Stoke City away match thread

[Sarumred]

NP said it was always planned for TC to play only 45 minutes today.

[pillred]

13 minutes ago, kit said:

We couldn't get out of our own half for the first 15-20 minutes, but from then on we dominated and were unlucky to be behind, aside from the goals we had probably the next best 3 or 4 chances as well as generally being in control of the game after the first 20.

The squad is threadbare though. Wilson was the only option left with any experience on the bench. No need to rush Naismith back if he's not ready so will have to see what the two tc's injuries are like as it will be a very inexperienced bench on sunday you would think. 

Monday even :laugh:.

[Port Said Red]

I wish I could find the posts from whomever it was that kept telling that JD was shit and we need to get rid, I said he was a little out of form, but Nigel sees him as a big player.

[pongo88]

9 minutes ago, Sarumred said:

NP said it was always planned for TC to play only 45 minutes today.

I don’t think there was any choice in the eventuality. He was on the bench with an ice pack on his ankle in the second half 

[Spudgun]

Wow is anyone watching Sunderland v Hull? Crazy game.

[Davefevs]

1 hour ago, And Its Smith said:

Depends what we want to achieve. We have the strike force to finish mid table next season. Maybe 9th.  We obviously don’t have the strikers to finish in the play offs.  I don’t think next season can be a play off push season really though.  As @Mr Hankey so eloquently wrote, other positions are more of a priority right now.  

I guess my challenge to this is that if we make the defence and midfield better on the summer, then maybe our strikers / forwards are good enough. Often feeding on scraps. City are a side that are well above average for taking chances. If the team can up their creation then who knows. 

1 hour ago, maxjak said:

What has Chris Martin got to do with the price of fish?  Your argument is misguided , of course we need at least 1 midfielder, possibly 2.  Bur it is not mutually exclusive, you can buy an attacker, a midfielder, and a central defender.....have you ever seen or played Football manager?   We create chances, but have no one consistently making use of them. if we are serious about improving........we need a  quality striker.

Disagree. We convert well above average in the Championship.

1 hour ago, Spudgun said:

Personally I don't think we are safe, imo we need another win from somewhere and I just can't see where it's going to come from.

Love reading back the MDT for gems like this.

1 hour ago, Denbury Red said:

Cornick looks as ineffective as ever.

What did the scouts ever see in him??

I thought he started to show he is adapting to the way we play and there was a little period where him and Wells linked very well. His first 8-10 touches / lay-offs second half were “tight”. Much more involved too. Certainly nowhere near ineffective in my eyes, but all about opinions. 

[Sir Geoff]

5 hours ago, fisherrich said:

Expecting a good dicking today, 3-0 to Stoke. Hope I’m wrong.

Oh dear.

[Midred]

Just now, Spudgun said:

Wow is anyone watching Sunderland v Hull? Crazy game.

3 goals in 5 minutes, 2 - 2!

[Sir Geoff]

6 hours ago, INCRED said:

Based on current form, we are getting a bit of a hammering today unfortunately 

And another.

[Spudgun]

Just now, Midred said:

3 goals in 5 minutes, 2 - 2!

Crazy game in a crazy division, don't you just love the Championship!

[pongo88]

18 minutes ago, Lanterne Rouge said:

I don`t think Tommy C was injured was he? NP said pre-match he wouldn`t be playing as many minutes today so he can start again v Boro?

He was on the bench with an ice pack on his ankle in the second half so there was no other option 

[Davefevs]

1 hour ago, IAmNick said:

City goal (Vyner): https://streamin.one/v/fd159de7

Shows the benefit of crossing early, before defence set. Super header. Big Cheese!!!

[Spike]

Honestly, Vyner is a bloody nightmare! As a person, very lovable, determined, and extremely likeable person. As a player he's prone to mistakes, positioning can be awful, and decision-making at times is scary BUT he has patches where he looks like a different player and then scores a winner.
My heart says to keep him but my head says we need better, I don't think a single player has ever polarised me as much as he does >.<

[22A]

7 hours ago, 22A said:

There is pride to play for. Looking at their forum, the fans want to win this because we've won on our last four visits there.

 

They'll be even more up for it next season then. Today's victory lifts us above Stoke. Here's hoping Hull turn over Sunderland tonight and we'll climb another place on Monday!

[Davefevs]

1 hour ago, IAmNick said:

City goal (Mehmeti): https://streamin.one/v/3ac6c875

Not forgetting the Tanner inception first and good pacey ball into Weimann…who thought had a good second half. 

1 hour ago, The Original OTIB said:

Jay been great today

I’ve been critical in recent weeks but probably MOTM today. Fair play. 

[Shuffle]

9 minutes ago, Port Said Red said:

I wish I could find the posts from whomever it was that kept telling that JD was shit and we need to get rid, I said he was a little out of form, but Nigel sees him as a big player.

yes some people are just too quick to write him off.  In fairness had said his goodbyes in Jan and then the Currie deal collapsed but has remained professional throughout.  Well played Jay

[22A]

https://oatcakefanzine.proboards.com/thread/308273/stoke-city-bristol?page=13

The players looked like they were unsure of what their role was after the subs.

Getting worried about being able to make the play-offs now.

Baffling second half collapse and a very strange, slow reaction by the manager to what was a very simple tactical change from Bristol.

[Numero Uno]

31 minutes ago, Lanterne Rouge said:

Looking back, for all their possession and attacking threat in the first half, did Max actually have much to do? I can recall one good save from a Campbell header but that`s about it.

Good save but one you would be disappointed if he didn’t make……….which proves your general point anyway!!

[Leveller]

1 minute ago, Spike said:

Honestly, Vyner is a bloody nightmare! As a person, very lovable, determined, and extremely likeable person. As a player he's prone to mistakes, positioning can be awful, and decision-making at times is scary BUT he has patches where he looks like a different player and then scores a winner.
My heart says to keep him but my head says we need better, I don't think a single player has ever polarised me as much as he does >.<

This sounds like it could have been written a year ago. This season he has been extremely reliable and those mistakes have been rare. Most fans seem to see him as possibly the player of the season, certainly one of them. I no longer worry when he's on the ball, the way I used to.

[Davefevs]

1 hour ago, David Brent said:

Lovely quiet evening on OTIB. Splendid. 

Bet there were a few sharpening their keyboards with Huddersfield winning and us 1-0 down. 

[Gimme Shelton]

1 minute ago, Leveller said:

This sounds like it could have been written a year ago. This season he has been extremely reliable and those mistakes have been rare. Most fans seem to see him as possibly the player of the season, certainly one of them. I no longer worry when he's on the ball, the way I used to.

And how many different partners has he had this season as well,at least four! Done very well in the circumstances.

[BigTone]

31 minutes ago, BS30 City said:

You need to trim those nails

Or at least use a decent gloss

[slartibartfast]

1 hour ago, BigTone said:

Good win and just what we needed. Good to see Mehmeti on the scoresheet and sticking a finger up against his doubters (me included).

I thought Harry was ok when he came on, as well.

[Kodjias Wrist]

How many made the trip up? Fair play to those who went 5 wins in a row up there is it?

[TheReds]

40 minutes ago, Merrick&#x27;s Marvels said:

I'd recommend visiting Het Waterhuis aan de Bierkant.

A cracking pub. @GrahamC fell off his barstool in there during an evening drinking ridiculously strong beer. I somehow survived but did sleep for about a week when we got home. 

[1960maaan]

26 minutes ago, pongo88 said:

City started with a patched up team and then lost Taylor-Clarke after approx 10 minutes and Conway at half time, yet still put in a great second half performance and deservedly won. Stoke’s form has been good in the last few weeks so well done Nigel, the coaching team and the players. (Not forgetting the fans who travelled to the match and gave fantastic support) 

Read an article that asked the question or something like , will  Stoke be the best team in the Championship next year. Then stated some of their results;

Cov won 4-0

M’boro draw 1-1

Norwich draw 0-0

Sun’land won 5-1

Blackburn won 3-2

That's a decent run, and to beat them on their own patch when they were supposed to be laying down a marker for next year, that's impressive.

 

11 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Shows the benefit of crossing early, before defence set. Super header. Big Cheese!!!

Exactly what they did. No chance to look for runs and check positions, everything in favour of forwards . We should do it more often, specially as we have bags of pace in whichever front 3 we play.

[REDOXO]

18 minutes ago, Spudgun said:

Wow is anyone watching Sunderland v Hull? Crazy game.

Nah, all to busy laughing at where our next win was going to come from!

[firstdivision]

1 hour ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

For those who had a better stream or viewing than me, Weimann goal definitely offside?

I think it was but it was impossible to be definitive because of the camera angle and the sun/shade. 

[Davefevs]

51 minutes ago, The Journalist said:

I thought we were the better team from the moment Andy King came on. He made a huge difference, just gave us that control and composure.

I feel genuinely really pleased for the players - plenty of people getting on their backs but I think they've been playing pretty well even through the sticky patch.

Football is ultimately about results, I get that, but football fans are a nightmare for judging a performance on the scoreline rather than the actual performance.

We struggled early on.

Partly aimless balks out of defence, because it takes bravery to show for a pass early on away from home, especially when you’re 19 and playing your first few games. It meant they went right to Jamo and also our defenders conscious of playing it into OTC.

With King, it’s different, he’s experienced enough to come short and had the trust. That’s no slight on OTC it’s kinda protecting him.

Second half, Matty James positioning and anticipation was first class. And he also started to drop in to allow Vyner and Pring to move forward.  It screwed Stoke’s press. Brilliant!!!

[maxjak]

12 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

I guess my challenge to this is that if we make the defence and midfield better on the summer, then maybe our strikers / forwards are good enough. Often feeding on scraps. City are a side that are well above average for taking chances. If the team can up their creation then who knows. 

Disagree. We convert well above average in the Championship.

Love reading back the MDT for gems like this.

I thought he started to show he is adapting to the way we play and there was a little period where him and Wells linked very well. His first 8-10 touches / lay-offs second half were “tight”. Much more involved too. Certainly nowhere near ineffective in my eyes, but all about opinions. 

I always respect your opinion, and you are the king of stats!   However our top goal scorer has 11 goals this season, and i believe that any side which has ambitions to be top six needs a goalscorer higher than that.  Possibly Tommy Conway could be that man, but it is a lot to ask of a player of his age.  We have plenty of frontmen....but we do not have a strong tall unit who can hold up the ball and bring others into play by holding the ball up, and also contributing aerially?   I just think that type of striker would be a great club to have in our bag?