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Post by bayernoatcake on Aug 7, 2021 23:46:00 GMT
I don’t think Powell played that well. Great finish but bar that thought he was lacking today. Second half we didn’t have the control like we did in the first but I never felt threatened by Reading. It was just two poor sides playing at that point. Brown encapsulated the game for me with his performance. Thought he was great first half, poor second and like the Brown we saw on the telly. It was an easy win though, made difficult by some stupid errors. Good building blocks. Clear issues with keeping the ball if you have Batth and Allen there imo. Their second is really bad. No one is near him at any stage until it comes to Smith and Moore has had a 20 yard run on him. Really odd goal. So bad organisationally. But it was never going to be perfect and it was a lot better than I expected. And I expected us to win tbh. But not so well. That's pretty much the match I saw as well. I don't think Reading really offered anything, I think we were more undone by ourselves rather than Reading!!! Powell was the least effective of the two (Vrancic and himself), and Brown was much better in the first half, but never stopped running in the second, even if he was less effective!!! As for the Ref.....well, he was a whole different ball game, or he at least seemed like he was watching a whole different ball game!!! He made an easy game very difficult. It was so strange. I’m just pleased MON used his bench.
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Post by spitthedog on Aug 8, 2021 1:02:59 GMT
Joe Allen is a pretty gormless at the best of times but today he looked like he was on another planet, not in a good way.
That first goal...what the hell was he even thinking?
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Joe Allen
Aug 8, 2021 10:14:30 GMT
via mobile
Post by Paul Spencer on Aug 8, 2021 10:14:30 GMT
I think most of the posts tonight have been largely positive. Are we not allowed to discuss where we could improve and possible weaknesses in our line up? Yeah, by all means numpty, but this thread hasn't really been about discussing where we can improve has it... It's just largely been a Joe Allen bashing thread following a decent TEAM performance!!! Vrancic had a good debut game today,but could that have been because he felt comfortable with Allen behind him??? Like I say, I personally don't think Allen was bad at all today!!! To be fair it's pretty hard to discuss how to improve the team, without spotlighting the areas that need to be improved. And if a position needs to be improved, then the player playing in that position won't have played well, will they?
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Post by GreaterGlasgowstokie on Aug 8, 2021 10:21:42 GMT
I thought it was our best midfield display in many a year. Loads more creativity through the middle and some nice through balls for Brown to run onto. I hope we stick with this for a few games. 18 attempts at goal. Now that's entertainment. I think Stoke fans have got too used to oulisball I thought we lost the midfield tbh and looked very vulnerable there, against a side who will be down near the bottom, no doubt about it. The key issue for us is plugging those gaps in front of the defence, pressing at the right time etc, that midfield doesn't have the right balance. Allen was poor, really poor. He's a top pro, a good guy, just not the answer for us
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Post by erogenous on Aug 8, 2021 10:28:03 GMT
I think it would be good to wire up the roof of the stadium, have Joe in an elvis style red and white sequin suit. He could swoop around the stadium sprinkling glitter occasional smoke. Like how I'd imagine a 80s Vegas magic show.
Technically he wouldn't be on the field of play like a mascot so we could still field 11 on the pitch, but would be able to blast out his magical aura in a suitable way.
THis may keep the pro and anti Joe camps happy.
is something Scholes or malcom Clarke could check the legality of? I can't see it not allowed in the rule book.
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Post by stokemark on Aug 8, 2021 10:56:35 GMT
He was the weakest link today and simply unsuited to playing as a deep midfielder. He gave possession away time and time again and looked off the pace / unfit.
He should have gone 3 years ago and the club captain appointment is my only significant criticism of MON over a Summer when he has got Most things right.
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Joe Allen
Aug 8, 2021 10:57:51 GMT
via mobile
Post by terrorofturfmoor on Aug 8, 2021 10:57:51 GMT
Yeah, by all means numpty, but this thread hasn't really been about discussing where we can improve has it... It's just largely been a Joe Allen bashing thread following a decent TEAM performance!!! Vrancic had a good debut game today,but could that have been because he felt comfortable with Allen behind him??? Like I say, I personally don't think Allen was bad at all today!!! To be fair it's pretty hard to discuss how to improve the team, without spotlighting the areas that need to be improved. And if a position needs to be improved, then the player playing in that position won't have played well, will they? Bringing others in doesn't necessarily mean someone's playing badly though Paul, could just be making competition for places a bit more healthier!!! I thought Fletcher had a good game yesterday, but his replacement (Surridge) did extremely well when he came on!!!
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Post by boskampsflaps on Aug 8, 2021 22:00:04 GMT
I think Joe is a quality footballer who never gives less than 100%. There we go. Which is fair enough but his 100%, if thats what it was, wasn't good enough.
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Joe Allen
Aug 9, 2021 10:08:54 GMT
via mobile
Post by Paul Spencer on Aug 9, 2021 10:08:54 GMT
To be fair it's pretty hard to discuss how to improve the team, without spotlighting the areas that need to be improved. And if a position needs to be improved, then the player playing in that position won't have played well, will they? Bringing others in doesn't necessarily mean someone's playing badly though Paul, could just be making competition for places a bit more healthier!!! I thought Fletcher had a good game yesterday, but his replacement (Surridge) did extremely well when he came on!!! Your answer to numpty when asked if we aren't allowed to discuss weaknesses in the team was literally ... "Yeah, by all means." I didn't think Allen played well and was the weak link in a pretty decent team display and there is absolutely nothing wrong in discussing this, even if the team won.
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Post by pez75 on Aug 9, 2021 10:41:08 GMT
He played well. Got caught a couple of times but there are not many centre mids in this league that don't. He was the main link between defence and attack and moved the ball well. No complaints from me.
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Post by pez75 on Aug 9, 2021 10:51:46 GMT
Joe Allen is a pretty gormless at the best of times but today he looked like he was on another planet, not in a good way. That first goal...what the hell was he even thinking? Probably something along the lines of "oops Vrancic has dropped a bollock there" seeing as it was nowt to do with him. I bet you spent all night in the pub slagging him off for it though...
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Joe Allen
Aug 9, 2021 11:00:57 GMT
via mobile
Post by terrorofturfmoor on Aug 9, 2021 11:00:57 GMT
Bringing others in doesn't necessarily mean someone's playing badly though Paul, could just be making competition for places a bit more healthier!!! I thought Fletcher had a good game yesterday, but his replacement (Surridge) did extremely well when he came on!!! Your answer to numpty when asked if we aren't allowed to discuss weaknesses in the team was literally ... "Yeah, by all means." I didn't think Allen played well and was the weak link in a pretty decent team display and there is absolutely nothing wrong in discussing this, even if the team won. Yeah, I did say that Paul, a discussion is fair enough, but the vast majority weren't discussing, the were Joe Allen bashing!!!
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Post by Sfance on Aug 9, 2021 11:08:07 GMT
Joe Allen is a pretty gormless at the best of times but today he looked like he was on another planet, not in a good way. That first goal...what the hell was he even thinking? Probably something along the lines of "oops Vrancic has dropped a bollock there" seeing as it was nowt to do with him. I bet you spent all night in the pub slagging him off for it though... I agree. I thought he was fine, splaying accurate passes around and almost always forwards. I don’t understand this thread. I only saw the first 80% of the game so I suppose he may have been poor towards the end, but from what I saw, the bulk of this thread is incomprehensible.
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