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Post by Pricey on Feb 24, 2024 17:40:17 GMT
We’ve got no good goalkeepers or defenders have we? The only reason we’re not being battered every game is because the league in general is so poor. It’s so depressing.
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Post by Pricey on Feb 24, 2024 17:23:28 GMT
Maybe we give Kamara a chance to redeem himself?
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Post by Pricey on Feb 24, 2024 17:14:07 GMT
I don’t see any managers getting us more than two or three points maximum in March.
It’s a real mess now because there’s nothing to cling on to.
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Post by Pricey on Feb 21, 2024 15:46:52 GMT
Didn’t people seriously suggest Tuchel on here before/when Hughes was sacked?
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Post by Pricey on Feb 21, 2024 11:59:40 GMT
This might be an outrageous thing to say in the current climate, but just before kick off on Saturday the cameras focussed on Pottermus and the costume looked really tatty and faded. Can we not even be arsed to provide whoever it is* with a new outfit? Apologies to anyone who thought it was a real hippo. *My mate used to think it was Marvin Robinson. As daft as it sounds, the tatty Pottermus costume speaks volumes. I was a ball boy in 1997 under the previous Coates regime and the organisation/attention to detail was really quite poor. Non-league standard at best. #partridge As Walrus states, off the pitch we're not a disaster these days...but then Pottermus does spend a decent amount of time on the pitch.
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Post by Pricey on Feb 21, 2024 11:53:20 GMT
I'm wondering how many times we've replaced his head. Is it still the original from 1997 or does he have a secret room full of spare heads ala Worzel Gummidge. If it still exists you'd think the original would be a bit zombified by now. Mould growth, foam disintegration, cauliflower ears, eyeball popping out of its socket etc. Kav also knocked a few of his teeth out at one point. Love the WWF commentary on this, and the fact they haven't bothered including the actual goal in the clip.
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Post by Pricey on Feb 21, 2024 11:50:58 GMT
Replaced with a Stokie-speaking kiln for 24/25. Hippo is being put out to pasture. Don't trust his faded blue skin. Quote from a future sentinel article “…Kenny the Kiln’s chimney blowing smoke when Stoke score feature was put under scrutiny when smoke was still appearing despite there being no home league goal for 3 months. Some fans complained and said it was outrageous, however, some said they enjoyed the scent of weed it gave out and made them feel like they were sitting at home in Longton.” *no offence is meant to be caused by this, weed smells are everywhere and it seems it’s also available everywhere, not exclusive to Longton **no I don’t take part in the weed or deal it, I’m just made aware it’s a available everywhere because it’s scent is everywhere ***don’t have anything against it or for it, one is impartial ****have some more tiny stars*** We better stick to the hippo.
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Post by Pricey on Feb 20, 2024 20:30:19 GMT
I think Pottermus is mute. Quite apt really, considering the levels of apathy surrounding this once great club. He’s not mute. He just doesn’t want Ricky Martin to know he has a foreign accent. Replaced with a Stokie-speaking kiln for 24/25. Hippo is being put out to pasture. Don't trust his faded blue skin.
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Post by Pricey on Feb 20, 2024 20:27:37 GMT
He only needs another 6 this season to be top scorer. I reckon there's as a good a chance of hippo finishing top scorer as any of our strikers. Schumacher's bomb-squadded all the players most likely to score for that reason alone. Hang on...is Pottermus now a rotation between Mmaee, Campbell and Vidigal?
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Post by Pricey on Feb 20, 2024 20:21:28 GMT
I mean...we took more to Tel Aviv and Kiev but I don't like Reading either.
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Post by Pricey on Feb 20, 2024 20:18:23 GMT
It suddenly occurred to me that small children may read this and be very upset. Although if they’re prepared to wade through our rhetorical sewage to get to the hippo news a CAMHS referral is necessary (and useless). I think I'm too far gone for a referral mate. I think if I just keep on pretending that hippo is real then it's probably for the best at this stage. He only needs another 6 this season to be top scorer.
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Post by Pricey on Feb 20, 2024 19:55:19 GMT
This might be an outrageous thing to say in the current climate, but just before kick off on Saturday the cameras focussed on Pottermus and the costume looked really tatty and faded. Can we not even be arsed to provide whoever it is* with a new outfit? Apologies to anyone who thought it was a real hippo. *My mate used to think it was Marvin Robinson. What do you mean it's not a real hippo? Absolute bollocks. It suddenly occurred to me that small children may read this and be very upset. Although if they’re prepared to wade through our rhetorical sewage to get to the hippo news a CAMHS referral is necessary (and useless).
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Post by Pricey on Feb 20, 2024 19:48:19 GMT
What do we want from tonight’s games? I’d expect Cardiff and Blackburn to be safe by April. Plymouth look like they score too many to be in serious trouble. Rotherham are shit and down. So errrr...it probably doesn’t matter.
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Post by Pricey on Feb 20, 2024 19:35:18 GMT
This might be an outrageous thing to say in the current climate, but just before kick off on Saturday the cameras focussed on Pottermus and the costume looked really tatty and faded. Can we not even be arsed to provide whoever it is* with a new outfit?
Apologies to anyone who thought it was a real hippo.
*My mate used to think it was Marvin Robinson.
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Post by Pricey on Feb 20, 2024 16:57:14 GMT
I can't remember any period as bad. Our wretched home form and inability to score feels like it's on a whole new level. We've been to the third tier twice in my supporting life and we've not had a pot to piss in but I just can't remember an extended period so devoid of highlights. Any anticipation of our games is more an anticipation of pain than pleasure. It just saps your energy and enthusiasm completely dry. Almost to the point recently where the best we can hope for at home is a 0-0 draw. We had a bit of a go for 20 minutes on Saturday but with no cutting edge it always felt destined to fizzle out. We're barely testing away goalkeepers at all and that is every single bloody home game!
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Post by Pricey on Feb 20, 2024 15:02:27 GMT
Not quite as simple as that I'm afraid. This all feels very different this time. It doesn't seem to matter what we do, we can't get the DNA right. Ok, back in the day, the Manager did most things including identifying players, finding out about their temperments. Would they gel on and off pitch as a team? Did you have the right mix of grit, flair,strength etc. Now it's like picking a fantasy league team without really knowing what ethos and personality players have. Some random blokes are getting paid a small fortune to check out players on their ipads. maybe it's an age thing too. The older you get the more cynical? I'll always be a Stoke City supporter BUT I can do without the abject disappointment of the demise. There have been some good posts on this thread which show how 'hurt' people can be by their falling out of love with football and their team. There's not a lot of point in telling people that they're wrong and you're right. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. This has never happened before then in the last 40/50 years🤔Go and tell the Zigger’s,The Paul Ruane’s of this world not to go and see what response you’d get.Its in blood of the supporters that go every week and infact it’s their life full stop. I’m as pissed off as the next fan but giving up is not an option No one is telling anyone not to go on this thread are they? It's individual choice. Whatever anyone says it's genuinely concerning when we've seemingly got season ticket holders for 30-40 years deciding enough is enough. Not in 1990, not in 1999, not in 2018...now. Is it that difficult to grasp? Not going to matches is genuinely an option in their heads and they are starting to take that option having not done so when we were lower down the 92. This is some of the hardcore we're talking about; not people who first got a season ticket in 2008. It's not good.
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Post by Pricey on Feb 20, 2024 10:50:42 GMT
The relationship analogy is more apposite than you may think.
I think once you’re committed and time progresses extricating yourself from either a relationship or a football club becomes more and more difficult. It’s something you may have doubts about and even raise them from time to time but actually making that change is a big step, especially when you’re used to ups and downs already.
Most of us didn’t even make much of a choice to follow football or Stoke; it was passed on to us or just there when we were growing up.
Just don’t feel bad about taking a break, for however long it might be. Stoke will still be there in all their “glory” if or when you return, plodding on towards nothingness or maybe even with a ray of hope on the horizon. I’m sure a lot of people felt similar in 1989 and 1999 but look where we were in 2009. There’s undoubtedly more troughs than peaks with Stoke, sadly.
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Post by Pricey on Feb 19, 2024 18:44:36 GMT
Our home record is currently at historically bad levels, we have scored 7 goals at home in the last 6 calendar months since the end of August with only 3 being from open play (Vidigal v Hull at 3-0 down, Mmaee v Sunderland and Thompson v Birmingham at 2-0 down). The other 4 are either set pieces (McNally v Sunderland, Struijk own goal v Leeds, Johnson penalty v Swansea and Burger v QPR). So we've have scored ONE open play goal in SIX months at home with the scores level. Absolutely embarrassing and up there with the worst spells this club has ever experienced. I genuinely believe we'll look back at this era in decades to come and only begin to realise how bad it was.
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Post by Pricey on Feb 19, 2024 9:01:20 GMT
Truly mind blowing stat. Doubt many other clubs have gone 1yr+ without a home equaliser in their entire history I imagine quite a few have; it’s just that they normally take the lead so never need to equalise.
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Post by Pricey on Feb 18, 2024 23:20:17 GMT
Not going to Ninian Park for the second leg because I was in the middle of my GCSEs and my dad said no. Had a feeling something would happen and I’d been to 90% of games that season. Should’ve just gone anyway and been grounded for the final. Had my mate telling me all about the mental on the walk to school the morning after.
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Post by Pricey on Feb 18, 2024 21:32:30 GMT
Dean Lewington is still playing for MK Dons this season, and is effectively the last link with the old Wimbledon club. That’s the fella! Not Leigertwood. Sorry Leigertwood. Lewington you bastard!
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Post by Pricey on Feb 18, 2024 21:14:12 GMT
Who did we play in the FA Cup who were using the MK Don's ground? I remember an open away end, and it was freezing This was it. I was there too. news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/fa_cup/3349237.stmI was pissed off with Leigertwood for years because I remember him playing in that game and then staying with MK Dons for 15 years after.
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Post by Pricey on Feb 18, 2024 21:03:00 GMT
Who did we play in the FA Cup who were using the MK Don's ground? I remember an open away end, and it was freezing Didn’t we play Wimbledon when they’d been moved to Milton Keynes but were still playing at the National Hockey Stadium and hadn’t had their name changed? Is that what you mean? Was bloody awful.
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Post by Pricey on Feb 18, 2024 19:55:59 GMT
20 out of 29 we haven't scored in that run then. We don't score in two thirds of our home games. I mean...good god. Not quite, we've scored four consolations They skew the stats if anything though. No meaningful goals (MG) in two thirds of home games since December 2022. MG is the new xG.
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Post by Pricey on Feb 18, 2024 19:43:59 GMT
It's P29 W8 D6 L15 In the 8 games we've won we've scored the first goal 5 of the 6 we've drawn have been 0-0, the other was 1-1 and we were the ones that were pegged back In the abominable 15 games we've lost, the other team has gone ahead and we have failed to equalise, at all. 20 out of 29 we haven't scored in that run then. We don't score in two thirds of our home games. I mean...good god.
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Post by Pricey on Feb 18, 2024 19:39:12 GMT
Just to be totally accurate on this, are we saying we've not equalised at home at all since December 2022, or that we've maybe equalised but still gone on to lose? I'm only after clarification because the 'no equaliser at all' stat just sounds too horrific to be true for any professional football team. We haven't scored a single equalising goal at home in that time, regardless of the final score. Barmy. Other teams will know this given the amount of data analysis going on now. Imagine the confidence they get when they score first.
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Post by Pricey on Feb 18, 2024 18:32:17 GMT
9 but 3 of them are the current top 3.
There was definitely a part of me that thought we'd never play at Wycombe or Northampton again but it's looking a distinct possibility. I think Oulare's first appearance was away at Northampton.
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Post by Pricey on Feb 18, 2024 18:25:40 GMT
My first reaction when we conceded yesterday was to turn to my Dad and say "we've lost". Negative thought maybe, but with the ridiculous lack of goals - especially at home - its hard not to feel that way. Anyway, got me thinking when did we last equalise at home? As when we go behind that tends to be that... So, the last equaliser we scored at home in the league, was v Cardiff in December 2022. Since then? 29 league home games, 15 of those defeats. To put it in basic terms - every other home game we go behind, and when we do, we lose. Quite a staggering stat really, and just another example of the mess we find ourselves in. Well-researched. There is a bleak inevitability to it all. Sleepwalking towards relegation in the same way we did in the Premier League.
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Post by Pricey on Feb 18, 2024 18:23:15 GMT
Horrible. I had to go and check that was right myself. To go further, the last time we came from behind to win a game at home was September 2021. So bad.
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Post by Pricey on Feb 18, 2024 13:31:51 GMT
I'll qualify this post by saying I live in Cornwall, very rarely get to games these days - maybe one every couple of years on average and Southampton at home so far this season - and for the last 10 years have watched maybe 10-15 a season via streams due to work committments and general apathy/finding something "better" to do. However, my record is appalling. I realised I hadn't seen us win this season so trawled back through the fixture lists and found that Reading away on 7th November 2020 was the last game I watched where we got the three points. To give everyone an idea this season so far I've seen Millwall away, Leicester away, Sheffield Wednesday at home, Millwall at home, Ipswich at home, Sunderland away and Blackburn away on streams and that Southampton game live. 6 losses and 2 draws. Depressing stuff. But yeah, it's generally been a depressing season and a pretty dire few years to watch Stoke. Pure luck obviously. But... 22/23: no wins seen 21/22: no wins seen 20/21: Reading away 19/20: Cardiff home 18/19: Millwall home 17/18: no wins seen 16/17: Swansea home, Watford away (was actually in Minnesota watching at 6am for this one; maybe a hint at what my strategy should be) Not right is it? If a butterfly (me) flaps its wings and decides to watch Stoke in Falmouth, they don't win. Chaos theory. Not Coates or Coates or Scholes or Hughes or Lambert or Rowett or Jones or O'Neill or Neil or Schumacher or Martin or Dublin...but me. I am the bringer of chaos. If anyone feels down about all things Stoke City please know there is probably always someone feeling more down. Or have I been shielded from the worst of it by only watching 25% of the debacle in the first place? Anyway: should I watch this afternoon? I'm not working. Don't worry, I haven't seen us win a game for a year, in fact losing the last 8 matches ive attended, and a home game for over 18 months. I get to about 10-12 games a season on average as I commute from Bristol (formerly South Wales), but didn't attend any games for first few months this season as went for an extended holiday touring New Zealand. Games I've attended since start of last season. 6 August 2022 Blackpool Home - Won 2-0 4 September 2022 Reading Away - Lost 1-2 2 October 2022 Watford Home - Lost 0-4 10 December 2022 Cardiff Home - Drew 2-2 17 December 2022 Bristol City Away - Won 2-1 21 February 2023 Swansea Away - Won 3-1 25 February 2023 Millwall Home - Lost 0-1 7 April 2023 Bristol City Home - Lost 1-2 29 April 2023 QPR Home - Lost 0-1 8 May 2023 Watford Away - Lost 0-2 This Season 25 November 2023 Blackburn Home - Lost 0-3 2 December 2023 Plymouth Away - Lost 1-2 20 January 2024 Birmingham Home - Lost 1-2 17 February 2024 Coventry Home - Lost 0-1 So since we Beat Blackpool at the start of last season, I have seen us pick up a single point at home in my last 8 visits to the bet 365, and 8 defeats in a row watching Stoke both home and away. My overall record since start of last season. P14 W3 D1 L10 F13 A24 And my home record P9 W1 D1 L7 F6 A16 It gets even more depressing too if we look at the season before, which was the first season post COVID where we could go to matches - and it actually started pretty well! 7 August 2021 Reading Home - Won 3-2 17 August 2021 Swansea Away - Won 3-1 28 August 2021 Fulham Away - Lost 0-3 11 September 2021 Huddersfield Home - Won 2-1 25 September 2021 Hull Home - Won 2-0 30 October 2021 Cardiff Home - Drew 3-3 24 November 2021 Bristol City Away - Lost 0-1 11 December 2021 Middlesbrough Home - Drew 0-0 9 January 2022 Leyton Orient (FA CUP) Home - Won 2-0 22 January 2022 Fulham Home - Lost 2-3 12 March 2022 Peterborough Away - Drew 2-2 16 March 2022 Cardiff Away - Lost 1-2 5 April 2022 Reading Away - Lost 1-2 15 April 2022 Bristol City Home - Lost 0-1 23 April 2022 QPR Home - Won 1-0 7 May 2022 Coventry Home - Drew 1-1 So league Record P15 W5 D4 L6 F21 A22 And All Comps P16 W6 D4 L6 F23 A22 So since football reopened my record is P30 W9 D5 L16 F36 A46 However, I remember I caught COVID at our match against Hull (came down with it the following week as had the whole row apparently) so my record since I recovered from my sick bed is even worse. P25 W5 D5 L15 F26 A39 And in the league P24 W4 D5 L15 F24 A39 Am I or my COVID antibodies the curse? Should I be forced to submit to a self imposed restraining order to ensure results pick up? Or catch myself a bit of the Kung Flu again to hopefully reverse my curse. Or would going to an away game in Wales, the scene of me witnessing our last victory with myself present, albeit in a different location, be enough to break the spell of misery? Impressive level of detail. At least you've seen some wins!
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