Lawro and Degenerate say we wont win this weekend

[Dameerto]

I thought the Newcastle match was going to be an indication of the speed we'd be playing games at (at home at least), but we seemed to slow it down after that match. I think it was intentional given the knowledge within the club that we will soon be playing two or three games a week (and there have been a few references to this by the players in their interviews) - our high defensive line is so fragile when we give the opposition time on the ball though, and I'm hoping Pellegrini has had time to work on that in training.

[Bridge'srightfoot]

It's not a lack of confidence, we're just realistic.
Yes we should win but it sounds a bit cocky/arrogant to say 'we'll win comfortably' especially given how we've played the last two games.
Perhaps it's that arrogance which saw us lose to Cardiff?

Very rarely does a team win comfortably at Stoke.

It will be a tough game although we should have enough for the 3 points.

Read the stuff on here most of it displays a lack of confidence. Being confident is not arrogant. If the players have the same mentality as the majority of people posting on this thread then we have already lost. We have a fantastic squad so why all the negativity. We lost to Cardiff so what its not season over. Any team can slip up. We got undone at 2 corners its not like we got played off the park. Have confidence in this world class squad.

Equally if the players think 'we'll win comfortably' and underestimate Stoke then we've already lost.
The Cardiff game and the Hull game showed we can't take anyone lightly.
Saying we expect a tough game at Stoke is not negativity, it's realism.

I predict a 1-0 win to us.

[jenksyMCFC12]

No glichy, silva,richards. Unfortunate but wece got good replacements and should win comfortably

[ashton287]

Well im expecting to struggle tomorrow. Loads of reasons why.

Hughes is a cunt.
Stoke away is a hard game.
We have no defenders.
The cardiff game.
The hull game.
Stoke are better than cardiff.
Silva is out.
We don't have a working midfield.
Flapalot will be in net.

I'd be happy with a point away to stoke even if we were at full strength and their manager didn't hate is. 3 points tomorrow would be awesome.

[Risby]

What Lawro said was true 'Stoke will give us a physical test'.
If our players turn up ready for that, then our class should win us the game because we should be able to score more than them.
BUT
If they turn up half-hearted, then it will be a very tough day for our lads. Yaya needs to put himself about tomorrow and our defensive line needs to be tight and organised.

[Breks]

Equally if the players think 'we'll win comfortably' and underestimate Stoke then we've already lost.
The Cardiff game and the Hull game showed we can't take anyone lightly.
Saying we expect a tough game at Stoke is not negativity, it's realism.

I predict a 1-0 win to us.

being confident does not mean we are taking them lightly. I never once stated it would be comfortable. We are a better team than Stoke fact! So have confidence in that fact.

[sheblue]

They are reasonable assessments. We won't have it easy, a scrappy 0-1 or 1-2 away win would be great result.

[Slim]

I predicted us for a 1-0 win foolishly, like our problem is going to be scoring instead of keeping a cleansheet.

[zuricity]

I predicted us for a 1-0 win foolishly, like our problem is going to be scoring instead of keeping a cleansheet.

3-1 for us

[Slim]

Or 2-2, 3-2, 2-3

I can see Cardiff replaying itself in terms of the defending and Stoke, despite them being a shitsack of players(and Ireland) know what they're doing at the Britannia.

[LookMumImOnMCF.net]

Fair enough. Stoke could probably score from about 17 set pieces if they wanted to.

[Wonderwall]

3-1 for us

That's my vote

[Bridge'srightfoot]

Equally if the players think 'we'll win comfortably' and underestimate Stoke then we've already lost.
The Cardiff game and the Hull game showed we can't take anyone lightly.
Saying we expect a tough game at Stoke is not negativity, it's realism.

I predict a 1-0 win to us.

being confident does not mean we are taking them lightly. I never once stated it would be comfortable. We are a better team than Stoke fact! So have confidence in that fact.

Thing is we've really struggled with these type of games for the best part of 18 months or so. Away games against stubborn opposition. We've always found them tough to break down.

It's definitely gonna be scrappy but these are the types of games we need to win to get our title back.

[Im_Spartacus]

I think Merson's prediction is fair enough.

I think his reasoning is a bit off though.

We have consistently shown that when a team tries to play football against us, we will normally beat them quite comfortably in the end - although sometimes we look like we are making hard work of it

In this case, even of our defence is a bit off, we should still probably score a couple although are likely to let some in, a 1-1 is one of the least likely scorelines for me, possibly 2-2 or 3-3 if we have a stinker defensively, but I expect us to win this comfortably

[john@staustell]

I'd much rather play the Hughes Stoke than the Pulis one.

We ought to breeze it (of course we could muck it up), as what these twats fail to take into account is that we are much better quality than anything else Stoke have played this season.

[Bridge'srightfoot]

I think Merson's prediction is fair enough.

I think his reasoning is a bit off though.

We have consistently shown that when a team tries to play football against us, we will normally beat them quite comfortably in the end - although sometimes we look like we are making hard work of it

In this case, even of our defence is a bit off, we should still probably score a couple although are likely to let some in, a 1-1 is one of the least likely scorelines for me, possibly 2-2 or 3-3 if we have a stinker defensively, but I expect us to win this comfortably

I'm not sure tbh. Last season for example we moaned and moaned about teams sitting back against us and then Southampton took us on, 'played football against us' and absolutely spanked us. In the home game aswell they nearly got something a. Liverpool nearly mugged us at home last season too as did Dortmund where we were very lucky to get a draw, just to name a couple.
Cardiff aswell played decent football against us.

It's not teams sitting back or attacking us which causes us problems. It's teams with an organised gameplan that stick to it.

[RodneyRodney]

Hughes will try to play football but he hasn't got the brains or the players and we'll find the gaps . 4-1 for us.

[dazby]

Ha! They both got it wrong. They predicted we'd score the tossers. Obviously don't know their football. ;-)

[Bridge'srightfoot]

How wrong they were...

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Hughes will try to play football but he hasn't got the brains or the players and we'll find the gaps . 4-1 for us.

hmmmm really close