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Post by mozzer on Sept 27, 2015 9:30:55 GMT
What the fuck has happened to this team’s ability to make a tackle or close a player down,
when Stoke get the ball the opposition close us down, they hurry us in to making mistakes, they pressurise us in to giving the ball away, they try to stop our flow in the game and knock us off our stride so that we are unable to get the ball in to the areas we need to dictate the game, they put two players on any Stoke player that may have a bit of flair about him, they man mark our danger men out of the game to nullify the threat that they could create with time and space, but most importantly they don’t wait until the play is in or around the penalty area before they have to try and make a tackle to win the ball back.
When the opposition get the ball, Stoke just sit back and let the opposition stroke the ball around waiting until the opposition give the ball back to us, we have lost the ability to close teams down, make a tackle or a block that can win the ball back, teams are cutting through us like a hot knife in butter and with the space that we give them we are flattering them and making them look like Brazil, for the first 5 games I thought we were lacking in defence but I have now realised it is the whole team that may have lost that steel and grit to win a ball back especially in midfield, it is lovely to watch a Stoke team play with a bit of flair and style but we need to mix that with little bit bite and determination in to the play, no wonder Arsenal had a premier league record amounts of shots on target against us, if we are waiting for teams to fuck up and misplace a pass rather than trying to make them misplace a pass we could be having a few more Arsenal away stats this season.
Thank god for Diouf yesterday, as soon as he came on he chased down every ball, he closed players down and did his best to win the ball back when he was in the vicinity of play, he did more in his short spell on the pitch than any other 5 that had been out for the full 90.
Please Mr Hughes, you were a no nonsense player who knew how to make a tackle and pressurise the opposition, for fucks sake get them sorted before we become an identical team to West Brom under Tony Mowbray, played some lovely football when they had possetion but did fuck all with it.
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Post by chiefdelilah on Sept 27, 2015 9:32:17 GMT
That wasn't the Diouf I saw yesterday, he looked unfit and largely uninterested until his goal.
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Post by mozzer on Sept 27, 2015 9:34:40 GMT
That wasn't the Diouf I saw yesterday, he looked unfit and largely uninterested until his goal. well if that is how you saw it, to me that says alot about the rest of the team then Have to agree about the unfit comment but that can be more easily changed. |
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Post by chiefdelilah on Sept 27, 2015 9:36:19 GMT
I thought there was plenty of battle shown by the old guard yesterday. Whelan, Pieters, Walters etc.
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Post by mozzer on Sept 27, 2015 9:45:14 GMT
I thought there was plenty of battle shown by the old guard yesterday. Whelan, Pieters, Walters etc. I thought over the full 90 minutes Whelan was probably man of the match.....only just mind, I thought first half it was Arnie ( why does he only play well when he is in the sun, he goes missing when he switches to the shady part of the pitch) and second half it was Johnson, for me Pieters gave the ball away too often yesterday and as I say above the lack of bite in the side means we go from a harmless situation by losing possession to a dangerous goal scoring opportunity, it was only a matter of time before Bournemouth came back in to that game with the way the game was progressing |
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Post by harryburrows on Sept 27, 2015 9:50:32 GMT
Teams have out stoked us at the Brit since pulis left . They get in our faces as we used to do to them .
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Post by chiefdelilah on Sept 27, 2015 9:51:37 GMT
I thought there was plenty of battle shown by the old guard yesterday. Whelan, Pieters, Walters etc. I thought over the full 90 minutes Whelan was probably man of the match.....only just mind, I thought first half it was Arnie ( why does he only play well when he is in the sun, he goes missing when he switches to the shady part of the pitch) and second half it was Johnson, for me Pieters gave the ball away too often yesterday and as I say above the lack of bite in the side means we go from a harmless situation by losing possession to a dangerous goal scoring opportunity, it was only a matter of time before Bournemouth came back in to that game with the way the game was progressing I thought Johnson, his cross aside, was a total liability. |
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Post by liamo on Sept 27, 2015 9:55:01 GMT
"Second half we played with a bit of apprehension to try and protect that lead and let them back into the game.
"But we showed good courage after that because it would have been easy for Bournemouth to gain momentum after their equaliser."
^ That's the issue, both the Bournemouth and Leicester games we took our foot off the pedal at around the 60 minute mark, we are either too unfit or Sparky is telling them to soak up pressure, which we are unable to do with a patch work CB situation, i don't know if it's a mental of physical thing but we switch off and we can't keep letting it happen, in my opinion we look completely unfit, it's no coincidence that we look good for 60 minutes and then we start looking shit, something is changing, either tactics or tiredness
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Post by clarkeda on Sept 27, 2015 9:56:50 GMT
Me and everyone around me saw a different Mame Diouf to you.
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Post by whydelilah on Sept 27, 2015 9:57:13 GMT
That wasn't the Diouf I saw yesterday, he looked unfit and largely uninterested until his goal. Sign of a good goalscorer. I think Jon deserves a bit more credit for his "tap in" too. Nice bit of movement to ensure he got that bit of space. |
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Post by chiefdelilah on Sept 27, 2015 10:06:04 GMT
Walters' movement for his goal was superb.
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Post by werrington on Sept 27, 2015 10:09:59 GMT
Me and everyone around me saw a different Mame Diouf to you. If you didn't see Diouf harassing the Bournemouth back 4 in his own when they were in possession then your mind was made up on your walk to the stadium |
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Post by clarkeda on Sept 27, 2015 10:11:20 GMT
Me and everyone around me saw a different Mame Diouf to you. If you didn't see Diouf harassing the Bournemouth back 4 in his own when they were in possession then your mind was made up on your walk to the stadium I rate Diouf higher then a lot of people on here. But he was lazy and disinterested from the moment he came on. The only time he pressed the back 4 was after his goal. |
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Post by underdog on Sept 27, 2015 10:11:22 GMT
I agree with the point about tackling...was thinking the same in the way back to the car yesturdy. ..even my 13 year old lady says we lack a bit of bite...we seem to have swapped grit for artistry. Maybe you can't have both.
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Post by Dingdangdoo on Sept 27, 2015 10:15:38 GMT
Yesterday as ALL about the 3 points.
Put yourselves in the players boots.
I agree the performance was still below par, but hopefully this is a small foundation from which to build.
Bojan looked okay but off the pace and early days for Shaqiri.
Could do with a settled starting eleven.
Walters, Whelan and Diouf are much needed workhorses.
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Post by mickstupp on Sept 27, 2015 10:16:34 GMT
If you didn't see Diouf harassing the Bournemouth back 4 in his own when they were in possession then your mind was made up on your walk to the stadium I rate Diouf higher then a lot of people on here. But he was lazy and disinterested from the moment he came on. The only time he pressed the back 4 was after his goal. I too thought he looked totally disinterested when he came on but I've never seen him like that before so I'm thinking he just can't be fit at the moment?! |
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Post by hartshillpotter on Sept 27, 2015 10:23:57 GMT
The lads just come back fromm injury FFS
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Post by Davef on Sept 27, 2015 10:28:12 GMT
Teams have out stoked us at the Brit since pulis left . They get in our faces as we used to do to them . That stopped happening about Autumn 2011. |
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Post by whydelilah on Sept 27, 2015 10:32:18 GMT
Teams have out stoked us at the Brit since pulis left . They get in our faces as we used to do to them . That stopped happening about Autumn 2011. We need to play Crouch in the pocket. |
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Post by harryburrows on Sept 27, 2015 10:35:19 GMT
Teams have out stoked us at the Brit since pulis left . They get in our faces as we used to do to them . That stopped happening about Autumn 2011. True |
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Post by Squeekster on Sept 27, 2015 10:36:36 GMT
That wasn't the Diouf I saw yesterday, he looked unfit and largely uninterested until his goal. I agree his body language was awful and seemed disinterested until his goal. |
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Post by werrington on Sept 27, 2015 11:20:53 GMT
That stopped happening about Autumn 2011. We need to play Crouch in the pocket. I'm sure you want us relegated WD |
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Post by bayernoatcake on Sept 27, 2015 11:21:20 GMT
Me and everyone around me saw a different Mame Diouf to you. If you didn't see Diouf harassing the Bournemouth back 4 in his own when they were in possession then your mind was made up on your walk to the stadium I don't think he did until he scored. It was a very weird performance from him. But they were waltzing it out from the back all game. |
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Post by whydelilah on Sept 27, 2015 11:21:41 GMT
We need to play Crouch in the pocket. I'm sure you want us relegated WD Wooooooshhhhhh........ |
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Post by whydelilah on Sept 27, 2015 11:23:41 GMT
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Post by sportsman on Sept 27, 2015 11:39:02 GMT
Has no one else sussed the obvious yesterday. Bournemouth obviously watched the game and how quick we started against Leicester, so from the kick off they were doing anything to slow the game and stop us getting any sort of rhythm.
Hughes refers to game management, and it was good to see Walters do the same second half when they had a spell of pressure so Walters stayed down for nothing and broke it up.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 27, 2015 13:54:27 GMT
Has no one else sussed the obvious yesterday. Bournemouth obviously watched the game and how quick we started against Leicester, so from the kick off they were doing anything to slow the game and stop us getting any sort of rhythm. Hughes refers to game management, and it was good to see Walters do the same second half when they had a spell of pressure so Walters stayed down for nothing and broke it up. Yes sportsman, you're spot on mate. I said exactly the same thing to my son. We were at the game and you'd have to have been blinkered not see their glaringly obvious game plan in the early stages of the game. So relieved we got the win in the end, but it was a bit of a slog to say the least. Top marks for Arni's performance in the first half. I can only see us improving as the season progresses. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 27, 2015 14:54:05 GMT
Has no one else sussed the obvious yesterday. Bournemouth obviously watched the game and how quick we started against Leicester, so from the kick off they were doing anything to slow the game and stop us getting any sort of rhythm. Hughes refers to game management, and it was good to see Walters do the same second half when they had a spell of pressure so Walters stayed down for nothing and broke it up. Walters was telling the Boothen End to keep hold of the ball while the players were still celebrating the winning goal. I'm assuming it was him that booted it into the crowd in the first place. |
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