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Post by mickeythemaestro on Jul 17, 2024 8:43:44 GMT
For the first season in a long time I am genuinely excited for the season to kick off. Seems like we may have landed a very decent head coach and I for one can't wait to watch Junho and Million tearing up a few opposition defences. I'm getting that Ricky feeling again.....😃 I foresee a cracking season..
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Post by bertiestan on Jul 17, 2024 9:07:29 GMT
For the first season in a long time I am genuinely excited for the season to kick off. Seems like we may have landed a very decent head coach and I for one can't wait to watch Junho and Million tearing up a few opposition defences. I'm getting that Ricky feeling again.....😃 I foresee a cracking season.. Quietly optimistic myself mickey🔴⚪️ |
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Post by mickstupp on Jul 17, 2024 9:10:07 GMT
We’ll do better this season, but we won’t be anywhere near the top six unless we find a decent centre forward.
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Post by Gods on Jul 17, 2024 9:10:24 GMT
I just googled Ricky Vibes to see his current team and what position he plays!
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Post by stokesupporter on Jul 17, 2024 9:13:29 GMT
I just googled Ricky Vibes to see his current team and what position he plays! Sign him up! |
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Post by Gods on Jul 17, 2024 9:17:06 GMT
I just googled Ricky Vibes to see his current team and what position he plays! Sign him up! Sounds electric doesn't he? A real handful for defenders! |
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Post by J-Roar on Jul 17, 2024 9:20:15 GMT
Sounds electric doesn't he? A real handful for defenders! Buzzes around the box. |
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Post by mickeythemaestro on Jul 17, 2024 9:21:21 GMT
Sounds electric doesn't he? A real handful for defenders! Not to be confused with Ricky Villa of course 😀 |
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Post by st3mark on Jul 17, 2024 9:32:06 GMT
Nice to see a bit if optimism. Not that I share it yet  The squad is weaker than last year and we've added no goals to the team. Million, Bae and Burger are great. But we need another 3 of that quality to stand a chance. Ideally in CF, LW and RWB positions |
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Post by mickeythemaestro on Jul 17, 2024 9:38:11 GMT
Nice to see a bit if optimism. Not that I share it yet The squad is weaker than last year and we've added no goals to the team. Million, Bae and Burger are great. But we need another 3 of that quality to stand a chance. Ideally in CF, LW and RWB positions Agreed, a few more additions required. But I reckon now Schumacher has had time to breathe and actually bend his head round what he's got he'll be working some magic around philosophy and mentality and some of the players we have will improve now they've had time to understand what he's about. Gooaarrn you mighty potters... |
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Post by thisisouryear on Jul 17, 2024 9:41:54 GMT
With a proper pre-season under our belt we should expect a much better season. I'm just gonna say it now....
This is our year
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Post by thornestein on Jul 17, 2024 10:04:02 GMT
I just googled Ricky Vibes to see his current team and what position he plays! never heard of him 😉 |
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Post by Bera’s Beano on Jul 17, 2024 13:21:04 GMT
Nice to see a bit if optimism. Not that I share it yet The squad is weaker than last year and we've added no goals to the team. Million, Bae and Burger are great. But we need another 3 of that quality to stand a chance. Ideally in CF, LW and RWB positions Is it weaker? How exactly would you say it was? We have a young left back in which we didn't have at all last year, with Stevens as purely back up this time. We have a first choice quality keeper who has played first team football at this level consistently and isn't someones 3rd choice on loan. We have signed a vastly experienced centre back who should be able to work with all of the current ones and replaces a very hit and miss loan in McNally. We have, so far, kept the core of the team including the exciting players who we are looking to build around, Junho, Million and Burger as you suggest. We are investing in young players who will hopefully push the first teamers all the way this year. We are being linked with strikers already, including rumours of concrete bids, so will be strengthening. I'm not expecting anything, because expecting things of Stoke only ends one way, but you have to say the optimism is reasonable so far. Of course lets see how the rest of the window goes but so far I don't think we can complain. If we can land both Armstrong and Ugbo then as far as I'm concerned we can literally go into the season as it stands with every chance of an outside play-off push, with upto a further month to tweak the squad to our liking even more. |
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Post by st3mark on Jul 17, 2024 14:29:04 GMT
Nice to see a bit if optimism. Not that I share it yet The squad is weaker than last year and we've added no goals to the team. Million, Bae and Burger are great. But we need another 3 of that quality to stand a chance. Ideally in CF, LW and RWB positions Is it weaker? How exactly would you say it was? We have a young left back in which we didn't have at all last year, with Stevens as purely back up this time. We have a first choice quality keeper who has played first team football at this level consistently and isn't someones 3rd choice on loan. We have signed a vastly experienced centre back who should be able to work with all of the current ones and replaces a very hit and miss loan in McNally. We have, so far, kept the core of the team including the exciting players who we are looking to build around, Junho, Million and Burger as you suggest. We are investing in young players who will hopefully push the first teamers all the way this year. We are being linked with strikers already, including rumours of concrete bids, so will be strengthening. I'm not expecting anything, because expecting things of Stoke only ends one way, but you have to say the optimism is reasonable so far. Of course lets see how the rest of the window goes but so far I don't think we can complain. If we can land both Armstrong and Ugbo then as far as I'm concerned we can literally go into the season as it stands with every chance of an outside play-off push, with upto a further month to tweak the squad to our liking even more. We have lost our first choice right back in Hoever. We have lost our only senior CF in Wesley. We have lost Campbell who provided an option at RW/RF/LF/LW and up front. We have lost Haksabanovic who provided cover across the same positions as Campbell. We have lost Cundle, who was the 10 or 8. We have lost McNally and Clark and only brought in Gibson. The goalie we have brought in simply replaces Iverson which is great but my overall point is that that squad is still too weak to be excited at this point. In actually still rather worried. Last season was a disaster and we're currently in my opinion very weak both in terms of quality and depth. Also, before anyone gets confused I'm not arguing that Wesley or Clark for example will be a big miss. I'm pointing out that they and others have not even been replaced and that we are very short. |
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Post by wuzza on Jul 17, 2024 14:52:54 GMT
Sounds electric doesn't he? A real handful for defenders! If he wasn’t a 70s Glam Rock star he darn well should have been ! |
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Post by wagsastokie on Jul 17, 2024 15:25:50 GMT
Is it weaker? How exactly would you say it was? We have a young left back in which we didn't have at all last year, with Stevens as purely back up this time. We have a first choice quality keeper who has played first team football at this level consistently and isn't someones 3rd choice on loan. We have signed a vastly experienced centre back who should be able to work with all of the current ones and replaces a very hit and miss loan in McNally. We have, so far, kept the core of the team including the exciting players who we are looking to build around, Junho, Million and Burger as you suggest. We are investing in young players who will hopefully push the first teamers all the way this year. We are being linked with strikers already, including rumours of concrete bids, so will be strengthening. I'm not expecting anything, because expecting things of Stoke only ends one way, but you have to say the optimism is reasonable so far. Of course lets see how the rest of the window goes but so far I don't think we can complain. If we can land both Armstrong and Ugbo then as far as I'm concerned we can literally go into the season as it stands with every chance of an outside play-off push, with upto a further month to tweak the squad to our liking even more. We have lost our first choice right back in Hoever. We have lost our only senior CF in Wesley. We have lost Campbell who provided an option at RW/RF/LF/LW and up front. We have lost Haksabanovic who provided cover across the same positions as Campbell. We have lost Cundle, who was the 10 or 8. We have lost McNally and Clark and only brought in Gibson. The goalie we have brought in simply replaces Iverson which is great but my overall point is that that squad is still too weak to be excited at this point. In actually still rather worried. Last season was a disaster and we're currently in my opinion very weak both in terms of quality and depth. Also, before anyone gets confused I'm not arguing that Wesley or Clark for example will be a big miss. I'm pointing out that they and others have not even been replaced and that we are very short. I’d suggest the only one that will be a miss is Cundle the rest aren’t worth much more than a piss in a paper bag |
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Post by st3mark on Jul 17, 2024 15:37:05 GMT
We have lost our first choice right back in Hoever. We have lost our only senior CF in Wesley. We have lost Campbell who provided an option at RW/RF/LF/LW and up front. We have lost Haksabanovic who provided cover across the same positions as Campbell. We have lost Cundle, who was the 10 or 8. We have lost McNally and Clark and only brought in Gibson. The goalie we have brought in simply replaces Iverson which is great but my overall point is that that squad is still too weak to be excited at this point. In actually still rather worried. Last season was a disaster and we're currently in my opinion very weak both in terms of quality and depth. Also, before anyone gets confused I'm not arguing that Wesley or Clark for example will be a big miss. I'm pointing out that they and others have not even been replaced and that we are very short. I’d suggest the only one that will be a miss is Cundle the rest aren’t worth much more than a piss in a paper bag Did you read the post in full? The point isnt about the quality of those that have left. It's about the holes they have left. We're short in those positions because they haven't been replaced by someone of better or even worse quality. The squad is relegation material as it stands and depleted compared to even last year when we stayed up by the skin of our teeth. |
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Post by wagsastokie on Jul 17, 2024 15:48:43 GMT
I’d suggest the only one that will be a miss is Cundle the rest aren’t worth much more than a piss in a paper bag Did you read the post in full? The point isnt about the quality of those that have left. It's about the holes they have left. We're short in those positions because they haven't been replaced by someone of better or even worse quality. The squad is relegation material as it stands and depleted compared to even last year when we stayed up by the skin of our teeth. Maybe I’m just confident they’ll all be replaced by equal or most probably better Plenty of time yet |
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Post by st3mark on Jul 17, 2024 15:50:20 GMT
Did you read the post in full? The point isnt about the quality of those that have left. It's about the holes they have left. We're short in those positions because they haven't been replaced by someone of better or even worse quality. The squad is relegation material as it stands and depleted compared to even last year when we stayed up by the skin of our teeth. Maybe I’m just confident they’ll all be replaced by equal or most probably better Plenty of time yet So am I. I just said I can't get excited yet because of the state of the squad. |
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Post by wagsastokie on Jul 17, 2024 15:53:17 GMT
Maybe I’m just confident they’ll all be replaced by equal or most probably better Plenty of time yet So am I. I just said I can't get excited yet because of the state of the squad. Fair enough |
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Post by baconburger on Jul 17, 2024 16:24:12 GMT
Nice to see a bit if optimism. Not that I share it yet The squad is weaker than last year and we've added no goals to the team. Million, Bae and Burger are great. But we need another 3 of that quality to stand a chance. Ideally in CF, LW and RWB positions Is it weaker? How exactly would you say it was? We have a young left back in which we didn't have at all last year, with Stevens as purely back up this time. We have a first choice quality keeper who has played first team football at this level consistently and isn't someones 3rd choice on loan. We have signed a vastly experienced centre back who should be able to work with all of the current ones and replaces a very hit and miss loan in McNally. We have, so far, kept the core of the team including the exciting players who we are looking to build around, Junho, Million and Burger as you suggest. We are investing in young players who will hopefully push the first teamers all the way this year. We are being linked with strikers already, including rumours of concrete bids, so will be strengthening. I'm not expecting anything, because expecting things of Stoke only ends one way, but you have to say the optimism is reasonable so far. Of course lets see how the rest of the window goes but so far I don't think we can complain. If we can land both Armstrong and Ugbo then as far as I'm concerned we can literally go into the season as it stands with every chance of an outside play-off push, with upto a further month to tweak the squad to our liking even more. A lot of if’s in there. We are in a better position than this time last summer. But IF we don’t sign some better forwards we’ll struggle for goals again. We’re still definitely weaker than the squad that finished the season. We’ve lost a significant amount of the output that gave us a good end to last season (Campbell, Cundle, Hoever) and not bought any players in that you’d expect to replace it. IF we sign the players we’ve been linked with in the last couple of days it would go some way to putting that right (We’ll at least have attempted to address the problem) but we haven’t signed any of them yet. |
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Post by Bera’s Beano on Jul 17, 2024 21:19:28 GMT
Is it weaker? How exactly would you say it was? We have a young left back in which we didn't have at all last year, with Stevens as purely back up this time. We have a first choice quality keeper who has played first team football at this level consistently and isn't someones 3rd choice on loan. We have signed a vastly experienced centre back who should be able to work with all of the current ones and replaces a very hit and miss loan in McNally. We have, so far, kept the core of the team including the exciting players who we are looking to build around, Junho, Million and Burger as you suggest. We are investing in young players who will hopefully push the first teamers all the way this year. We are being linked with strikers already, including rumours of concrete bids, so will be strengthening. I'm not expecting anything, because expecting things of Stoke only ends one way, but you have to say the optimism is reasonable so far. Of course lets see how the rest of the window goes but so far I don't think we can complain. If we can land both Armstrong and Ugbo then as far as I'm concerned we can literally go into the season as it stands with every chance of an outside play-off push, with upto a further month to tweak the squad to our liking even more. We have lost our first choice right back in Hoever. We have lost our only senior CF in Wesley. We have lost Campbell who provided an option at RW/RF/LF/LW and up front. We have lost Haksabanovic who provided cover across the same positions as Campbell. We have lost Cundle, who was the 10 or 8. We have lost McNally and Clark and only brought in Gibson. The goalie we have brought in simply replaces Iverson which is great but my overall point is that that squad is still too weak to be excited at this point. In actually still rather worried. Last season was a disaster and we're currently in my opinion very weak both in terms of quality and depth. Also, before anyone gets confused I'm not arguing that Wesley or Clark for example will be a big miss. I'm pointing out that they and others have not even been replaced and that we are very short. The point is then that the squad is not therefore weaker for having “lost” Wesley, Haksabanovic and Cundle? Cundle is the only one you could argue for at all, which is a stretch since he only did anything in the last half a dozen games. Campbell will need replacing, we have Tchamadeu to become first choice to replace Hoever. Also we’re very early in the window so it’s absolutely fine to have no replaced them all yet. Also the investment into youth that can look to break through gives a nice unknown to the mix. As explained we’re heavily linked with forward players in the spaces we need so I don’t think it can be argued with really. |
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Post by Bera’s Beano on Jul 17, 2024 21:25:27 GMT
Is it weaker? How exactly would you say it was? We have a young left back in which we didn't have at all last year, with Stevens as purely back up this time. We have a first choice quality keeper who has played first team football at this level consistently and isn't someones 3rd choice on loan. We have signed a vastly experienced centre back who should be able to work with all of the current ones and replaces a very hit and miss loan in McNally. We have, so far, kept the core of the team including the exciting players who we are looking to build around, Junho, Million and Burger as you suggest. We are investing in young players who will hopefully push the first teamers all the way this year. We are being linked with strikers already, including rumours of concrete bids, so will be strengthening. I'm not expecting anything, because expecting things of Stoke only ends one way, but you have to say the optimism is reasonable so far. Of course lets see how the rest of the window goes but so far I don't think we can complain. If we can land both Armstrong and Ugbo then as far as I'm concerned we can literally go into the season as it stands with every chance of an outside play-off push, with upto a further month to tweak the squad to our liking even more. A lot of if’s in there. We are in a better position than this time last summer. But IF we don’t sign some better forwards we’ll struggle for goals again. We’re still definitely weaker than the squad that finished the season. We’ve lost a significant amount of the output that gave us a good end to last season (Campbell, Cundle, Hoever) and not bought any players in that you’d expect to replace it. IF we sign the players we’ve been linked with in the last couple of days it would go some way to putting that right (We’ll at least have attempted to address the problem) but we haven’t signed any of them yet. Of course there’s ifs, it’s football. But we’re in the middle of July, not the last week in August. Obviously we’re going to be adding more to the squad, we may not even sign the ones we’ve been linked to recently but we’ll absolutely be adding a couple of attacking players into the squad regardless. If people can’t look to what’s happened so far in the context of where we are in the window and find some optimism then I aren’t going to argue the case for it for them. It’s all a bit shit I guess then… |
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Post by mrcoke on Jul 17, 2024 21:34:29 GMT
For me the real change is in the attitude of the players.
There is a lot more positivity.
We have a core of good players and just need a few more to have a very competent squad.
I think we have lost nothing in the players who have left; even Campbell contributed very little last season.
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Post by baconburger on Jul 17, 2024 21:34:45 GMT
A lot of if’s in there. We are in a better position than this time last summer. But IF we don’t sign some better forwards we’ll struggle for goals again. We’re still definitely weaker than the squad that finished the season. We’ve lost a significant amount of the output that gave us a good end to last season (Campbell, Cundle, Hoever) and not bought any players in that you’d expect to replace it. IF we sign the players we’ve been linked with in the last couple of days it would go some way to putting that right (We’ll at least have attempted to address the problem) but we haven’t signed any of them yet. Of course there’s ifs, it’s football. But we’re in the middle of July, not the last week in August. Obviously we’re going to be adding more to the squad, we may not even sign the ones we’ve been linked to recently but we’ll absolutely be adding a couple of attacking players into the squad regardless. If people can’t look to what’s happened so far in the context of where we are in the window and find some optimism then I aren’t going to argue the case for it for them. It’s all a bit shit I guess then… I agree I'd be very surprised if we don't bring in a couple of forwards and at least 1 AM. When we know who they are then we can evaluate them and take an initial view. Then we can watch them and revise that view either way. It's not all shit but the major part of our business is yet to be done. |
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Post by st3mark on Jul 17, 2024 22:24:37 GMT
We have lost our first choice right back in Hoever. We have lost our only senior CF in Wesley. We have lost Campbell who provided an option at RW/RF/LF/LW and up front. We have lost Haksabanovic who provided cover across the same positions as Campbell. We have lost Cundle, who was the 10 or 8. We have lost McNally and Clark and only brought in Gibson. The goalie we have brought in simply replaces Iverson which is great but my overall point is that that squad is still too weak to be excited at this point. In actually still rather worried. Last season was a disaster and we're currently in my opinion very weak both in terms of quality and depth. Also, before anyone gets confused I'm not arguing that Wesley or Clark for example will be a big miss. I'm pointing out that they and others have not even been replaced and that we are very short. The point is then that the squad is not therefore weaker for having “lost” Wesley, Haksabanovic and Cundle? Cundle is the only one you could argue for at all, which is a stretch since he only did anything in the last half a dozen games. Campbell will need replacing, we have Tchamadeu to become first choice to replace Hoever. Also we’re very early in the window so it’s absolutely fine to have no replaced them all yet. Also the investment into youth that can look to break through gives a nice unknown to the mix. As explained we’re heavily linked with forward players in the spaces we need so I don’t think it can be argued with really. As explained already, I didn't remotely suggest that the squad won't be in better shape by the end of the deadline. I pointed out that there are large gaps in the squad and therefore that gives us a significantly weaker squad with less depth and options than we ended the season with. For example the flexibility of having Campbell and Haksabanovic on the bench who could cover any position across the front three is a strength to a squad - losing both of those players without replacing them makes the squad currently weaker. Losing Wesley (as crap as he was) leaves us without a target man option - removing that tactical option completely if plan A isn't working. I'm sure you don't need me to explain why losing cundle, hoever etc and our fewer number of centre backs also weakens us. We've addressed the left back issue, got a keeper instead of Iverson, but there is still loads to address. |
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Post by bubbleblower on Jul 18, 2024 6:03:47 GMT
I’m feeling good about this coming season the players already in look good so hopefully the rest of the signing will be of the same quality.
I’m not suggesting that we are anywhere near top six or even top ten but I think we will be better prepared for the coming season than we were for the last one.
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Post by mtrstudent on Jul 18, 2024 6:51:13 GMT
Also, before anyone gets confused I'm not arguing that Wesley or Clark for example will be a big miss. I'm pointing out that they and others have not even been replaced and that we are very short. I see what you're saying but a positive spin for me is that I reckon Burger, Bae, Manhoef and Tchamadeu are all gonna be better than last year. I still think we need some more shopping and we have loan spots left to go. Loving Mickey's enthusiasm and it's nice to have hope again! |
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