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Degenerate crackhead says
Stoke v Man City

I watched Stoke against West Ham on Soccer Saturday and I thought they were brilliant, passing the ball about nicely, so I'm backing them to go away from this game with a draw. I say that because Man City are really struggling for defenders and I fear for them in the centre-half position.



Also, this is the first game after the international break and Man City probably had 90 per cent of their players away with their countries and that can make a real difference. Stoke are strong at home and I'm tipping a draw.
PREDICTS: 1-1

Lawro Says

Stoke v Manchester City

Stoke have made a good start and if it wasn't for a last-minute penalty save from Liverpool's Simon Mignolet they would have seven points from their three games. Mark Hughes seems to be starting to change their style of play without spending much money and it's been an encouraging first few games.

Vincent Kompany

"City have struggled to play without Vincent Kompany for the last two years and it's something they need to remedy. Micah Richards could also play at centre-back - he's a bull, a beast of a player, which is what you want at Stoke - but I don't think he will be fit either."

It was interesting to see Stoke sign Stephen Ireland. He had an outstanding season at Manchester City under Hughes but it's all gone west for him since then. He can certainly play, but it's a gamble for Stoke to sign him now. He is at a crossroads in his career and if he doesn't deliver now he could end up sliding down the leagues.
Manchester City were very disappointing against Hull. The dynamic of the team wasn't right but like all good teams, they got through it and won the game. That is how you win the league. If Vincent Kompany was fit I would have fancied them to win at Stoke, but he's likely to be missing, and with new signing Martin Demichelis also out, that leaves them short at the back.
You know you are in for a physical test at Stoke - they haven't changed their style of play that much - and Kompany is a massive loss. They will struggle to win without him.
Prediction: 1-1

Based on this were a 1 man team. Absolute horeshit

I think Merson's prediction is fair enough.

I am afraid they're both not saying anything wrong ... I fear that too (or worse, but thats typical city inside me talking) ... for them, they have hedged their bets for a safe 1-1 draw based on our historic results there ... not taking any risks with their predictions (as always).

They're both reasonable predictions to be fair.

We generally have always looked a mess when Kompany is out. I don't have a lot of confidence that will be any different tomorrow.

We need to bring Milner back into the side tomorrow, and need our attacking players to be on top form to overwhelm their defence, meaning our defensive worries are not an issue.

Quite possibly the most articulate thing Merson has ever said ... 'lovebites & everything' apart

I hope Stoke actually think they can get something out of the game. It will open it up for us

They're both cunts.

london blue 2 wrote:They're both cunts.

thank you LB2 for restoring my faith in humanity ;-)

We've drawn our last 3 PL games there 1-1.
We've also been shite in the last two games and never played well at the Britannia in the league.

Reasonable prediction.

I'm going 0-5.

Peter Doherty (AGAIG) wrote:I'm going 0-5.

I like it

Without blue tinted glasses it's a hard one to predict considering how we played against Cardiff, Hughes will be trying to get them up for it and resist the temptation to have all 11 behined the ball like they usually do in Stoke.

Does this make us the underdog then? ;-)

Unfortunately Cardiff was never seen as a wakeup call. This game probably will be

Lee_R wrote:Unfortunately Cardiff was never seen as a wakeup call. This game probably will be

I have no idea what you mean by that. Are you hoping for a defeat so that our shortcomings become even more apparent and we sort them out?

I agree.

I think we'll scrape a draw.

We will beat them comfortably.

----------------Hart
-----Zab - Nasti - Lescott - Kola
Milner - Rodwell - Fernadinho - Nasri
-----------------Yaya
---------------Negredo

london blue 2 wrote:We will beat them comfortably.

----------------Hart
-----Zab - Nasti - Lescott - Kola
Milner - Rodwell - Fernadinho - Nasri
-----------------Yaya
---------------Negredo

I like the confidence theres a distinct lack of it on here.

Breks wrote:

london blue 2 wrote:We will beat them comfortably.

----------------Hart
-----Zab - Nasti - Lescott - Kola
Milner - Rodwell - Fernadinho - Nasri
-----------------Yaya
---------------Negredo

I like the confidence theres a distinct lack of it on here.

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.

Bridge'srightfoot wrote: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.