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Post by Bagwash on Jun 24, 2017 17:50:19 GMT
I think that's the problem Bayern everyone can see it bar the people that count it would appear. I'm still baffled by both Johnson and Bards getting new contracts. My only hope is because they're looking on Edwards as the long term RB. I just hope he's as good as he appears. If he is use him. Cobham . Assuming we keep Shaq,Arnie and Butland , i actually think we are six players off a squad that could improve , 2 full backs , a centre back , a box to Box midfielder , a proven goal scorer and decent centre back cover assuming muniesa leaves , that's 20% of the squad and the thick end of £100m . I would hazard a guess, we are at least three from a potentially catastrophic struggle , the afore mentioned centre half , midfielder and goal scorer. My fear is that's an indication we are a lot nearer trouble than we are progress . To be brutally honest Benji,that is your default position in almost every post you put on here until we are mathematically safe from relegation.
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Post by benjaminbiscuit on Jun 24, 2017 18:00:17 GMT
Cobham . Assuming we keep Shaq,Arnie and Butland , i actually think we are six players off a squad that could improve , 2 full backs , a centre back , a box to Box midfielder , a proven goal scorer and decent centre back cover assuming muniesa leaves , that's 20% of the squad and the thick end of £100m . I would hazard a guess, we are at least three from a potentially catastrophic struggle , the afore mentioned centre half , midfielder and goal scorer. My fear is that's an indication we are a lot nearer trouble than we are progress . To be brutally honest Benji,that is your default position in almost every post you put on here until we are mathematically safe from relegation. Doesn't make it inaccurate though
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Post by terryconroysmagic on Jun 24, 2017 18:41:50 GMT
To be brutally honest Benji,that is your default position in almost every post you put on here until we are mathematically safe from relegation. Doesn't make it inaccurate though What!?! You've been more inaccurate than political polls.
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Post by kustokie on Jun 24, 2017 18:42:55 GMT
It makes no sense to me that complaining about poor performance, bad signing, lazy players and stupid coaching decisions is interpreted as lack of support. I support the team through thick and thin, I cheer when we score and play well. I'll praise the team and the manager when they do what they are paid to do. The rest of the time, I'll call it the way I see it. I just shelled out good money for a ST, so I paid the entrance fee to moan as much as I want. Apart from a couple of good performances against bad teams, last season was very poor. The manager made a lot of very bad decisions and showed clear signs that he cannot manage difficult personalities and he writes players off way too quickly. There are no indications we are going to spend much money this Summer. Our squad is one of the oldest in the league and so far the only new player we have signed is 33 years old. We have signed other old players to new contracts. Early days, but nothing to get excited about yet.
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Post by robwahlmann on Jun 24, 2017 18:48:13 GMT
I think we'll take more points next season than this season as long as we keep our players, that means Indi included! If Shaq can stay fit and with Sobhi a year older we really should score more goals! Bera, Crouchy, Joselu, Walters and Bojan should contribute coniderably too, but we need to strengthen at the back! Especially if we can't sign Indi up on a permanent deal!
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Post by superheroantonius on Jun 24, 2017 19:08:07 GMT
I am not saying he will...
But if Hughes does his usual lets start the season with a half fit and half prepared team... And they can build their fitness and gel together as the games go bye... Should be okay by about october... Routine
Then he has to go. You really don't need to be a footballing genius to see the problem with that way of doing things
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Post by riccyfuller93 on Jun 24, 2017 19:09:14 GMT
He needs to go anyway, he's not a good manager at all.
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Post by foster on Jun 24, 2017 19:43:58 GMT
Would be nice to keep 1 positive thread on here rather than only see all the other doom and gloom crap where people are shitting their pants.
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Post by nottinghamstokie on Jun 24, 2017 20:13:32 GMT
I wasn't being sarcastic at all so apologies if taken so All I ever see when I log on of late is negativity about next season ( some of which I share ) so to see an almost impossibly positive post at a very early hour on a Saturday morning just made me think there had to be another "reason" behind it... :-) OK ? he lives in Canada doesn't he, so it wouldn't have been early morning like here for him. Not sure I'm supposed to know where DJ lives am I ? Apart from people with specific user names I haven't a clue where or even in which country anyone on this board lives :-)
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Post by sanmarinostokie on Jun 24, 2017 21:07:23 GMT
I keep going back and forth on this.
At the present time I am feeling quite positive to be honest. Solid enough start to the transfer window and like the look of Josh Tymon. Only issue is we seem to be tightening the purse strings. Although, what keeps me going is the fact that mark Hughes has done his best work on a tight budget, hopefully it works again.
And also that every day the likelihood of Giannelli Imbula staying increases. (At the risk of being slaughtered for this) He is the key to our success. Our best team performances have come when he has played. Partner him with Fletcher, and watch the front three of Shaqiri, Arnautovic and Berahino fuck defences up.
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Post by flashman on Jun 24, 2017 21:19:50 GMT
We still have not made much progress in terms of reducing the age of our first team . We still have a lot of work to do in this respect . We need to start scoring more goals and make the transition to blooding quicker younger players . A lot this season will depend on Berahino doing the business and getting us a decent tally of goals .Personally , I would have liked to have seen him and Joselu up front because I think they would work well in partnership. Can't see this actually happening though.
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Post by The Toxic Avenger on Jun 24, 2017 21:28:19 GMT
I keep going back and forth on this. At the present time I am feeling quite positive to be honest. Solid enough start to the transfer window and like the look of Josh Tymon. Only issue is we seem to be tightening the purse strings. Although, what keeps me going is the fact that mark Hughes has done his best work on a tight budget, hopefully it works again. And also that every day the likelihood of Giannelli Imbula staying increases. (At the risk of being slaughtered for this) He is the key to our success. Our best team performances have come when he has played. Partner him with Fletcher, and watch the front three of Shaqiri, Arnautovic and Berahino fuck defences up. Which 'best team performances' would these be, out of interest? Bournemouth away just after he signed was decent, Chelsea away that season was decent, Watford away last season was decent. But if you're putting together a top 10 or maybe even a top 20 of the Hughes era you'd struggle to find many since we've signed Imbula. Not necessarily his fault, but still true imo.
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Post by cheeesfreeex on Jun 24, 2017 21:32:29 GMT
Keeping the powder dry until I've seen the shape of the window. I'm confidently predicting better Cup runs. In the darker moments my whole summer mood and demeanour is dependant upon Bruno Martins-Indi's status. Not fretting too much though. I'm keeping the faith. Smart thread DJDJ.
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Post by sanmarinostokie on Jun 24, 2017 21:57:38 GMT
I keep going back and forth on this. At the present time I am feeling quite positive to be honest. Solid enough start to the transfer window and like the look of Josh Tymon. Only issue is we seem to be tightening the purse strings. Although, what keeps me going is the fact that mark Hughes has done his best work on a tight budget, hopefully it works again. And also that every day the likelihood of Giannelli Imbula staying increases. (At the risk of being slaughtered for this) He is the key to our success. Our best team performances have come when he has played. Partner him with Fletcher, and watch the front three of Shaqiri, Arnautovic and Berahino fuck defences up. Which 'best team performances' would these be, out of interest? Bournemouth away just after he signed was decent, Chelsea away that season was decent, Watford away last season was decent. But if you're putting together a top 10 or maybe even a top 20 of the Hughes era you'd struggle to find many since we've signed Imbula. Not necessarily his fault, but still true imo. They were the ones I was on about particularly. Certainly in the last 18 months I don't really remember many better team performances. Certainly made a scapegoat for poor team performances, and not given enough credit when he plays well.
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Post by borat on Jun 25, 2017 5:40:14 GMT
Keep the Faith! Its going to be a really hard for some of you to get up for it, but we are Stoke and I trust Hughes will build a killer side for us next season. I'm serious! I Don't get all this negativity, we will have a blast next season trust me! We have a great manager and an amazing owner, it will gel, I just know it. KTF! Cheer up :D I like positive threads. Mainly because its nice have a bit of reality sometimes instead of the constant negative shit we have to put up with lol.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 25, 2017 9:34:44 GMT
I must admit - my depression is slowly lifting a bit right now and perhaps even - turning to anticipation
optimism even
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Post by walstoke on Jun 25, 2017 10:58:21 GMT
I always feel positive before the start of a new season, but been watching stoke since 75-76 season, the gloom usually descends around october!! I'm an eternal optomist, and at the moment i can only see us doing league and cup double, but i know come october a relegation battle will be on my mind😀
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Post by Widget123 on Jun 25, 2017 11:51:19 GMT
You have to be careful with optimism or you'll end up with 300 "Amigos" or "Gourangatans" again and then you'll be responsible for that which is the last thing we want to happen!
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Post by The Toxic Avenger on Jun 25, 2017 12:00:50 GMT
Which 'best team performances' would these be, out of interest? Bournemouth away just after he signed was decent, Chelsea away that season was decent, Watford away last season was decent. But if you're putting together a top 10 or maybe even a top 20 of the Hughes era you'd struggle to find many since we've signed Imbula. Not necessarily his fault, but still true imo. They were the ones I was on about particularly. Certainly in the last 18 months I don't really remember many better team performances. Certainly made a scapegoat for poor team performances, and not given enough credit when he plays well. So the best team performances since he's arrived rather that the Hughes era as a whole. Just clarifying. Pretty slim pickings. Also, he can't be given credit for the good performances and then completely absolved of any blame for the bad ones.
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Post by Staffsoatcake on Jun 25, 2017 12:27:54 GMT
To be a good side next season, we need to get rid of the ageing dead wood,bring in some younger better players with pace,if this means splashing the cash, then so be it, we ain't going to be in the Premiership much longer if we try and stay in it on the cheap.
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Post by thevoid on Jun 25, 2017 12:40:26 GMT
Cobham . Assuming we keep Shaq,Arnie and Butland , i actually think we are six players off a squad that could improve , 2 full backs , a centre back , a box to Box midfielder , a proven goal scorer and decent centre back cover assuming muniesa leaves , that's 20% of the squad and the thick end of £100m . I would hazard a guess, we are at least three from a potentially catastrophic struggle , the afore mentioned centre half , midfielder and goal scorer. My fear is that's an indication we are a lot nearer trouble than we are progress . To be brutally honest Benji,that is your default position in almost every post you put on here until we are mathematically safe from relegation. He has got a point though, and nothing coming out of the club at the moment suggests anything else.
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Post by chonburipotter on Jun 25, 2017 14:28:21 GMT
It makes no sense to me that complaining about poor performance, bad signing, lazy players and stupid coaching decisions is interpreted as lack of support. I support the team through thick and thin, I cheer when we score and play well. I'll praise the team and the manager when they do what they are paid to do. The rest of the time, I'll call it the way I see it. I just shelled out good money for a ST, so I paid the entrance fee to moan as much as I want. Apart from a couple of good performances against bad teams, last season was very poor. The manager made a lot of very bad decisions and showed clear signs that he cannot manage difficult personalities and he writes players off way too quickly. There are no indications we are going to spend much money this Summer. Our squad is one of the oldest in the league and so far the only new player we have signed is 33 years old. We have signed other old players to new contracts. Early days, but nothing to get excited about yet. This post is spot on and unarguable unless you have a some sort of weird agenda
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Post by sanmarinostokie on Jun 25, 2017 16:41:33 GMT
They were the ones I was on about particularly. Certainly in the last 18 months I don't really remember many better team performances. Certainly made a scapegoat for poor team performances, and not given enough credit when he plays well. So the best team performances since he's arrived rather that the Hughes era as a whole. Just clarifying. Pretty slim pickings. Also, he can't be given credit for the good performances and then completely absolved of any blame for the bad ones. To clarify, yes. I agree but there does not seem to be any credit given at all to him but all of the criticism is directed onto him
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Post by The Toxic Avenger on Jun 25, 2017 16:48:52 GMT
So the best team performances since he's arrived rather that the Hughes era as a whole. Just clarifying. Pretty slim pickings. Also, he can't be given credit for the good performances and then completely absolved of any blame for the bad ones. To clarify, yes. I agree but there does not seem to be any credit given at all to him but all of the criticism is directed onto him He has it in his locker to be one of the best midfielders in the league if he could just iron out those glaring weaknesses in his game. It appears he can't though.
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Post by djduncanjames on Jun 25, 2017 17:06:28 GMT
No mate. Did you just take your sarcastic pills? I just finished recording and feel really positive and good, trying to impart that on others maybe you missed the vibe Good gear was it? Too old for that crap mate lol I get hyper off beer let alone popping some of Saido's doves
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Post by sanmarinostokie on Jun 25, 2017 17:06:44 GMT
To clarify, yes. I agree but there does not seem to be any credit given at all to him but all of the criticism is directed onto him He has it in his locker to be one of the best midfielders in the league if he could just iron out those glaring weaknesses in his game. It appears he can't though. He certainly does have it in his locker to be that good. Maybe alongside a more mobile defensive midfielder who could cover him better we would be less exposed. Muniesa for example.
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Post by The Toxic Avenger on Jun 25, 2017 17:18:10 GMT
He has it in his locker to be one of the best midfielders in the league if he could just iron out those glaring weaknesses in his game. It appears he can't though. He certainly does have it in his locker to be that good. Maybe alongside a more mobile defensive midfielder who could cover him better we would be less exposed. Muniesa for example. Still think both midfielders in a deeper two have to have some kind of willingness to do off the ball work.
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Post by djduncanjames on Jun 25, 2017 17:39:33 GMT
I'm a bit shocked people reacted so much to this thread, I had 41 notifications when I woke up today. 41! Mostly positive ones too which is great Seems to be a touchy subject! I was as disappointed as everyone with last season but we don't know the whole story do we. The whole approach went sideways after the Wolves match though it seems... Imbula's marriage may be falling apart for all we know. Bojan may have forced Hughes into the loan move.... We just don't know. Hughes has made some amazing signings and some that just have not worked at all. I guess it comes with the territory, but I think it's the "wasted" money that gets people bent out of shape more than anything. The fact he didn't even play Bony and Imbula to any great length at least tells me he is not scared to hide from a mistake, and that we have a good chairman who won't meddle with his manager's team selection. I bet Gudetti and Bony and even Giannelli really irked Hughes, the guy isn't blind. He's as pissed off as anyone on here I bet -- that he was made to look a mug by signing them. The age of the squad is an absolute concern and I bet if we did a poll only Bardsley would have a new deal out of the recent ones, maybe Cameron, but it is what it is. Johnson is good backup though I suppose. I understand the concerns of others, I agree with many, and sure I may look like a happy-clapper but I don't want to spend the whole summer bummed out on here with the entire board arguing about which player is the worst etc. Just wanted to put a positive spin on things and the team will be better than people think come matchday. We have to back Coates and Hughes and the team he builds, and by September, I hope, we have some new players to get people excited again, and trust the older players to do their jobs if called upon. We'll know by October I guess. I just want the set piece defending worked on this summer, Zonal doesn't work for us at all
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Post by Pugsley on Jun 25, 2017 17:43:26 GMT
Are you really serious? If so, I wish I shared your confidence. Don't tell me, you hope you're proved wrong?
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Post by walstoke on Jun 25, 2017 18:02:29 GMT
You have to be careful with optimism or you'll end up with 300 "Amigos" or "Gourangatans" again and then you'll be responsible for that which is the last thing we want to happen! i feel guilty already. 😀
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