Stoke post match 1-1

[MC Prussian]

2 minutes ago, m4DD0gg said:

This website is a joke cant believe the puel out thread has been deleted.

It's not like you're prone to overreactions, is it?

[WoodyFox]

3 minutes ago, shen said:

Apart from the goal you mean? And the Matty James chance?

I mean Albrighton's was a low cross, which he still managed to get wrong... luckily Butland couldn't catch a cold

[peach0000]

7 minutes ago, wokinghamfox said:

Must admit I didnt get that either. Silva should've started over James. We are seriously lacking a playmaker at the moment. Its probably as good as its going to get with James.

Stoke played very physical and aggressive. They were very dirty fouling constantly. I reckon out of all of our midfielders james is probably most suited to those kind of games. I can see why puel picked him for this one. 

[Colourmy]

2 minutes ago, Miquel The Work Geordie said:

I mentioned in another thread (and recall getting a sarcastic response from @Colourmy) that I'm privy to very little ITK knowledge, but the coaching staff rate James very very highly. Silva and Iborra have alot of work to do to displace him. As in, they think James is better.

For that I must apologise then Miquel.

[TheUltimateWinner]

What the **** was that

 

James was hopeless and bypassed all game

 

Did Vardy even play? Not his fault though as he had no service in the middle of the park 

 

Kasper needs to learn how to kick a football 

 

How can Simpson Morgan and James still be in our starting eleven? They’re such limited players it’s unreal.

[Harry96]

Silva not playing is a joke 

[steflcfc]

This game we will never have any more corners or crosses into the opposition box and we did nothing with 99.9 of them.

 

Regarding our starting 11, Albrighton does 1 thing and crosses to no one, it’s not our strong point so him in the starting 11 is wasted, Gray or Diabate in for him next.

 

Ndidi needs to be the sitting midfielder as his first touch and passing us still fairly poor.

We are crying out still for a CM who can carry the ball and drive at defences, James isn’t and never will be that player (we have one one the bench in Silva who isn’t getting a game)

 

Drago has been decent and Amartey was growing into RB, strange to instantly include Simpson and Morgan.

 

We have a massive last quarter to the season to go, The Premiership win is over and a few players need  moving on and the squad freshening up.

 

It will be a strange day once Mahrez goes, as he is the only player we have in the whole squad who can beat players for fun.

Hopefully Diabate can start to shine next season.

 

Unless next season is addressed regarding Creativity on the ball we will fall back into a lower to mid table club.

 

This summer is either going to cement an attack on the top 6/8 or we can fall back into the likes of Stoke,West Ham etc.

[Carl the Llama]

Think Gray will struggle to get another league start now, Dia was immensely more positive and creative, he just needs to work on his strength because he gets knocked back a bit too easily even if Stoke have returned to their stereotypical thug tactics.

[bfox]

3 minutes ago, peach0000 said:

Albrighton had a decent game, simpson and morgan did nothing wrong neither did James. Players like Mahrez and gray were far worse but everyone just hates on the same people regardless of performance. 

Albrighton puts in a shift but with little to no end product most of the time. Game after game it's evident. 

[MC Prussian]

10 minutes ago, peach0000 said:

Stoke played very physical and aggressive. They were very dirty fouling constantly. I reckon out of all of our midfielders james is probably most suited to those kind of games. I can see why puel picked him for this one. 

And we all saw today why that choice wasn't warranted.

 

I'm not trying to pick out Matty James alone for the faults today, but our central midfield was nearly inexistent for most part of the game. Apart from that header, James did nothing to put his stamp on the game and offered little to nothing going forward or tracking back - on the contrary, he was at the heart of Shaqiri's goal, thanks to some random positioning. Reminded me of Andy King in many ways.

Edited 24 February 2018 by MC Prussian

[ZeGuy]

2 minutes ago, HankMarvin said:

No ill pick the person taking the corners thanks

just like how they would get credit if it was a good one

TO make things clear. Free kicks and corners, wether from mahrez or Albrighton, were absolutely shit. We do have a serious problem at scoring/defending on set pieces. That said it ain't the reason why we only got a draw today.

[elvisfmcfly]

6 minutes ago, fleckneymike said:

Playing Gray cost us dearly. 

Fixed.

[HankMarvin]

Just now, steflcfc said:

This game we will never have any more corners or crosses into the opposition box and we did nothing with 99.9 of them.

 

Regarding our starting 11, Albrighton does 1 thing and crosses to no one, it’s not our strong point so him in the starting 11 is wasted, Gray or Diabate in for him next.

 

Ndidi needs to be the sitting midfielder as his first touch and passing us still fairly poor.

We are crying out still for a CM who can carry the ball and drive at defences, James isn’t and never will be that player (we have one one the bench in Silva who isn’t getting a game)

 

Drago has been decent and Amartey was growing into RB, strange to instantly include Simpson and Morgan.

 

We have a massive last quarter to the season to go, The Premiership win is over and a few players need  moving on and the squad freshening up.

 

It will be a strange day once Mahrez goes, as he is the only player we have in the whole squad who can beat players for fun.

Hopefully Diabate can start to shine next season.

 

Unless next season is addressed regarding Creativity on the ball we will fall back into a lower to mid table club.

 

This summer is either going to cement an attack on the top 6/8 or we can fall back into the likes of Stoke,West Ham etc.

37 crosses

[ryanman4]

Good result considering we started with players like albrighton and James 

[Webbo]

Albrighton worked his balls off today and it was only down to him we got a point. He is of no way to blame for today.

[Jonezy]

Kudos to both Zouma and Allen by the way. They were probably the 2 best players on the pitch today. Zouma bossed their box and Allen their midfield. 

 

Also I thought Michael Oliver had a decent game apart from somehow keeping Adam on the pitch. First he hit Morgan in the face in an air duel, then he crunched Ihenacho on the edge of the box (not even a freekick??), then he got a yellow for trying to take Ihenacho's shirt off and towards the end he also stopped a counter with a professionel freekick. It was like he had a Tottenham shirt on....

[Colourmy]

I was a supporter of Puel but his recent selections have puzzled me somewhat. Why does he have to crowbar Morgan into the team, what had Dragovic done wrong to be ousted so unceremoniously?

Claude is getting it wrong of late and will find himself on a Ryanair Boeing from EMA before too long I fear!

[Guest]

1 minute ago, steflcfc said:

This game we will never have any more corners or crosses into the opposition box and we did nothing with 99.9 of them.

 

 

 

Because they were total shit. Everyone of them went to a Stoke player or the two players Albrighton and Mahrez lost the ball playing it to each other. I'm not sure the last time I saw us with so much possession from these two players where every ball was wasted. At least Albrighton played some defence.

 

Poor performance and attackingly it's down to the poor delivery of the ball by these two.

[peach0000]

3 minutes ago, MC Prussian said:

And we all saw today why that choice wasn't warranted.

 

I'm not trying to pick out Matty James alone for the faults today, but our central midfield was nearly inexistent for most part of the game. Apart from that header, James did nothing to put his stamp on the game and offered little to nothing going forward or tracking back. Reminded me of Andy King in many ways.

I could see a lack of creativity but also a need to physically stand up to stoke. Maybe replacing ndidi or gray for silva might have helped.  

[Foxxed]

Stoke defended resolutely. We failed to break them down. They punished an error and were lethal on the attack.

 

Stoke learnt from our 15/16 success. And punished us in the same way we punished the entire league. The bottom half of the league are doing the same.

 

Puel seemed to be on course to change our style of play: possession with the ability to break teams down. But I really can't see James fitting in here.

 

We were dead in the centre of the park. How will he help to break down teams? Fair enough playing Simpson, Chilwell and Gray. But James I cannot fathom.

[holyfox]

How the fcuk did Adams stay on the pitch! Straight into Morgan with his studs and he didn’t even get a booking. These pundits are pissing me off too with all the stoke love in. Adams tripped Iheanacho on the edge of their area =play on. He gets clipped by Ndidi outside our box and definite foul. F off ref!

yes crap performance but we were stupidly unlucky not to score in those last 15 mins. 

The subs made all the difference, but stoke are fouling , cheating gits who I really hope go down. 

[Arriba Los Zorros]

Puel has the right ideas I think but he is taking away a lot of what made us great. As much as I love James, Silva and possibly Iborra should start ahead of him. Morgan and Simpson should be phased out if we want to play possession football. So much better with Dragovic and Amartey. Plus Gray is never going to be good. Would like to see him released

[chicagofox]

3 minutes ago, MC Prussian said:

James did nothing to put his stamp on the game and offered little to nothing going forward or tracking back.

Does he ever?

 

(and I mean currently in the Premier League, not four seasons ago in the Championship).

[Kendal Fox]

11 minutes ago, HankMarvin said:

Mahrez delivery's were awful 13 corners 3 free kicks 

I really do think the Man City/Mahrez fiasco has altered this season for us.

 

The last 2 years, we've repeatedly gotten stuck in a mental rut whenever something negative within the club occurs, and find it nigh on impossible to get out of it.

 

That's not glossing over the poor performances of James, Gray and Mahrez of course. But it has a lot to do with things in my view.

 

[Monsell1976]

Poor selection, poor performance, agree with the comments about being pedestrian, but that’s down to the manager, this team screams out for Silva energy, but puel seems to leave a wealth of midfield talent on the bench, for his favourite tippy tappy midfielder, and then wonder why we can’t break teams down, and it’s because it’s moved to slow, and once he’s passed it, he sits and doesn’t run into space, James would be ideal of the bench if we are holding out for a win, but not when we are chasing one.

 

 James isn’t being singled out, albrighton cannot pass a ball, or cross without hitting the first man, and the lacklustre performance of the team didn’t deserve the draw, if butland hadn’t have gifted us the point, I personally don’t think we would have gotten a point.