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Post by cousindupree on Apr 5, 2021 12:58:21 GMT
Two managers who love a draw 29 between them this season. Two strong organised defences and manager's mindset not to lose.
It's not going to be a classic. Hope for some Powell or Fletcher touch of brilliance.
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Post by cousindupree on Apr 5, 2021 12:43:28 GMT
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Post by cousindupree on Apr 2, 2021 6:32:17 GMT
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Post by cousindupree on Mar 20, 2021 14:48:16 GMT
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Post by cousindupree on Mar 20, 2021 13:25:01 GMT
It's going to be quite a day of sport with the T20 and six nations Rugby. All significantly more enjoyable that watching 2 uninspiring midtable championship teams cancel each other out in a meaningless game of footy. So I will keep an eye on the score and hope its a classic for those who choose to watch.
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Post by cousindupree on Mar 16, 2021 18:30:02 GMT
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Post by cousindupree on Mar 13, 2021 14:47:32 GMT
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Post by cousindupree on Mar 12, 2021 12:00:01 GMT
Good for him Sheffield United is not like man city , where the DoF chats with Pep about what superstars are available and who would he like It's more like Stoke under TP , with the capped one not convinced that scholes and carto, know more about who are the right players for Stoke city , than he does . The idea that only the top clubs need a DoF is outdated - there's numerous smaller clubs who've benefited from it and we would benefit from a structure like that too IMO. The days of the manager having sole control are increasingly being consigned to history. The Pulis parallel is an apt one in that poor transfer business has precipitated the change. The problem was we didn't join things up enough and our model remained largely manager-driven rather than the proper collaborative process other clubs have. Amen! I have said it before in multi million transfer deals you have to have a degree of due diligence and people challenging the decisions rather than just rely on the often emotive whim of the manager. At Stoke we have Scholes, no more than a bean counter and should be nowhere near evaluating the footballing ability of potential players. Jon Coates just a huge fan who is the chairman's son and has no credibility to challenge the manager on transfers. Then we have Peter Coates who always wants to back the manager often to the detriment of the club. In the Prem we were awash with more and could have afforded to try and recruit the best Dof in europe. We didn't we continued giving managers free unchallenged reins on transfer and making mistakes. Under the Coates ownership this is unlikely to change....sadly |
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Post by cousindupree on Mar 5, 2021 9:54:04 GMT
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Post by cousindupree on Mar 3, 2021 19:45:27 GMT
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Post by cousindupree on Feb 27, 2021 14:42:24 GMT
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Post by cousindupree on Feb 24, 2021 18:56:14 GMT
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Post by cousindupree on Feb 24, 2021 9:50:09 GMT
Should be some good vibrations around Alsager next season. But why appoint Brian Wilson?....God only knows. Don't give up the day job 😁 Can't see the NWCFL finishing this season, any news from Alport on it? Ha ha indeed friends and family will agree!! Seems the consensus is that it will be cancelled, not a great few games for Alport anyhow, look forward to getting over for next season...hopefully |
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Post by cousindupree on Feb 24, 2021 9:12:35 GMT
Should be some good vibrations around Alsager next season. But why appoint Brian Wilson?....God only knows.
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Post by cousindupree on Feb 20, 2021 18:55:14 GMT
There are 4 teams Norwich Watford Brentford and Swansea who are nailed on for top 6. After that the final 2 places at the moment are contested by Bournemouth Reading Cardiff Middlesboro Barnsley and ourselves. Are any of those really better than us. I am not so sure and it's likely that a couple will have a lean spell. If and its a big IF we can maintain some consistency up front we have a chance of making 6th. Can't say I fancy our chances against any of the top 4 in the playoffs at the moment. But a challenge for 6th will make for a decent end to a season I genuinely thought was over just one week ago....funny old game in the batshit crazy championship!!
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Post by cousindupree on Feb 20, 2021 14:35:16 GMT
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Post by cousindupree on Feb 20, 2021 14:33:54 GMT
Not much I can add to the tributes to an undoubted Stoke legend. He has been professional in everything he did even surrounding the pathetic Ramsey/Wenger character assassination.
Great news he is heading for Miami. As a resident of Atlanta Georgia I will definitely go and give him a cheer when allowed of course.
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Post by cousindupree on Feb 20, 2021 14:20:49 GMT
Personally, I'd have had Cousins in place of Allen but, apart from that, I'm happy with that team. As a matter of interest have we yet seen Tymon playing ahead of RND on the left, or is this the first time? With Thompson in the midfield it looks strong on the left side of the pitch. Looking forward to Davies and Tymon together on the left Me too should be an interesting watch. McClean will be able to concentrate on his social media posts. |
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Post by cousindupree on Feb 20, 2021 11:26:11 GMT
We didn’t know Rowett was wedded to 4-3-3 or just how ill suited to that Afobe was at the time though. The point is that Rowett and Phillips should’ve done. Understanding how a striker fits into a team is one of the absolute basics of football management. It's literally the kind of thing I'd expect an Under 7s coach to understand, yet we've had a succession of managers making signings with seemingly no consideration of how this works. A big slow striker who's good in the air? Like Sam Vokes? Literally the only way he's going to score is by getting crosses in to him. In other words 4-4-2 with wingers. Did Nathan Jones play 4-4-2 with wingers? No. Afobe- well, God knows what he's supposed to be, but probably another who needs a strike partner to do literally all the work while he just hovers on the shoulder of the last defender and tries to use his one asset (a bit of pace) to get in behind. If you don't play a strike partnership there's literally no point in him being on the pitch. Even Crouch was a player who didn't really fit into a lone-striker system, but had enough quality about him to at least compensate for doing a job that he naturally wasn't really suited to under TP. It's appalling that we as a club have continually made the same mistake over and over. A mistake that could have been avoided with even the most basic amount of due diligence. It is truly staggering that more due diligence didn't take place. You only have to look in what system Vokes was successful at Burnley and Afobe only success at Wolves to suggest neither player would fit the manager's preferred system. It's been a long source of frustration for me that we have never had at the club an experienced Director of Football who is going to use his expertise to at least question the manager's choice of high priced players. Who at the club was ever able to do that? Carto? Give me a break, Scholes? He's a bean counter and probably knows little more than your well informed fan, Coates Jnr? Christ on a bike! Or good old uncle Peter who seems to always want to please and support his manager. A DOF is not so crucial at the moment with us shopping in the basement bargains, but in the Premier League and our first season in the championship where we were splashing £10m+ on players seemingly on the whim of the manager without any sanity check a DOF would have been that additional input into due diligence. |
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Post by cousindupree on Feb 16, 2021 18:41:41 GMT
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Post by cousindupree on Feb 16, 2021 11:42:51 GMT
The timing of sackings apart from Hughes have been OK. Rowett maybe a little tardy and he might have survived longer if he had engaged his brain before mouth. Certainly rapid bullet for the woeful Lambert and the nutjob Jones were spot on.
It's the appointments that have been awful. present incumbent excepted, who in their right minds appoints Paul Lambert for a Premier League relegation fight? A question for Rowett in his job interview should have been who do you want as your dream front 3 in a 4-3-3 a reply of Ince Afobe McClean should have terminated the meeting pronto! And surely, even though many on here were seduced by Jones's almost evangelical bullshit, anyone with a bit of acumen would have seen through him pretty quickly. I remain staggered that Coates senior didn't overrule what was clearly a Coates's junior beer riddled decision.
Thankfully some sanity has prevailed and a decent appointment has been made.
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Post by cousindupree on Feb 13, 2021 14:58:46 GMT
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Post by cousindupree on Feb 12, 2021 11:47:40 GMT
Have to say I like Ange's questions much more than George 'alluded to' Andrews who has a set of pre=prepared questions which he will ask irrespective of the fact that someone has asked a similar question before  If I was MON I would be tempted to adopt a Strachan response to some of the more banal questions. I did like Ange's question about some fans thinking the season was over. MON who rarely changes from a poker face seemed genuinely surprised at that view. In the absence of fans at the ground we should see more of this type of question. Maybe a time for a virtual 'meet the manager' session again? |
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Post by cousindupree on Feb 7, 2021 13:50:43 GMT
It is simple mathematics that MON needs to learn. Its better to gamble for 3 points and maybe we lose 1. We cant keep plodding through games and taking draws if we want to get promotion. The game was ok but the lack of subs stopped any chance of winning it I think MON is well aware of what we need in terms of wins. I was interested to hear him talk about his first season when we needed to survive. He said that in our position we needed to win games and he was true to his word hence bizarre results in high scoring games wins and losses very few draws. He needs that mindset again, sadly we are hamstrung by some truly awful attacking options at his disposal in the absence of Campbell...Ince McClean Gregory Vokes Brown to name but 5. Without both Powell and Fletcher in the same line up we are sterile and toothless up front. Is it the manager's fault that we lack the attacking options? Maybe. My hope is that he is trying to hang on to challenge for 6th place while the attacking options he brought in in January bed into the team and start to give us a threat up front. A front 3 of Powell Fletcher and Clarke if kept fit could well turn draws into wins. Our last 12 games of the season look tasty and we could build some real momentum and sneak into 6th spot which is up for grabs. It's a shred of optimism that might yet see an interesting end to the season. |
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Post by cousindupree on Feb 6, 2021 14:56:56 GMT
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Post by cousindupree on Feb 4, 2021 12:38:48 GMT
Well the reality is that we are edging ever closer to a season end, which should not really have come to this. I think Reading and Bournemouth remain the most vulnerable to slipping out of the top 6.The big question is can anyone take their place. The candidates seem to be Bristol City, Middlesboro maybe Blackburn and possibly us. We really should be the strongest challenges but a lack of fire power and a conservative manager suggests we are more likely to slip further behind and require a run of wins which at the moment seems remote.
I have to admit to my obsession of all things SCFC has waned over the last few years and is currently so low that I am more looking forward to Test matches in India, the 6 nations Rugby and the Superbowl than whether a declining SCFC can somehow remain hopeful of salvaging a wasted season. In fairness I can't wait for the season to end.
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Post by cousindupree on Jan 30, 2021 13:55:01 GMT
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Post by cousindupree on Jan 22, 2021 19:11:35 GMT
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Post by cousindupree on Jan 22, 2021 19:10:27 GMT
Looks decent. I think Mikel, Allen and Clucas when at the top of their game are our 3 best midfield players. Not sure about Powell leading the line but he has performed this season wherever he has been asked to play so lets hope he has a good game.
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Post by cousindupree on Jan 20, 2021 9:52:08 GMT
4 The midfield 3 was possibly the worst combo we have fielded for some time, I hope we don't see that again. Dropping so many points from winning positions against average opposition is slowly closing the door on the playoffs and would mean a huge missed opportunity.
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If I was MON I would be tempted to adopt a Strachan response to some of the more banal questions.
