Stoke

Jackflash

Midfield General
Staff member
Almost forgot there was a game tonight. Stoke City come to the Liberty having not lost in their last five games, albeit having won just 1 and drawn 4. A win tonight would certainly increase the possibility of closing in on the playoffs, quite a few games tonight so hopefully other results may go in our favour. we also have the potential 3 points advantage over some with a game in hand.
It's worth mentioning Stoke have not conceded a goal in their last six matches, 568 minutes.
 
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Jackflash

Midfield General
Staff member
Another interesting stat about Stoke, not one they'd be proud of. They have been awarded 8 penalties this season, and missed 6 of them. Taken by 5 different players, including a miss by Clucas.
 

The Blobster

Prediction Champ
Stokes premier league team played off the park by our juniors !
Losing players just made stoke more defensive and harder to break down.
A superb , disciplined performance only let down by some absolutely woeful shooting.
Stoke chased shadows all night , best performance of the season so far !

Great to meet Yankee Jack prior to the game ( thanks for the coffee (y) )
 

ivoralljack

Grizzled Veteran
Staff member
Good game and we played really well. Dan was on fire and he roasted the Stoke defence which has been pretty watertight in recent games. Safe to say we could have doubled our tally with better finishing. We also seemed to struggle a bit to break them down and I think we missed Celina our main creator. The first half display was awesome though and I was pretty pissed off when Stoke scored with the last kick of the half. We shouldn't have allowed the shot and Nordy had plenty of time to see it.

Couple of things to gripe about. When Stoke were down to 9 men and won a corner, we placed our ENTIRE TEAM in and around our box. Wtf was that all about?! If we had left Dan or Dyer or even both near the halfway line, Stoke would have had to remove 2/3/4 players to mark them given their pace. As it was they put everyone forward to pressure us and they are good at set pieces given their size as a team. It's not as if Nathan or Dan are going to outjump the likes of Sam Vokes is it? NOT impressed with that particular tactic whoever decided it.

Second thing - when they were down to 9 men they had a rare attack and Ashley Williams had half the width of the pitch in our half on our left flank to move into. Why was this? We had a two man advantage and none of their players should have been given that sort of space to run into. We were lucky it was Ash. A forward could have used that space to damage us and it was an appalling lapse to be honest. The sort of mistake that has already cost us goals and points this season when we have been on top. But despite this, it was a grand all round performance and the lads did us proud.

Will just finish by saying it was a pleasure to watch the game with @The Blobster courtsey of @Borini and great to do a spot of catchup with @Yankee_Jack again before the game and thanks as well for the coffee. :) Don't forget, Yankee, you are always welcome to stay at modest mine whenever you come over. Just phone or email me to let me know in advance. Now for some stats: (not as definitive as those from CJ)

POSSESSION: 73-27 SHOTS: 31-2 OT: 8-1 CORNERS: 6-1 FOULS: 5-17 GOALS: 3-1
 

Yankee_Jack

Key Player
Thx @ivoralljack . Great to see you again and to meet @The Blobster.

Add to the stats: 2 reds, a blizzard of yellows but still not as many as there should have been. Williams should have been gone for his treatment of James.

Clucas got the welcome he deserved, but true Jack's like Joe and Ash were respected. But have to say Joe has lost his Swanselona polish.

Yet again we treated a respectable Championship side with the same level of dispatch as would a Premier league side. It was classy and formidable but unfortunately not clinical. We need to sharpen our scalpel.
 
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Behindthegoal

Key Player
Thanks for the stats, guys. I see what you say about defending the corner, but at the time they seemed to think they had a chance of an equaliser with long ball tactics. If we'd pulled our littluns out I think they'd have taken the chance of keeping everyone up anyway.
Looking at the stats, Tha Dan James is a rubbish passer, almost as bad as Routledge!
 

Jackflash

Midfield General
Staff member
What Potts has done with these youngsters is nothing short of remarkable, their one touch football is akin to what you see in the top half of the Prem. But it accounts for nothing if that vital ingredient isn't there, 'finishing' as the stats show, an amazing 31 goal attempts, yet just 8 on target, 1 in almost 4 attempts, Stoke by comparison 2 shots 1 goal. Hopefully next on Potts agenda is concentrating on direction of goal attempts, which on this form would make us unstoppable in this division.
This squad and manager should not be allowed to be disbanded at any cost, but probably the wanks will see things differently, I notice they don't have the balls to visit the Liberty on match days anymore.
 
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ivoralljack

Grizzled Veteran
Staff member
Trevor Birch was at the game with Ryan Giggs and, unless Mr Birch is a pure bred moron, which I'm sure he's not, he couldn't fail to have seen what a glorious prospect lies in front of the players, the club and the fans with the style of football that's being played. Let's face it, they have had less than a season to start producing what we are seeing AND IT CAN ONLY GET BETTER providing greed is put on the backburner for once.

I don't accept for a second that we have to sell. The owners promised that their own money would be put in to buy players following the takeover but, as we all know, not a penny piece of this has been invested thus far. If they make good on their promise, I can only see a huge benefit to them and the club as this group of youngsters threaten to take the Championship by storm next season. Sure there will be hiccups but I truly believe we can win promotion next year providing the owners don't pull the rug from under Potter's feet. Give him the ammunition because he has SHOWN THAT HE CAN DO THE JOB. THAT HE CAN DELIVER.

Graham Potter has shown top class ability to get the team playing the way it is but he is only human. If he sees his work being undermined by a lack of support as his best players are flogged off by uncaring owners, then he too will follow the players out of the club because there will be no shortage of clubs clamouring for his services. So think hard, Mr Birch. Back your manager now and we could all be reaping the benefits next season.

Can't finish without again mentioning the huge contribution from Messrs Toshack and Richards because the young players they have developed are becoming the heartbeat of the club. And there are MORE in the pipeline too. They really are doing a great job. Take a bow, gentlemen.
 
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