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Post by chiefdelilah on Nov 29, 2015 22:59:58 GMT
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Post by Gods on Nov 29, 2015 23:11:23 GMT
Yes, I think we need to fix our current goal scoring crisis and stop attaching a 'hard luck story' to every defeat by accepting the problem for what it is, we can't score a goal for love or money.
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Post by cobhamstokey on Nov 29, 2015 23:12:34 GMT
Excellent assessment as always. We need to go for it and take more risks going forward.
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Post by samba :) on Nov 29, 2015 23:23:22 GMT
so the relationship is finished I guess
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Post by chiefdelilah on Nov 29, 2015 23:25:29 GMT
She's a tolerant soul (and wasn't around this weekend).
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Post by mrcoke on Nov 29, 2015 23:56:58 GMT
excellent as usual
There are some silver linings from the weekend:
MH will now shake things up this week, changing the team. It was difficult for him to change a winning team or admonish players. Ryan was definitely off form yesterday and will benefit from a rest to recuperate and gather himself for some big matches coming up. Walters will probably now be rested, he is going stale and is always much better after a break out of the team. Affalay has impressed me in recent matches and should be given a chance to see if he can create more chances. We only effectively dropped 1 point relative to the other teams in the Prem, the way other matches went; we are still not far from 6th place.
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Post by mtrstudent on Nov 30, 2015 1:20:08 GMT
Nice read as always.
I missed the game - was it similar to our familiar struggles against the lower teams? I don't see why we don't just try switching it up a bit and whacking a couple of big boys in the box. Put Jon or Crouchy with Diouf down the middle and tell the wingers to ping in the crosses or use Diouf's pace off Jon's hold up play through the middle. We could at least try something different against the teams who just pack the box!
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Post by stokesaint1 on Nov 30, 2015 3:11:21 GMT
Superbly written and spot on, as is the norm. Written without bias, which is always refreshing. I hope Mark Hughes reads it and similarly the players and board. Although I have previously said that as long as we score one goal more than the opposition we'll be ok, I have to say now that 11 goals from 14 games is a sad reflection of our performance, to date, in the final third.
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Post by kustokie on Nov 30, 2015 3:19:02 GMT
Excellent as usual. One suggestion if I may be so bold: sent it to the Sentinel in the off chance Sparky reads it. Better still, send it Certified Mail (or what ever it's called) for personal delivery to Mr. M. Hughes and require a signature.
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Post by harryburrows on Nov 30, 2015 6:43:24 GMT
Well written as always rob , thanks very much . Most appreciated
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Post by whydelilah on Nov 30, 2015 7:05:49 GMT
We got screwed over by a pathetic red card.
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Post by potterglen on Nov 30, 2015 7:11:27 GMT
Analysis of the fiasco 100% correct, and it was a fiasco. Seems to be the norm for Sunderland where I've seen Shawcross sent off twice, Cattermole prevent a goal with a double handball and numerous goals scored from free kicks just outside the box. What I find baffling is that none of our players seem to spot the game plan - I've seen Fletcher 'at it' for 3 seasons now so I'm wondering if any of the team or management watch and analyse our defeats. Watford, West Brom and now Blunderland - 3 defensive teams have all turned us over and you'd think after the first loss we'd have learned something.
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Post by jaybee on Nov 30, 2015 8:05:05 GMT
Well written as always rob , thanks very much . Most appreciated This!
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Post by milky on Nov 30, 2015 8:18:19 GMT
Analysis of the fiasco 100% correct, and it was a fiasco. Seems to be the norm for Sunderland where I've seen Shawcross sent off twice, Cattermole prevent a goal with a double handball and numerous goals scored from free kicks just outside the box. What I find baffling is that none of our players seem to spot the game plan - I've seen Fletcher 'at it' for 3 seasons now so I'm wondering if any of the team or management watch and analyse our defeats. Watford, West Brom and now Blunderland - 3 defensive teams have all turned us over and you'd think after the first loss we'd have learned something. A bit harsh to include the West Brom fiasco. We are hardly likely to break down a Pulis team playing over half the game with 9 men. And do we not go near an opposition player in case he takes a dive ?
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Post by Danstoke82 on Nov 30, 2015 8:20:50 GMT
Good write up.
My conclusion is that we are always shite up at Sunderland so wasn't expecting much from it.
Glad we have the fixture out of the way now though
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Post by cheekymatt71 on Nov 30, 2015 8:32:33 GMT
You miss one glaring conclusion that I took from the game
- Shaqiri is actually not a winger
Every passing week shows that he has a great left foot and is an intelligent player and potential playmaker. But we have bought a guy to play rightwing, when really he is best deployed in the middle.
He quite clearly had no idea how to beat his man on the outside and he is receiving the ball in a static position on that rightwing in a totally unattural way. He prefers to receive the ball in the middle and run towards goal with a bit more space. Sunderland didnt even bother putting 2 players on his this time and he couldnt beat his man.
For me that is by far the most worrying conclusion because we dont have a natural right-winger in the squad.
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Post by WoodbineWright2@ on Nov 30, 2015 8:41:59 GMT
The goal famine is a problem we need to sort out. We just never seem to get that 15-20 goals a season man we're crying out for. But that wouldn't be as much of an issue if players in other positions chipped in with a few too. When was the last time a defender scored for us ?
I'm not panicking or worried about any kind of relegation crisis, but this is a problem that will hold us back. It's like we still haven't got any closer to achieving what TP failed miserably at - scoring more goals. It's so frustrating.
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Post by chiefdelilah on Nov 30, 2015 8:55:40 GMT
You miss one glaring conclusion that I took from the game - Shaqiri is actually not a winger Every passing week shows that he has a great left foot and is an intelligent player and potential playmaker. But we have bought a guy to play rightwing, when really he is best deployed in the middle. He quite clearly had no idea how to beat his man on the outside and he is receiving the ball in a static position on that rightwing in a totally unattural way. He prefers to receive the ball in the middle and run towards goal with a bit more space. Sunderland didnt even bother putting 2 players on his this time and he couldnt beat his man. For me that is by far the most worrying conclusion because we dont have a natural right-winger in the squad. I wonder if the plan ultimately is to have him tuck in and give Johnson the freedom of that flank, because you're right, he isn't a conventional winger from what we've seen.
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Post by cheekymatt71 on Nov 30, 2015 9:20:49 GMT
If Shaqiri is going to play in the position for the whole season then he needs to find an easier way to get on the outside of his full-back.
He tried his flip-flap again on saturday but it didnt come off. Honestly though its much simpler because he is so small and quick, he should be able to use his pace to beat the full-back on the outside.
His performance was so frustrating on Saturday after he appeared to be getting to grips in previous weeks. He needs to watch a repeat of the game and come up with a solution pronto, he cant keep passing it back to Johnson and letting him do all the attacking work
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Post by rawli on Nov 30, 2015 9:21:55 GMT
Analysis of the fiasco 100% correct, and it was a fiasco. Seems to be the norm for Sunderland where I've seen Shawcross sent off twice, Cattermole prevent a goal with a double handball and numerous goals scored from free kicks just outside the box. What I find baffling is that none of our players seem to spot the game plan - I've seen Fletcher 'at it' for 3 seasons now so I'm wondering if any of the team or management watch and analyse our defeats. Watford, West Brom and now Blunderland - 3 defensive teams have all turned us over and you'd think after the first loss we'd have learned something. It was the same last season. Burnley, Leicester and Villa all did us in the same way. We desperately need a plan B for these kind of games.
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Post by cerebralstokie on Nov 30, 2015 9:33:39 GMT
How refreshing to read a balanced, honest assessment of how we fared on Wearside. Much better than the outpourings of bile against Mike Dean, Duncan Watmore and Sam Allardyce to be found on some other threads. Only by addressing our own weaknesses and analysing them will we improve. I am confident that Mark and his team will do this and that we shall see a much better performance against Man City next Saturday
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Post by metalhead on Nov 30, 2015 10:00:15 GMT
Isn't it strange that on here, we often disagree, yet every point you've made in this article is absolutely on the money!! In particular this one:
This is something I've been trying to get across all weekend!! Well, 16:48 on Saturday onwards. We, with and without Ryan, were, in the words of Will McKenzie from Inbetweeners, 'fucking dreadful'. We created next to nothing all game (Walters chance aside) and on the whole, we deserved fuck all. They played like a team who really wanted it, and despite their lust for a cheeky dive they were much the better team. We on the other hand, played like a team lacking motivation. Whether that's just the depressing nature of playing Sunderland away (I've only ever been the SOL once and nearly froze to death), it looked like a performance from the start of the season.
Unfortunately, the injury to Defoe benefited them more than it hindered them. That young lad Watmore was superb for them and as pointed out by one of the commentators on my feed, his style of play is very simple.... RUN AT THE DEFENDERS!! How many times did our players actually try and run at theirs. You've got probably the slowest defence in Premier League history vs some very quick players in Bojan, Arnie and Shaq, yet I don't think we once made them actually run!
As important as it is to mention Mike Dean's dreadful performance, I didn't get the impression he was somehow biased in Sunderland's favour.... otherwise he'd have sent Ryan off in the first half which could have! Was he righting the wrong? Probably, possibly, but Ryan gave him a decision to make. Yes he won the ball, but I was watching a HD stream and my first instinct was he's caught the man. I watched MOTD and again, it's not totally clear cut from several angles. It's only that one angle from behind where you see he makes clear contact. The lad Watmore went down easy yep, but we're clutching. We gave Dean a decision to make and we know he's a bit card happy anyway... As I said, his linesman also has to give him a word in his ear and I don't think that happened.
You've highlighted their first goal perfectly. Just how slow were we closing him down? I said at the time, while watching it, "he's got a fuck tonne of space right there" and it was all too easy for him to get a shot off. Perhaps tiring legs?
Finally, this will give them a kick for Tuesday. Any complacency will have surely disappeared after that mess. We are better in every department than Sheffield Wednesday, but they will not come here and lie down. We need to beat them professionally and show them why we're Premiership furniture. I'm happy that Ryan isn't playing because he's been superb lately, perhaps he'd be better having a rest considering his injury and lack of pre-season prep. However, I want Sparky to send out a solid team. If we go into this game focussed and determined to win, then we will.
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Post by Gods on Nov 30, 2015 10:17:56 GMT
You miss one glaring conclusion that I took from the game - Shaqiri is actually not a winger Every passing week shows that he has a great left foot and is an intelligent player and potential playmaker. But we have bought a guy to play rightwing, when really he is best deployed in the middle. He quite clearly had no idea how to beat his man on the outside and he is receiving the ball in a static position on that rightwing in a totally unattural way. He prefers to receive the ball in the middle and run towards goal with a bit more space. Sunderland didnt even bother putting 2 players on his this time and he couldnt beat his man. For me that is by far the most worrying conclusion because we dont have a natural right-winger in the squad. Agreed, Shaqiri is a talented operator in tight spaces but while he has fast feet he is always going to find it tough to go past someone and then run way from them, his legs are simply too short to sustain the required stride pattern.
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Post by jarvinski on Nov 30, 2015 10:27:48 GMT
How can we go from being brilliant to absolute dogshit in a week
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Post by cheekymatt71 on Nov 30, 2015 10:32:12 GMT
How can we go from being brilliant to absolute dogshit in a week cuz we're Stoke innit!!
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Post by stokey127 on Nov 30, 2015 10:33:08 GMT
Yes, I think we need to fix our current goal scoring crisis and stop attaching a 'hard luck story' to every defeat by accepting the problem for what it is, we can't score a goal for love or money. We need to look in the transfer winow and splash out for a regular goal scoring striker we obviously don't have the strength in that area, we are finding the opportunities but not finishing, that was so evident at Southampton.
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Post by chiefdelilah on Nov 30, 2015 10:40:58 GMT
Yes, I think we need to fix our current goal scoring crisis and stop attaching a 'hard luck story' to every defeat by accepting the problem for what it is, we can't score a goal for love or money. We need to look in the transfer winow and splash out for a regular goal scoring striker we obviously don't have the strength in that area, we are finding the opportunities but not finishing, that was so evident at Southampton. Southampton was the exception not the rule though. Generally we're not creating any chances to miss. A new striker won't solve that as they'll have the same problem as it stands.
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Post by Gods on Nov 30, 2015 10:46:28 GMT
Yes, I think we need to fix our current goal scoring crisis and stop attaching a 'hard luck story' to every defeat by accepting the problem for what it is, we can't score a goal for love or money. We need to look in the transfer winow and splash out for a regular goal scoring striker we obviously don't have the strength in that area, we are finding the opportunities but not finishing, that was so evident at Southampton. Be tough for Sparky to get that past old Coatesy though I would imagine. Don't forget Mr. Coates was persuaded to sign extensions for Crouch and Odemwingie in the summer neither of whom any longer feature and we just extended Walters contract too for another 3 years and SJW himself may be about to be invited to take a rest. If you then toss in the £6 million we invested in the frozen out Joselou in the summer it is starting to get a bit silly. I suspect if Sparky were to go to the Chairman now and say 'How are we fixed for another striker Mr. Coates?' I fear it would leave him with copious quantities of steam coming out if his ears followed by a stream of the sort of expletives you would not normally expect from a man of that age in his position!
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Post by Deleted on Nov 30, 2015 10:54:01 GMT
How long have I been saying we need a proper striker? It's not rocket science.
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Post by maninasuitcase on Nov 30, 2015 10:55:41 GMT
Chuck scumderland, fat twat Sam and Mike 'the twat' dean in the pot labelled 'cunts' with wenger, the scum arsenal and twatkinson.
Wankers all of em.
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