The "do they mean us?" thread

[sylofox]

Personally, I don't think you're shit. Would I swap my squad for yours, probably not, but I think I would like to have seen Hughes follow some of Pearson's quick thinking. It was that, which won you the game.

 

You're all spot on with Arsenal, as I pointed out earlier. Just get used to it. They'll moan and whine and make out like the whole world is against them. They're a bit like Liverpool, except more insufferable and more self-righteous.

Oatcake

 

You should really try one before judging, they're not bad

Would not judge them as never had one.

Will PM my address so you can send me one lol

[sylofox]

Some of the stuff I saw from them was really pathetic.

 

Some of it was very similar to Stoke, "we have loads of chances, we should have won"... no you had lots of shots from 30 years and a couple of decent chances. None of which were better than the Chance Ulloa missed.

No disrespect intended my comments about Arsenal were from spoken comments to me not trawling the net.

As I said have not been on there site.

[Chug Laguna]

I like oats, and I like cake. I do not, however, like Stoke.

[sylofox]

I like oats, and I like cake. I do not, however, like Stoke.

[PAPA LAZAROU]

Any Man United with any vested interest in their development teams over the years are going to know a fair bit about our squad given a number of them have spent time there, they're going to know about Cambiasso, and they're going to know about Kasper. Given Ulloa is currently joint 2nd highest goal scorer in the league it's a bit hard to ignore him as well.

 

Assuming we carry on giving good accounts of ourselves I think we'll get more recognition form most of the league as time goes on.

 

 

Agree totally. We will have to earn respect just like any newcomer . what we have shown so far has suprised a lot of the pundits and let's face it ourselves. I know it's only a few games in to the season but I have seen enough to know we will be in this division next year. Watching Q.P.R and West Brom and Burnley not to mention Newcastle makes you realise just how bad a lot of teams in the Prem are. We have nothing to fear and judging by the performance of our team neither do they.

[PAPA LAZAROU]

Can you define proper football please? Football is a sport. The way to play football is defined within the rules and so long as those rules are adhered to, then the approach is actually irrelevant as far as I'm concerned. Are you trying to say that you play proper football and we don't? The only thing that matters is the team who wins and that was you.

 

Hughes has tried to get Stoke passing more. The reason for this wasn't to impress the media buffs, other teams supporters or those idiots on Match of the Day, but to try and progress us to the next level. I believe last season demonstrated how we progressed as a team and the football we played at Aston Villa away was some of the best I've seen in a long time. It also demonstrated that while our fairly rudimentary style upon returning to the top division was fine in the short term, it wasn't really sustainable. Look at our first season, a whopping 33% of our goals came as a result of Rory Delap's long throws. In the second season, I believe that tally was less than 16% and in the third season I'm pretty sure we scored just one. If you want to move on as a team, you have to move forward. One thing Pulis showed, was that he found it incredibly difficult to adopt a passing approach into any of his strategies. He signed players with the ability to do it (Tuncay, Palacios, N'Zonzi, Eidur, Adam, Owen, Cameron) yet completely failed in integrating a good passing game which is why we ultimately didn't progress.

 

Reverting to hoofball could be considered our plan b.

 

 

You know you seem a very intelligent and knowledgeable person. Which begs the question why are you following such a Neanderthal club with no real ambition with fans who belong in the seventies mind warp . It's not to late come and join us it's only a forty minute drive and at least you would be guaranteed Premiership football for the foreseeable future ?   

[ScouseFox]

You're all spot on with Arsenal, as I pointed out earlier. Just get used to it. They'll moan and whine and make out like the whole world is against them.

Stoke fans before during and after have been comfortably more bitter, moany, crying little bitches than arsenal fans. I think as a fanbase you've grown into the very thing most decent fanbases hate. A bunch of self righteous delusion morons.

(not you especially, but nigh on every other stoke fan I've come across)

[Haydos]

I thought Hughes was trying to play some proper football these days yet you resorted to hoofing it 50% of the time still.

 

You say better attacks would have put us to the sword yet we've faced Arsenal, Everton and Chelsea and have only lost one which were on top of for 60 minutes. If Chelsea can't have their way with us I'm not sure who will tbh, I'd say our defence was our strongest part of the field at the moment. I guess we'll be up against it against Utd. Falcao/Rooney/RVP will be a step up from Sanogo. (Yet we did keep Ozil, Sanchez and Ramsey quiet.

 

I was trying (very badly) to make the point that you didn't really create many actual goalscoring opportunities despite all the possession. Most of the time you seemed to be lumping it forward which wasn't really working that well because we'd either win it in the air or you didn't have many men in around target men up front.

[Out Foxed]

6) Leicester show the value of consistency

The back four of Ritchie De Laet, Wes Morgan, Liam Moore and Paul Konchesky all excelled in Leicester’s 1-0 away win at Stoke City. The quartet have been brilliant and ever-present this season, Leicester conceding just five goals to the considerable strike forces of Everton, Chelsea, Arsenal and Stoke. What’s more, this is a defence that remains unchanged from last season’s Championship-winning side. This is a doctrine followed by another of the promoted sides, Burnley, who have also retained and started the same four players – Kieran Trippier, Michael Duff, Jason Shackell, and Ben Mee – as last year and now have clean sheets against Crystal Palace and Manchester United to show for it. Compare this with QPR, who have added the likes of Steven Caulker, Rio Ferdinand and Mauricio Isla for considerable sums, and to little effect. Is this indicative of a wider trend? The Leicester manager, Nigel Pearson, has been wise not to change a winning formula, and his side’s strength at the back has been forged from a collective understanding between the four players – proving that tactical organisation can be honed on the training ground and does not have to be bought, even in the top tier. Michael Butler

[The Doctor]

Arsenal??? Respect???

 

They have been crying about us being "so physical we'll end some players careers" and "they watered one end of the pitch more, our players fell over".

 

I thought he was talking about the team more than the fans - and Arsene was actually fairly complimentary of our performance as I recall.

[Deucalion]

StokeFan

 

In your congratulatory article (cheers btw) you mentioned we need to tighten up at the back.  Currently we have the joint 8th best defence in the league, after playing 3 of last year's top 5.

 

So I think you are wrong about that bit.

 

[orangecity23]

Most Arsenal 'fans' on the net were too busy stabbing Wenger and Sanogo in the back and griping about buying strikers, so they never really got round to mentioning Leicester. In their memories, they might as well have been held to a draw by their board's lack of ambition and investment.

[Bert]

I felt the Stoke fans were very similar to Millwall fans from last season. Appeal for absolutely every decision. Get the arse when they don't get and moan at every decision the ref gave us.

Then when they lose blame the ref.

[Craig]

Most Arsenal 'fans' on the net were too busy stabbing Wenger and Sanogo in the back and griping about buying strikers, so they never really got round to mentioning Leicester. In their memories, they might as well have been held to a draw by their board's lack of ambition and investment.

[Bilo]

I felt the Stoke fans were very similar to Millwall fans from last season. Appeal for absolutely every decision. Get the arse when they don't get and moan at every decision the ref gave us.

Then when they lose blame the ref.

 

Similarly sized clubs to be fair.

 

Not to mention average IQs.

[Corky]

I love how Stoke try and kiss Derby/Forest's arse to make out that we're no-marks, as if it's down to anything other than location, and as if Stoke themselves are anything but no-marks.

 

Oh but hold on, what's this? They have a rivalry with... Port Vale, and have the ****ing nerve to claim we're irrelevant

 

Who they haven't beaten in their last six meetings lol

[Riot Van]

United forum was a good read.  Only read one moronic statement which was then quickly shot down by another member.

[fuchsntf]

A lot of the fans on their forum are being very complimentary and respectful towards us. It'd be hard for them not to be confident with a team that includes Di Maria, Falcao, Mata and RVP etc.

They still don't think it'll be an easy ride though and they seem to have watched a fair bit of us to base their opinions on.

I've always hated United but it's nice to fans of a club of their stature to say nice things about us

To be fair Manu, Liverpool fans tend to show more appreciation and respect to the opposition fans, social media just confirms it.We still have in our midst some fans who show little respect to opposite teams and fans, we still have far to go before, we start to earn our halos.Simon templar is not yet a city fan.

[Fox92]

Just like any club, there are a large proportion of Manchester United fans that attend games and know about football. I've had many good conversations with United fans that know their stuff.

 

It's just a shame that they are overshadowed by the fans that don't go and/or don't know anything about football outside Manchester United. I've nothing against United personally, in fact I probably like them more than Manchester City.

 

Their forum was a good refreshing read.

[johnny the fox]

Similarly sized clubs to be fair.

 

Not to mention average IQs.

 

Similarly sized clubs to be fair.

 

Not to mention average IQs.

sorry my old beauty.. but LCFC is a far bigger club than stoke.. that's not  being one eyed, its just the truth.............same as the fact that Leeds are bigger than us... why?   go figure ..

[Bilo]

sorry my old beauty.. but LCFC is a far bigger club than stoke.. that's not  being one eyed, its just the truth.............same as the fact that Leeds are bigger than us... why?   go figure ..

 

I meant Millwall are similarly sized to Stoke, JTF.

 

Stoke are a well run Coventry who are massively overachieving simply by being a Premier League side.

[Grewks]

Can you define proper football please? Football is a sport. The way to play football is defined within the rules and so long as those rules are adhered to, then the approach is actually irrelevant as far as I'm concerned. Are you trying to say that you play proper football and we don't? The only thing that matters is the team who wins and that was you.

 

Hughes has tried to get Stoke passing more. The reason for this wasn't to impress the media buffs, other teams supporters or those idiots on Match of the Day, but to try and progress us to the next level. I believe last season demonstrated how we progressed as a team and the football we played at Aston Villa away was some of the best I've seen in a long time. It also demonstrated that while our fairly rudimentary style upon returning to the top division was fine in the short term, it wasn't really sustainable. Look at our first season, a whopping 33% of our goals came as a result of Rory Delap's long throws. In the second season, I believe that tally was less than 16% and in the third season I'm pretty sure we scored just one. If you want to move on as a team, you have to move forward. One thing Pulis showed, was that he found it incredibly difficult to adopt a passing approach into any of his strategies. He signed players with the ability to do it (Tuncay, Palacios, N'Zonzi, Eidur, Adam, Owen, Cameron) yet completely failed in integrating a good passing game which is why we ultimately didn't progress.

 

Reverting to hoofball could be considered our plan b.

 

 

 

Direct football is just as effective as the 'passing game'.

 

 

Just look at Athletico Madrid and Bayern munich under Juup.

[Dan]

6) Leicester show the value of consistency

The back four of Ritchie De Laet, Wes Morgan, Liam Moore and Paul Konchesky all excelled in Leicester’s 1-0 away win at Stoke City. The quartet have been brilliant and ever-present this season, Leicester conceding just five goals to the considerable strike forces of Everton, Chelsea, Arsenal and Stoke. What’s more, this is a defence that remains unchanged from last season’s Championship-winning side. This is a doctrine followed by another of the promoted sides, Burnley, who have also retained and started the same four players – Kieran Trippier, Michael Duff, Jason Shackell, and Ben Mee – as last year and now have clean sheets against Crystal Palace and Manchester United to show for it. Compare this with QPR, who have added the likes of Steven Caulker, Rio Ferdinand and Mauricio Isla for considerable sums, and to little effect. Is this indicative of a wider trend? The Leicester manager, Nigel Pearson, has been wise not to change a winning formula, and his side’s strength at the back has been forged from a collective understanding between the four players – proving that tactical organisation can be honed on the training ground and does not have to be bought, even in the top tier. Michael Butler

 

 

OH MY GOD. HE GETS IT.

 

But QPR r a betta side becuz they have better players on feyfur ! ! ! !!

[Dan]

Direct football is just as effective as the 'passing game'.

 

 

Just look at Athletico Madrid and Bayern munich under Juup.

 

You know, I am a fan of passing football, but it really is beginning to grate on me how people who think that they deserve to win a game because they had more possession/shots etc... just look at Leicester v Arsenal for proof on how weak an argument it is.

 

Barcelona have truly poisoned the minds of fans in this country. They were that good at what they did that they've brainwashed average Joe into thinking that being better in the stats automatically means you deserved the win.

 

The beauty of Leicester is I think that we've still not seen our 'pretty' side. We've been quite direct so far - but we proved last year and will prove later this year that we've got the tools to be a very easy on the eye side capable of ripping someone apart too. I've got a feeling we'll slaughter West Brom in November playing a completely different game to what we have done so far.

Edited 16 September 2014 by Dan LCFC

[EnglishOxide]

I have definitely noticed more games this season where posession stats are around the 40/60 or 30/70 mark.

10 years ago posession would be very evenly spread over 90 mins but with this influx of teams whose philosophy is to keep the ball like Swansea, Liverpool, Everton, Man City and this season Chelsea I think has skewed people's perception of who deserves the win.

Most the teams who have been on the wrong end of the posession stat have gotten the win. It really means **** all. Posession is a way to run the clock down and pace your team.

The real lesson to be learned from Barcas supremecy between 08-12 should be taken from their games vs Chelsea and Bayern. Press intelligently, defend with utter concentration and be ruthless on the counter attack. At the moment I'd say a posession style isn't the most effective in world football at all.