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Post by Simon Drainrod on Apr 2, 2023 0:04:15 GMT
I think we are. But will we be beyond this season? Discuss.
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rushy
Spectator
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Post by rushy on Apr 2, 2023 0:07:15 GMT
Alex Neil has shown us us what sort of team he can produce after one January window. What can he put together from a summer window with a full pre-season, coupled with a much better budget,,,? Sounds very promising to me.
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Post by innercitysumo on Apr 2, 2023 0:07:47 GMT
I think we are. After this season, fuck knows.
But I do trust this manager
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Post by pieofpeter on Apr 2, 2023 0:38:13 GMT
Yes with the right players but confidence and consistency plays a massive part!
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Post by bayernoatcake on Apr 2, 2023 0:45:07 GMT
4 players that started today are contracted for next season.
That’s the issue for any predictions.
We certainly look like we are but we have a massive summer coming up.
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Post by pieofpeter on Apr 2, 2023 0:59:51 GMT
4 players that started today are contracted for next season. That’s the issue for any predictions. We certainly look like we are but we have a massive summer coming up. This but it's the only summer in a long time that I trust the manager and the director of football in a long time for him to get it right! |
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Post by bayernoatcake on Apr 2, 2023 1:02:49 GMT
4 players that started today are contracted for next season. That’s the issue for any predictions. We certainly look like we are but we have a massive summer coming up. This but it's the only summer in a long time that I trust the manager and the director of football in a long time for him to get it right! I would love to but I won’t let myself do it. But I suspect you’re right. I fucking hope you’re right!! |
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Post by sensiblestokie on Apr 2, 2023 1:09:26 GMT
The management chose the players we’ve brought in on loan. So I’m optimistic they could fill the voids with the same player profiles as the loanees if we can’t sign them.
We are arguably the best team in the league atm.
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hotpot
Youth Player
Posts: 432
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Post by hotpot on Apr 2, 2023 1:10:02 GMT
Seven matches left. 51 points. Have taken the 125-1 on offer, for us to make the playoffs (top six).
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Post by scfcwebby on Apr 2, 2023 2:32:51 GMT
Seven matches left. 51 points. Have taken the 125-1 on offer, for us to make the playoffs (top six). Too many teams between us and the play offs IMHO. We are 6 points behind being genuine contenders I feel... If only the board did what the majority of fans could see was needed, and parted ways with MON at the end of last season... Sigh |
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Post by Mr_DaftBurger on Apr 2, 2023 5:20:27 GMT
We're finally pissing this tinpot league! 😂😒
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Post by jokker on Apr 2, 2023 6:02:48 GMT
We've done well, very well, against teams that we traditionally do well against, some of whom are just below the top teams.
We often tend to struggle against lower bottom teams or teams that are below us in the league, but also teams the players believe are below them in potential. We often fail then, not always, but frequently.
Teams like Wigan, Cardiff, and QPR. That's the real test to see how good we are.
It won't be pretty playing those teams. But if we could get nine points against them this season and next, we'll have gained more than nine points.
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Post by robwahlmann on Apr 2, 2023 6:19:17 GMT
4 players that started today are contracted for next season. That’s the issue for any predictions. We certainly look like we are but we have a massive summer coming up. If we could keep Pearson and the fullbacks I think we will have an exciting season ahead. We also need to add a targetman, at least one central defender, a winger and a central midfielder too. Even these 7 players might not be enough for a long season in the Championship.  |
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Post by theonlooker on Apr 2, 2023 6:25:46 GMT
4 players that started today are contracted for next season. That’s the issue for any predictions. We certainly look like we are but we have a massive summer coming up. That's definitely the grounding thought and certainly frustrating, however, it has to give us confidence that the manager can build again if he has to. It is a huge summer and you hope the money side of it doesn't go to his head like it has others here in the past. I've said it for a long time though, the Championship is a hard league and there are no gimmes. As a fan I'm currently happy with going to games with genuine hope that we'll give teams a game and a half for a change. As of next season I'd be very happy just to see us very competitive in and around the top 6, even if it ends in failure. Fans just want hope. It really is that simple and at the moment we have that hope. |
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Post by Trouserdog on Apr 2, 2023 6:33:33 GMT
Seven matches left. 51 points. Have taken the 125-1 on offer, for us to make the playoffs (top six). We'd have to win every game and would still only finish on 72 points- a total that would have been enough only 3 times in the last 10 seasons. There's virtually no chance. |
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Post by clarkeda on Apr 2, 2023 6:38:59 GMT
Yeah we are. It’s hard to think of another side as swashbuckling as we are currently. Taking games to the top teams and absolutely dominating. Maybe Leeds under Bielsa?
We just need to learn how to do it against the Rotherham’s, Millwalls, QPR, Huddersfield’s etc who are going to come for the draw.
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Post by leesandfordstoupe on Apr 2, 2023 7:11:07 GMT
It’s pretty bloody rare as a Stoke fan of 40+ years to be anticipating watching or attending a game thinking we could smash these today and actually believing it.
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Post by walrus on Apr 2, 2023 7:16:18 GMT
Alex Neil has shown us us what sort of team he can produce after one January window. Nine of the eleven players that started yesterday have been at the club all season, as well as four of the five subs used. I’m obviously delighted about our recent uplift in form and accept that Pearson has made a huge difference, as has a fully fit Laurent, but don’t buy into the currently prevailing narrative that he needed a transfer window to sort us out. If he’d just done what we were all crying out for and ditched the back five earlier in the season we’d probably be competing for a playoff place now. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 2, 2023 7:51:14 GMT
Seven matches left. 51 points. Have taken the 125-1 on offer, for us to make the playoffs (top six). We'd have to win every game and would still only finish on 72 points- a total that would have been enough only 3 times in the last 10 seasons. There's virtually no chance. People really need to stop talking about the play-offs this season. It's mental to even consider it. |
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Post by theonlooker on Apr 2, 2023 7:56:22 GMT
Alex Neil has shown us us what sort of team he can produce after one January window. Nine of the eleven players that started yesterday have been at the club all season, as well as four of the five subs used. I’m obviously delighted about our recent uplift in form and accept that Pearson has made a huge difference, as has a fully fit Laurent, but don’t buy into the currently prevailing narrative that he needed a transfer window to sort us out. If he’d just done what we were all crying out for and ditched the back five earlier in the season we’d probably be competing for a playoff place now. I've been very critical of the manager early doors, possibly extremely harsh in certain cases but I don't think you are right at all there and think that is a very disingenuous way of looking at it. Ben Pearson and Ben Pearson alone has made this back four system work. Thompson has been much maligned here IMO but he's nowhere near Pearson and the difference in this system with Pearson at DM and Thompson there when it was tried earlier in the season is like chalk and cheese. Laurent also didn't work there when he was tried there. That alone dictates it needed the window to sort it out. |
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Post by GeneralFaye on Apr 2, 2023 8:01:35 GMT
Nine of the eleven players that started yesterday have been at the club all season, as well as four of the five subs used. I’m obviously delighted about our recent uplift in form and accept that Pearson has made a huge difference, as has a fully fit Laurent, but don’t buy into the currently prevailing narrative that he needed a transfer window to sort us out. If he’d just done what we were all crying out for and ditched the back five earlier in the season we’d probably be competing for a playoff place now. I've been very critical of the manager early doors, possibly extremely harsh in certain cases but I don't think you are right at all there and think that is a very disingenuous way of looking at it. Ben Pearson and Ben Pearson alone has made this back four system work. Thompson has been much maligned here IMO but he's nowhere near Pearson and the difference in this system with Pearson at DM and Thompson there when it was tried earlier in the season is like chalk and cheese. Laurent also didn't work there when he was tried there. That alone dictates it needed the window to sort it out. Thompson is fine when he's under no pressure and the game is played at testimonial pace... problem is for him, that rarely happens. |
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Post by walrus on Apr 2, 2023 8:09:06 GMT
Nine of the eleven players that started yesterday have been at the club all season, as well as four of the five subs used. I’m obviously delighted about our recent uplift in form and accept that Pearson has made a huge difference, as has a fully fit Laurent, but don’t buy into the currently prevailing narrative that he needed a transfer window to sort us out. If he’d just done what we were all crying out for and ditched the back five earlier in the season we’d probably be competing for a playoff place now. I've been very critical of the manager early doors, possibly extremely harsh in certain cases but I don't think you are right at all there and think that is a very disingenuous way of looking at it. Ben Pearson and Ben Pearson alone has made this back four system work. Thompson has been much maligned here IMO but he's nowhere near Pearson and the difference in this system with Pearson at DM and Thompson there when it was tried earlier in the season is like chalk and cheese. Laurent also didn't work there when he was tried there. That alone dictates it needed the window to sort it out. I don’t agree with your position and I certainly don’t agree that I’m being disingenuous, especially as I acknowledged the importance of Pearson in my post. If you look at our games from the first half of the season some of our best performances and results came from the handful of occasions we played with a back four. Beating Sheffield United at home and Preston away in the space of a few days sprints to mind. As does comfortably beating a very good Luton side at home. Results like that show that the idea that we couldn’t play with a back four before Pearson signed just doesn’t wash. I think people are so keen to get swept along by the joy of how well we’re playing recently - and trust me I’m absolutely enjoying it too - that they conveniently forget just how badly the back five system worked for us in the first half of the season and just how much grief Neil was correctly getting for persevering with it. In terms of how effective we have been this season for me it goes: 1) Back four with Pearson 2) Back four with others 3) Back five I’m not saying we’d be looking anywhere near as good as we are currently if we’d played a back four all season. But I do think we’d have more points than we do currently. |
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Post by theonlooker on Apr 2, 2023 8:20:38 GMT
I've been very critical of the manager early doors, possibly extremely harsh in certain cases but I don't think you are right at all there and think that is a very disingenuous way of looking at it. Ben Pearson and Ben Pearson alone has made this back four system work. Thompson has been much maligned here IMO but he's nowhere near Pearson and the difference in this system with Pearson at DM and Thompson there when it was tried earlier in the season is like chalk and cheese. Laurent also didn't work there when he was tried there. That alone dictates it needed the window to sort it out. I don’t agree with your position and I certainly don’t agree that I’m being disingenuous, especially as I acknowledged the importance of Pearson in my post. If you look at our games from the first half of the season some of our best performances and results came from the handful of occasions we played with a back four. Beating Sheffield United at home and Preston away in the space of a few days sprints to mind. As does comfortably beating a very good Luton side at home. Results like that show that the idea that we couldn’t play with a back four before Pearson signed just doesn’t wash. I think people are so keen to get swept along by the joy of how well we’re playing recently - and trust me I’m absolutely enjoying it too - that they conveniently forget just how badly the back five system worked for us in the first half of the season and just how much grief Neil was correctly getting for persevering with it. I understand your position - look back at some of my posts around that time and I would be saying it then - ditch the back 5 and play a 4. Looking back on it and learning from it, as we all should do, I don't think it was as simple as I was trying to paint it. Pearson has transformed this side and results aside, we are now not just winning games but playing very differently with a back four than we were and are dominating sides. I didn't agree with what he did back then, but seeing us now I can understand why now when looking back. His whole philosophy on football is about strangling the opposition tactically and physically. Without Pearson in that middle of the park, and the trust that he brings, he couldn't position his full backs as high as they are in a four or commit his two wide central midfielders as high and wide as they are. Like I say, that alone dictates he needed that window to get Pearson in the side. Preston away we played with a back 3/5 btw. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 2, 2023 8:41:57 GMT
Alex Neil has shown us us what sort of team he can produce after one January window. Nine of the eleven players that started yesterday have been at the club all season, as well as four of the five subs used. I’m obviously delighted about our recent uplift in form and accept that Pearson has made a huge difference, as has a fully fit Laurent, but don’t buy into the currently prevailing narrative that he needed a transfer window to sort us out. If he’d just done what we were all crying out for and ditched the back five earlier in the season we’d probably be competing for a playoff place now. That's a very simplistic view. I agree most of us wanted to move to a back four but the players apart from maybe Brown and Smallbone weren't fit enough to play this high press system. It takes time to bring fitness levels up, especially mid season. I think the world cup break helped massively. Laurent and Sterling were in and out with injuries and most importantly we had no DM. Pearson is the glue that sticks it all together. |
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Post by pushon on Apr 2, 2023 9:10:28 GMT
I think that the apparent improvement in fitness levels is a big part of our huge increase in form.
Take Campbell for instance, lasting the whole game without blowing out of his backside🗯
Also confidence has increased immeasurably, I attribute that to team management.
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Post by scfcno1fan on Apr 2, 2023 9:12:52 GMT
My worry is one that I’m sure is shared by a lot of people, that it’s the loan players who’ve been the main cause of our upturn in form and the likelihood is we’re probably not going to see even 50% of them return.
I’m hopeful that as we’ve seen AN bring in the majority of these players, and he has a quite entrenched playing style now, that he can replicate it again in the summer.
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Post by lordb on Apr 2, 2023 9:14:07 GMT
My worry is one that I’m sure is shared by a lot of people, that it’s the loan players who’ve been the main cause of our upturn in form and the likelihood is we’re probably not going to see even 50% of them return. I’m hopeful that as we’ve seen AN bring in the majority of these players, and he has a quite entrenched playing style now, that he can replicate it again in the summer. Why won't 50% of them return? |
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Post by scfcno1fan on Apr 2, 2023 9:18:52 GMT
My worry is one that I’m sure is shared by a lot of people, that it’s the loan players who’ve been the main cause of our upturn in form and the likelihood is we’re probably not going to see even 50% of them return. I’m hopeful that as we’ve seen AN bring in the majority of these players, and he has a quite entrenched playing style now, that he can replicate it again in the summer. Why won't 50% of them return? You’ve got to think Pearson and Sterling are a good chance. Highly doubtful on the rest though. |
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Post by banksy1art on Apr 2, 2023 9:22:31 GMT
Seven matches left. 51 points. Have taken the 125-1 on offer, for us to make the playoffs (top six). We'd have to win every game and would still only finish on 72 points- a total that would have been enough only 3 times in the last 10 seasons. There's virtually no chance. would rather finish just outside the play offs then win the league next season  |
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Post by nottsover60 on Apr 2, 2023 10:55:59 GMT
4 players that started today are contracted for next season. That’s the issue for any predictions. We certainly look like we are but we have a massive summer coming up. Agree but I do think more of our loan signings will want to stay here if we continue this run up to the end of the season. Which is better - join a team you know, in a place you enjoy working, with a very good chance of promotion next season or join a Premier team where you might get a better wage but you might not play and judging by this season, unless you are talking top six, could get relegated next season? I think all bar Smallbone will be available in the summer. If Powell stays fit for the rest of the season it would be silly not to offer him a new contract and I'm sure it wouldn't cost much relatively speaking to keep Jagielka. |
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