Stoke at the Reebok...

[William the White]

I think Petrov was awful yesterday. His pace does offer an outlet but he isn't worth his place at the minute.

Overall its just good to have a team that keeps going no matter what!

Petrov has pace??? Well, in comparison to the rest of our very slow team, perhaps, but no blisters ever raised, I think.

Taylor was pretty dire when he came on, and is certainly a lot slower.

But at no point did it feel anything like the dull, slow ache we endured under a previous manager. We attack. we keep on attacking. Nice.

Ludicrous that LCY got MotM, he was absent for much of the game. Only contenders Elmander and Muamba imho...

[BWFC_Insane]

I think Petrov was awful yesterday. His pace does offer an outlet but he isn't worth his place at the minute.

Overall its just good to have a team that keeps going no matter what!

Petrov has pace??? Well, in comparison to the rest of our very slow team, perhaps, but no blisters ever raised, I think.

Taylor was pretty dire when he came on, and is certainly a lot slower.

But at no point did it feel anything like the dull, slow ache we endured under a previous manager. We attack. we keep on attacking. Nice.

Ludicrous that LCY got MotM, he was absent for much of the game. Only contenders Elmander and Muamba imho...

And Cahill who was outstanding and Holden who was equally very very good.

[TKIZ!]

Man of the match for me was Holden, full of running yesterday and tackled back for just about everything followed by Cahill who looked a class ahead. The way he even takes it upon himself to make a ran up the pitch with the ball at his feet is quite majestic

[wovlad]

Stoke play to there strengths as you'd expect any team to do. They're not as agricultural as people make out but had to go long yesterday as Holden and Muamba dominated the midfield for large parts of the game. Holden was excellent yesterday stood up to everything Stoke could through at him.

Walton was shite for both teams. His game was summed up when he bloked Cahill's pass then tripped him up when Cahill went to retrieve the ball.

Understand why they'd want a penalty, ball did hit Knight's arm which was above his head & the ref had'nt blown for the foul and initial handball by Huth. Watch the replay it hits Huth's arm as he's grabbing Knight by the throat, bounces up & hits Knights arm.

Given how strong Stoke have been in the second half of games this season very happy with the win.

[hisroyalgingerness]

Holden has come on loads. I read the articles on his tackling this week (is he top tackler in the league or something) and he was saying he only really tackles if he can win. And watching him he was very intelligent with when to jump in and stand up and did invariably win the ball when he went to ground.

His passing is very good and he moves the ball around well, will run with the ball when he has space. If Fab's passing was a little better we'd have a decent midfield partnership there

[TANGODANCER]

however - the use of the long-throw down the line like kicking for territory in rugby - is a new one on me... maybe they've been doing it for the while - but it's the first time I've seen it done so blatantly...

Remember Tranmere and Dave Challenor?

[SuperChung-Yong]

Ludicrous that LCY got MotM, he was absent for much of the game. Only contenders Elmander and Muamba imho...

Rubbish. LCY was effective at holding the ball up and turning possesion in to pressure. Granted he should be bombing down the wing, but without an effective central midfielder there, that's pretty much all he could do. He's a fantastic player, and as soon as Cahill started to push up and show our midfielders how it should be done, Lee was soon causing massive headaches in Stoke's defence, a well-deserved MotM in my book, Elmander had a quiet game and Muamba? It shows how much our standard's have dropped since we lost Campo if he's ever considered MotM.

[thebish]

however - the use of the long-throw down the line like kicking for territory in rugby - is a new one on me... maybe they've been doing it for the while - but it's the first time I've seen it done so blatantly...

Remember Tranmere and Dave Challenor?

yeah! but - did they use him to throw it miles down the line to force a throw in further up the pitch off the fullback - like kicking for territory in rugby? Maybe they did - and I have blotted it out of my memory!

[SuperChung-Yong]

Holden has come on loads. I read the articles on his tackling this week (is he top tackler in the league or something) and he was saying he only really tackles if he can win. And watching him he was very intelligent with when to jump in and stand up and did invariably win the ball when he went to ground.

The thing with Holden is he thinks too slowly, his first touch invariably puts him under pressure, and yes his determination gets him out of tight situations, but to be honest if he can't make space for himself with his first touch, he's out of his depth in the premier leaguev - he loses possesion far too much, reminded me of Barry's recent displays for England.

[Lord Kangana]

Holden was fantastic yesterday. He's really looking the part of all-round Premier League midifielder. And his workrate is phenomenal. Definitely our stand out player of the last few games.

And as for LCY, well yes he flits in and out of games, but he's an impact player. And he made an impact yesterday. Petrov, whilst poor mostly yesterday, is the same. They create (as Ruud Gullit would say) "moments". Moments lead to goals, goals lead to points. The midifeld four we have at the moment looks light years ahead of the glacial McCann-O'Brien-Cohen types that plagued us for the last few years.

[Gary the Enfield]

I've just gone onto the NOTW website and I have to sign up and pay since it's Murdoch.. must be the worst value for money on the whole internet.

You signed on for the Kelly Brook photoshoot didn't you? You dog!

[thebish]

Holden was fantastic yesterday. He's really looking the part of all-round Premier League midifielder. And his workrate is phenomenal. Definitely our stand out player of the last few games.

And as for LCY, well yes he flits in and out of games, but he's an impact player. And he made an impact yesterday. Petrov, whilst poor mostly yesterday, is the same. They create (as Ruud Gullit would say) "moments". Moments lead to goals, goals lead to points. The midifeld four we have at the moment looks light years ahead of the glacial McCann-O'Brien-Cohen types that plagued us for the last few years.

Amen! As long as we DO have some hard-knock grafters - then we can afford the luxury of the "moment" players - here's to balance!

[jaffka]

I've just gone onto the NOTW website and I have to sign up and pay since it's Murdoch.. must be the worst value for money on the whole internet.

You signed on for the Kelly Brook photoshoot didn't you? You dog!

Kelly Brook, where is my bank card...

[bobo the clown]

however - the use of the long-throw down the line like kicking for territory in rugby - is a new one on me... maybe they've been doing it for the while - but it's the first time I've seen it done so blatantly...

Remember Tranmere and Dave Challenor?

yeah! but - did they use him to throw it miles down the line to force a throw in further up the pitch off the fullback - like kicking for territory in rugby? Maybe they did - and I have blotted it out of my memory!

Yep. Exactly that !

Some Stoke mates said to me at the match at theirs in April that, despite the terror it sets in the hearts of opposition fans they scored from these long-throws very rarely indeed.

They DO give us the terrors ... & the speed & flatness of the throws seem devastating to me, watching, but if it all comes to nought and dominates their tactics nonetheless then it's worth pondering.

It was especially funny that we went on to score from that very same tactic.

[BWFC_Insane]

Ludicrous that LCY got MotM, he was absent for much of the game. Only contenders Elmander and Muamba imho...

Rubbish. LCY was effective at holding the ball up and turning possesion in to pressure. Granted he should be bombing down the wing, but without an effective central midfielder there, that's pretty much all he could do. He's a fantastic player, and as soon as Cahill started to push up and show our midfielders how it should be done, Lee was soon causing massive headaches in Stoke's defence, a well-deserved MotM in my book, Elmander had a quiet game and Muamba? It shows how much our standard's have dropped since we lost Campo if he's ever considered MotM.

Thats absolute nonsense. As we're currently set up with two luxuries out wide we couldn't accomodate Campo, even at his very best.

Muamba and Holden do an amazing job of holding things together in midfield given the lack of support the two wide men give them.

As LK says Petrov and Lee can both produce things that win us games. However, when they don't they're both absolute liabilities. Lee scored and so he gets away with what was otherwise a nothing performance and we'll give him some consideration for his travels. The only thing Petrov produced was an assist for their goal.

Both Muamba and Holden were instrumental in their work yesterday and the fact you can't see it, says a lot. I'd like to see Campo press the ball all over the pitch as Coyle has repeatedly said he demands from his midfielders.

[TKIZ!]

Muamba gets a lot of flack from certain sections but his solid performance combined with Holden yesterday saw us through that game and I for one think although slightly lightweight it's been effective so far.

[Montreal Wanderer]

If this Stoke Fan Forum thread isn't good enough reason to allow those Staffordshire inbreds to never have more a 1k tickets in any future season at the 'Bok I don't know what is. This is a throwback to the 80s when the hooligan element blighted English football and I can't genuinely remember the last time we saw violence on this scale in the Reebok, if ever! It's a disgrace and hope those involved get banned from football for a very long time!

http://oatcakefanzine.proboards.com/ind ... 705&page=1

I don't get what you mean?

Everyone in that forum thread isn't condoning the action of the said individual, in fact 2 of em give him a clout for doing it. There are nob heads at every club. Hopefully they'll find the guy responsible and ban him.

I know of a few Bolton fans on 3 year banning orders for away game mischief.

Spot on, DJ. Those stokies are giving real shit to the idiot who lobbed a seat into his OWN supporters on the lower tier!!!

My reading of it too - they want to identify him and get him banned for life (some wanted to skin him but may calm down). I didn't read one post defending it.

[Lord Kangana]

Muamba gets a lot of flack from certain sections but his solid performance combined with Holden yesterday saw us through that game and I for one think although slightly lightweight it's been effective so far.

Its all about balance.

Yes, we'll get carved open now and then, and yes, we provide less protection for our back four.

But the goal we scored against Utd, for example, would never have happened a year ago with the pedestrian midfield we had.

I'm happy with the direction we've taken.

[TANGODANCER]

Muamba gets a lot of flack from certain sections but his solid performance combined with Holden yesterday saw us through that game and I for one think although slightly lightweight it's been effective so far.

Its all about balance.

Yes, we'll get carved open now and then, and yes, we provide less protection for our back four.

But the goal we scored against Utd, for example, would never have happened a year ago with the pedestrian midfield we had.

I'm happy with the direction we've taken.

And, like anything new, needs a bit of time to settle. For me it's doing that gradually and making us less defensive and more prone to get it forward and attack. Muamba's the stopper, Holden the link man who's always happy to find a space and receive the ball. Something we've needed for ages.

[CAPSLOCK]

Oh yeah, Kevin Davies was shite, again

I'm going to have to burgle him soon and get those negatives of Coyle and Gartys wife