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Post by Gods on May 3, 2021 22:46:04 GMT
Come Saturday it will be 64 games over approximately 46 weeks. So about 1.4 games a week. However I imagine most clubs in the championship will have played a similar amount, so in theory every club should be fatigued. Fair enough I'm just trying to cast my mind back to when I was in my 20's if I was confronted with the news that I would need to play a football game once every 5 days. I think my first reaction would have been, what am I going to do the rest of the time?!
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Post by bingbang on May 4, 2021 4:11:03 GMT
Lame excuse that just doesn’t wash with me they are professional athletes. Look at some other sport, footballers have it easy. Take cyclists, tennis players and worse of all jockeys. They will often do a 18 hour day, seven days a week with poor wages and very little snappin. Footballers have it easy.
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Post by heworksardtho on May 4, 2021 5:53:52 GMT
Need to get Tony Pulis in working them ard , running them up trentham hills , one thing you can’t say about his Stoke side is that they wernt fit
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Post by crapslinger on May 4, 2021 5:54:19 GMT
Same for every other club in the league, he's making excuses he's run out of ideas and by the look of it lost the players who appear to have downed tools.
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Post by yyy on May 4, 2021 6:11:08 GMT
No excuse for not being fit, thats their job to be so and scfc have all the modern facilities
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Post by heworksardtho on May 4, 2021 6:14:42 GMT
No excuse for not being fit, thats their job to be so and scfc have all the modern facilities We must have one of the best training grounds and facilities in the championship if not the best
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Post by cobhamstokey on May 4, 2021 6:16:52 GMT
I think it’s more down to attitude than fitness as all other clubs have had exactly the same number of fixtures. We’ve been going through the motions / on the beach for the last 6-8 games because in the players eyes we’ve had nothing to play for. Pretty poor but the word “pride” appears to have disappeared.
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Post by heworksardtho on May 4, 2021 6:21:43 GMT
I think it’s more down to attitude than fitness as all other clubs have had exactly the same number of fixtures. We’ve been going through the motions / on the beach for the last 6-8 games because in the players eyes we’ve had nothing to play for. Pretty poor but the word “pride” appears to have disappeared. You’re right as basically they have no pride and can’t be arsed
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Post by boweryboy on May 4, 2021 6:33:55 GMT
Anybody else remember playing year's ago, having games postponed during the season because of bad weather,then having to for fill your fixture list at the end by playing every night all week after being at work every day.... that's what running on empty actually feels like!!
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Post by The Toxic Avenger on May 4, 2021 6:51:37 GMT
For the most part there hasn't been a problem with attitude. I've seen plenty of Stoke teams that couldn't give a toss and this isn't one of them. Those teams aren't capable of the kind of organisation that keeps so many clean sheets and grinds out so many tedious goalless draws.
I think injuries have affected us but that's been overstated. Fitness and tactics in the second half of games are recurring problems as is the commitment to certain favourites.
Most of all though I think it's because when you go through the squad we look like a bottom half Championship team. We have too many players who are either past it or not up to it:
Smith, Fox, Batth, Tymon, Thompson, Brown aren't good enough. Chester, McClean, Clucas, Vokes, Mikel, Allen, even Fletcher look various shades of past-it. We are what we are.
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Post by LGH87 on May 4, 2021 7:09:49 GMT
For the most part there hasn't been a problem with attitude. I've seen plenty of Stoke teams that couldn't give a toss and this isn't one of them. Those teams aren't capable of the kind of organisation that keeps so many clean sheets and grinds out so many tedious goalless draws. I think injuries have affected us but that's been overstated. Fitness and tactics in the second half of games are recurring problems as is the commitment to certain favourites. Most of all though I think it's because when you go through the squad we look like a bottom half Championship team. We have too many players who are either past it or not up to it: Smith, Fox, Batth, Tymon, Thompson, Brown aren't good enough. Chester, McClean, Clucas, Vokes, Mikel, Allen, even Fletcher look various shades of past-it. We are what we are. Absolutely nail on head mate and I expect more of the same next season, unless we can unearth a gem or two in the summer and Campbell & Doughty come back fit and firing (highly unlikely). Unfortunately for the vast number of reasons discussed to death on this board, we are where we are until next summer.
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Post by pushon on May 4, 2021 7:25:30 GMT
For the most part there hasn't been a problem with attitude. I've seen plenty of Stoke teams that couldn't give a toss and this isn't one of them. Those teams aren't capable of the kind of organisation that keeps so many clean sheets and grinds out so many tedious goalless draws. I think injuries have affected us but that's been overstated. Fitness and tactics in the second half of games are recurring problems as is the commitment to certain favourites. Most of all though I think it's because when you go through the squad we look like a bottom half Championship team. We have too many players who are either past it or not up to it: Smith, Fox, Batth, Tymon, Thompson, Brown aren't good enough. Chester, McClean, Clucas, Vokes, Mikel, Allen, even Fletcher look various shades of past-it. We are what we are. Summed up to a "t" Mr T.
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Post by Deleted on May 4, 2021 7:30:52 GMT
It’s the same for other teams. Just a cheap and lame excuse from him and the players. It's not just him that suffers. I take zero interest in the other 23 clubs, so I have no idea whether or not they/their pr's have said anything, but there's been an almighty whining from Liverpool, which to some degree is relevant in the form of missing centrebacks. Real Madrid have also had the worst luck this century, with all four regular defenders missing at the same time and a couple of their defensive reserves too! Add in the long absence of Hazard, and you can see why Zidane might also be whining, which he to his credit actually hasn't been. Other clubs could no doubt be mentioned.
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Post by Deleted on May 4, 2021 7:32:44 GMT
Need to get Tony Pulis in working them ard , running them up trentham hills , one thing you can’t say about his Stoke side is that they wernt fit But they were mentally fatigued at the end of his trials.
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Post by spiderpuss on May 4, 2021 8:49:43 GMT
Playing endless friendly style games with a so-so squad has clearly affected morale all around. Let's hope we get a fresh start next year, regardless of what manager is in charge.
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Post by Deleted on May 4, 2021 9:05:18 GMT
I thought the thread title was aimed at us supporters.
That's how I feel after this season.
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Post by bayernoatcake on May 4, 2021 9:07:46 GMT
The lack of rotation hasn't helped either.
He's overplayed Campbell, Fletcher, Powell, Mikel and Allen.
When was the last time Cousins started? It's fucking mad.
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Post by nottsover60 on May 4, 2021 9:21:21 GMT
I think it's more stuck in a rut of not winning. When you are enjoying yourself and succeeding you have far more energy. We concede and immediately our energy levels drop because we don't have winner's confidence. Swansea demonstrated that perfectly v Derby on Saturday. They were second best all match apart from the fifteen minutes after Derby took the lead when they raised their game. The poor run we had after Campbell got injured put us down there - we lost our talisman then lost that game that we were winning and went ages without winning another game.
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Post by crapslinger on May 4, 2021 9:40:37 GMT
For the most part there hasn't been a problem with attitude. I've seen plenty of Stoke teams that couldn't give a toss and this isn't one of them. Those teams aren't capable of the kind of organisation that keeps so many clean sheets and grinds out so many tedious goalless draws. I think injuries have affected us but that's been overstated. Fitness and tactics in the second half of games are recurring problems as is the commitment to certain favourites. Most of all though I think it's because when you go through the squad we look like a bottom half Championship team. We have too many players who are either past it or not up to it: Smith, Fox, Batth, Tymon, Thompson, Brown aren't good enough. Chester, McClean, Clucas, Vokes, Mikel, Allen, even Fletcher look various shades of past-it. We are what we are. Absolutely nail on head mate and I expect more of the same next season, unless we can unearth a gem or two in the summer and Campbell & Doughty come back fit and firing (highly unlikely). Unfortunately for the vast number of reasons discussed to death on this board, we are where we are until next summer. MON signed 6 of those 13 players has allowed two of them to trigger clauses enabling them to stay another season, the players he has brought in have not improved us the signing of Jacob Brown with the last of the parachute money is unforgiveable, with fans back in the ground I can't see them excepting this we are where we are for another mind numbing season of O'Neil ball watching fat Sam Vokes stroll around for 20 mins. every game despite contributing fuck all to the rest of our so called team.
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Post by stokemark on May 4, 2021 9:48:27 GMT
The lack of rotation hasn't helped either. He's overplayed Campbell, Fletcher, Powell, Mikel and Allen. When was the last time Cousins started? It's fucking mad. Cousins put in some excellent performances at the back end of 2020 yet has hardly featured this year. MON is clearly shit scared to play him in case he puts in more good performances and questions then get asked as to why we are offering Mikel a contract extension. 'Tired and running on empty' when it suits the agenda
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Post by ColonelMustard on May 4, 2021 10:04:39 GMT
We compounded our problems by criminally under utilising the 5 subs rule too.
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Post by Staffsoatcake on May 4, 2021 11:09:54 GMT
Is it tiredness or is it we are just crap?
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Post by skemstokie on May 4, 2021 11:37:08 GMT
For the most part there hasn't been a problem with attitude. I've seen plenty of Stoke teams that couldn't give a toss and this isn't one of them. Those teams aren't capable of the kind of organisation that keeps so many clean sheets and grinds out so many tedious goalless draws. I think injuries have affected us but that's been overstated. Fitness and tactics in the second half of games are recurring problems as is the commitment to certain favourites. Most of all though I think it's because when you go through the squad we look like a bottom half Championship team. We have too many players who are either past it or not up to it: Smith, Fox, Batth, Tymon, Thompson, Brown aren't good enough. Chester, McClean, Clucas, Vokes, Mikel, Allen, even Fletcher look various shades of past-it. We are what we are. I agree with most of what you say but think main problem is we are easy to play against, if we have the ball we never go for the jugular we pass sideways backwards inviting opposition to press up on us how many times do we end up back with the keeper per game? Even the keepers seem hell bent on keeping the pressure on us by rolling the ball out to defenders,how many goals have we conceded by losing possession in the final third? In attack we always telegraph every ball leaving the opposing defence to defend with their backs to goal (much easier) we never seem to vary our approach i am no coach but i think i could set a team up against Stoke,mix it up a bit go long with pace not sideways without.
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Post by thevoid on May 4, 2021 11:47:39 GMT
This seems to be at then heart of all our problems if the post match interviews are to be believed. Simplistically the whole squad is fucked. But why exactly? Truth is we have played 18 games in just over 3 months since January which equates to 6 matches per month or just over 1 per week. I mean what would happen were we, heaven forbid, to progress in a cup competition? The lads would spontaneously combust! It makes you wonder how teams who play quicker than Stoke (around 90% of the league I'd guess) cope?
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Post by thevoid on May 4, 2021 11:49:48 GMT
This seems to be at then heart of all our problems if the post match interviews in April are to be believe. Simplistically the whole squad is fucked. But why exactly? Truth is we have played 18 games in just over 3 months since January which equates to 5 matches a month or 1 per week. I mean what would happen were we, heaven forbid, to progress in a cup competition? The lads would spontaneously combust! Your equation is wrong. We have rarely played 1 match per week. There's been an international break and I think we also missed out on one saturday because of our early fa cup exit. This has forced our schedule to have two games per week on some occasions. Apart from internationals being away, that did give us a couple of extended breaks without football. Whether or not that was to our advantage is open to discussion. Your equation is also wrong because it suggests the season started in January. You know very well this is not the case. Moreover our season started in September after the shortest summer break in this century. Therefore the whole season has been condensed into a shorter preriod with fewer breaks than is the norm. The players have suffered as a result, mentally especially. There's been very little opportunity for the coaches to correct things. Even your conclusion is wrong, becuase we did actually progress in a cup competition, the caraboa cup. "Therefore the whole season has been condensed into a shorter preriod with fewer breaks than is the norm. The players have suffered as a result, mentally especially. There's been very little opportunity for the coaches to correct things." It's been the same conditions and time constraints for every single club.
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Post by Deleted on May 4, 2021 11:57:10 GMT
Your equation is wrong. We have rarely played 1 match per week. There's been an international break and I think we also missed out on one saturday because of our early fa cup exit. This has forced our schedule to have two games per week on some occasions. Apart from internationals being away, that did give us a couple of extended breaks without football. Whether or not that was to our advantage is open to discussion. Your equation is also wrong because it suggests the season started in January. You know very well this is not the case. Moreover our season started in September after the shortest summer break in this century. Therefore the whole season has been condensed into a shorter preriod with fewer breaks than is the norm. The players have suffered as a result, mentally especially. There's been very little opportunity for the coaches to correct things. Even your conclusion is wrong, becuase we did actually progress in a cup competition, the caraboa cup. "Therefore the whole season has been condensed into a shorter preriod with fewer breaks than is the norm. The players have suffered as a result, mentally especially. There's been very little opportunity for the coaches to correct things." It's been the same conditions and time constraints for every single club. Some teams are running on empty, some are running on wins. That's the big difference. That's the "secret to MON" that Barnsley "discovered"
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Post by theoptimist on May 4, 2021 12:04:43 GMT
At every opportunity MON moans on about this in his interviews. Giving our weak willed players the excuse they need. Poor man mangement.
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Post by wakefieldstokie on May 4, 2021 12:12:51 GMT
We've played exactly 10 times since February 27th. I make that playing fewer than 90 minutes of association football a week for anyone who has played all the matches, which in reality is no one. I could understand it if the issue was the the players are 'bored shitless' because there is fuck all to do, but 'tired', really?! They’re not. It’s just an excuse for poor management, poor boardroom and shite recruitment
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borges
Academy Starlet
Posts: 104
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Post by borges on May 4, 2021 14:55:05 GMT
Come Saturday it will be 64 games over approximately 46 weeks. So about 1.4 games a week. However I imagine most clubs in the championship will have played a similar amount, so in theory every club should be fatigued. Fair enough I'm just trying to cast my mind back to when I was in my 20's if I was confronted with the news that I would need to play a football game once every 5 days. I think my first reaction would have been, what am I going to do the rest of the time?! Not much of a comparison unless you were also a professional footballer in your 20s, is it? I think others have hit the nail on the head with regards to an inability to effectively rotate players in the starting XI or make meaningful substitutions putting us at a disadvantage when compared to other clubs in the division, but the equivocation by some supporters of 'tired', 'running on empty' etc. as literally meaning too tired to play is maddening. As far as I'm aware, no player has missed a match because they were fatigued (injured, rested as a precaution - absolutely). It's the nature of elite sport - small margins have big impacts on performance levels - so MON saying we're 'tired' is about the team being unable to sustain high levels of performance across the 90 minutes, not them needing an early night.
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Post by stokeyank on May 4, 2021 15:12:28 GMT
Fair enough I'm just trying to cast my mind back to when I was in my 20's if I was confronted with the news that I would need to play a football game once every 5 days. I think my first reaction would have been, what am I going to do the rest of the time?! Not much of a comparison unless you were also a professional footballer in your 20s, is it? I think others have hit the nail on the head with regards to an inability to effectively rotate players in the starting XI or make meaningful substitutions putting us at a disadvantage when compared to other clubs in the division, but the equivocation by some supporters of 'tired', 'running on empty' etc. as literally meaning too tired to play is maddening. As far as I'm aware, no player has missed a match because they were fatigued (injured, rested as a precaution - absolutely). It's the nature of elite sport - small margins have big impacts on performance levels - so MON saying we're 'tired' is about the team being unable to sustain high levels of performance across the 90 minutes, not them needing an early night. If you are a professional athlete in your 20s (or even early 30s) there is nearly no excuse to be tired or running on empty. If you properly take care of yourself, rest, eat and sleep you should be perfectly fine to play a game or two each week. This was known 30 plus years ago and now with modern sports science its even easier. Yes there are individual times when you may have an off day or illness, but it's no excuse for an entire team to be shit. The only way this is a valid excuse would be if the coaching and training staff were shit at their jobs and over worked the players week in and week out in training. They run what, 7 miles in a game? My wife does that 6 days a week and is not knackered half way through her runs, and she's in her 40s! Mental fatigue of losing or being second best most weeks could be a real thing though. I can only pray that is what is being referred to!
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