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Post by riponstokie on Aug 21, 2016 22:18:01 GMT
Why you are a dim tosser.. Pulis going was 100% the correct move..Hughes now seems to be struggling to iron out recurring mistakes in the team, continues to be unable to implement a decent shape to the defence and as a result we seem to be struggling to push on. Right now we have the potential to be a very special team, but with a defence that is a joke and no sort of shape without the ball, we will never see the best being brought out of our team. That's what devastates me more than anything. Hughes is like a chef who lost his Michelin stars in his last employment with unlimited funds, he has bought expensive foreign ingredients he has fancied for ages but is stumped as how he is going to fit them all into the menu his customers crave. Well until his no.1 team has some disciplined and shape instilled into them, I hope Hughes sticks with bangers and mash. Adam, Whelan and Allen as a midfield 3 with Jon diouf and Arnie as a front three. This is inevitably what will happen when we lose a few and he is under the cosh. It has happened the last 3 seasons. His preferred side had good and bad moments (generally more bad.) so when we lose a few we see him go more direct, typically bringing the old guard back into the team. On one hand, at least it shows he can ground out results, on the other, it shows he can't play the way he wants and get results. Also, who knows how much longer he can afford to play with all his favourite ingredients but create no high quality final dish, without us losing our own Michelin star status.
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Post by riponstokie on Aug 21, 2016 21:34:40 GMT
Who gives a toss about fair? God forbid it, but if we did go down no way would Hughes be able to get us back up. We'd have to get a manger who knows how to scrap and defend..then again most fans would rather look pretty and be open whilst rotting in te championship forever more. Yeah, that Eddie Howe knows how to scrap doesn't he? Let's face it you were devastated that Pulis got sacked and replaced by someone who was immediately more successful. 10 Jon Walters in front of a decent keeper right captain? H Why you are a dim tosser.. Pulis going was 100% the correct move..Hughes now seems to be struggling to iron out recurring mistakes in the team, continues to be unable to implement a decent shape to the defence and as a result we seem to be struggling to push on. Right now we have the potential to be a very special team, but with a defence that is a joke and no sort of shape without the ball, we will never see the best being brought out of our team. That's what devastates me more than anything.
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Who?
Aug 21, 2016 17:09:36 GMT
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Post by riponstokie on Aug 21, 2016 17:09:36 GMT
It's only fair that if it happens and we get relegated he gets a season to bring us back up. Anything other than that would be hypocritical cuntery surely? H Who gives a toss about fair? God forbid it, but if we did go down no way would Hughes be able to get us back up. We'd have to get a manger who knows how to scrap and defend..then again most fans would rather look pretty and be open whilst rotting in te championship forever more.
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Post by riponstokie on Aug 20, 2016 22:39:58 GMT
Adam. As good as imbula is, blows hot/cold, defensively not good enough, doesn't work hard enough and pissed about taking players on at the back. You know what you get with Charlie - could have done with him today. What, you mean 'blows hot/cold, defensively not good enough, doesn't work hard enough and pissed about taking players on at the back' or words to that effect? No I mean gives his all, gives a toss, puts a tackle in, always looks dangerous in the final 3rd, always gets on the ball and has some defensive discipline. Imbula is becoming a luxury we can't afford at times.
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Post by riponstokie on Aug 20, 2016 22:19:12 GMT
Adam. As good as imbula is, blows hot/cold, defensively not good enough, doesn't work hard enough and pissed about taking players on at the back. You know what you get with Charlie - could have done with him today.
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Post by riponstokie on Aug 20, 2016 12:20:17 GMT
Utterly pathetic. Typical soft as shit performance we have witnessed more and more under the current manager. We don't have a plan, they aren't working hard and don't appear to give a toss...I can live with losing, but that lack of ideas and effort is a disgrace
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Post by riponstokie on Aug 14, 2016 22:05:30 GMT
Must admit I've got alot of respect for Wilson now. For a majority of our home games last season I was baffled as to what we do all week in relation to defending as it was woeful at times, the answer I sought was "nothing". Pretty much what I thought, for a professional club, sorry I'll rephrase that, for any club not to practice defensive tactics is pathetic and I say well done to Wilson for opening his mouth. Seriously do you honestly believe that bollocks ? What do you think Shawcross etc do in training ....turn up at right wing and centre forward The obvious point is we don't work on shape. Whilst there may be little matches where defending is involved naturally, we won't spend half an hour working on transition between defence and attack or vice versa. We desperately need to work specifically on defending so players know their roles, where they should be when and this would help us massively over the season. It is so blatant we don't work on it, as the same issues appear game after game.
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Bread
Aug 14, 2016 17:01:17 GMT
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Post by riponstokie on Aug 14, 2016 17:01:17 GMT
The bread chant was superb yesterday..we must've been going for about 20 mins..their fans were silent just staring at us trying to work out what the hell we were singing!
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Post by riponstokie on Aug 13, 2016 22:11:24 GMT
Only had 15 mins, he will replace whelan next week hopefully as whelan was proper gash. How incredibly dim..
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Post by riponstokie on Aug 13, 2016 19:13:41 GMT
Obviously away at a newly promoted team was always going to be a very challenging start, and I'm chuffed to get a point. However, aside from the shocking performances from the fullbacks, my major concern was the lack of plan we showed in the first half. As I said, always gonna be tough as they'd come flying out the blocks, however we aimlessly passed the ball around the back, with the front men static upfront. Moreover, when we didn't have the ball was the most concerning aspect of play. We didn't know whether to press or drop off, and ended up doing neither and both. This was evident for the goal, they had the ball with their back 4 and we'd moved up as a unit -so far so good- but then we had Arnie pressing in his own, bojan drop off and diouf doing neither. They then played it across their right where Pieters all of a sudden went towards their man, and they played it around, up the pitch and with a half decent ball in accompanied by horrific defending we were 1-0 down. The main concern is the way the team plays is reactive rather than proactive. The players can't look around and think I need to drop to mark him, nor do they proactively think they need to push up and press players to put them under pressure if they get the ball. It Was a subtle, but noticeable issue that has carried on from last season. Second half, Hughes clearly had words (and to good effect.) as we put a couple of early balls in behind them, which pushed them back, and allowed us to push up for the rest of the half, and look far far better. Anyway, I Hope we work hard on sorting out a plan for how to play on and off the ball and to develop an identity to who we are as a team. Again, good point and I maintain we are 2/3 signings and a bit of defensive work away from a seriously good team.
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Post by riponstokie on Aug 10, 2016 23:44:45 GMT
What a strange thing to say.. I'm obviously saying that as long as it's anti Hughes some will swallow it however ridiculous and far fetched it seems. It's tiresome how many people look for these pathetic little non existent remarks about 'pro Pulis' or 'anti Hughes' to sink their teeth into. Wilson said a number of times how he rates Hughes, and thinks he's done a good job. He didn't say anything against him, he simply expressed his frustration over how we don't work on the defensive side to our game - understandable as a defender maybe? I found it remarkable how anyone who suggest how we could improve as a team, or highlightthe limitations currently holding us back are deemed anti Hughes and Pulis lovers...some posters on here clearly have some sort of issues surrounding our managers. They are terrified of anyone criticising Hughes, or praising you know who. All managers have strengths and limitations, get over it.
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Post by riponstokie on Aug 10, 2016 20:29:35 GMT
I really do get the impression that if Wilson had tweeted that Hughes sacrificed virgins during a full moon and drank their blood there'd be folk on here who'd take it as gospel. What a strange thing to say..
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Post by riponstokie on Aug 10, 2016 19:54:41 GMT
Look, Hughes is a good manager, that's why bar QPR he has always done well at various clubs. He has a good relationship with his players which helps get the best out of them. I think our defense has always been weak, but what Hughes does to prevent us being open, is bring Adam and Walters into the team and go more direct. This is a positive as it means he has the ability to get results without playing how he truly wants to. What i am saying, is if the coaching staff were to work on shape, and set pieces -even a bit- we could seriously be onto something special. Players don't know whether to drop off, press, follow their man, pass their man on. If there was a clear plan put together in training, we would concede far fewer sloppy goals. I'm not a troll, I'm not a Hughes hater and I don't still wish TP was still at the helm. I'm looking at the team, and seeing how we could easily push ourselves on and become a seriously good side.
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Post by riponstokie on Aug 10, 2016 19:28:59 GMT
Well then. Managers don't become good managers by ignoring defending surely ? It's not like his teams have ever really been free scoring He obviously ignores the defence, or at least he and has team don't address the issues in defence that are there for all to see. He and his team are passive on mistakes we continue to make, and we will continue being held back by mistakes (aswell as set piece ineptude.) which would be a crying shame, as we could be such a top team.
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Post by riponstokie on Aug 10, 2016 19:22:27 GMT
Wilson's tweets are simply unsurprising and confirm my worries that the current coaching staff disregard defending almost completely. Not quite sure why you continue labelling one of,if not arguably, our best manager in our history as 'toxic'? obviously you are trying to get a reaction of some sort? I'm not too sure but it's pathetic. Can you answer me one question,seriously? If Hughes and his coaching staff completely disregard defending as you put it,how the fuck have they managed top ten finishes with four different clubs ? It's laughable bollocks. Let's be frank here you and your ilk believe it because you want to think it's true. Because he's a good manager
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Post by riponstokie on Aug 10, 2016 19:06:51 GMT
What are we basing this on? Wilson's comments? If so, why are so many people bashing Wollscheid, Muniesa and Wilson himself and not the manager? Why do we need to replace the centre halves if it is the lack of defensive "shape" or lack of training in this area that is causing us to be 'so poor' ? Couldn't we improve what we have by training them better IF, massive IF, Wilson's comments are right? Even so, why would we stay in games for longer by working on shape? Could it not equally be labelled at the fact we only scored just over a goal a game last year? Is it not safe to assume that if we scored more goals we would effectively kill games before teams had a chance to put us under serious pressure? We need to work on shape because that's what the ex-Manager did, and it's no coincidence that riponstokie is one of Toxic's biggest cheerleaders. Wilson's tweets are manna from heaven for him. Wilson's tweets are simply unsurprising and confirm my worries that the current coaching staff disregard defending almost completely. Not quite sure why you continue labelling one of,if not arguably, our best manager in our history as 'toxic'? obviously you are trying to get a reaction of some sort? I'm not too sure but it's pathetic.
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Post by riponstokie on Aug 10, 2016 15:17:05 GMT
You can add practicing free kicks and corners to the defensive work we do... Do they come in for training everyday and have a few games of Ping Pong and then go home?..😘 Wilson was wrong to go on twatter, but opening this can of worms could help Stoke in the long run. Here's hoping. My concern is I, as well as many, have been hoping we would work on keeping solid for the last couple of seasons. It seems rather than installing defensive capabilities and understanding into his preferred team, Hughes simply reverts back to Whelan, Adam and Jon whenever he is on the shit. With non of them looking any younger, he desperately needs to push for the likes of Imbula to develop a defensive discipline. Here's hoping..as ever.
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Post by riponstokie on Aug 10, 2016 13:33:00 GMT
I think those questioning and doubling what Wilson said is completely bizarre, and it is those who clearly have issues with TP and must suffocate any criticism in the current regime. The facts from what we can see, is our set pieces are piss poor in both ends of the pitch, and defensively we are so open it is embrassing. For those who talk about how we didn't concede that many more last season compared to the previous few, you have Jack Butland to thank single handedly for preventing the white washes we saw once he was out injured. For me as a club, we are close to pushing on to the infamous 'next level'. We are only a few steps away in my view. Obviously a bit of luck with injuries, we need our attacking players to click (new ST needed.) as they did only a few times last season, lastly we need to sort out defensive shape and set pieces. If we brought in a quality CB and we worked on defensive shape we would stay in games for longer, and could really see ourselves move forward. How often last season you see players not sure whether they should be pressing, not sure if they should pass their man on or follow him to the opposite side of the pitch. How often the likes of Woll or Gcam follow their man unnecessarily, and the gap they leave gets exploited. It is so obvious it isn't worked in as these mistakes happen time and time again. Similarly, if we worked hard on trying to eradicate concededing from corners, and got even 5/6 goals a season from corners we would be in a significantly better position. It seems only a few areas need improving to see us achieving the true potential of what this group (plus a couple of additions.) could achieve, yet the coaching staff to address these areas. There is no doubting what a great job Hughes and co have done, and if they were to work on some concerns that were so evident last season, then we could have a truly exciting season ahead. Fingers crossed they do.
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Post by riponstokie on Aug 6, 2016 23:01:16 GMT
I'd play walters on the wing. We need a solid team against Boro for the the first game, especially away. Just what the doctor ordered SJW on the wing, four seasons post Pulis and that is still the answer I'd agree with playing Jon outwide, we are so open it hurts. What team would you play? Go for all flair with no discipline or look for a balance between the both for what will inevitably an incredibly tough away game?
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Post by riponstokie on Jul 28, 2016 22:56:27 GMT
Have two systems - two (Allen/Imbula to start, with Charlie/Glenn to sub) in a 4231/442/4411 and three (Allen/Imbula/Glenn) for 433/451 would do for me Unsure re: this 352 idea and midfield - depends on the striker choices in the 2 I suppose we'll have to see if we get overrun. Depends on Imbula's defensive contributions I think, as you touched upon, Imbula will have a massive influence on how we play. If he develops a disciplined defensive side to his game, he could slot alongside Allen and we could be laughing all the way to Europe. However, if he doesn't have that defensive capability, he could almost become a luxury player, as Toure was at Man City at times, who we perhaps couldn't afford to have in the team.
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Post by riponstokie on Jul 28, 2016 22:46:53 GMT
I have no doubt Glenn Whelan will play a serious part in the coming season. However, with him getting no younger, and with no out and out holding midfielder on the horizon, I am curious to question whether Hughes will push for a plainly attacking team, without someone who's only responsibility is to protect the back 4. Although Allen may be a possibility for that position, I simply don't think that is his game, as he is more of a cultured ball player, than a disciplined, defensive minded midfielder who breaks up play. So I thought with our struggle to defend, perhaps Hughes would slowly build towards a team to simply defend by attacking, with ball playing midfielders to control and dictate games, thus preventing the opposition getting at our defence. Obviously this is all hypothetical, however with what appears to be our reluctance/inability to buy (or perhaps unavailability of) a quality, out and out sitting midfielder to replace Glenn, perhaps over the next few months we will try to sculpt a new manor of midfield? Could and probably would leave is completely open, but thought it would be interesting to see what people think on a future without Whelan and with more technically more gifted players like Imbula and Allen.
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Post by riponstokie on Jul 28, 2016 22:16:46 GMT
You are right, but we still missed a lot of chances due to poor finishing. A lot? Really? I can't recall it being a constant problem? Create more chances and you'll score more goals. That's the problem we need to address first and foremost. That means sorting out the set pieces, sorting out the tempo, moving the ball more quickly, being prepared to run at defenders, having more movement in the side. It is creating chances that is key, as you say. For me, there is no doubt we have players to play key passes and unlock defences, what we need to improve on is working harder when we are on the ball. When players work really hard to make angles to receive the ball, and make runs in behind, you automatically move the ball quicker. How often last season, the front 4 stood static, with no movement, and fans moaned about slow tempo and passing it around the back. If our midfield and forwards work hard when we are in possession to get on the ball and make runs, then we will find the tempo of our play will increase and we would create far more chances.
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Post by riponstokie on Jul 27, 2016 14:56:37 GMT
As much as I love Bojan and Believe he needs to play as often as possible, first game away at newly promoted boro and go for a solid enough set up: Jack Johno Ryan Gcam Erik Glenn Allen Imbula Shaq Arnie Diouf (or New CF.)
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Post by riponstokie on Jul 23, 2016 16:01:40 GMT
N'Goy & Lecygne to get into the 1st team this season then? From what I've seen (little.), Lecygne looks very tidy, but don't think he'll be pushing any first teamers out the way. N'goy however, based on today, looked strong quick but had good feet and technical ability also. Who knows, he may be our Rashford for the upcoming season, he has a fearlessness and is very direct, similar to Rashford.
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Post by riponstokie on Jul 23, 2016 15:53:12 GMT
I know it's only a friendly, be he looked electric in that game. Direct and fearless, took on his man everytime and looked to have good quality aswell as raw pace and strength. Exciting to see what part he will play in the coming months and years.
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Post by riponstokie on Jul 23, 2016 15:36:56 GMT
Charlie has looked good, as has Bojan, N'goy has looked quality too. Everytime he has got the ball he has looked go get past his man, and more often than not does. Muni and Pieters are like Dick and Dom at times and Imbula has been pretty quiet.
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Post by riponstokie on Jul 23, 2016 15:28:04 GMT
Bojan turned his man on the half way line; lofted a beautiful ball in behind the right channel. Diouf ran on to it, took his time, and sumptuously volleyed into the near top corner.
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Diouf
Jul 23, 2016 8:57:52 GMT
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Post by riponstokie on Jul 23, 2016 8:57:52 GMT
In the light of our latest bid for Berahino being knocked back, I've seen many people claim playing Diouf as our number 9 would be more than suitable for the upcoming season. However, if we want to push forward as a club, in a way I think we are capable, a new number 9 -along with a number of other additions- is crucial. I love Diouf, he works hard, he's rapid, good in the air, however he isn't good enough to play as a main striker in the premier league. His running in behind does create space for the 3 behind, however, his touch and interplay is simply non existant. When I picture who I want as a striker, I picture someone with pace who can run in behind and drag the defensive line back, but also someone who drop in and can link up with our midfield players. I think Berahino has a good combination of technical ability, pace and goal scoring prowess to be a great player for us, so I for one hope we do get the deal done.
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Post by riponstokie on Jul 1, 2016 14:24:14 GMT
goo.gl/koAVYJ clearly just scaremongering....I'm sure you leave voters believe it was worth all this sacrifice for a little protest vote? At least those horrible politicians know we're not happy? Is this what you call taking back control!? words like 'could' are used and it's from 2014-2020, we won't exit for 2 years so that's 4 out of the 6 years funded, so yes another scaremongering story. As others have said, instead of sending the money to the EU, we could just send it to finish these projects, and then have some left over, I hope that doesn't scare you or brainwash you. You genuinely think this government will be investing into these projects?
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Post by riponstokie on Jun 29, 2016 9:27:37 GMT
goo.gl/koAVYJ clearly just scaremongering....I'm sure you leave voters believe it was worth all this sacrifice for a little protest vote? At least those horrible politicians know we're not happy? Is this what you call taking back control!?
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