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Post by thevoid on Sept 11, 2023 17:15:45 GMT
Do you not remember the regular "1 win in 9", "3 wins in 17", "9 wins in 26" threads under MON? The FA Cup and League Cup wins were deemed surplus to requirements.............  "8 losses in 12 league games" "2 wins in 12 league games" Oh wait nevermind, wrong manager. These dour Celts are all much of a muchness |
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Alex Neil
Sept 11, 2023 19:05:49 GMT
via mobile
Post by Davef on Sept 11, 2023 19:05:49 GMT
Our centre backs will get absolutely ragdolled by Ashley Barnes and Josh Sargent. Saturday could be a thrashing and he'll be under pressure then. Sargent won't be playing on Saturday, he's out for a while with serious ankle ligament damage. |
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Post by HarryTheHat on Sept 11, 2023 19:09:02 GMT
Our centre backs will get absolutely ragdolled by Ashley Barnes and Josh Sargent. Saturday could be a thrashing and he'll be under pressure then. Sargent won't be playing on Saturday, he's out for a while with serious ankle ligament damage. You killjoy Dave - they were getting themselves nice and worked up |
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Alex Neil
Sept 11, 2023 19:19:10 GMT
via mobile
Post by jesusmcmuffin on Sept 11, 2023 19:19:10 GMT
Our centre backs will get absolutely ragdolled by Ashley Barnes and Josh Sargent. Saturday could be a thrashing and he'll be under pressure then. Barnes and Idah more than likely. Sargent is out. |
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Post by crouchpotato1 on Sept 11, 2023 19:23:28 GMT
Sargent won't be playing on Saturday, he's out for a while with serious ankle ligament damage. You killjoy Dave - they were getting themselves nice and worked up Its pathetic isn’t it🙄I’ve never known such a negative set of pathetic so called fans |
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Alex Neil
Sept 11, 2023 19:31:06 GMT
via mobile
Post by smallthorner on Sept 11, 2023 19:31:06 GMT
For me its the manager merry go round. We've had Rowett and Jones and MON. When is the last time in the past 6 years we have gone on a really good run and won 4 in a row. I've started to think it doesn't matter who the manager is we seem to be cursed to stay in the championship for eternity. Im not in love with Alex Niell at all, but im really not sure any manager could do any better at Stoke at this time. Sounds completely defeatist I know. Maybe if we looked abroad for the next manager it could change. This season will be mid table under any British manager I feel. They couldn't have done much more to back a manager this pre season. Making subs after 30 mins and 4 at once is a sign of a manager who is already getting things terribly wrong with the players he has and not sure what to do. Is a great squad there for the right man , he simply isn't it. Makes more excuses than some on here How do you know its a great squad? |
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Post by jesusmcmuffin on Sept 11, 2023 19:33:11 GMT
They couldn't have done much more to back a manager this pre season. Making subs after 30 mins and 4 at once is a sign of a manager who is already getting things terribly wrong with the players he has and not sure what to do. Is a great squad there for the right man , he simply isn't it. Makes more excuses than some on here How do you know its a great squad? Well he's stuck with it if it isn't and the fanboys will be running out of excuses |
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Post by vidigal7 on Sept 11, 2023 19:46:57 GMT
Well I don't agree, I think it's far from conclusive and too early into a new season to draw those conclusions. We've got a whole new spine, you just havn't give it time to adjust to new surroundings because your mind is made. For me Travers, Mcnally, Pearson, Burger, Wesley looks a pretty solid spine. People mention Mcnally and make the assumption we've gone soft at the back. Coventry fans loved Mcnally and wanted him back, they reached the play-offs with him playing. A fully fit Pearson is a pain in the backside for opposition, that's why Stoke fans wanted him, after him playing against us. Burger's player description is he gets stuck in as we've already seen glimpses of, Basel fans pissed to see him sold, he's 6ft 3 and worn the captains armband everywhere he'd played for, he allready looks like he wants to orchestrate. Wesley is a £22m unit that offers strength and link up play, Mmaee has barely even started. Oh and Travers is very highly rated, that's the spine you moan we're lacking. You're just not prepared to be patient for them to bed in as a team because your narrative is set in stone. Writing it off as you have as early have you have is ridiculous, not even two weeks after the window has shut ( or a week and a half) in a window where even the last day played a part. All you ever do is drone on about how bad things are, why do you even follow Stoke, where does your fulfilment come from? All thus " I travel 350 miles weekly" blah blah blah, absolute tosh, with the negative vibe you mass produce you'd be suicidal at the first traffic light cue, god help the passengers, theyd be addicted to valium by the end of the first half of the journey. It's not fair to others your constant droning.. Oh and now you've got a Junho, where if you actually attended the Preston game could clearly see he's going to gave no problem complimenting the new scfc spine. He looks a fine athletic player who will cope with the physical demands no problem. Alex Neil has completed two more promotions allready than you ever will and he's a young manager, no doubt still constantly learning. He's got over the line twice by scoring goals and winning games, that's a fact. Tje players he brought in look exciting and we have signed pkayers to play an attacking game with a sprinkling of flair, what more do you want? We'd do very well to better that record with anybody else. There is a hell of a lot to be optimistic about this season Irrelevant what he's done before Again you're now basing stuff on what happened at other clubs also as well as what you hope will happen . The only thing that matters is what he does here and so far he has a lot of improving to do. the stats are out there and not good at all . The only ones that matter. You're looking at last seasons stats. The club have since restructured the whole club from top to bottom. They've pressed reset though. How can you bring last year's stats into this season when the whole lot has changed from top to bottom, it's a totally different place and a totally different set up. You don't seem to grasp that. Neil isn't some chancer, he's promoted two different clubs from two different leagues and he's 42, Jagielka was playing until the age of 40, weve got a good young manager who knows how to get promoted and has just signed a lot of what the overwhelming majority believe to be exciting signings. You've not even seen what he can and can't do with this setup yet because they've not even settled in. This squad 'has' got his name on it so he deserves the opportunity of a full season to show what he can do with it. You can't employ somebody, pass them a shit Sandwich of someone else's making, allow them to reshape the whole squad then give them a month,the thought is just bizarre, i cant get my head around how people even think that's sensible. I'm not for all this sacking culture just after a run of below standard results, that's how you end up like we had done with loads of parts that don't fit together. Find a good man and let him build something. You can't escape the fact he's been promoted twice allready, it's a fact he knows how it's done |
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Alex Neil
Sept 11, 2023 19:53:48 GMT
via mobile
Post by sportsman on Sept 11, 2023 19:53:48 GMT
Our centre backs will get absolutely ragdolled by Ashley Barnes and Josh Sargent. Saturday could be a thrashing and he'll be under pressure then. Turn the lights out when you're done |
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Post by boskampsflaps on Sept 11, 2023 20:03:18 GMT
For me its the manager merry go round. We've had Rowett and Jones and MON. When is the last time in the past 6 years we have gone on a really good run and won 4 in a row. I've started to think it doesn't matter who the manager is we seem to be cursed to stay in the championship for eternity. Im not in love with Alex Niell at all, but im really not sure any manager could do any better at Stoke at this time. Sounds completely defeatist I know. Maybe if we looked abroad for the next manager it could change. This season will be mid table under any British manager I feel. They couldn't have done much more to back a manager this pre season. Making subs after 30 mins and 4 at once is a sign of a manager who is already getting things terribly wrong with the players he has and not sure what to do. Is a great squad there for the right man , he simply isn't it. Makes more excuses than some on here Or it's a sign of a manager that's got a near completely new squad and he's still finding out how best to use it which is fair enough so early in the season, it would be a worry if we were half way through. |
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Alex Neil
Sept 11, 2023 20:25:23 GMT
via mobile
Post by Deleted on Sept 11, 2023 20:25:23 GMT
Our centre backs will get absolutely ragdolled by Ashley Barnes and Josh Sargent. Saturday could be a thrashing and he'll be under pressure then. Sargent won't be playing on Saturday, he's out for a while with serious ankle ligament damage. Sad for Sargent obviously but it gives us a chance. |
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Alex Neil
Sept 11, 2023 20:57:06 GMT
via mobile
Post by roylandstoke on Sept 11, 2023 20:57:06 GMT
Irrelevant what he's done before Again you're now basing stuff on what happened at other clubs also as well as what you hope will happen . The only thing that matters is what he does here and so far he has a lot of improving to do. the stats are out there and not good at all . The only ones that matter. You're looking at last seasons stats. The club have since restructured the whole club from top to bottom. They've pressed reset though. How can you bring last year's stats into this season when the whole lot has changed from top to bottom, it's a totally different place and a totally different set up. You don't seem to grasp that. Neil isn't some chancer, he's promoted two different clubs from two different leagues and he's 42, Jagielka was playing until the age of 40, weve got a good young manager who knows how to get promoted and has just signed a lot of what the overwhelming majority believe to be exciting signings. You've not even seen what he can and can't do with this setup yet because they've not even settled in. This squad 'has' got his name on it so he deserves the opportunity of a full season to show what he can do with it. You can't employ somebody, pass them a shit Sandwich of someone else's making, allow them to reshape the whole squad then give them a month,the thought is just bizarre, i cant get my head around how people even think that's sensible. I'm not for all this sacking culture just after a run of below standard results, that's how you end up like we had done with loads of parts that don't fit together. Find a good man and let him build something. You can't escape the fact he's been promoted twice allready, it's a fact he knows how it's done What do you think is a reasonable expectation for this year? |
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Alex Neil
Sept 11, 2023 21:01:41 GMT
via mobile
Post by Gawa on Sept 11, 2023 21:01:41 GMT
Irrelevant what he's done before Again you're now basing stuff on what happened at other clubs also as well as what you hope will happen . The only thing that matters is what he does here and so far he has a lot of improving to do. the stats are out there and not good at all . The only ones that matter. You're looking at last seasons stats. The club have since restructured the whole club from top to bottom. They've pressed reset though. How can you bring last year's stats into this season when the whole lot has changed from top to bottom, it's a totally different place and a totally different set up. You don't seem to grasp that. Neil isn't some chancer, he's promoted two different clubs from two different leagues and he's 42, Jagielka was playing until the age of 40, weve got a good young manager who knows how to get promoted and has just signed a lot of what the overwhelming majority believe to be exciting signings. You've not even seen what he can and can't do with this setup yet because they've not even settled in. This squad 'has' got his name on it so he deserves the opportunity of a full season to show what he can do with it. You can't employ somebody, pass them a shit Sandwich of someone else's making, allow them to reshape the whole squad then give them a month,the thought is just bizarre, i cant get my head around how people even think that's sensible. I'm not for all this sacking culture just after a run of below standard results, that's how you end up like we had done with loads of parts that don't fit together. Find a good man and let him build something. You can't escape the fact he's been promoted twice allready, it's a fact he knows how it's done The problem is vidigal that you're contradicting yourself there. You don't want to take into account anything from last season at all. You discount Alex Neil from being accountable for anything, we should all pretend it's a bad dream and not assosciate the failings with Alex in any manner. Because it wasn't Alex's own players and he didn't get to make his stamp on the team? However despite the above you credit him with 2 promotions which occurred before he got to make his stamp on the team and do his big reset. Promoting two sides he took over which were already in the playoffs and over half way through their campaigns. Surely if you can credit him for promoting teams already in the playoffs where he didn't get to make wholesale changes. Then surely he should also be judged by what he did with what he inherited here too? Would you be discounting last season and ignoring all the stats had he done well? Or would you credit him with the work like you did with Norwich and Sunderland? |
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Post by vidigal7 on Sept 11, 2023 21:21:13 GMT
You're looking at last seasons stats. The club have since restructured the whole club from top to bottom. They've pressed reset though. How can you bring last year's stats into this season when the whole lot has changed from top to bottom, it's a totally different place and a totally different set up. You don't seem to grasp that. Neil isn't some chancer, he's promoted two different clubs from two different leagues and he's 42, Jagielka was playing until the age of 40, weve got a good young manager who knows how to get promoted and has just signed a lot of what the overwhelming majority believe to be exciting signings. You've not even seen what he can and can't do with this setup yet because they've not even settled in. This squad 'has' got his name on it so he deserves the opportunity of a full season to show what he can do with it. You can't employ somebody, pass them a shit Sandwich of someone else's making, allow them to reshape the whole squad then give them a month,the thought is just bizarre, i cant get my head around how people even think that's sensible. I'm not for all this sacking culture just after a run of below standard results, that's how you end up like we had done with loads of parts that don't fit together. Find a good man and let him build something. You can't escape the fact he's been promoted twice allready, it's a fact he knows how it's done What do you think is a reasonable expectation for this year? The players to gel, a good proportion of the new players to look the part, play some good football, get some good results and show more consistency in the second half of the season as they know each others strengths and weaknesses. Our first Top half finish which takes us nicely into the summer to add the finishing touches for the end product, promotion push next season |
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Alex Neil
Sept 11, 2023 21:28:41 GMT
via mobile
Post by vidigal7 on Sept 11, 2023 21:28:41 GMT
You're looking at last seasons stats. The club have since restructured the whole club from top to bottom. They've pressed reset though. How can you bring last year's stats into this season when the whole lot has changed from top to bottom, it's a totally different place and a totally different set up. You don't seem to grasp that. Neil isn't some chancer, he's promoted two different clubs from two different leagues and he's 42, Jagielka was playing until the age of 40, weve got a good young manager who knows how to get promoted and has just signed a lot of what the overwhelming majority believe to be exciting signings. You've not even seen what he can and can't do with this setup yet because they've not even settled in. This squad 'has' got his name on it so he deserves the opportunity of a full season to show what he can do with it. You can't employ somebody, pass them a shit Sandwich of someone else's making, allow them to reshape the whole squad then give them a month,the thought is just bizarre, i cant get my head around how people even think that's sensible. I'm not for all this sacking culture just after a run of below standard results, that's how you end up like we had done with loads of parts that don't fit together. Find a good man and let him build something. You can't escape the fact he's been promoted twice allready, it's a fact he knows how it's done The problem is vidigal that you're contradicting yourself there. You don't want to take into account anything from last season at all. You discount Alex Neil from being accountable for anything, we should all pretend it's a bad dream and not assosciate the failings with Alex in any manner. Because it wasn't Alex's own players and he didn't get to make his stamp on the team? However despite the above you credit him with 2 promotions which occurred before he got to make his stamp on the team and do his big reset. Promoting two sides he took over which were already in the playoffs and over half way through their campaigns. Surely if you can credit him for promoting teams already in the playoffs where he didn't get to make wholesale changes. Then surely he should also be judged by what he did with what he inherited here too? Would you be discounting last season and ignoring all the stats had he done well? Or would you credit him with the work like you did with Norwich and Sunderland? I know what you're saying but I've read time and again on here, "oh Alex only got Sunderland and Norwich promoted because they had good players allready in place" but on the flip side you're expecting him to work miracles up at Stoke last season with a shit balanced squad allready in place. What if I put it to you that we have what look to be good players in place at Stoke 'this' season? |
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Alex Neil
Sept 11, 2023 21:30:00 GMT
via mobile
Post by baconburger on Sept 11, 2023 21:30:00 GMT
Our centre backs will get absolutely ragdolled by Ashley Barnes and Josh Sargent. Saturday could be a thrashing and he'll be under pressure then. Are these the same two players who did jack shit against us when we came up against them last season? |
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Alex Neil
Sept 11, 2023 21:44:54 GMT
via mobile
Post by roylandstoke on Sept 11, 2023 21:44:54 GMT
The problem is vidigal that you're contradicting yourself there. You don't want to take into account anything from last season at all. You discount Alex Neil from being accountable for anything, we should all pretend it's a bad dream and not assosciate the failings with Alex in any manner. Because it wasn't Alex's own players and he didn't get to make his stamp on the team? However despite the above you credit him with 2 promotions which occurred before he got to make his stamp on the team and do his big reset. Promoting two sides he took over which were already in the playoffs and over half way through their campaigns. Surely if you can credit him for promoting teams already in the playoffs where he didn't get to make wholesale changes. Then surely he should also be judged by what he did with what he inherited here too? Would you be discounting last season and ignoring all the stats had he done well? Or would you credit him with the work like you did with Norwich and Sunderland? I know what you're saying but I've read time and again on here, "oh Alex only got Sunderland and Norwich promoted because they had good players allready in place" but on the flip side you're expecting him to work miracles up at Stoke last season with a shit balanced squad allready in place. What if I put it to you that we have what look to be good players in place at Stoke 'this' season? Do you think the current squad is balanced? |
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Post by vidigal7 on Sept 11, 2023 21:53:34 GMT
I know what you're saying but I've read time and again on here, "oh Alex only got Sunderland and Norwich promoted because they had good players allready in place" but on the flip side you're expecting him to work miracles up at Stoke last season with a shit balanced squad allready in place. What if I put it to you that we have what look to be good players in place at Stoke 'this' season? Do you think the current squad is balanced? I trust the manager knows what he wants and we have an analyst in place to look for just that, so yes. There are probably a couple of bits we can add in January same with every other club but I believe we've made a good start. I mean look at that midfield 3, Pearson, Burger and Junho, you wait until they click haha. We've not even seen Tchamadeu or haksobanovic yet and only a tiny bit of Mmaee and Leris. This is what I'm saying the season has barely even started |
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Post by benjaminbiscuit on Sept 11, 2023 22:01:31 GMT
Do you think the current squad is balanced? I trust the manager knows what he wants and we have an analyst in place to look for just that, so yes. There are probably a couple of bits we can add in January same with every other club but I believe we've made a good start. I mean look at that midfield 3, Pearson, Burger and Junho, you wait until they click haha. We've not even seen Tchamadeu or haksobanovic yet and only a tiny bit of Mmaee and Leris. This is what I'm saying the season has barely even started 5 games from now that one won't wash either without significant improvement |
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Alex Neil
Sept 11, 2023 22:01:47 GMT
via mobile
Post by vidigal7 on Sept 11, 2023 22:01:47 GMT
Oh don't forget Vidigal, allready looking better than this division
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Alex Neil
Sept 11, 2023 22:07:44 GMT
via mobile
Post by Deleted on Sept 11, 2023 22:07:44 GMT
I disagree. It was a squad he was in charge for over 41 league games. Personally, I think AN sucks. However, he’s not going anywhere this season unless we fall to the bottom three. Part of the problem in football (and in life) is the 'instant' culture. No one has time for anything and everybody wants everything today. Managers and teams throughout the leagues are written off after a couple of games. I know it's an old example but Fergie wouldn't have been in a job at Utd if it was 2023 and not the late eighties or early nineties, lucky for him after 3 shit years of managing them Robins scored that goal and the rest is history. I believe AN was given the brief of 'do what you can until the summer' when the FP is sorted and we'll judge you 23/24 season when you have your team. In that respect, we shouldn't be making bold statements about the manager or the team because we just don't know yet - 17/18 new players at once is unprecedented. (although we definitely will judge thats life). Perhaps but that is the world of football now. A manager has about 2-3 seasons to get results. He’s had one. He’ll definitely have this one too. Then, we’ll just see. Football is an expensive hobby and there are plenty of other things one could be doing with their time. It’s not surprising that it’s become more results driven. People just don’t want to pay to be bored. I hope he does well. I may really dislike him but that’d go away quickly if we actually began to perform. |
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Post by owdestokie2 on Sept 11, 2023 22:08:09 GMT
What do you think is a reasonable expectation for this year? The players to gel, a good proportion of the new players to look the part, play some good football, get some good results and show more consistency in the second half of the season as they know each others strengths and weaknesses. Our first Top half finish which takes us nicely into the summer to add the finishing touches for the end product, promotion push next season I wonder how many of the current squad or those added in January will be here next season….a partial rebuild again? |
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Alex Neil
Sept 11, 2023 22:15:06 GMT
via mobile
Post by vidigal7 on Sept 11, 2023 22:15:06 GMT
The players to gel, a good proportion of the new players to look the part, play some good football, get some good results and show more consistency in the second half of the season as they know each others strengths and weaknesses. Our first Top half finish which takes us nicely into the summer to add the finishing touches for the end product, promotion push next season I wonder how many of the current squad or those added in January will be here next season….a partial rebuild again? Too far ahead isn't it really, if we're fending off bids it's been a success hasn't it? By then Dublin is well into his search for good replacements, it won't half help with that if you're not chopping and changing managers every time you have a below average run of results |
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Alex Neil
Sept 11, 2023 22:16:51 GMT
via mobile
Post by vidigal7 on Sept 11, 2023 22:16:51 GMT
I trust the manager knows what he wants and we have an analyst in place to look for just that, so yes. There are probably a couple of bits we can add in January same with every other club but I believe we've made a good start. I mean look at that midfield 3, Pearson, Burger and Junho, you wait until they click haha. We've not even seen Tchamadeu or haksobanovic yet and only a tiny bit of Mmaee and Leris. This is what I'm saying the season has barely even started 5 games from now that one won't wash either without significant improvement Well you don't deserve a successful football club then do you |
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Post by The Toxic Avenger on Sept 11, 2023 22:18:27 GMT
The players to gel, a good proportion of the new players to look the part, play some good football, get some good results and show more consistency in the second half of the season as they know each others strengths and weaknesses. Our first Top half finish which takes us nicely into the summer to add the finishing touches for the end product, promotion push next season I wonder how many of the current squad or those added in January will be here next season….a partial rebuild again? That’s the future though isn’t it? People need to make peace with the fact that our better players will be sold and the model will be to have the replacements sourced in advance. |
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Post by Gods on Sept 11, 2023 22:23:17 GMT
I wonder how many of the current squad or those added in January will be here next season….a partial rebuild again? Too far ahead isn't it really, if we're fending off bids it's been a success hasn't it? By then Dublin is well into his search for good replacements, it won't half help with that if you're not chopping and changing managers every time you have a below average run of results I think we are about as far from 'fending off bids' as it is humanly possible to be. We need to start win some frickin football games, last 4 matches L,W,L,L is not what any of us had in mind. |
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Alex Neil
Sept 11, 2023 22:25:49 GMT
via mobile
Post by vidigal7 on Sept 11, 2023 22:25:49 GMT
Too far ahead isn't it really, if we're fending off bids it's been a success hasn't it? By then Dublin is well into his search for good replacements, it won't half help with that if you're not chopping and changing managers every time you have a below average run of results I think we are about as far from 'fending off bids' as it is humanly possible to be. We need to start win some frickin football games L,W,L,L is not what anyone has in mind. I know yeah we're doomed, only another 42 games and 126 points to play for, doomed I tell thee, doomed haha |
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Post by The Toxic Avenger on Sept 11, 2023 22:27:44 GMT
Too far ahead isn't it really, if we're fending off bids it's been a success hasn't it? By then Dublin is well into his search for good replacements, it won't half help with that if you're not chopping and changing managers every time you have a below average run of results I think we are about as far from 'fending off bids' as it is humanly possible to be. We need to start win some frickin football games, last 4 matches L,W,L,L is not what any of us had in mind. Any particular reason why you’ve gone with four matches and not five? |
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Post by Gawa on Sept 11, 2023 23:43:47 GMT
The problem is vidigal that you're contradicting yourself there. You don't want to take into account anything from last season at all. You discount Alex Neil from being accountable for anything, we should all pretend it's a bad dream and not assosciate the failings with Alex in any manner. Because it wasn't Alex's own players and he didn't get to make his stamp on the team? However despite the above you credit him with 2 promotions which occurred before he got to make his stamp on the team and do his big reset. Promoting two sides he took over which were already in the playoffs and over half way through their campaigns. Surely if you can credit him for promoting teams already in the playoffs where he didn't get to make wholesale changes. Then surely he should also be judged by what he did with what he inherited here too? Would you be discounting last season and ignoring all the stats had he done well? Or would you credit him with the work like you did with Norwich and Sunderland? I know what you're saying but I've read time and again on here, "oh Alex only got Sunderland and Norwich promoted because they had good players allready in place" but on the flip side you're expecting him to work miracles up at Stoke last season with a shit balanced squad allready in place. What if I put it to you that we have what look to be good players in place at Stoke 'this' season? I don't think anyone was expecting miracles, they just weren't expecting regression. He did manage to secure 5 PL loans as well as Celina which is over half of a Starting XI in itself. But our ppg after the January signings was actually worse than before. Last season we started with 2 wins, 1 draw, 3 losses in the league before Alex arrived. We're very close to potentially doing even worse this year. And I do agree that there is certainly a better quality of player this season compared to last. But it would be criminal if it wasn't better. According to transfer market we spent approximately 13.5 million in the 7 transfer windows from summer 2019 to summer 2022. This window we've spent 14.5 million excluding those with undisclosed fees. I think though as a minimum you hope to see players improve and become better players under the manager. And so far I can think of very few players who have played their best football under Alex Neil here. We shouldn't linger over this negativity too much and maybe just agree to disagree. They've had 2 weeks on the training pitch and have a big game on Saturday - a win there could be the difference between a bad start and a decent start. I think what adds to the frustration too is that we finished last season on a bad note with a run of 6 or 7 games without a win too. So in some ways it just feels like a continuation of the same problems. I agree though that realistically you'd hope to think the more familiar the players get with eachother that they should get better and results will come. But then I'd have expected that last season too so who knows. I don't think he should be sacked btw, should still be given time to see what he can do with these new players. |
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Post by vidigal7 on Sept 12, 2023 6:59:18 GMT
I know what you're saying but I've read time and again on here, "oh Alex only got Sunderland and Norwich promoted because they had good players allready in place" but on the flip side you're expecting him to work miracles up at Stoke last season with a shit balanced squad allready in place. What if I put it to you that we have what look to be good players in place at Stoke 'this' season? I don't think anyone was expecting miracles, they just weren't expecting regression. He did manage to secure 5 PL loans as well as Celina which is over half of a Starting XI in itself. But our ppg after the January signings was actually worse than before. Last season we started with 2 wins, 1 draw, 3 losses in the league before Alex arrived. We're very close to potentially doing even worse this year. And I do agree that there is certainly a better quality of player this season compared to last. But it would be criminal if it wasn't better. According to transfer market we spent approximately 13.5 million in the 7 transfer windows from summer 2019 to summer 2022. This window we've spent 14.5 million excluding those with undisclosed fees. I think though as a minimum you hope to see players improve and become better players under the manager. And so far I can think of very few players who have played their best football under Alex Neil here. We shouldn't linger over this negativity too much and maybe just agree to disagree. They've had 2 weeks on the training pitch and have a big game on Saturday - a win there could be the difference between a bad start and a decent start. I think what adds to the frustration too is that we finished last season on a bad note with a run of 6 or 7 games without a win too. So in some ways it just feels like a continuation of the same problems. I agree though that realistically you'd hope to think the more familiar the players get with eachother that they should get better and results will come. But then I'd have expected that last season too so who knows. I don't think he should be sacked btw, should still be given time to see what he can do with these new players. I agree, you've got to see improvement, that's the name of the game, but you've got to afford a realistic bedding in period to draw a certain conclusion on the summers changes, big changes. You can't plant bulbs in a brand new planter, go to bed and then open the curtains in the morning and kick off because they havn't sprouted yet. Then go down the nursery to complain that your last attempt didn't work last year and these bulbs I planted yesterday havn't blossomed overnight. They'd look at you with a bemused look at explain you planted them just yesterday |
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