hysterical to me at this stage mate. Much will depend on performances as well. Performances will be key but I get the feeling that we will need an Oulare's arse type goal to get this season going. I think if we are still without a win post Bournemouth the pressure outside the club will be huge. Us being rock bottom is suddenly a news story and you know as well as I do that Hughes time at QPR will be dredged up rather than the very solid jobs he's done elsewhere. You're right, it's September and plenty of time to turn it around but these things have a habit of snowballing and post Bournemouth we wont be far off completing 20% of the entire season. They're big games, mate.
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Post by chiefdelilah on Sept 10, 2015 8:57:17 GMT
I can't imagine we'll pay any attention to what's dredged up in the media and hopefully sensible fans will pay that no attention either.
If we looked as woeful as Sunderland have so far I could understand the fretting but looking at the circumstances surrounding our start to the season so far I just don't see why people are getting themsleves into a lather this soon.
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Post by bayernoatcake on Sept 10, 2015 10:30:19 GMT
Oh and it's because half of the current back 4 can't defend and the central midfield is pretty piss weak and is only showing slow signs of improvement but I do have a bit of faith in MVG. The right hand side of the defence though? Nah. Who is on the right hand side that concerns you the most? No one.
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Post by mailman44 on Sept 10, 2015 10:32:12 GMT
Who is on the right hand side that concerns you the most? No one. Good answer you mardy git!!!!
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Post by thestatusquo on Sept 10, 2015 11:34:59 GMT
It's probable that we'll lose. For me, however, its the manner of the defeat. If we play well and lose then there's positives to be taken out of it.
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Post by stokefaninde on Sept 10, 2015 11:56:53 GMT
Who is on the right hand side that concerns you the most? No one. 5 conceded in 4 matches even after going down to 9 players, and playing a number of top teams tells me our defense has not been as bad as you seem to think it is.
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Post by bayernoatcake on Sept 10, 2015 12:02:36 GMT
No one. 5 conceded in 4 matches even after going down to 9 players, and playing a number of top teams tells me our defense has not been as bad as you seem to think it is. Similar stats as the last season. It's the nature of the goals being conceded that worries me, team aren't working hard to score them and are scoring them due to silly mistakes. Like last season.
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Post by stokefaninde on Sept 10, 2015 12:07:04 GMT
5 conceded in 4 matches even after going down to 9 players, and playing a number of top teams tells me our defense has not been as bad as you seem to think it is. Similar stats as the last season. It's the nature of the goals being conceded that worries me, team aren't working hard to score them and are scoring them due to silly mistakes. Like last season. Our Defense frightened me against Norwich to be fair. I fell they have done a pretty good job in the other games.
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Post by bayernoatcake on Sept 10, 2015 12:08:23 GMT
Similar stats as the last season. It's the nature of the goals being conceded that worries me, team aren't working hard to score them and are scoring them due to silly mistakes. Like last season. Our Defense frightened me against Norwich to be fair. I fell they have done a pretty good job in the other games. Generally they do fine, it's just that one moment one of them switches off. Which yeah will happen but it's happened every game, we can't afford to do that.
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Post by Gods on Sept 10, 2015 12:21:07 GMT
Our attack still troubles me more than our defence, we are still to score with a shot from open play in the Prem this season I believe and while we have seen a fair bit of the ball its not like we have created a host of chances or even tested the opposition keepers very much.
HoHum we need that break to get stuff going, if we could win at Arsenal it would be just what the Doctor ordered.
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Post by sheikhmomo on Sept 10, 2015 12:23:58 GMT
Our attack still troubles me more than our defence, we are still to score with a shot from open play in the Prem this season I believe and while we have seen a fair bit of the ball its not like we have created a host of chances or even tested the opposition keepers very much. HoHum we need that break to get stuff going, if we could win at Arsenal it would be just what the Doctor ordered. Agree with your general point but Diouf at Spurs was from open play wasn't it, although I was pissed!
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Post by Gods on Sept 10, 2015 13:08:12 GMT
Our attack still troubles me more than our defence, we are still to score with a shot from open play in the Prem this season I believe and while we have seen a fair bit of the ball its not like we have created a host of chances or even tested the opposition keepers very much. HoHum we need that break to get stuff going, if we could win at Arsenal it would be just what the Doctor ordered. Agree with your general point but Diouf at Spurs was from open play wasn't it, although I was pissed! Sorry I meant a shot as distinct from a header, I think this season our 3 goals have come from 2 Diouf headers and Arnie's penalty. Our last goal from open play with a kick was N'Zonzi back in May against Liverpool. I suppose its not a big deal and I'll soon have a few folks piling in to me for even noticing it but it does suggest that somehow all our intricate passing isn't quite delivering an end result.
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Post by chiefdelilah on Sept 10, 2015 13:16:05 GMT
Agree with your general point but Diouf at Spurs was from open play wasn't it, although I was pissed! Sorry I meant a shot as distinct from a header, I think this season our 3 goals have come from 2 Diouf headers and Arnie's penalty. Our last goal from open play with a kick was N'Zonzi back in May against Liverpool. I suppose its not a big deal and I'll soon have a few folks piling in to me for even noticing it but it does suggest that somehow all our intricate passing isn't quite delivering an end result. I don't think anyone can be blamed for piling into you gods given you go out of your way to the point of making up your own rules to paint as bleak a picture as possible. Now you're deciding headers don't count as open play after including pre-season and the league cup as examples of our winless run.
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Post by Gods on Sept 10, 2015 13:26:44 GMT
Sorry I meant a shot as distinct from a header, I think this season our 3 goals have come from 2 Diouf headers and Arnie's penalty. Our last goal from open play with a kick was N'Zonzi back in May against Liverpool. I suppose its not a big deal and I'll soon have a few folks piling in to me for even noticing it but it does suggest that somehow all our intricate passing isn't quite delivering an end result. I don't think anyone can be blamed for piling into you gods given you go out of your way to the point of making up your own rules to paint as bleak a picture as possible. Now you're deciding headers don't count as open play after including pre-season and the league cup as examples of our winless run. I only hope our next goal from open play with a shot as distinct from a header comes soon, before it reaches Pub Quiz question proportion
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Post by chiefdelilah on Sept 10, 2015 13:29:41 GMT
I don't think anyone can be blamed for piling into you gods given you go out of your way to the point of making up your own rules to paint as bleak a picture as possible. Now you're deciding headers don't count as open play after including pre-season and the league cup as examples of our winless run. I only hope our next goal from open play with a shot as distinct from a header comes soon, before it reaches Pub Quiz question proportion When that happens I'm sure it won't count because it wasn't hit from a particular part of the boot or because their keeper was a Sagittarius or something.
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Post by stokerstayinup on Sept 10, 2015 13:43:17 GMT
Agree with your general point but Diouf at Spurs was from open play wasn't it, although I was pissed! Sorry I meant a shot as distinct from a header, I think this season our 3 goals have come from 2 Diouf headers and Arnie's penalty. Our last goal from open play with a kick was N'Zonzi back in May against Liverpool. I suppose its not a big deal and I'll soon have a few folks piling in to me for even noticing it but it does suggest that somehow all our intricate passing isn't quite delivering an end result. Are you for real?
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Post by sheikhmomo on Sept 10, 2015 13:52:11 GMT
I can see what Gods was driving at. Shots on target wise a scintillating half hour against Spurs aside, we really are poor and set against our possession stats makes you wonder where the problem is because there certainly is one.
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Post by okeydokeystokie2 on Sept 10, 2015 13:53:47 GMT
I'm with Chief on this. Absolutely no reason to panic. The season is only "defined" after 38 games.
I've followed Stoke City for over 40 years, and only a couple of things have been consistent over that time.
We sometimes lose games I think we're going to win and we sometimes win games I think we're going to lose. Yet again we've dropped points early doors at home which is frustrating, but any point on the road in this league is a good one.
One thing I'm fairly sure of. Mark Hughes won't be going into this game expecting us to lose. Just doesn't seem to be in his make-up and I think he's influenced the players with his philosophy.
He'll have a plan - Arsenal play fairly narrow, so I would expect 2 sitters in front of the back 4 and a fairly compact set up. What we must do is really be brave and commit to our chances when they arise. If we can break from change in possession I think our pace and movement up front can cause them some problems. As ever, the 2 midfielders with Glenn will be interesting and I hope Diouf can play. His energy and speed would be suited to this match.
Great game for us on Saturday. Arsenal away. I went on a bus from The Vic for a League Cup game about 30 years ago. We battled hard and Scott Barratt saved a penalty, but we still lost 3-1. It was a once in a blue moon game then. Now we go every season. Who would have thought that a few years ago. Bring it on and COME ON STOKE!
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Post by Kjones9 on Sept 10, 2015 14:01:14 GMT
Fucking hell.
It seems like Stoke City are dammed if they do dammed if they don't in some 'fans! eyes.
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