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Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2008 23:27:08 GMT
We did EXTREMELY well to 'nick that' tonite, as you all saw they couldn't handle our set pieces and, whilst we played some nice stuff in parts, we never really got to grips with them.
Going in three nil up at HT flattered us apart for the fact they had no answer to our dead ball play - they HAD played most of the football however - to be fair.
Cue second half and everybody's thinking stoke had gone Jekyll and Hyde on us, not a bit of it in my opinion rather, Southampton played superbly well and were as difficult to handle as anybody Ive seen at the Brit this season.
its comforting to hope that some of the other top teams may still have to play em this season for I was well impressed with em !
(apart from the gamesmanship and crowding the ref at every opportunity- one even waved the imaginary card at the ref and I FOOKING HATE THAT !)
Even so, we could have had another couple of goals quite easily -from the Delap strike over the bar (he should have nailed that one) to Leon Cort's quite lethal heading it could have easily ended 5:5 - they had Ricardo well marked tonite for sure and he got frustrated but all in all, another nerve wracking but very entertaining evening and yet another game in past years we'd have 'blown' for sure.
One things for sure - stoke will never do things the easy way -- ho hum -roll on Friday it'll be nice to sit amongst a bunch of burberry and baseball cap wearing chavs who, stand up at the slightest provocation and block all our views - all over again (bless em )
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Post by allmyownteeth on Feb 12, 2008 23:47:40 GMT
With you there ma mate . we did nick it, still need a calming influenence at the back.
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Post by trebor63 on Feb 12, 2008 23:52:13 GMT
I think our calming influence will be Diao at the moment however he is anything but calming!
A few more matches and he should be up to speed, I hope!
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Post by sportsman on Feb 12, 2008 23:52:16 GMT
They di pass it around well, but i have not seen a more nastier side down this season than them. Pushing, kicking, tugging (all on and off the ball) surrounding the ref, winding stoke players up. Jesus they tried it all tonight to get the stoke players sent off!!
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Post by Titan Uranus on Feb 13, 2008 0:00:03 GMT
Let's be honest, everybody plays us of the park in pure footballing terms....
just can't cope with our set pieces.
Long may it continue.
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Post by MarkWolstanton on Feb 13, 2008 0:01:01 GMT
Lets get real here.
Southampton first half were a complete shambles. No fight, no organisation and just outright no good. The final no is probably part of the reason; no manager.
They had relegation fodder written all over them and looked every bit as shambolic as they did against QPR a few days before.
The fact that they made a game of it was down to nothing less than our own ineptitude after half time. We thought we just had to turn out, stand around and score a few more.
The first goal said it all as we stood off and watched it all happen in front of us. Ditto the second goal and then we realised football doesn't work that way and went into panic mode.
They could easily have scored two or three between the two goals they did score.
Hopefully the players have learnt their lesson and won't be so stupid and careless again.
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Post by anarchicalan on Feb 13, 2008 0:15:44 GMT
Unbelieveable!
Not one person prepared to say what truly went wrong.
Pulis sent the team out to defend a lead .... YET AGAIN ..... when I honestly thought that we had a chance to scare the crap out of everyone in the division by scoring 3 more.
Southampton were very unlucky to be 3 down at half time, but 3 down they were. Frankly, I thought it might have been 4 with a bit of good fortune, but they were definitely shell shocked and there for the taking.
Having said that, I can't remember their goalkeeper having a save of note to make till well into the 2nd half. Apart from set plays, we had very little to offer.
When they got back into it, where was Plan B?
Ah, I forgot, Pulis doesn't have a Plan B. There wasn't even a shout to keep the ball from the back and play through them instead of playing percentage football, which we were losing because they mashalled Sidebe and Fuller very well.
We won, I'm grateful, but it's not the 1st time this season we've been extremely fortunate to get away with Pulis's tactic. They could have been 5-3 after 15 minutes if the 2nd half, what would the excusemeister have blamed then?
We could go up, but it will more by good luck than good management.
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Post by soicowboy on Feb 13, 2008 0:18:09 GMT
'We could go up, but it will more by good luck than good management'
You're right- teams get promoted over a whole season through luck !!!!!
FFS
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Post by eddiecurrent on Feb 13, 2008 0:22:51 GMT
I have to say anarchicalan, that that is a truly wank post!
What more do you actually want from your football team and manager?
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Post by allmyownteeth on Feb 13, 2008 0:24:50 GMT
Why do we allways make it so hard for ourselfs. In the cold light of day they could have taken at least a point to night. that was OUR doing more than there's. Relegation fodder or not.
Surlry with the impetuse we had from the first half, we sould have at least defended better straight from the of in the second half,then to go on and win the game more comfutubly. We still need a calming influance at the back, just like we had with Cranson ect. agree 56
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Post by anarchicalan on Feb 13, 2008 0:35:15 GMT
soi and cowboy - I notice you both chose to attack me rather than answer the points I made.
Fair enough, your choice, but nothing I said there can actually be challenged with simple abuse. I won't sink to that level but prefer to address you with courtesy.
Soi, to be fair, we have one tactic, used very effectively, but we've been very fortunate on a number of occasions to get even a point, let alone all three. If you go to the games - and from your previous posts I beleive you do - I don't see how you can argue with that.
Eddie - I want a manager that's capable of changing the system if things aren't working or if Plan A is sussed out. Someone with a Plan B, maybe even a Plan C. If this was in place, the team wouldn't panic as they did today and have done several times.
Is this too much to ask?
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devsad
Academy Starlet
Posts: 213
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Post by devsad on Feb 13, 2008 1:26:57 GMT
Anarchicalan,
"We could go up, but it will more by good luck than good management."
Absolute classic
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Post by Deleted on Feb 13, 2008 7:45:17 GMT
Having slept on it and read this thread again, I've no reason to change my opinion, merely surprised some of you thought southampton poor. I thought they were a handful all night -even first half, spraying the ball from side to side with worrying regularity - a tactic that always seems to cause us problems.
Notwithstanding that, we had some really fast flowing dangerous moves mixed in too.
I would agree though , they were petulant and nasty, I think the posts on this thread have brought that aspect out more - to be fair
and yet again, frankly amazed at criticism of a manager (Pulis) who, has probably put together the best stoke side in approaching, quarter of a century ????- twenty years maybe ??
still criticised as a one trick pony and one dimensional - we'll see if thats true next season -hopefully in the premier league !
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Post by Godo on Feb 13, 2008 7:56:03 GMT
I thought first half they were the worst team we have played all season. They had done some work on handling our long throws but attacking wise didn't know what to do with the space we gave them.
It was clear that once again we set out second half to defend our own box. We just about got away with it but Cort and Ryan let too many balls bounce and Simmo is too flappy in the air for us ever to feel secure playing that way.
If only we could play more football we would have been able to control things better but we wasted an awful lot of energy second half by trying to sit back and save energy! All of the midfield looked very tired by the end.
Once again when we only had a 1 goal advantage Pulis froze and didn't know what to do with his substitutions when clearly fresh legs were needed.
Still another 3 pts which is the only really important thing. Limited Pulis may be but we got away with it and the deflected shot that dribbled just wide shows that whilst he might not be tactically the most sophisticated manager he does look like he might be a lucky manager this season!
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Post by knowingeye on Feb 13, 2008 7:56:51 GMT
ukyestony "roll on Friday it'll be nice to sit amongst a bunch of burberry and baseball cap wearing chavs who, stand up at the slightest provocation and block all our views - all over again"
Obviously not had enough White Lightning if they can stand!
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Post by DrGonzo on Feb 13, 2008 8:14:41 GMT
Totally agree with MarkW - Southampton were awful, particularly for the second part of the first half when they were all over the place. Second half they got the early goal, flooded the midfield and we just went into panic mode.
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Post by PONTAFCE on Feb 13, 2008 8:16:56 GMT
carnt agree more with drgonzo our set peices were quality again and they were to hot to handle for them.But they came out got that early goal and we got abit rattled.Still i couldnt care aslong as them 3 points were ours.
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ianrb1
Youth Player
' Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you have got till it's gone'
Posts: 443
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Post by ianrb1 on Feb 13, 2008 8:22:56 GMT
Alan, after 46 games you finish where you deserve to finish. Web are second highest scorers in the division and fully deserve to be where we are. Your stance is typical of the entrenched Pulis hater, AndyP Leeds Stokie continually expresses the same rather bitter and twisted view.
As for last night, we let them score straight from the off and that rather set the tone for the next twenty minutes. It was rather alarming but they are obviously a decent attacking team and will cause other teams problems between now and the end of the season.
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