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Post by foxysgloves on Jan 14, 2021 23:13:19 GMT
What a performance Arnautovic, Bojan, Shaqiri The clip misses the biggest highlight which was Wolly's Cruyff turn in his own defensive zone. I don't think I can recall another game where the players exuded both class and confidence in the face of such impressive opposition. Pride And all with Wolschied at CB, Pieters LB and Johnson RB. Mental. Edit. And Geoff Cameron in midfield. |
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Post by BuzzB on Jan 14, 2021 23:14:02 GMT
We could have beaten Arsenal, City, Liverpool and Spurs by 6 that season. Shame we only managed it with one. For those of us who have lived through 50+ years of loving SCFC, we just have to cherish it, file it along with the other good and bad we have seen. Bloody hurts though! Live in the present, we are where we are, Pity the poor buggers who joined in 2008 and are feeling pain for the first time ( insert big smiley here ). 2014/5/6 was a beauty to behold at times. |
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Post by LGH87 on Jan 14, 2021 23:39:26 GMT
Not better than 6-1 surely - but that was without Bo and Shaq? It was definitely a better all-round performance than the 6-1. And frankly against much better opposition, Liverpool were terrible - there are a few other games I'd put ahead of the Liverpool performance tbh. ManC were the league leaders I think and we completely dominated them from start to finish. It was a controlled, imposing masterpiece of a performance. The ManC game was the best Stoke performance I've ever seen and I really doubt it will ever be beaten. We were that good I honestly believe we’d have beaten absolutely anyone that came up against us that day. |
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Post by PotterLog on Jan 14, 2021 23:58:31 GMT
I have an Arsenal mate who texted me at 1 or 2 nil simply saying "this could be six". And only a poor refereeing decision stopped it from being so. It wasn’t poor ref decision he got it spot on, Walters was in an offside position in front of the goalie when the shot came in. How they came to this decision though I will never know as it took me at least 6 looks at slow motion replays to pick it out, I’m sure we got done here by an early version of var, as it must of been a good minute before it was disallowed. I believed this for a long time until I realised there’s an Arsenal defender out of shot on the most obvious angle of it who is playing everyone on. Would have to look again now to be sure but I definitely came to the conclusion nobody was offside. |
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Post by PotterLog on Jan 14, 2021 23:59:12 GMT
It was definitely a better all-round performance than the 6-1. And frankly against much better opposition, Liverpool were terrible - there are a few other games I'd put ahead of the Liverpool performance tbh. ManC were the league leaders I think and we completely dominated them from start to finish. It was a controlled, imposing masterpiece of a performance. The ManC game was the best Stoke performance I've ever seen and I really doubt it will ever be beaten. We were that good I honestly believe we’d have beaten absolutely anyone that came up against us that day. I agree. We were unstoppable. It’s a privilege to have witnessed it really |
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Post by CalgaryPotter on Jan 15, 2021 0:13:59 GMT
It wasn’t poor ref decision he got it spot on, Walters was in an offside position in front of the goalie when the shot came in. How they came to this decision though I will never know as it took me at least 6 looks at slow motion replays to pick it out, I’m sure we got done here by an early version of var, as it must of been a good minute before it was disallowed. I believed this for a long time until I realised there’s an Arsenal defender out of shot on the most obvious angle of it who is playing everyone on. Would have to look again now to be sure but I definitely came to the conclusion nobody was offside. I remember the commentators having no idea what it was called for. They didn't know if it was Walters or Diouf (which is understandable given the skin colour) and whether it was offside or interference. There was an Arsenal player coming onto the pitch from behind the goal which ruled the offside out. Interference was a bollocks call and over the years we received so many. First and pretty much only club to be punished for holding in the box ring a bell? |
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Post by PotterLog on Jan 15, 2021 0:35:32 GMT
I have an Arsenal mate who texted me at 1 or 2 nil simply saying "this could be six". And only a poor refereeing decision stopped it from being so. It wasn’t poor ref decision he got it spot on, Walters was in an offside position in front of the goalie when the shot came in. How they came to this decision though I will never know as it took me at least 6 looks at slow motion replays to pick it out, I’m sure we got done here by an early version of var, as it must of been a good minute before it was disallowed. I remember what it was now, Walters was in an offside position but nowhere near interfering. Diouf was interfering but was played on by the last defender - certainly level by the standards of the day, although admittedly his knee might get VARed now.  |
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Post by callas12 on Jan 15, 2021 1:08:35 GMT
Think the main matches have been mentioned & all were great in their own right.
But the 3-1 away win at Bournemouth always sticks out in my mind, we had alot of things go against us during the match like injuries to Muniesa & Johnson (he was on verge of an England call up at this time WTF!) but the squad just battled through & it turned out being a great away victory where we actually showed some old style guile & withstood the usual onslaught and dirty tactics Bournemouth used to employ.
Seems strange saying it but Imbula had a great game & scored a tidy goal & those who were there actually thought we'd signed the real deal (Doh!)..
The atmosphere from the travelling Stokies was awesome with singing from first whistle to the last. The 'Shaqiri, Imbula & an Affelay' song was the trend then!
Must mention Dionatan Texiera who came off the bench & had an outstanding game, seeing how good he was for us that match still makes me wonder why Hughes never deployed him more than he actually was. I remember thinking Hughes had uncovered the next Vincent Kompany when he arrived.
May have only been Bournemouth, but for some reason this game always sticks out for me & the majority of Stokies left there feeling confident we were still heading in the right direction & everything was good in the world.
Must finally mention this was the match where we wore the White New Balance kit as a one off & smart it was to, rounded things off nicely!
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Post by robwahlmann on Jan 15, 2021 10:11:34 GMT
My God that made me proud! Will we ever see anything like that again? Shaq, Arnie and Bojan at their best, mint!  We’ve got Brown , Vokes , Ince and Gregory now that’s class ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ Brown!  |
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Post by Olgrligm on Jan 15, 2021 10:43:31 GMT
An often forgotten fact is that as brilliant as we were that Christmas, 'Stokelona' with Arnie on the left, Bojan up front and Shaqiri on the right was really a spell of three wins in five games in December 2015 that came shortly before the complete collapse of Hughes' reign on 23rd January with the long term injury to Ryan, the three consecutive 3-0 defeats and the signing of Gianelli Imbula.
Outside of that spell, Bojan generally performed better when Walters led the line and you could count Shaqiri's above average performances for us on two hands. Arnie was head and shoulders above every other attacker we'vehad since Fuller, which is why losing him to West Ham inspired such emotion.
Incidentally, the unsung hero of Stokelona wwas Ryan Shawcross. Prior to his injury at Leicester, we didn't concede a single goal when he was on the pitch that season.
That was the year that Leicester won the league and the big clubs all fell apart. Based on our position at Christmas, we should have had a real push at the European spots. On new year's day, we were 2 points off 5th place and six points off 4th. As somebody said earlier, it's one of the great what if moments. We would almost certainly have kept Arnie and had a real platform to push on. It's why I don't like the 9th place finish that year being talked up as an achievement. It should have been better.
I would argue that the Man City and Man Utd wins were the best performances of Hughes' reign, but the best all-round starting eleven was the one that lined up against Liverpool:
Begovic
Cameron
Shawcross
Monies
Pieters
Whelan
N'Zonzi
Adam
Walters
Arnautovic
Diouf
That side had everything. Physical power (only Mundesley below 6 foot) combined with some genuinely top level footballers. Players all capable of holding their own on the ball and in a fight. Pacey counter attacks with horrible bastards.
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Post by Stokyo on Jan 15, 2021 11:56:10 GMT
It's painful to watch that. How we can go from that level to the shite weve seen week in week out since and the human errors that caused it are sickening. I'm still at the disbelief stage. God I miss putting it up the big boys as underdogs.
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Post by biglad180 on Jan 15, 2021 12:09:39 GMT
Shaqiri. Arnautovic N,zonzi and Bojan, what a joy that time was for us stoke fans, fantastic players for us we would go toe to toe with the best at that time and give them a run for there money,
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Post by questionable on Jan 15, 2021 14:45:21 GMT
Amazing times and a once in a lifetime experience for all but Christ what a terrible decline since then, for those involved you should hang your heads in shame and WE all know who they are as their stench is still here, absolutely no reason for the total decline other than sheer incompetence of the highest order.
Don’t know whether to laugh or cry after watching that.
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Post by bingbang on Jan 15, 2021 15:27:52 GMT
Arnie could have become a legend here if he had stayed.ðŸ˜
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Post by apb1 on Jan 15, 2021 16:01:24 GMT
That was the best game. Liverpool was mad but had an end of season vibe. This was a proper destruction of a massively bankrolled club, which made me think we were knocking on that top six door.
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Post by xchpotter on Jan 15, 2021 17:14:53 GMT
For me it was this Man City game. Remember watching it in a pub having just finished off my Christmas shopping and settling down with beer and a nice lunch. It just felt like we were rarely in trouble in the game and it seemed the first time we got any credit universally from the media and the football world. Happy, happy days and a game I shall never forget.
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Post by lordb on Jan 15, 2021 17:43:54 GMT
What a performance Arnautovic, Bojan, Shaqiri The clip misses the biggest highlight which was Wolly's Cruyff turn in his own defensive zone. I don't think I can recall another game where the players exuded both class and confidence in the face of such impressive opposition. Pride And all with Wolschied at CB, Pieters LB and Johnson RB. Mental. Edit. And Geoff Cameron in midfield. the commentary is ace as with the Man United game we should have scored a hatful |
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Post by Simon Drainrod on Jan 15, 2021 17:52:08 GMT
It’s obvious. The decline started we swapped NB for Warrior. That’s funny because we had Warrior for one season then went to New Balance because they owned Warrior, which at the time they were using for football kits, and they decided to phase Warrior out! Think you meant when we went to Macron, but do like the uniqueness of their kits Could have sworn it was the other way round. Maybe not. |
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Post by hardcastle on Jan 15, 2021 17:57:15 GMT
Can anyone explain why Shaq was never played as a number ten? Sliding perfectly weighted angled balls through from an advanced midfield position to Arnie or Boj was clearly his forte. He was never a winger, was he?
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Post by callas12 on Jan 15, 2021 18:11:12 GMT
Arnie could have become a legend here if he had stayed.😠As times moved along & my disliking for the circumstances of his move & his antics against us afterwards on the pitch have waned, I can honestly say Arnie on his day was quite possibly the best all round player I've seen in a Stoke shirt. For goals, assists, element of surprise & sheer brilliance on the ball. Through to his all round general play & even the arrogance he displayed as part of his character & game, he's got to be the most complete Stoke player I've seen.. He was Stoke through & through whilst he was with us in the main no doubting that, but he did start to show his true colours in the way he engineered his move away to West Ham. & he almost replicated these antics at West Ham over time, proving it wasn't a Stoke issue as he'd like to of had us believe.. From going along doing the crossed hammer sign to embed himself with the fans, he quickly turned & showed that his main influence in life is money & we were simply a stepping stone on his career path, just as West Ham were. & as you mention, if he'd hung around & achieved something with us he would of definitely been up there in the legendary status stakes. But as it was, he'll always be regarded as a mighty fine player for us, but his antics will prevent him from being seen as part of our clubs fabric, beyond those who actually saw him play. |
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Post by mestallastokie on Jan 15, 2021 18:29:38 GMT
I remember here in Spain the press and TV comparing Madrid's front 3 with Stoke's. BBC or BMX? Which is better? Another world.
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Post by pembo82 on Jan 15, 2021 18:38:42 GMT
The Man City game was probably the best but the 3-2 Chelsea game was one of the best mentals when Assaidi smashed in the winner. Not Stokealona but we were 1-0 down then 2-1 up and looked like it was more likely that Chelsea were to nick a winner than we would but then that cut inside and strike made the place rock!!
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Post by bgreen13 on Jan 15, 2021 19:04:57 GMT
It was at most 5 games.
And the prime reason of our hangers on now.
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Post by Ron on Jan 15, 2021 19:07:02 GMT
What a performance Arnautovic, Bojan, Shaqiri The clip misses the biggest highlight which was Wolly's Cruyff turn in his own defensive zone. I don't think I can recall another game where the players exuded both class and confidence in the face of such impressive opposition. Pride And all with Wolschied at CB, Pieters LB and Johnson RB. Mental. Edit. And Geoff Cameron in midfield. All of whom were execellent for us. Wollscheid was never as bad as folk thought |
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Post by foxysgloves on Jan 15, 2021 19:15:42 GMT
And all with Wolschied at CB, Pieters LB and Johnson RB. Mental. Edit. And Geoff Cameron in midfield. All of whom were execellent for us. Wollscheid was never as bad as folk thought He did run funny though. |
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Post by Ron on Jan 15, 2021 19:41:44 GMT
All of whom were execellent for us. Wollscheid was never as bad as folk thought He did run funny though. he didn’t look like a centre half that’s for sure |
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Post by hardcastle on Jan 15, 2021 20:30:22 GMT
Just what was the matter with us all. He was decent was Wolfie. His sin? - he wasn't Robert Huth. That's all.
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Post by CalgaryPotter on Jan 15, 2021 20:34:15 GMT
Just what was the matter with us all. He was decent was Wolfie. His sin? - he wasn't Robert Huth. That's all. His Majesty, Robert Huth  |
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Post by Olgrligm on Jan 15, 2021 21:10:27 GMT
Which game marked the turning point from Stokealona into the start of our decline- the first leg of the Cup semi? Or was it more of a gradual thing as we did play well in the 2nd leg at Anfield? 23rd January 2016 On that day, we played away at Leicester and Shawcross set off his long term back injury. Up to that point we hadn't conceded a single goal when he'd been on the pitch in the first half of the season. Almost as soon as he went off, we conceded three goals, before then losing the next two games 3-0 as well. Nine days later we threw £18,000,000 at Gianelli Imbula. An interesting note from the BBC's match report on that game: Stoke's problems lie in front of goal, having not scored in nine of their 23 league games this season. |
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Post by SamB_SCFC on Jan 15, 2021 21:17:51 GMT
Not better than 6-1 surely - but that was without Bo and Shaq? It was definitely a better all-round performance than the 6-1. And frankly against much better opposition, Liverpool were terrible - there are a few other games I'd put ahead of the Liverpool performance tbh. ManC were the league leaders I think and we completely dominated them from start to finish. It was a controlled, imposing masterpiece of a performance. The ManC game was the best Stoke performance I've ever seen and I really doubt it will ever be beaten. Yes it was the most complete performance I've ever seen from a Stoke team and against such top class opposition. The problem is it was possibly too good. We tended to go under the radar before that as unfashionable Stoke but that performance was just so complete and so good that other teams really started to sit up and take notice of what we were doing. The result was that other teams started playing to counter us for the first time, rather than us playing to counter them. They quickly found a way to stop our front 3 and the false 9 system and Hughes simply didn't have the tactical intelligence to adapt to it. Once we'd been stopped we suddenly became very ineffective going forwards and started leaking goals at the back and it was all downhill from there with failed signing after failed signing with so many bad apples brought in. |
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