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Post by MarkWolstanton on Jan 24, 2016 12:36:47 GMT
No one has actually been digging Woolscheid out as such. Just responding to the ridiculous assertion that he played well in 3-0 twatting. Do Bayernoatcakes posts not show up on your connection?
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Post by MarkWolstanton on Jan 24, 2016 12:35:06 GMT
Getting rid of Huth is one of the worst mistakes made at SCFC in my lifetime. You must have Arsne Wengered a few hundred then if you think selling the back up central defender for a decent fee after a long long injury layoff was the worst mistake in your lifetime!! Jesus wept. Do you want me to start a list?
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Post by MarkWolstanton on Jan 24, 2016 12:30:14 GMT
You are still obsessed then Mutters? Couldn't help yourself but think of "him" could you? Yourself and Pugs are the only pair obsessed mate and one thing you can guarantee on here at the minute is any Momo post is closely followed by one of your own on the subject Funny but you are always the first onto the scene like an insurance ambulance chaser when someone else mentions "him" and the first (as in this thread) to make a link to "him" when nobody mentions "him". And yet it is everyone but you who is obsessed. Strange one that isn't it?
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Post by MarkWolstanton on Jan 24, 2016 12:24:44 GMT
What about it?you having a laugh?School boy stuff like Bayern says Ive just watched it again since your post. The question stands but there again don't bother answering if your point of reference is Bayernoatcake or I'm going to think you are another one hunched over your laptop screen staring at the live stream begging for something to justify picking on one player week after week regardless of how wank the entire team performed as a unit.
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Post by MarkWolstanton on Jan 24, 2016 12:18:16 GMT
It was a quality bit of play by the Leicester man. End of. It happens to even the best defenders at this level. That's why its called the Premier League. What about the header leading up to that? What about it?
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Post by MarkWolstanton on Jan 24, 2016 12:16:52 GMT
Last weekend against top of the league Arsenal who we matched throughout the game.
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Post by MarkWolstanton on Jan 24, 2016 12:12:18 GMT
People embarrassing themselves and Stoke City supporters tonight. Can't handle a poor display or defeat. Pretty pathetic. Pity you never had the same attitude with your mate in charge You are still obsessed then Mutters? Couldn't help yourself but think of "him" could you?
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Post by MarkWolstanton on Jan 24, 2016 12:09:17 GMT
Even more so when you consider that wooly was one of only two stoke city players to play well on the day. He was really ace for the third goal. It was a quality bit of play by the Leicester man. End of. It happens to even the best defenders at this level. That's why its called the Premier League.
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Post by MarkWolstanton on Jan 24, 2016 12:04:42 GMT
For me he offers the very real prospect of being the best player is our squad. We have, it has to e said only seen brief glimpses of this but I am absolutely convinced that the more he plays the more we shall see from him.
Some players need more time than others to adjust to playing in the Premier League and this lad hasn't been helped by the fact that his season to date has been stop start due to a few niggles along the way on top of not doing a full pre-season with us.
I agree he is not setting the world on fire on a regular basis and as such questions are understandable but even when he has not been at his best you can see the opposition doubling up on him when he is played wide and most games he is making a decent contribution.
Keep playing him and keep playing him wide and we will reap the benefits on a more regular basis.
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Post by MarkWolstanton on Jan 24, 2016 0:58:34 GMT
Quite possibly the biggest footballing mistake this club has ever made was getting rid of Robert Huth. Dangerous during set pieces and an even better CB. And to add, we still, after 20 odd games have not scored from a fucking corner, THE ONLY FUCKING TEAM IN THE PREM! Letting a player go who would have spent the majority of the last two years on the bench as a squad player is possibly the biggest footballing mistake this club has ever made????!!! How I wish it was so!!!
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Post by MarkWolstanton on Jan 24, 2016 0:49:07 GMT
Disagree totally no tit about it I've said since the quarter final they are Games we really don't need and have the potential to do more damage than good . We'd be better having the big players with a 10 day rest until old Trafford as it is I suspect we will go there with a much injured squad , on the back of three defeats. 4 of aa our next 5 remain as away games and all very very tough . Critical games coming up for me are Everton , Villa and Newcastle ar home our points tally after Those will tell us how high or lowour possible finish with 9 or 10' to go This is really just a carryover of the claptrap we saw from apologists on the Valencia thread isn't it? Obviously just a way of extending the idea that throwing potential big moments in the clubs history for the sake of looking after the bread and butter is 'right thinking'. Few are having it thankfully.
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Post by MarkWolstanton on Jan 22, 2016 20:12:59 GMT
It was like sitting watching a tub of yoghurt in the midday sun. You knew it was eventually going to turn into something nasty. Things began to stink and fester underneath. Eventually bubbling up, overflowing, and spewing forth foul unpleasantries. Piss off you IHW! Magnus was ace.
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Post by MarkWolstanton on Jan 20, 2016 22:06:39 GMT
Fair play for Newcastle that is a real sign of intent. How does this sit with FFP? They weren't that far behind us in that table were they? The FFP rules have just been relaxed. It wasn't sitting well with the top clubs that the likes of us are closing the gap you see.
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Post by MarkWolstanton on Jan 20, 2016 22:03:42 GMT
Bojan is a great player of that there is no doubt. However he's been poor for the last few games and to be honest his performance against Liverpool would have led any other of the players to a long spell out of the team. To me he looks tired and totally devoid of confidence. He needs a couple of weeks away from the first team to regain his confidence and fitness. I feel sure this will be of immense benefit to him. On Saturday I would start Joselu as the number ten behind Diouf. Bring Shaq back and give Arnie a well earned rest. I'm not sure how not picking him is going to increase his confidence? What School of Psychology is that from? 'The best way not to hurt anybody is to kick them in the bollocks' branch of Psychological Intervention? If Bojan was immense every game he wouldn't be at Stoke. But don't drop him..have patience. Exactly. He is class and will play himself back into form. A little patience.
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Post by MarkWolstanton on Jan 20, 2016 1:11:35 GMT
We played with the exact same tactics and approach we'd used successfully in the previous weeks' games. It just didn't work and the players couldn't get going at all. Pulis didn't bottle anything in terms of changing our approach in any way to something more negative*. If he'd suddenly changed our whole approach for that one match it would have been bizarte. If he failed at anything it was probably giving the players the necessary confidence required for such a big game, but that's not exactly an exact science as they were full of beans in the semi. It wasn't really a Gudjon at Walsall style tactical meltdown for me though. Now that was a full on bottle job where he just lost his mind and went with something really weird. * I'm fully aware that some would find that impossible. I refuse to engage with you. You reminded me of Walsall. Shudder!
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Post by MarkWolstanton on Jan 20, 2016 1:09:51 GMT
With two 'key' players little more than passengers and our other (attacking flair) player taken out of the game early, I just don't think we had the ammunition available, either on the pitch or on the bench, to take the game to Manchester City that day. I think we just did what we could to give us a chance of getting a result i.e. stopping them from playing. We did that pretty effectively and Manchester City were a much bigger disappointment than us on the day given the 'riches' available to them on the pitch and the bench. It was hugely disappointing but very harsh to lay all that at the manager's feet given the prevailing circumstances. Honestly Mark, if Etherington was fully fit and on top of his game and Pennant hadn't got injured so early, do you really think we would be talking in these terms now? We simply didn't have the talent available on the day so he reverted to type and tried to stay in the game to give us a chance............it NEARLY worked, however disappointing it was to watch and I think it's harsh to be too critical under the circumstances. I'd be able to engage in that view more readily Doz if there hadn't been a long history of the negative approach to big (bonus) games previous to the games in question and more tellingly perhaps in the light of what went on for the seasons that followed before Pulis was removed. If he truly had the more expansive idea in mind why was it buried after Wembley and why did Valencia occur? He actually dismantled the system and approach Sheiky describes in the "Golden" few weeks and never attempted to return to it. He actively recruited to strip the pace out of the side. Yes he has a paranoia regarding not playing all of the players he considers his best regardless of how he has to shoehorn them in and regardless of their fitness but we cannot get away from the fact that he was prepared to do that and shut up shop. He never gave us a chance of having a go due to his own prejudices and fear. And so it has always been and will always be with him. Amen.
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Post by MarkWolstanton on Jan 20, 2016 0:53:34 GMT
When you can give me examples of Mark Hughes previous with respect to setting up his side to do nothing but contain, frustrate and hope for the best you are getting somewhere. If you ask me for a list of Tony Pulis doing exactly what I describe you had better have a long length of paper and a lot of patience. You cannot pass off the history of Pulis methodology and pretend it was not applied at Wembley and be credible. Its not a crime to recognise it for what it was. You and I have witnessed it a million times (it feels like) between us. Watch West Brom to update yourself. Nothings changed and nothing did when we went to Wembley for the final. So the semi final and the results leading up to the game were effectively accidents? You know as well the injuries caught up with us that day and we still should have gone one up with 15 minutes to play against a better side. Exactly who and how did you want us to play? It was no bottle job, it was a piece of Stoke CIty history and to describe it as one is pretty distasteful stuff. Shame you couldn't have got aboard for the ride. Clearly turning up was good enough for you. That is fair enough. I would have liked to see us have a go. That is how I expect and hope any Stoke side will go about their business cup final or no cup final. So do most supporters I imagine. You are possibly an exception. The Pulis way is contrary to that for the vast majority of games. Again I commend watching West Brom as a reminder. In there lies the very soul of why I personally hold the likes of Macari and Hughes in far higher esteem than Pulis.
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Post by MarkWolstanton on Jan 20, 2016 0:44:57 GMT
Jeezus H Christ! Who do we have a go at next? Nobody has ever heard a peep out of Bouldy about anything, and yet he's villified because he played for one of the best teams in his day and was a great advert for what lads from Stoke can do. He learned his trade at Stoke, had a great career at Arsenal, and now has a great job there. We may all hate Arsenal for whatever reason (and that includes me) but the one thing that has always impressed me is how Bouldy never gets involved with all the politics. He was Stoke born and bred and his family and many of his friends still live here, so he's doing the most sensible thing he can... saying nowt and getting on with his job that keeps him and his family well looked after. Give it a fucking rest! OS. The only time Bouldy has earned a good doing from Stokies was the time he hammered that own goal in from the wing at West Ham. Other than that he is top drawer.
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Post by MarkWolstanton on Jan 20, 2016 0:35:43 GMT
Taking Malcolm's logic from an earlier post we will be sending the reserves and youth team to Anfield because we are a goal behind. I'll have a bet right now with you that we won't. I think we can both distinguish between a poor performance and a habit of a lifetime can we not? Mark, I think you make some fair comments, both above and in your response to Malcolm. However, whilst accepting that the two managers take very different approaches it really is fair to accept earlier comments that our sqaud was a much shallower affair back then (Cup Final). Etherington and Huth were vital elements in our team, as was Pennant who was a passenger very early in the game after a crunching couple of 'tackles'. I doubt Hughes would play 'doubtful' player (in terms of fitness/injuries) in such critical games because he has so much more available to him today (and I DO give him credit for that situation). To be fair Mark, Pulis (I would argue) simply wanted to put out our best players to give us a 'fighting chance'. The result was, we played with two ineffective 'key' players and another one was rendered so very early in the game. We had little else available to us to make a huge impact on that game IMO. It really was desperately disappointing. I think, in the particular case of the Cup Final, you're a bit harsh on Pulis. I accept that you have a honestly held opinion in general about his approach to key games and I'm just talking about this one game in particular. Broadly agree with almost all that and yes he attempted to put his considered best players on the pitch. He does likewise to this day regardless of how it compromises the team which is why you end up with Jonny Evans at full back. The point I would make is that he then compensates for the hotch-potch or in the case of the game in question, the disability by reverting to type and hiding the team in front of the penalty area we are defending and hopes for the best. Caution is admirable unless it turns to fear and hoping for the best especially in a knock out situation. True legendary managers don't have that trait do they?
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Post by MarkWolstanton on Jan 20, 2016 0:28:30 GMT
Taking Malcolm's logic from an earlier post we will be sending the reserves and youth team to Anfield because we are a goal behind. I'll have a bet right now with you that we won't. I think we can both distinguish between a poor performance and a habit of a lifetime can we not? Ok, now we're getting some place, so it was a poor performance and we lost to a better side on the day on the big stage a fortnight ago. The FA Cup final however (after a record breaking performance at the same stadium a month earlier and some highly creditable performances in between) was something completely different in your eyes. An intentional bottle job. Okie dokie. 'Poles apart' certainly sums something up, that is for certain! When you can give me examples of Mark Hughes previous with respect to setting up his side to do nothing but contain, frustrate and hope for the best you are getting somewhere. If you ask me for a list of Tony Pulis doing exactly what I describe you had better have a long length of paper and a lot of patience. You cannot pass off the history of Pulis methodology and pretend it was not applied at Wembley and be credible. Its not a crime to recognise it for what it was. You and I have witnessed it a million times (it feels like) between us. Watch West Brom to update yourself. Nothings changed and nothing did when we went to Wembley for the final.
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Post by MarkWolstanton on Jan 20, 2016 0:12:41 GMT
Both of us have carefully read your posts and have equally carefully discussed the reasons/excuses (delete as applicable) you have offered up for what many will feel are two rather important anti-climaxes. In my view and without speaking for him (but clearly in Dave's view too I would venture) the rather generous to the perpetrator reasons you have offered up are more than open to challenge. Accepting that challenge and engaging in debate is not repeating yourself but a refusal to do so is in reality copping out of expanding on a bewildering (to me) view of the issues raised. In my world (and yours I would wager)silence is acceptance. xx Did we bottle the semi final first leg a couple of weeks ago or were we just a bit subdued, tired and lost to a better side on the night? Taking Malcolm's logic from an earlier post we will be sending the reserves and youth team to Anfield because we are a goal behind. I'll have a bet right now with you that we won't. I think we can both distinguish between a poor performance and a habit of a lifetime can we not?
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Post by MarkWolstanton on Jan 20, 2016 0:09:29 GMT
Given those results and indeed the accompanying performances you reference, I guess you are supporting the view that the final was bottled? We are witnessing a reasonably sensible discussion (Mr Gloves contributions apart) on how some of the major events of recent times involving Stoke City have been throttled to death and why. Its a perfectly fair discussion to have on a Stoke City message board I would suggest. Handle it or keep off it but you wont stifle it. I'm suggesting we were patched up after a very, very decent run in, which had some great performances, where no quarter was given against those in relegation and title contention. I think Man City played on our problems and tried to kick a couple of our players out of it and with 15 minutes to go, Tommy heroics notwithstanding, we should have taken the lead in our only FA Cup final to date. I know how people should fucking view it but aren't in the slightest bit surprised about how some people choose to. Please don't take this the wrong way but I think we are poles apart in what we desire(ed) from the team after reaching a cup final. From my seat the performance and desire to try and win the game was tepid and inexplicable. I cant accept that the problem with Ethers should have derailed any attempt to win the game in the way it did. Yes Jones should have scored when the clear game plan of hoping that hopeful punt up the field worked for the one and only time but it still disappoints me that this was all we were prepared to offer on such a day. I suspect the day out is the memory most will take from our FA Cup Final. Ditto Valencia. In my view legendary status is not bestowed on a manager who gets so far and chucks the towel in. I'm confident we wouldn't see similar from the current incumbent.
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Post by MarkWolstanton on Jan 19, 2016 23:57:24 GMT
You won't be surprised to learn that I disagree with almost every aspect of what you say here but one thing prompted my reply, and that is your comment about the "heavy stick he would have got on here...". I was one of his biggest critics and detractors. I couldn't abide his negativity, the fear of his own shadow, the dumbing down of the supporter base and its expectations and the awful, god awful, football he produced with a side capable of so much better. All that said, I was at my most tolerant during the europa league season. I really didn't give a stuff about the premier league and would happily have accepted the shite he called football in exchange for our very best efforts in the Europa league, win, lose or draw. When we got thumped at Sunderland and Bolton after Europa league trips, I was one of his fiercest supporters. I'd have backed him to the hilt. We had a chance to win our group and get an easier tie than we got by beating besiktas and i was one of few that wanted us to go there with as strong a team as possible. Win the group, see how far we could go. Like you, I invested significant sums of money travelling to every fixture then racing home to make it back for the next league game be that away at Swansea, Bolton or Sunderland. You simply cant defend the indefensible and there was no excuse for what he did that night in Valencia. None whatsoever. No defence is plausible, no excuse acceptable. I can tell you almost every detail of our Europa league experience. I can tell you next to nothing about the league season. I don't recall the score or goalscorers in either of the games that followed Valencia other than we won both games and arguments reigned on here as people rushed to justify what he'd done the week before. For me, football is about hope, desire, will to win and glory. On the basis that trophy laden glory is hard to come by for a club such as ours its about "glorious moments". There is a huge difference in playing to win rather than hoping to win or playing not to lose. I don't want to hear how clubs such as ours can't afford to play two wingers away at birmingham or Fulham and hope to get a result or to hear that only 200m will allow us to go to man city away and at least attempt to get a result. I don't want to watch my team sit back for 70 minutes with our best player on the bench then bring him on to nick us a win or salvage a draw. I hated that approach but during that europa league campaign, I cut pulis every bit of slack he could ever have wanted. I even had an hour long conversation with Bristol Mick in a bar in tel aviv saying that pulis, despite all his faults, wasn't that bad. :-) In Valencia pulis betrayed us, betrayed the chairman and betrayed everything our magnificent club stands for. Given the same opportunity, our current manager won't do the same. I agree with some of that, Dave, and I don't think most of it is directly related to what I actually said, but, as with Mark's post, I'm very happy to let readers make up their own minds on that without repeating myself. Both of us have carefully read your posts and have equally carefully discussed the reasons/excuses (delete as applicable) you have offered up for what many will feel are two rather important anti-climaxes. In my view and without speaking for him (but clearly in Dave's view too I would venture) the rather generous to the perpetrator reasons you have offered up are more than open to challenge. Accepting that challenge and engaging in debate is not repeating yourself but a refusal to do so is in reality copping out of expanding on a bewildering (to me) view of the issues raised. In my world (and yours I would wager)silence is acceptance. xx
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Post by MarkWolstanton on Jan 19, 2016 21:32:50 GMT
Some results around the time of the Cup Final. Twatting Newcastle four zip, a draw against Chelsea, a thrilling defeat at White Hart Lane, a thumping of Wolves and an annihilation of Arsenal. Throw in the small matter of the biggest ever semi-final victory at the new Wembley and what have you got? Accusations that we bottled a Cup Final and the home defeat against Wigan on the last day of that season getting many more mentions by some on here than any of the above. I think it's pretty clear what we're witnessing here. I mean it's not a new phenomenon is it? It is however, predictably fucking shitty though. Given those results and indeed the accompanying performances you reference, I guess you are supporting the view that the final was bottled? We are witnessing a reasonably sensible discussion (Mr Gloves contributions apart) on how some of the major events of recent times involving Stoke City have been throttled to death and why. Its a perfectly fair discussion to have on a Stoke City message board I would suggest. Handle it or keep off it but you wont stifle it.
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Post by MarkWolstanton on Jan 19, 2016 20:56:54 GMT
Pulis played a second string side in Valencia. We lost. Pulis played his strongest side in the Cup Final. We lost. In fact about the only criticism of Pulis that could be levelled Cup Final wise was not playing a weakened side the week before in the defeat of Arsenal. But as that is one of my favourite Stoke games ever, its not a criticism Id level. But its about all I can think of. Maybe that and playing Ethers. I tend to agree with this. I think the main reason we lost in the Cup Final ( apart from the obvious fact that, overall, Man City were at a different level to us at that time) was that we suffered particularly from injuries to Huth and Etherington, and that our squad at that time wasn't deep enough to compensate. We have a much stronger squad now with much less reliance on key individuals. He took a risk with Etherington which didn't work out, and which LH wouldn't have to take today in a similar situation. I think to blame TP for not winning the Final is unreasonable. I think that trying to portray my post as blaming Pulis for not winning the FA Cup is ingenuous. Im clearly remarking on the lack of attempt to win the game not failing to win the game. If Manchester City were so on a different planet how do you explain away Wigan twelve moths later against an even stronger Manchester City side? Did you watch that game? I'll explain it for you Malcolm. Wigan got the rewards of taking a positive approach to the game. Sometimes it works, sometimes not but in an FA Cup final you have got to be one hell of a strange football supporter if you prefer it served up as a damage limitation exercise laced with a smidgeon of hope that something drops for you somewhere somehow. One shot at goal was it we had? The remarks about the depth of our squad are a shockingly poor excuse. We had been in the PL for three years and were over that period right at the top of the spending league and yet you are prepared to excuse a complete lack of ambition on the basis we had a semi-fit winger and central defender? Really? One winger being unfit completely unhinged any wish to take the one off knock out cup final to the opposition? You cannot be serious! If you are what does that say about Pulis' squad building? I guess the mighty Wigan squad that got relegated the same season they had a right go at Man City had a much stronger squad did they? I saw your earlier post (which is so rubbish by your standards and so full of holes that I can't be bothered to reply to it ) trying to rationalise the Valencia disgrace and then your whine about being drawn into debating Pulis. You hardly ever refrain to be fair. Tongue in cheek but I cannot resist asking if Tony has blown smoke up your ass and its got in your eyes? It is the only explanation I can offer for a man holding your position in supporter circles sticking up for a complete piss take out of supporters!
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Post by MarkWolstanton on Jan 17, 2016 14:04:56 GMT
a very disappointing day for everyone but Im failing to see any connection other than we lost Depends on your point of view. If you wish to lay every misfortune that ever affected Stoke at Pulis's feet then clearly he was to blame for failing to win that FA Cup Final. And probably to blame for the fact that we've never won the FA Cup. If you cannot get your head around people getting pissed off about not trying to make any attempt to win but rather hoping you get lucky in football matches in general, never mind a cup final and a knock out European tie then I wonder what sort of sports you do like. I guess if you are an apologist/forever grateful type you are not going to question anything at all.
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Post by MarkWolstanton on Jan 17, 2016 10:57:56 GMT
Along with many of our players he seemed to struggle with the festive season workload where the same side was put out throughout. I suspect, as has been said before that he probably suffered more than most with not having a standard pre-season behind him.
His brilliance will return sooner rather than later. Hopefully today.
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Post by MarkWolstanton on Jan 17, 2016 10:42:28 GMT
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Post by MarkWolstanton on Jan 17, 2016 10:31:14 GMT
as I remember it after being nearly safe in december when the remarks were made we couldn't buy a result into the new year and the first string lost the game at home - we had a huge game following which form says we were could be losing after a Thursday night in the Europa - it wasn't a surprise at all when the team came through - anyone surprised hadn't worked him out at all Edit- and its anything but bottling it, it might show disdane for what the fans want but it was him doing what he thought was best no matter how unpopular What was the excuse for shitting himself in the FA Cup final held in May? The one where we never had a go and went down to the tamest of tame 1..0 defeats? The one where the mighty Wigan showed us how to go about a cup final a year later.
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Post by MarkWolstanton on Jan 16, 2016 18:41:24 GMT
Mick was simply a very nice bloke it was always a pleasure to be in the company of. One of those rare people that nobody would have anything but good things to say about him.
Gone far too soon. Best wishes to Denise, family and his many close friends.
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