LCFC 2-1 Stoke, post-match thread

[Sunbury Fox]

Pretty much a rerun of the Boro game, only we didn't concede a late equaliser. 

 

Classic Martiball really - awful in general play, bailed out by 2 quality goals from pretty much nowhere. 

 

This was a manager who said at 1 goal up his team would be going for more goals. Yeah right, Marti.

[Pliskin]

Positive, we somehow won….

 

Negatives, everything else.

 

****ing terrible game, mildly entertaining but not for footballing reasons, for the shenanigans, hopeless referring and general scrappiness..

 

We didn’t deserve to win, I thought we were horrible. Two moments of quality provided the goals, other than that we were pretty terrible, I’d go as far as saying it’s one of our worst performances, two exceptional saves got us the three points today coupled with Stokes inability to finish, but I thought at the very least they deserved a point.

 

It’s now getting to the stage where it’s tactical, Marti’s philosophy is disgusting, the football is utterly turgid and completely unimaginative. The majority of these players have played a similar style before, but the way we play you would think they’ve never passed a football before. 
 

The playing from the back is embarrassingly bad, what on earth are they being asked to do? Winks and Skipp drop far too deep, meaning the opposition can push right up and peg us in, and then there’s no way out other than Yannick to pass to Winks who under pressure bundles the ball to Faes who then again under pressure either bundles is back to Begovic, or bundles it to Ricardo who then launches it down the wing to Fatawu but instead concedes possession. 
 

This is a fairly simple tactic, you need your two midfielders to sit higher in the pitch, so winks drops into the hole creating space for the likes of James to drop into or Ricardo to invert into and then a pass and go triangle can see you playing through the press….. we did it all of the time under Enzo, Winks Ricardo and James should have the ability to play in this way. Ricardo is inverting at the wrong time, and he is getting caught in midfield constantly, allowing Stoke to break.

 

The “passing” is far too slow, sideways and with absolutely zero movement off the ball, again this is a coaching/tactical problem. 
 

The second half was even worse than the first, I recall James’s miss control, and Abdul’s ball across the box being the only two moments that troubled Stoke? 

The subs were ****ing abhorrent, again, Silko Thomas has no business playing senior football, he’s absolutely trash, and he leaves Monga on the bench? 
 

Very, Very fortunate to have come away with three points, another red herring of a performance. 

[Foxes1]

When's the club shop bringing a t-shirt out with the slogan 'I was there when Daka scored'.

[gurru991]

29 minutes ago, The Year Of The Fox said:

I think he’s on the wind up mate 

Me Too

[Stuntman_Mike]

Not sure how a game can be so drab and entertaining in equal measure. 

 

It was a good win, but really we were very poor.

[shiv]

Although I know our performance wasn’t amazing, it’s nice to see some fight back in the team. That’s all you can ask for as a fan from the players.

[Dahnsouff]

14 minutes ago, Sunbury Fox said:

Pretty much a rerun of the Boro game, only we didn't concede a late equaliser. 

 

Classic Martiball really - awful in general play, bailed out by 2 quality goals from pretty much nowhere. 

 

This was a manager who said at 1 goal up his team would be going for more goals. Yeah right, Marti.

We scored twice... 

[Claridge]

1 hour ago, murphy said:

0-10 on corners does tend to suggest one-way traffic and conceding a lot of potentially dangerous set pieces, so yeah.

we are shit at corners anyway👀

[Dahnsouff]

Championship game of football, one side feeling positive after recent results (Not us) and one who looked scared of their own shadow.

Very pleased to have won, and especially to have closed it out without actually losing or even drawing.

[Muzzy_no7]

I’m sorry but we are still absolutely pants and were once again very lucky. 

[Plastik Man]

11 minutes ago, Foxes1 said:

When's the club shop bringing a t-shirt out with the slogan 'I was there when Daka scored'.

Haha, we said this when we scored.

 

The bloke next to me missed the goal as he had a trip to the toilet. I said to him on his return he wouldn't get the t-shirt 😂

[Number 6]

I thought it was better than is being made out on here to be honest. It wasn't scintillating but I think we're still at the building up confidence stage. The passing out from the back was a bit nervy but did lead to a few promising situations once we'd beat the press, and I thought we put in good work for both goals.

[Bezzanator89]

Abysmal officiating from the first whistle.

Not a great performance, Stoke will kick themselves.

Chuffed for Daka and Mavididi.

Was good to see us getting physical and playing dirty Stoke at their own game.

 

We take the three points because they will be valuable, but we have to be better than this, especially with a points deduction coming. Can see the EFL being really churlish and making an example of us.

[Unabomber]

Terrible performance but great result 

[foxinsox]

Stoke started well, but were nothing special apart from their number 10.

 

Great to see Stephy and Patson score, hopefully be the start of a run for each of them. Both goals were from difficult angles. I think Daka benefited from it being instinctive. If he had time for thought he might have missed.

 

Ricardo and Thomas were both poor, unusually so, and Skipp had a good game. Begovic did a couple of great saves.

 

We played far too deep second half. Marti was urging them forward but seemed to be ignored. It was a dumb goal to concede and there could easily have been more. We rode our luck but got away with it.

 

The other point to note is that we conceeded a lot of corners and free kicks but have got a lot better at defending these.

 

Daka's smile at the end could be seen from space. I hope it sets off a good streak.

 

Edited 22 November 2025 by foxinsox

[ian__marshall]

My biggest concern is we're not creating much at all in front of goal. I know we're missing a decent striker, but you could have Haaland up front and he'd be struggling to get into double figures this season.

 

I don't think it's the player's, it's the system/shape. The build up play is far too slow, and the attacking players are sat too deep meaning there isn't any options on the break. Even when there is an outlet, the furthest player forward is isolated and has no support whatsoever, so any counter breaks down straight away. 

 

This was understandable earlier in the season when the players were trying to learn the style of play and understand movement patterns but by now this should be starting to come together and there should at least be signs that we can open teams up. Unfortunately I have yet to see anything that suggests this is work in progress which is certainly concerning. 

 

Edited 22 November 2025 by ian__marshall

[Ric Flair]

There's been some appalling injustices in this country in recent years and that 3 points is right up there. We are horrifying to watch, got absolutely no functionality in the team and over a third of the season gone and not a single decent performance. 

 

I wish I could just stop caring and pack this in, but its futile. 

 

Aiyawatt Out

 

[Ian S]

A win is a win , this division is a battle so I will take anything.

I will say I think that is the worst performance I have ever seen from Ricardo, at one stage in the first half I think he gave the ball away 5 times on the trot and looked all game like he was running through treacle. Been a great servant but he looks shot to pieces.

[Reg Vardy]

It’s interesting the focus on who was poor today, and Ricky P was, Thomas was marking (imo) their best player, and did ok,a different role to Ricky’s inverted,  but Vestergaard was outstanding today, but that doesn’t appear anywhere in here unless I missed it……some positives to take today,and we move on….January is getting closer……

[foxinsox]

The other highlight of the match was when JJ had his pants pulled down, literally.

 

No skidmarks on his boxers. 

[Ian S]

1 minute ago, Ric Flair said:

There's been some appalling injustices in this country in recent years and that 3 points is right up there. We are horrifying to watch, got absolutely no functionality in the team and over a third of the season gone and not a single decent performance. 

 

I wish I could just stop caring and pack this in, but its futile. 

 

Aiyawatt Out

 

With the exception of the horrible bunch at the other end of the M69 how many decent performances have you seen from

anyone this season in this division, it’s bloody awful.

[Legend_in_blue]

Just watched the, rather brief, highlights.

 

What was Faes doing there? 

 

Tracks the man, ball goes left, he ignores the man, turns his back on him, back in over the top and in.  Shocking defending.

[Pliskin]

3 minutes ago, Ian S said:

With the exception of the horrible bunch at the other end of the M69 how many decent performances have you seen from

anyone this season in this division, it’s bloody awful.

None, Cov will win the league at a canter, the rest of us, it will be like watching tramps fight over a bag of chips.

[Tuna]

10 minutes ago, Ian S said:

With the exception of the horrible bunch at the other end of the M69 how many decent performances have you seen from

anyone this season in this division, it’s bloody awful.

Bristol City were very impressive at Sheffield United on the opening day.

[Ian S]

3 minutes ago, Tuna said:

Bristol City were very impressive at Sheffield United on the opening day.

Think that says it all, going all the way back to the opening day of the season.