***Official Match Thread: Stoke v City***

[zuricity]

If Nasri plays well, our attack plays well.

Nasri actually sped it up the 2nd half and a became a part of why we walked the game in the end. We all know he's got it, it's just taken a little time after injury. A bit like a few others which has made it even more frustrating as we're waiting for one of them to hit form.

From a standstill situation Samir is the best. much better than Silva. David needs a perfect green to ply his trade. The pitch cut up too easily tonight and i am sure Stoke probably made it into a cow pasture. With Yaya coming back and Mr Bony adding some power up front, it's looking like a good run in to Berlin.... Now don't get me started on Berlin ... what a City !

[PrezIke]

If Nasri plays well, our attack plays well.

Nasri actually sped it up the 2nd half and a became a part of why we walked the game in the end. We all know he's got it, it's just taken a little time after injury. A bit like a few others which has made it even more frustrating as we're waiting for one of them to hit form.

From a standstill situation Samir is the best. much better than Silva. David needs a perfect green to ply his trade. The pitch cut up too easily tonight and i am sure Stoke probably made it into a cow pasture. With Yaya coming back and Mr Bony adding some power up front, it's looking like a good run in to Berlin.... Now don't get me started on Berlin ... what a City !

berlin is the shiznit...

[Slim]

Good to see Nasri playing well, Silva getting back to form and Aguero scoring.

Our first ever Premier League win at the Brittania as well, not a bad night at all.

A beautiful night mate, on a cold Wednesday evening in Stoke. Loved it.

Notice JoJo didn't play....how will he fair on a cold night in Stoke? We have the depth to never find out the answer.

[Beefymcfc]

If Nasri plays well, our attack plays well.

Nasri actually sped it up the 2nd half and a became a part of why we walked the game in the end. We all know he's got it, it's just taken a little time after injury. A bit like a few others which has made it even more frustrating as we're waiting for one of them to hit form.

From a standstill situation Samir is the best. much better than Silva. David needs a perfect green to ply his trade. The pitch cut up too easily tonight and i am sure Stoke probably made it into a cow pasture. With Yaya coming back and Mr Bony adding some power up front, it's looking like a good run in to Berlin.... Now don't get me started on Berlin ... what a City !

berlin is the shiznit...

Berlin is fine now, I have a piece of the wall, errrrrrrr, on my wall ;-)

The cobbled roads into Poland were a bit weird though, especially with the caravans!

[Beefymcfc]

Good to see Nasri playing well, Silva getting back to form and Aguero scoring.

Our first ever Premier League win at the Brittania as well, not a bad night at all.

A beautiful night mate, on a cold Wednesday evening in Stoke. Loved it.

Notice JoJo didn't play....how will he fair on a cold night in Stoke? We have the depth to never find out the answer.

Shame really. I think he has the talent to make it, just not with us. In fact, I'm now not sure if what I seen a few years ago was atall right.

[MilnersJaw]

Sergios handball was amazing.

[sheblue]

Good to see Nasri playing well, Silva getting back to form and Aguero scoring.

Our first ever Premier League win at the Brittania as well, not a bad night at all.

A beautiful night mate, on a cold Wednesday evening in Stoke. Loved it.

Notice JoJo didn't play....how will he fair on a cold night in Stoke? We have the depth to never find out the answer.

Shame really. I think he has the talent to make it, just not with us. In fact, I'm now not sure if what I seen a few years ago was atall right.

Loads were on here last year singing his praises even though he was injured all the time. Can't remember who it was but some goon said he was world class and was bring us to the next level etc etc bla bla.
Now most want him sold.

[london blue 2]

Open goal my arse. Great finish jimmy

[twosips]

Nasri's goal was pure Hazard. Bugs me that he doesn't do that more often cos he's capable.

[Slim]

Good to see Nasri playing well, Silva getting back to form and Aguero scoring.

Our first ever Premier League win at the Brittania as well, not a bad night at all.

A beautiful night mate, on a cold Wednesday evening in Stoke. Loved it.

Notice JoJo didn't play....how will he fair on a cold night in Stoke? We have the depth to never find out the answer.

Shame really. I think he has the talent to make it, just not with us. In fact, I'm now not sure if what I seen a few years ago was atall right.

I saw him at Fiorentina a few times and I thought he looked the absolute business. But some players, whether it through bad luck or that feeling that they've made it and don't need to try as hard, they do go backwards.

I thought he might be our new Tevez, not our new RSC.

[Slim]

Open goal my arse. Great finish jimmy

It was, but he drifted in between their two centrehalves and wasn't marked, that much can't be disputed, but a headed goal....well that just makes it all the sweeter. Now get him to sign a new contract as our heading coach and show everyone how it's done.

[Beefymcfc]

Good to see Nasri playing well, Silva getting back to form and Aguero scoring.

Our first ever Premier League win at the Brittania as well, not a bad night at all.

A beautiful night mate, on a cold Wednesday evening in Stoke. Loved it.

Notice JoJo didn't play....how will he fair on a cold night in Stoke? We have the depth to never find out the answer.

Shame really. I think he has the talent to make it, just not with us. In fact, I'm now not sure if what I seen a few years ago was atall right.

Loads were on here last year singing his praises even though he was injured all the time. Can't remember who it was but some goon said he was world class and was bring us to the next level etc etc bla bla.
Now most want him sold.

I'm fairly certain that I wasn't one of them but prescribed to the view that he could make it with us. Maybe he still could if we changed our style but at the moment he's realistically out in the cold.

[Beefymcfc]

Has Andy Hinch' had his nose done? He's on Match Choice at the moment and can I say he was a breath of fresh air listening to the the Hull game at' weekend.

Is he our soul candidate as we overtake the old Sky 4?

[Ted Hughes]

I don't think Jovetic lacks effort. From where I'm sat he looks like he puts more into it than Aguero or Dzeko often do.

I just think he hasn't found a role in this team & the rest of the players don't seem particularly arsed about trying to help him do it & a fair amount of the fans don't particularly want to get behind him either. In general, it appears he's not wanted.

I think he is potentially a real absolute top of the range player, but it seems unlikely it will be at City. Perhaps he will find a team which suits him & get us a decent fee at the same time.

[Peter Doherty (AGAIG)]

Nasri's goal was pure Hazard. Bugs me that he doesn't do that more often cos he's capable.

He rarely gets the room.

[Peter Doherty (AGAIG)]

If Nasri plays well, our attack plays well.

Nasri actually sped it up the 2nd half and a became a part of why we walked the game in the end. We all know he's got it, it's just taken a little time after injury. A bit like a few others which has made it even more frustrating as we're waiting for one of them to hit form.

From a standstill situation Samir is the best. much better than Silva. David needs a perfect green to ply his trade. The pitch cut up too easily tonight and i am sure Stoke probably made it into a cow pasture. With Yaya coming back and Mr Bony adding some power up front, it's looking like a good run in to Berlin.... Now don't get me started on Berlin ... what a City !

berlin is the shiznit...

Berlin is fine now, I have a piece of the wall, errrrrrrr, on my wall ;-)

The cobbled roads into Poland were a bit weird though, especially with the caravans!

Didn't know you were a pikey, Beefy. Tell me more....

[twosips]

I don't think Jovetic lacks effort. From where I'm sat he looks like he puts more into it than Aguero or Dzeko often do.

I just think he hasn't found a role in this team & the rest of the players don't seem particularly arsed about trying to help him do it & a fair amount of the fans don't particularly want to get behind him either. In general, it appears he's not wanted.

I think he is potentially a real absolute top of the range player, but it seems unlikely it will be at City. Perhaps he will find a team which suits him & get us a decent fee at the same time.

The thing that bugs me about Jovetic, as much as i want him to succeed, is how sloppy he is in possession. He gives the ball away a lot, and sometimes its just doing some pretty basic stuff like trying to play the first pass in a one two and he'll pass it two yards to the left of the potential receiver. We can talk about not being on the same wavelength etc but he does little things like that a lot and that is solely his responsbility. If he makes the pass and doesn't get the return then fair enough, but you've gotta try and make the first one at least.

[Ted Hughes]

I don't think Jovetic lacks effort. From where I'm sat he looks like he puts more into it than Aguero or Dzeko often do.

I just think he hasn't found a role in this team & the rest of the players don't seem particularly arsed about trying to help him do it & a fair amount of the fans don't particularly want to get behind him either. In general, it appears he's not wanted.

I think he is potentially a real absolute top of the range player, but it seems unlikely it will be at City. Perhaps he will find a team which suits him & get us a decent fee at the same time.

The thing that bugs me about Jovetic, as much as i want him to succeed, is how sloppy he is in possession. He gives the ball away a lot, and sometimes its just doing some pretty basic stuff like trying to play the first pass in a one two and he'll pass it two yards to the left of the potential receiver. We can talk about not being on the same wavelength etc but he does little things like that a lot and that is solely his responsbility. If he makes the pass and doesn't get the return then fair enough, but you've gotta try and make the first one at least.

He actually doesn't though. If's just that rather than trying to beat 5 men & not passing, like Aguero, or miscontrolling it like Dzeko, Jovetic's favourite trick for giving the ball away, is to try a flick.

[Slim]

I think JoJo tries to make things happen, he's just never really been consistently on the same wavelength as everyone around him. I guess you could say he's not adapted to the team, or that he hasn't had a great run, or when he has it's been cut short by injury. The reason doesn't really matter anymore, he's not for City that much I think we've established over the last two years.

Time to move on, good luck to him and I hope he finds a team where he can live up to his potential, just not when they play us.

[Douglas Higginbottom]

So what exactly was different tonight? Could it just have been that Stoke didn't park a bus and allowed us to play with a little more space. It seemed to me in that first half that we did have quite a few chances and good situations which hasn't exactly been the case recently and especially at home of course.

But the reality was that we looked very shaky at the back and much of the time when it was on Zaba's side as he was having a torrid time. Milner seemed to have a roving role well forward but that had to be changed so he gave Zaba the cover he needed.So from an attacking point of view we were ok but defensively we didn't look great. Not just Zaba either with VK looking a bit shaky and Joe not always convincing.

In the 2nd half we just seemed to come out with more energy and intent and players being positive and making aggressive runs.Real touch and movement for the 2nd goal creating the chance to cross and we had a collector's item with a good cross and perfect header.From there we could have scored loads and the belief and confidence was back. A good rest now add 2 players to the squad and go unbeaten for the rest of the season.