Popular Post Jerseybean Posted November 24, 2021 Popular Post Report Share Posted November 24, 2021 Good day fellow-Reds. Stoke City under the Bristol sky tonight at 745 pm and it’s the main match on Sky so is not on Robins TV. If you want to get to the Gate and cheer on the boys: https://tickets.bristol-sport.co.uk/categories/bristolcityfchome? The first visit to Ashton Gate for Dean Holden since his departure, I’m sure he will be given a decent reception. As Michael O’Neil pointed out in his presser ‘We know their squad quite well. Obviously Dean Holden was there last season so we have good knowledge on the players.’ Who remembers Stoke City 2 Bristol City 1, April 19th, 2008? For those who don’t take a look here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/eng_div_1/7344104.stm Stoke subsequently secured promotion by finishing in second place (behind WBA) and Gary Johnson said after the game that ‘Some people are naturally disappointed because it looks as though automatic promotion is unlikely. What we must do now is make sure we are in the play-offs and then give it our best shot if that is the case.’ The Britannia was rocking that day and the City faithful never once dropped their voices below an audibly magnificent level. As they say, the rest is history, for any young uns who don’t know what I’m talking about read this: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/eng_div_1/7416502.stm Here are the final league places at the end of the 2007/08 season: 1 West Bromwich Albion 2 Stoke City (P) 3 Hull City 4 Bristol City 5 Crystal Palace 6 Watford My Australian mate Bill is a big Stoke fan, his pre-match comments follow: ‘Be afraid, be very afraid. Your home record is the worst in the four English leagues, possibly every league and our last two alway games were wins and against teams with good home records, Luton and Blackpool. Plus we have our star striker Tyrese Campbell back from long-term injury and in Jacob Brown we have a young, in-form striker who has just won his first Scottish cap. I also have the delightful memory of a few seasons back (2018) when we thrashed you 1-0 at Ashton Gate thanks to the last ever league goal from Darren Fletcher! You could of course garner some hope from two critical injuries to Harry Souttar our highly rated centre half and a broken leg for Powell our truly inspirational number 10. But don’t hope too much we have excellent replacements and you can’t even beat average sides with 10 men. So I think it’s going to be another 1-0 thrashing!! Oh and it’s been 10 years since Stoke won four games in a row.’ Mention of Bill provides an opportunity to promote his excellent new book, which I highly recommend to anybody interested in mental health. His compelling book is provocative, humorous, touching and based on his extensive experience of clinical psychology. It’s called ‘What Happened?: What mental health is really about’ By Dr Bill Saunders and is available now from Amazon. Our record against them isn’t great we’ve lost 26, won 17 and drawn 15. Last season they finished in 14th place and against them we lost 0-2 (at home) and won 0-2 (away.) They faced Peterborough in their last a game and won 2-0 (with the second goal coming in the 96th minute) Surridge's late red card means he won’t feature tonight, they currently occupy fifth place in the table. Tonight’s encounter will be a tough one particularly given our home form. Form over last six matches, Bristol City: LLWLLD Stoke Cityk: LLDWWW and Stoke haven’t conceded in their last three games. Stoke are one of the oldest English football teams and were one of the founding members of the Football League. They began as Stoke Ramblers, but have been known as Stoke City since 1925. One of the best periods for the club was between 1933 and1953, they played in the top division and managed to reach the fourth place twice. They also have a Football League Cup victory from 1972 and would reach the FA Cup final for the first time in 2011. Some of the most famous players in the club's history are Stanley Matthews, Neil Franklin, Gordon Banks, Peter Shilton, Peter Dobing, George Eastham, Peter McIlroy, Denis Smith, Harry Burrows who at the time had the most powerful left foot in football, the mercurial Alan Hudson, John Ritchie and the best player never to be capped by England, Jimmy Greenhoff. Mention of Gordon Banks reminds me of one of many of Bill’s claims - that he was once substituted by Gordon Banks. Allegedly at the time of his removal Bill’s team were winning 4-1 and by the end it was 4-4. Bill clings on to the notion that he was a better goalie than Gordon! Another of his claims is that funnily enough he once played five a side against George Eastham, his job was to mark him, Bill’s team lost 6-0, George scored a couple and made the rest. Unsurprisingly Bill never once got the ball from him! Michael O’Neil, who was appointed in November 2019 when they were bottom of the league, has been rebuilding and getting rid of lots of players in the process. Does that sound familiar? At the end of last season they said goodbye a few times as they cleared the decks for squad rebuilding. Among the former Potters are Jack Butland, Mame Diouf, Mo Sankoh and Julien Ngoy. O’Neil’s philosophy also rings a bell, he has said: ‘Having more people out of the team than in it is what really challenges your culture. More players have left than have come in and we put a real focus on the types of people we want, not just what they are as players.’ When he arrived he was hamstrung by the players bought in by previous managers and administrators, many of their fans have pointed out that the club has been mismanaged for quite a while. As one noted ‘Hughes's first couple of seasons were OK until he ripped the heart and soul out of the team, since then it's been a comedy of errors with expensive garbage coming through the door along with idealistic managers with an open cheque book. O’Neil has come in and has been shackled by FFP. He is giving youth a go (Josh Tymon especially) and with the likes of Fletcher, Vranic and Allen the old heads are providing experience. Stoke snippets Stoke once had a vicar patrolling midfield. Father Elijah Smith took off his cassock to play for the Potters in the 1880s. The half-back, who was in charge of a church in Stoke, starred in the club's first ever league win, over Notts County. The Potters finished bottom of Football League in its inaugural season, and again the following year before they failed to be re-elected in 1890. Stoke are responsible for the penalty kick. The Potters had reason to gripe when they were knocked out of the FA Cup by Notts County in 1891. They were piling on the pressure in search of an equaliser when Notts defender Jack Hendry punched away a goal-bound shot. Stoke were given a free-kick but the opponents stacked 11 men on their own line and blocked any shot. Referee John Lewis thought this wasn't fair so campaigned to introduce the penalty kick when he became a football legislator. The most capped player to have played for the club is goalkeeper Gordon Banks – with 73 caps for England. Sir Stanley Matthews holds the record for the oldest ever player to feature in England’s top division. His appearance for Stoke City against Fulham in February 1965 came shortly after his 50th birthday. The club’s only major trophy to date was the League Cup, which they won in 1972 after beating Chelsea 2-1 in the final. They also lifted the Football League Trophy in 1992 and 2000. The Oatcake was their fanzine, which was named after a local delicacy. It ran for over 30 years before publishing its 653rd and final issue for the opening Championship game against QPR in August 2019. Hot on the heels of an improved home performance on Saturday, especially in the first half, it will be interesting to see if tonight we can start to build a bit of concentration, confidence and consistency. I lost count of how many times Curtis Fleming used the word ‘consistency’ in his press-match presser. In fact I reckon when NP asked him to do the presser he added see if you can make a point about a decent 45 minutes being just that and stress it is something we need to build on. Curtis then contrived to communicate by continually and consistently chatting about being consistent! Matty James, George Tanner and Andy King are all unavailable so the squad is likely to be unchanged, although NP may make some tweaks to the starting line-up. 11 8 1 Quote Link to comment
054123 Posted November 24, 2021 Report Share Posted November 24, 2021 (edited) What a read! Thank you! Bristol City 1-2 Stoke City Lets see if we can continue the positive traits of Saturday. Edited November 24, 2021 by 054123 1 Quote Link to comment
FNQ Posted November 24, 2021 Report Share Posted November 24, 2021 Great write up.. thanks. not sure what CF is going on about, we’ve been consistent all season at home 2-1 to us.. on the telly here in Aus. COYR’s 4 Quote Link to comment
Waconda Posted November 24, 2021 Report Share Posted November 24, 2021 Continue the selection, coaching, organisation, tactics, formation and intensity shown on Saturday and we will at least be competitive. 1-1 again for me. If we slip back into the disorganised shambles of previous weeks/months then a 0-3 defeat. Quote Link to comment
Jerseybean Posted November 24, 2021 Author Report Share Posted November 24, 2021 20 minutes ago, FNQ said: Great write up.. thanks. not sure what CF is going on about, we’ve been consistent all season at home 2-1 to us.. on the telly here in Aus. COYR’s FNQ which channel is it on in Oz? Bill who I mentioned in the MDT is in Perth and didn’t think he could get it live on TV Quote Link to comment
redysteadygo Posted November 24, 2021 Report Share Posted November 24, 2021 To us old un's there are some great players named there especially Stanley Mathews who helped Stoke to the Second Division in 1933 and 1963 That's 30 years apart. Inconceivable now. 1 Quote Link to comment
Frenchay Red Posted November 24, 2021 Report Share Posted November 24, 2021 49 minutes ago, Jerseybean said: FNQ which channel is it on in Oz? Bill who I mentioned in the MDT is in Perth and didn’t think he could get it live on TV Bein 1 sports 1 Quote Link to comment
Red Army 75 Posted November 24, 2021 Report Share Posted November 24, 2021 I thought I heard GT say on Monday night they only had 37% possession against Peterborough. We may have a bit more of the ball tonight so we really need to use it well. Tough game tonight Quote Link to comment
Redrascal2 Posted November 24, 2021 Report Share Posted November 24, 2021 When I think of Stoke versus City, I remember two of my favourite goals. A Matt Bryant screamer at the Gate and a Tinnion special at Stoke. It would be great to have one of those type of goals tonight. COYR Quote Link to comment
DownendStokie Posted November 24, 2021 Report Share Posted November 24, 2021 (edited) Morning all. Local Stoke fan here. Looking forward to the game tonight but not feeling particularly confident. Our last 3 results have looked good on paper but the performances (esp against Peterborough on Saturday) haven't quite matched them. Harry Souttar and Nick Powell are huge misses for us but we do have Vrancic who is playing really well and Tyrese Campbell who is getting back to match fitness after a long layoff due to injury. winning 4 in a row isn’t a very “Stoke” thing to do so I’m expecting a draw at best. Hoping for a bit of entertainment to take my mind off the cold! Good luck. Edited November 24, 2021 by DownendStokie 11 Quote Link to comment
FNQ Posted November 24, 2021 Report Share Posted November 24, 2021 1 hour ago, Jerseybean said: FNQ which channel is it on in Oz? Bill who I mentioned in the MDT is in Perth and didn’t think he could get it live on TV Hey mate.. BEIN Sports. ( via Foxtel) Cheers 1 Quote Link to comment
Red7 Posted November 24, 2021 Report Share Posted November 24, 2021 I know it's on Sky Sports Main Event, but is it also on the red button? Asking for a friend. 1 Quote Link to comment
Selred Posted November 24, 2021 Report Share Posted November 24, 2021 3 hours ago, Jerseybean said: George Tanner Are we sure he's out? He's been the face used on social media to promote the game so perhaps he's fit? Quote Link to comment
Finley_Smith10 Posted November 24, 2021 Report Share Posted November 24, 2021 0-2 Stoke. They’re decent and that Campbell up top for them is a handful Quote Link to comment
Waconda Posted November 24, 2021 Report Share Posted November 24, 2021 4 minutes ago, JonDolman said: Out for a few weeks apparently Changes in formation and tactics should be as minimal as possible following Saturday. Quote Link to comment
Finley_Smith10 Posted November 24, 2021 Report Share Posted November 24, 2021 (edited) Would like to see this today; Bentley Kalas Atkinson Baker Scott Williams Massengo Odowda Semenyo Wells Weimann What I think he’ll do; Bentley Vyner Kalas Baker Scott Bakinson Massengo Odowda Weimann Martin Benarous Edited November 24, 2021 by Finley_Smith10 Quote Link to comment
Waconda Posted November 24, 2021 Report Share Posted November 24, 2021 4 minutes ago, JonDolman said: Yep. Alex Scott had a good game at wing back I really hope they stick with the new system and tactics for a period of time, there will be loses along the way but we will be competitive. Especially as we stuck with an absolutely disastrous way of playing for months. Quote Link to comment
bcfc01 Posted November 24, 2021 Report Share Posted November 24, 2021 32 minutes ago, DownendStokie said: Morning all. Local Stoke fan here. Looking forward to the game tonight but not feeling particularly confident. Our last 3 results have looked good on paper but the performances (esp against Peterborough on Saturday) haven't quite matched them. Harry Souttar and Nick Powell are huge misses for us but we do have Vrancic who is playing really well and Tyrese Campbell who is getting back to match fitness after a long layoff due to injury. winning 4 in a row isn’t a very “Stoke” thing to do so I’m expecting a draw at best. Hoping for a bit of entertainment to take my mind off the cold! Good luck. The stats for the Peterborough game are a bit surprising; Stoke 37% possession, Posh 63% Stoke 327 passes, Posh 550 Stoke 7 attempts, Posh 14 But thats just the stats, its what you do with the ball and the most vital stat is that Stoke won 2-0 - looks like the second goal was very late into added time when Posh were all out attack. If we can replicate the form from Saturday and maintain it for the whole game, we should win imo, but thats been the problem for a long time now - no consistency of performance. Its just as likely that we capitulate and lose 0-3. Quote Link to comment
Waconda Posted November 24, 2021 Report Share Posted November 24, 2021 2 minutes ago, Finley_Smith10 said: Would like to see this today; Bentley Kalas Atkinson Baker Scott Williams Massengo Odowda Semenyo Wells Weimann What I think he’ll do; Bentley Vyner Kalas Baker Scott Bakinson Massengo Odowda Weimann Martin Benarous HNM in for Benerous would be my only change from Saturday (injuries allowing) Quote Link to comment
Davefevs Posted November 24, 2021 Report Share Posted November 24, 2021 Tough match tonight, aren’t they all. Stoke playing a back three (352 variant) are gonna potentially cause us the same probs that Blackburn did second half when they switched to a back three and pushed their WBs high. Stoke’s WBs are naturally full-backs (Smith / Tymon) so will be interesting to see how high they squeeze our own WBs. I drew some pics. I did them in Stoke’s away kit to make it hard for @ExiledAjax…..sorry! We can obviously go long, but if we do attempt to play out from Bentley, there are some things to overcome. if we just allow Stoke to mark / split our CBs and we just take up standard positions then we are reliant on winning loose balls further up the pitch. (Pic 1 - ball is black circle) If Baker and Vyner split and Smith pushes high, then we can switch to Vyner (Scott needs to drag Tymon up the pitch) or ping O’Dowda. Risk attached, but there is for Stoke too (pic2) If Smith stays on O’Dowda but our CBs split, then we either play out to Baker / Vyner, but if they are marked too tight, then Kalas gets the ball. If he attracts a Stoke midfielder, then that leaves someone like Williams or Bakinson free to pick up a pass and beat the first line of their press. (Pic3) This of course is all a bit theoretical, so will be interesting to see how things pan out on the pitch. But I will definitely be looking at how high Smith and Tymon play. Up top, Brown is as energetic as Weimann, but Fletcher is their equivalent of Martin. We need to take advantage that only one is an energetic presser and try to play on the side that Fletcher takes up. Vrancic will play in the hole, leaving Sawyers and Allen in midfield. Allen is busy, but Sawyers, nor Vrancic and great “trackers” and we must try to exploit that with energy in our “midfield three”. I’m not saying don’t play Bakinson, but if ever there was a game to sit in the LS and just watch Sawyers, tonight would be it. Bakinson could learn a lot….hopefully he’s been watching video clips. Hoping to see more of what I saw first half and last 10-15 on Saturday. 1 1 Quote Link to comment
22A Posted November 24, 2021 Report Share Posted November 24, 2021 Their fans have posted some negative views ahead of tonight's game; players are out, the formation is wrong, regulation defeat etc. https://oatcakefanzine.proboards.com/thread/302392/bristol-city-stoke Quote Link to comment
Davefevs Posted November 24, 2021 Report Share Posted November 24, 2021 (edited) 11 minutes ago, bcfc01 said: The stats for the Peterborough game are a bit surprising; Stoke 37% possession, Posh 63% Stoke 327 passes, Posh 550 Stoke 7 attempts, Posh 14 But thats just the stats, its what you do with the ball and the most vital stat is that Stoke won 2-0 - looks like the second goal was very late into added time when Posh were all out attack. If we can replicate the form from Saturday and maintain it for the whole game, we should win imo, but thats been the problem for a long time now - no consistency of performance. Its just as likely that we capitulate and lose 0-3. Typical possession stats for a team that score early on and then are comfy to let the other team have it in their own half. Posh shots predominately long, just one on target….of the shots not shown on here, 5 were blocked. Stoke are a 50.4% possession team over the season. They also are a side that pass the ball generally, but happy to mix it when required. Edited November 24, 2021 by Davefevs 2 Quote Link to comment
Finley_Smith10 Posted November 24, 2021 Report Share Posted November 24, 2021 16 minutes ago, VT05763 said: HNM in for Benerous would be my only change from Saturday (injuries allowing) Would quite like Semenyo to be involved. Just think he adds abit of Pace to the team. But yeah if HNM comes in I guess Bakinson plays abit more advanced Quote Link to comment
ExiledAjax Posted November 24, 2021 Report Share Posted November 24, 2021 16 minutes ago, Davefevs said: I drew some pics. I did them in Stoke’s away kit to make it hard for @ExiledAjax…..sorry! Well that's someone off the Christmas card list. Jokes aside, kits will be tough tonight. Red v green under the lights. Not good. With it on Sky as well I'm hoping there will be a bit of noise on social media. Quote Link to comment
Davefevs Posted November 24, 2021 Report Share Posted November 24, 2021 1 minute ago, ExiledAjax said: Well that's someone off the Christmas card list. Jokes aside, kits will be tough tonight. Red v green under the lights. Not good. With it on Sky as well I'm hoping there will be a bit of noise on social media. Just DMd you 1 Quote Link to comment
Rossi the Robin Posted November 24, 2021 Report Share Posted November 24, 2021 Great match day post I look like Tom Hanks on Castaway after reading all that 1 Quote Link to comment
ooRya Posted November 24, 2021 Report Share Posted November 24, 2021 No need to change anything (please!), first half against Blackburn was the most enjoyable we've played at home for a looooooooooooooong time. Quote Link to comment
ralphindevon Posted November 24, 2021 Report Share Posted November 24, 2021 That difficult time of the season for me with myself in the home end and my wife in the away end. For matrimonial peace a draw is always a good result. A thrashing by one team doesn’t lead to arguments but a narrow, maybe underserved win by either team will lead to a difficult journey back down the M5………but if it was in our favour I’d take it COYR 1 1 Quote Link to comment
Kodjias Wrist Posted November 24, 2021 Report Share Posted November 24, 2021 7 minutes ago, TomF said: That Stoke game in 2008 still hurts. I think it was the TV game at 5pm and we'd stood in the away end delirious with how the 3pm results had gone. 2nd place was there on a plate for whoever won the game. First half we simply didn't deal with Ameobi. Second half we threw everything at them and probably should have come home with a point. Still hate Stoke for the 'we'll never play you again' chats at full time. Tossers. I remember before that game there was an evening post headline quoting "2 more wins and we are up" before facing a struggling Southampton and an average Wolves. We lost then drew and then had stoke up next which was a game we needed to get at least a point put obviously flopped it. 1 Quote Link to comment
Davefevs Posted November 24, 2021 Report Share Posted November 24, 2021 2 minutes ago, Kodjias Wrist said: I remember before that game there was an evening post headline quoting "2 more wins and we are up" before facing a struggling Southampton and an average Wolves. We lost then drew and then had stoke up next which was a game we needed to get at least a point put obviously flopped it. This is the Bristol City we know and love! Every bloody time!!! 2 2 Quote Link to comment
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