MATCHWATCH : Stoke City (a)

[URZZZZ]

Decent point, Stoke don’t lose too many and we picked up more points than 7th, 8th and 9th

Do think Meite should have started but I totally understand why he didn’t, would have been harsh to change anyone after the excellent win last week

Would have swapped Olise/Ejaria earlier for Aluko/Semedo as neither were contributing very much but all in all, a decent point and would take the same midweek

[Millsy]

We were shit.

Then Meite came on.

Fair result.

[Mid Sussex Royal]

We need to work out sides like this as we've got Colin and Rotherham this month who both play in a similar way.

We'll do better on Wed as Brentford will play football and they are scorable against.

Going to be difficult though even more so after their result today and without Dasilva and Mbuemo starting

Can't see them bottling it this season.

[Zip]

Played much better than that against them when they beat us in November.
8 - Rafael, Holmes, Morrison, TMc
7 - Richards, Laurent,
6 - Olise, Ejaria, Rino, Yak
5- Swift, Joao
N/A - Aluko

Credit Stoke for keeping up the pressure, they clearly identified Richards and Ejaria linking up as a danger and piled in. Joao was exiled up top and that brought on a huff. Plenty of stuff he should have chased he didn't and vice versa.

Ref was predictably awful, but on the foul throw thing, is it me or have our throw ins been bad for a while? They're always a bit hit and hope and can't retain possession from them >50% of the time at most.

Thought Joao played ok actually. Almost got us something a couple of times up top against two big physical CBs

Would move him up to 6 and Rafa to 7 and otherwise same ratings

Agree with your change of ratings but I would drop Richards to a 6. Didn’t think he was great today.

[bcubed]

Decent point, Stoke don’t lose too many and we picked up more points than 7th, 8th and 9th

Do think Meite should have started but I totally understand why he didn’t, would have been harsh to change anyone after the excellent win last week

Would have swapped Olise/Ejaria earlier for Aluko/Semedo as neither were contributing very much but all in all, a decent point and would take the same midweek

Agreed

I like Semedo I these sort of games
Pretty strong in the challenge and we were desperately short of that

Actually might find Brentford easier for us to play our normal game

Plus a picky ref would be nice

[Royal Ginger]

Morrison’s passing was rubbish. He doesn’t deserve as much praise as he’s getting.

[Hound]

Ah yeah misread Richards and Rino. 6 for Richards, 7 for Rino

[royalp-we]

Ref seemed to do well initially. As the game wore on he got fed up of blowing his whistle for niggly Stoke challenges.

Ho hum. Unbeaten in 2021. On to the next one.

[Zip]

On,y three teams can now do the double over us.

[mikey_1871]

Rubbish game, pretty poor performance but a point at Stoke is perfectly acceptable.

We move on.

[Bristol Paul]

Morrison’s passing was rubbish. He doesn’t deserve as much praise as he’s getting.

He’s a great defender, but it’s annoying when he constantly floats 40 yard passes straight to the opposition. He can’t pass, so just give it to others that can.

[Pepe the Horseman]

Morrison’s passing was rubbish. He doesn’t deserve as much praise as he’s getting.

He’s a great defender, but it’s annoying when he constantly floats 40 yard passes straight to the opposition. He can’t pass, so just give it to others that can.

He tried to, but they just kept giving it back to him.

[RoyalBlue]

Ref seemed to do well initially. As the game wore on he got fed up of blowing his whistle for niggly Stoke challenges.

Seemed to take a dislike to Ejaria and personally tackled him twice in the second half!

Fair enough on the foul throws, enforcing the laws as they are written. Over the past few seasons refs at all levels have increasingly allowed players to get away with pretty much dropping the ball into play from in front of their heads!

[RoyalBlue]

Morrison’s passing was rubbish. He doesn’t deserve as much praise as he’s getting.

He’s a great defender, but it’s annoying when he constantly floats 40 yard passes straight to the opposition. He can’t pass, so just give it to others that can.

He tried to, but they just kept giving it back to him.

During the second half that long spell of short passes exchanged with Rafael as forwards got closer and closer scared me to death. I thought it was only a matter of time before it went wrong. Each time he got it back I wanted him to just hit it long down the line!

[Ascotexgunner]

Things we learned today.
1) Meite needs to start whenever possible
2) Stoke are still thuggish w*nkers and play shit boring football
3) McClean runs Knockeart very close for being the biggest c*nt in world football. He isn't a footballer he's an escapee from Broadmoor.
4) A point ain't bad if you play like that.

[PieEater]

But what about Cluscas

he's a oxf*rd right?

[Zip]

Things we learned today.
1) Meite needs to start whenever possible
2) Stoke are still thuggish w*nkers and play shit boring football
3) McClean runs Knockeart very close for being the biggest c*nt in world football. He isn't a footballer he's an escapee from Broadmoor.
4) A point ain't bad if you play like that.

I thought Stoke were decent. They certainly were not thuggish. It was a pretty clean game. There was a challenge on Morrison where their player’s challenge was a poor and high one. Other than that they were rugged but not overly so.
There were also times when our players stood still and appealing for the foul instead of playing to the whistle.

[Lower West]

Things we learned today.
1) Meite needs to start whenever possible
2) Stoke are still thuggish w*nkers and play shit boring football
3) McClean runs Knockeart very close for being the biggest c*nt in world football. He isn't a footballer he's an escapee from Broadmoor.
4) A point ain't bad if you play like that.

1) Not yet match fit
2) We struggle against physical sides
3) Perhaps some of our players need more aggression rather than whinging what things don't go their way
4) Easy to see why on an off day we got beaten.

[Millsy]

Holmes’ physicality absolutely vital today as a big right back.

Yids, Esteves, araruna and it would have been 1-0 Stoke with that header at the far post.

[Orion1871]

Ref seemed to do well initially. As the game wore on he got fed up of blowing his whistle for niggly Stoke challenges.

Seemed to take a dislike to Ejaria and personally tackled him twice in the second half!

Fair enough on the foul throws, enforcing the laws as they are written. Over the past few seasons refs at all levels have increasingly allowed players to get away with pretty much dropping the ball into play from in front of their heads!

Snowflake Royal was the ref today?