O'Conner comments on radio scared me stiff !!

[george2again]

His comments todat about having the forwards to come in and do the job when Fuller and Mama are away ended my hopes of any promotion. If his views are echoed by the manager and the rest of the coaching staff and chairman we are fukked. Todays performance showed that the one position we need to stregthen in up front. Oconner also stated that mama was Ok in the team even if he wasn't scoring - shocking words indeed cos we need 2 strikers scoring.They are going to cheap skate us till the end of the season up front. Bit gutted rearly after such a fantastic 1st half. Words siad it all today. TP - Parkin and Pericard are toss and nedd rid of if we want and chance you have to see this now !!!!!

[smigchop]

Fantastic first half?

we played well in the period of 30-35mins.

[Olgrligm]

Before anywhere else, we need a decent defence. A new centre back and a new full back.

[BiddulphStokie]

IMHO the defence is sound.
we need to build on our midfield and a good striker to partner ricky

[StokieSideAss]

Mystical, Whats wrong with Cort and Shawcross and Zak as cover?

[Olgrligm]

They give away goals and don't have an ounce of leadership between them.

[Jamo on the wing]

I think we have some decent defenders in our squad but they just don't look an effective unit to me and that's why we always look likely to concede. It may not be a popular opinion but I'm still not certain about Cort, he just isn't aggressive enough. At one stage today Folan had the ball on the half way line and Cort had the oppotunity to nail him whether by fair means or foul but he did neither and they somehow ended up with a corner. Now called me old fashioned but I'd sooner give a free-kick away on the half way line than give the opposition a corner.
That I'm afraid is indicitive of how we are defending at present and I'm certain TP must be pissed off about it, whatever anybody may say about our Tone he absolutely hates giving goals away and I'm sure it must be playing on his mind about what to do about it.

[nathan]

We're not totally flawless at the back........and we need to feel confident in our defence, though I personally do not feel comfortable as they can regularly be found at 6's and 7's.

There are obvious improvements to made in forward areas - but lets not neglect the fact that our defence seem incapable of holding a lead. Diao's presence may help things, though we need someone who is a talker at the back - Higgy and Tags are the examples I will continue to use.

Cort at 500k and Hill is looking to be a good bit of business........on Palace's part, I feel.

[smigchop]

Cort and shawcross are two good defenders. but they dont pass! hoof or head seems to be their only abilities and is why we give the ball away so much.

[Jamo on the wing]

To be honest smigchop I don't mind that they don't pass (I think Shawcross isn't that bad on the ball by the way) what I am concerned about is a mentality that is spreading back there not to do the basics. I want to see us in first and in hard, at the moment though we are standing off and most frustrating of all letting balls bounce around our box which is the frist thing you get taught NOT to do as a kid.

[smigchop]

I feel the same jamo. and if the other team counter attacks we back off sometimes all the way to the penalty box before we think about a tackle. not good enough. especially the case with cort.

[bayernoatcake]

Cresswell, Delap, Lawrence and Eustace give it away too easy-thats the problem they are always inviting pressure. Oh and the full backs getting done at the back post is an issue. Shawcross and Cort are superb imo.

[JoeinOz]

When Diao is ready it should help both defence and attack. Just hope he's ready soon.

[expectedtoulouse]

Dickinson should play at LB.
Pugh gets beaten too many times - Devaney at Barnsley skinned him every time he ran down the wing.
We can then put Pugh to LM and then Cresswell up front while Sidibe is at the A.C.O.N.

Dicko is a better tackler, and he seems to communicate more. Shawcross generally is ok on the ball, but the last couple of games him and Cort have just been hoofing it anywhere and everywhere. It is probably because teams like Hull have been giving Stoke very little time on the ball.

[lordb]

need players dont we!

[Menorca Stokie]

At this rate Ricci should be good for at least 20 this season. We have been fortunate so far as a couple of defenders have waded in with goals along with Lawrence however, any team looking for promotion needs two strikers hitting the back of the net with at least 3 of the midfielders getting close to double figures.

This all depends on goals conceded of course but at our current rate we are needing more for and less against.

I'm really not as stupid as I look.

Menorcasi for manager.

[fuggers]

Did Watford have two goalscorers or was it just Marlon King?

What about Sunderland?

You only need one prolific striker. Although you do need your other striker to chip in with more than 0.

[MrMagic]

Watford had King scoring 21 and Henderson with 14 - Ashley young also got 14 from midfield


Sunderland were more spread out with

Ross Wallace Forward 6
Stephen Elliott Forward 5
Stern John Forward 9
David Connolly Forward 13
Daryl Murphy Forward 10
Anthony Stokes Forward 2

Even so both examples are likely to yeild more from any forward combination than we would get from any of ours without Fuller. If we played Cresswell up front, I think he'd easily hit double figures though which would put us on a par.

[Menorca Stokie]

Thanks Mr Magic, I simply don't have the time for statistics.

[stokiegary]

not the back fours fault all the time,our midfield should be protecting them as well

[CalgaryPotter]

Strange how Parkin has turned out, last year he started terribly and then started to chip in with goals albeit usually created by the Golden One.
From the commentary yesterday he was woeful and there was no point having him on the pitch. I think Cresswell should be the automatic choice up front with Fuller and something should be sorted in the transfer window to allow this to happen. He's already chipping in out of position and i reckon if he was working with Fuller up front could be a handful.

I think Diao will help Shawcross and Cort out when he gets back into the team.

[Olgrligm]

I'm really not confident with Dickinson at left back. He's very committed and a good tackler, but his marking really is a weakness in his game. We're conceding enough far post goals in the 6 yards box as it is.

[Jamo on the wing]

I know it's not going to happen but I think we need a right back, a left back, a centre back, a central midfielder, a left winger and a striker.
If we do we have a great chance of going up, we would make do with a couple less but I'd say we need at least 4 to come in during January if we want to maintain our very promising position.
We clearly have no strength in depth (take a look at the bench yesterday) and when any of our better players are missing we cannot replace them.