I am happy with that I said I would take a draw before the start of the game as it was a game that we really couldn't afford to loose. It was not the best performance but the lads showed a lot of grit and determination. A few of our players looked absolutely spent but it was our second game in a a matter of days and Stoke City had 10 days rest and preparation for tonight's game. Deulofeu looks like he is going to be a fabulous signing the best player on the pitch tonight.
Not actually sure how everyone is taking so many positives out of that game. We game up against the worst defense in the league and hardly looked like scoring, meanwhile looking shaky at the back against a largely weak attack. I don't think the defense had the ball under control at any point that game, continually putting the midfield under pressure with awful balls out. Prodl was shocking, except for the few times he had to clear up a mess he had previously made. That team looked completely devoid of confidence so I only hope that the point will improve that. Maybe it was an improved performance but I don't think we will come up against many worst sides this season. Cleverly injured, no doubt from being rushed back. Has the transfer window really improved us? The club have massively gambled on getting players back and keeping them fit, which is not especially comforting. Apologies for being negative. The team showed commitment and the effort out there wasn't in doubt. Denying Stoke a win is also huge. (Stoke are easily the most cynical team in the league, hope they go down tbh).
Pleased with the point and the clean sheet. Thought we edged it in the first but Stoke had the better of a second half in which we struggled to keep hold of the ball. Thought we defended much better, looked far more resolute than we have done and showed some good fighting spirit. Doucoure my MoM. That Del Fellow we've signed showed some good touches. Dont agree with comments that Capoue was lazy, he put a shift in but his distribution left alot to be desired and on more than one occasion played the team into trouble. True to form another injury sustained, perhaps we rushed Cleverly back too soon? As has been said, Stoke are a niggly horrible little side and given how scrappy/fiery the game was I could see a red card being shown, especially when Holebas got a yellow. 1 point down, 13 to go.
I think its quite exciting to see us playing for something rather than in mid table mediocri that chance for doucoure was created by gray who had been on the pitch for approx. 90 seconds. Compare that to deeney who was on for 90 mins and created............ ??
Good away point, doesn't matter how you get them. Results from other sides have gone favourably too, besides Bournemouth. Grind out a few more of these ugly points, win a few home games against the teams around us and we'll be fine.
I’m happy with that. A point away and some spirit and fight and a clean sheet. It’s something we can hopefully build on. Karnezis was excellent. Poor Javi G. He looked really gaunt with the flu. I’d have taken a sticky from work if I had the flu.
He wasn't bad but earlier in the season when his confidence was high he was pulling out all the tricks to burn past full backs. Now he's not backing himself and it makes him look the wrong side of ordinary.
It was always going to be a tight, scrappy affair. We did well to stand up for their petulant, niggly anti-football. Don't get me wrong, we had little quality, but our main aim wasn't to ruin the game like theirs. I really hope that they go down, as Stoke away is always a dour. Delefelou is quality. He'll either be injured or disenchanted soon like Richy. We would have lost this comfortably under Silva. Our shape, especially our defensive line, is much better. Let's hope we can scrape a win soon, and get some confidence back into the team.
We'd probably be okay if we had a decent striker. Richarlison needs a rest. Has delivered nothing for weeks now.
Laughing..Fa Cup QF 2003 was pretty awful against Burnley..yes it wasn't a pretty game but I never expected it to be. Stoke and Watford were never going to give us a good game today but it was good to get the basics right. Our Greek goalkeeper did well, very pleased with his performance tonight
when we had 2 up top we created our 2 best chances. the doucoure shot that was blocked and the pereyra shot that he scuffed. is there a way we can accommodate both gray and deeney in the starting lineup without getting overrun in midfield? if we can then we got a chance of being the aggressors in matches.
I appreciate that. I guess I'm sort of in the boat that I'm not completely convinced the rot has gone, rather Stoke were too poor to exploit it.
If they wanted to give Richarlison a rest, they could try a 3-5-2 with Holebas on the left and Gray and Deeney up front. I'd really like to see us try a two up front, but feel like it would be a risk playing 4-4-2 unless we had a very best ball playing commbative midfielders in two of Chalobah/Doucoure/Hughes in there.
A point is a step in the right direction, certainly, but is it enough? Enough to see us stay up, I mean. Our strikers are so appalling that I don't think they would get onto the bench of any other premier league side, based on their performances this season. We don't look like scoring and despite battling to a point against a side who are nearly as bad as we are, where is the next win coming from? I just don't see it. We're appalling and losing Cleverley AGAIN just after a return from injury is beyond farcical. The Pozzos may feel unlucky that the squad has so many injuries, overlooking the fact that there has to be a cause to such an extended pattern of "bad luck," however, their failure to seriously strengthen the first team in this window is recklessly negligent and I think will show itself as the error which cost them their golden goose. Our starting 11 today is about as good as we can muster, now weakened further by Cleverley's injury. It's appalling really and the bench was no real boost. Carillo and Gray are jobbing players who inject little into a game, whilst Pereyra is a busted flush who hasn't affected the outcome of a game this season. Defensively, putting Mariappa at right back makes us immediately more solid, but then Prodl is awful these days at centre half. We're still vulnerable at the back. I don't understand why the owners are sitting and just watching this happen. You'd think they'd be aware of the paucity of quality in the squad, yet they seem to welcome it, even indulging themselves by signing two players who will probably never play for our first team, as they are so wont to do, whilst criminally neglecting the actual playing machine itself and leaving us no better off at the end of the window than when we started.
We should have invested in defence in the summer and this window. We need quality. We need to do it in the summer. We also really really needed at lest one decent striker in. We have to rely on Deeney, he did show signs of not being a *** though today
And for a 0-0 infinitely more entertaining than the absolute shower of bilge we’ve seen in the last 12 games
Still our worst ever points tally after 25 games whilst staying up, or best ever points to go down, depending on your outlook:
4 goals though. All those starts. All those easy misses. You make your own luck. He can’t be hard done by forever. Sometimes you are just NOT A GOOD FOOTBALL PLAYER
And we are crap up front. Our strikers haven’t scored many goals. We are in trouble partly because of this. They are partly to blame
Like the majority of folk on here tonight, I'm pleased with a point because I was convinced we'd lose. Regarding Stoke - if your dance partner insists on aggressive moshing, there's no way you can carry on trying to waltz, as we would have done under Silva. The game wasn't pretty - but that's what happens when you come up against these on the cliched cold, winters midweek night. Maybe yellow tinted glasses on - but I only saw one team out there at least try to play football. No, we weren't anywhere close to the free-flowing stuff played in the summer/autumn - but we were full of confidence then, unlike now. Also - Stoke beat us even when were "decent". Maybe they're just our bogey team? A much improved performance compared to the dross of recent games, but I accept it still has to get better. Regarding selection over Deeney/Gray - both players have their haters (and those that hate both). Had Gray started, his haters would have said the rough and tumble nature of the game suits Deeney much better. As it was the other way round, Troy has come in for criticism again. Our best chance with Doucoure was created by Gray - but it was Deeney's slide rule pass in to him that enabled Andre to get to the byline and pull it back. The obvious conclusion is that we really need to find a way to get them both on the pitch at the start. Without looking at the stats, I'm sure we had the better chances to score. Doucoure's shot was in had Shawcross not got the block, as Butland had already dived the wrong way. We're crying out for a bit of luck. Mariappa over Janmaat from now on at RB until Kiko is fit, same goes with Holebas over Zeegelaar (I thought he had a decent game tonight). People saying Stoke are terrible (they are) so we should have won - but we lost to two teams who were bottom despite leading with a couple of minutes to go. Tonight is certainly an improvement, and I'll take any positive going right now. Just a shame that Chelsea got ruined by Muff - the inevitable backlash awaits next week. Finally - I hate being right with pessimism like this - but you just knew it would happen:
I'm reading some right sh*t on here, I swear! I've been as pessimistic as anyone since the whole Everton away defeat and The Snake's flirting with them, BUT, tonight was a fantastic away performance! Take it all into consideration: 1. Stoke away on a wet wintery evening is a cliche, but it's always tough! 2. They are buoyed by their last game and new Manager. 3. They've had 10 days off. 4. We have a crippling injury list. I thought we did the basics well, didn't fanny around on the ball and went a bit more direct (which does suit players like Richarlison and Gray as they're better when they're running into the channels and stretching the opposition). I certainly don't get the hate for Prodl? The guy has barely played this season and he came in tonight and dealt with most things thrown at him, won basically everything in the air and looked much more like his old self. He's not a ball playing defender, he never has been, but with a defensive minded coach you'll get the best out of him - QSF anyone? His partnership with Kaba was very good and the main reason we didn't lose that in the last 15 minutes like we would've done under Silva. Mariappa was the best player on the pitch, I thought he was excellent and has surely made right-back his own position now until Kiko is back? Karnezis superb again - Gomes may struggle to get back in. Doucoure ran the midfield! Again, I don't get the hate for him tonight! Ran non stop, broke up the play, pressed very high up the pitch and was one of the main reasons we turned the ball over so frequently and set chances up. Was very unlucky not to score, it was heading in the bottom corner with the keeper rooted but for a very good block. Let's also not forget that he's played virtually every game this season and has often had to do the work of TWO players in the middle - the guy is an absolute machine! Capoue much better tonight. He's got another life now under a new Coach to show his ability and he wasn't amazing, but was much improved. Richarlison was fairly poor but didn't shy away and worked hard. Still think he needs a rest and again, like Doucoure has played virtually every game. Hopefully Deulofeu's arrival will create a bit more space for him now as he's getting kicked and crowded out every time he gets the ball with his back to goal (hence my earlier comment of us being better when we put the ball over the top for him to run on to). He will come good again and get a second wind. Deulofeu flicked in and out of the game, but battled hard and showed some real glimpses of quality! The run and cross for the Richarlison chance in the first half was excellent as was his beautiful first time flick/give and go in the second half which created the Richarlison half chance. His cross for Pereyra's chance was brilliant as well, absolutely roasted the left back! Really impressed with him and he could be the difference going forward if he can stay fit (which seems to be impossible here). Deeney looked better second half with the introduction of Gray. He dropped deeper and played some nice passes in to Gray's path, one of which created the Doucoure chance, which was brilliantly cut back by Gray and really deserved a goal, would have been one of our best goals this season. The pass from Deeney, the cut back from Gray and the clever first touch from Doucoure. Our pressing game which created us some chances worked better in a 4-4-2/4-4-1-1 too. We need to see more of this now, especially at home! We will create chances and we will eventually start scoring again! All in all, I didn't think we looked in a great deal of danger, I thought we defended really well and did the basics well. Our game management was excellent in the second half and stifled Stoke - if we'd have done that earlier in the seasons we'd be sitting in the top 8! If Doucoure's or Pereyra's efforts go in then we are sat here talking about the ultimate away performance. We couldn't afford to lose tonight, we needed a clean sheet and I felt we had enough quality to nick it and probably should've done. Much better. Games against Chelsea on Monday night won't define our season, it's the games against Bournemouth, Huddersfield, Palace, West Ham, Newcastle, Burnley, Everton and West Brom which will be where we earn our status for another year - six of those eight games being at home!!
A point and clean sheet on the road in a tight game is ok.. Don't think they were too impressed with us either! http://oatcakefanzine.proboards.com/thread/276558/*********s Will we get the Chelsea back lash Monday ?
But why play Deeney in front of him. People slag off Gray yet he scored against Man City and started the comeback against Southampton in recent games but throughout the season he has been dropped as soon as he gets goals so can't get on a run. Whilst I agree we shouldn't have bought him in the first place he's here and he will frustrate us all in some games but the goals tell you that in open play he has more chance of scoring than Deeney. So he should start with Deeney coming on as an impact sub if we continue with 1 up top.
