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

[bigblue]

Does Sergio just permanently walk with a limp?!

He actually has one leg longer than the other, it's quite serious tbh.

So did Garrincha and he was one of the best players of all time

[london blue 2]

Not gonna argue the sterling one as it was ridiculous play not to watch the ball. Hard to defend even if it was soft as fuck.

But it was a scrappy windy shitty match that we won by a margin. Pep gets abuse for wanting to win pretty, so surely winning a match in a crappy fashion deserves credit. His tactics killed the game off ffs. Learning already.

[phips]

Nolito is such a pretty player, what subs by His Pepness. Ian and Nolito reinvigorated our forward line.

i like the enthusiasm but when looking shaky at 2-1 who else was he going to bring on?

[RodneyRodney]

Oooooh I'm loving it!!

That dummy by Nacho and unselfishness by Raheem... It's just so so nice

Quality stuff. Peps way.

This. Great to see them play as a team. Couldn't give give 2 shits who scores if we win 4-1 at Stoke!

I don't think it was a dummy by Nacho ; it looked like a really subtle back-heel , I think he touched it , deliberately ....
Anyone else think so ?

[sidSmith]

Nolito is such a pretty player, what subs by His Pepness. Ian and Nolito reinvigorated our forward line.

i like the enthusiasm but when looking shaky at 2-1 who else was he going to bring on?

What? Could have gone defensive to try and sit on it, inviting pressure like our previous manager(s). Delph, Fernando, Clichy to name 3 other subs he could have used.

[nottsblue]

A scruffy 1-0 will do me. Nolito to score

One out of two I'll settle for.

4-1 at a ground we have won only once in seven years is decent. Irrelevant at this stage of the season how good we look or cohesive. It's all about learning Peps way and making sure we get results. Once we master the system then we will be on fire. As if nine goals in two away games is not great

[blues2win]

What bitter cunts Quinn and Souness are. Fuck off the pair of you.

[iwasthere2012]

We looked a bit leggy second half. That non penalty and booking for Raheem was laughable by Dean. It seemed to throw us out of our stride.
KDB is not up to speed yet and wasn't great.
I think Mase mentioned that Kun always runs behind his man and I agree. It made Sterling and Navas dwell too long before passing. Nullified s lot of our threat second half.
Navas off and Sterling switching to the right made a big difference.
Nacho coming on just topped it off.
Two totally positive substitutions and it paid off.
Fabulous cameo from Nacho. He obviously took on board whatever bollocking he got about not passing to Delph last week and layed it on a plate for Nolito.
Sublime dummy for Sterling to race through and do the same. Game over points in the bag. Pep will be delighted with that.
I know I am. We have a team here. And they will only get better.

[sidSmith]

What bitter cunts Quinn and Souness are. Fuck off the pair of you.

Wow. Just fucking wow!

[Beefymcfc]

Souness and Quinny aren't usually that bitter and by listening to the question set it's easy to see that the script is set. Stoke are the usual stoic team who adapt and overcome yet when we do it the talk is all about how Stoke were so poor.

Sky were all after a Stoke comeback to allow their pre-conceived writings being thrown out to the glorious Rag hoards.

We win away to Stoke under very difficult circumstances. Nothing more to say.

[Mikhail Chigorin]

We looked a bit leggy second half. That non penalty and booking for Raheem was laughable by Dean. It seemed to throw us out of our stride.
KDB is not up to speed yet and wasn't great.
I think Mase mentioned that Kun always runs behind his man and I agree. It made Sterling and Navas dwell too long before passing. Nullified s lot of our threat second half.
Navas off and Sterling switching to the right made a big difference.
Nacho coming on just topped it off.
Two totally positive substitutions and it paid off.
Fabulous cameo from Nacho. He obviously took on board whatever bollocking he got about not passing to Delph last week and layed it on a plate for Nolito.
Sublime dummy for Sterling to race through and do the same. Game over points in the bag. Pep will be delighted with that.
I know I am. We have a team here. And they will only get better.

Whether, or not, Nolito will turn out to be a veritable 'goal machine' (??) remains to be seen.

However, he was in the right place at the right times to score and that's a nice habit to have. Long may this continue.

[Beefymcfc]

Wooooooo, top of the league!

[zuricity]

So the two blatant fouls by AutonomomoVic on Zabs are ok . The raking of Silva's calf is o.k, but Sterling's innocuous hands up is a penalty. Shawcross also had his arms out pushing at Sterling.

See how Dean lightly gave city players yellow cards and compare it to what he missed from the stoke players. Two times also players were taken out off the ball and they didn't show any replays. Dean was rubbish today and not just against City, for both teams.

[john@staustell]

We looked a bit leggy second half. That non penalty and booking for Raheem was laughable by Dean. It seemed to throw us out of our stride.
KDB is not up to speed yet and wasn't great.
I think Mase mentioned that Kun always runs behind his man and I agree. It made Sterling and Navas dwell too long before passing. Nullified s lot of our threat second half.
Navas off and Sterling switching to the right made a big difference.
Nacho coming on just topped it off.
Two totally positive substitutions and it paid off.
Fabulous cameo from Nacho. He obviously took on board whatever bollocking he got about not passing to Delph last week and layed it on a plate for Nolito.
Sublime dummy for Sterling to race through and do the same. Game over points in the bag. Pep will be delighted with that.
I know I am. We have a team here. And they will only get better.

Whether, or not, Nolito will turn out to be a veritable 'goal machine' (??) remains to be seen.

However, he was in the right place at the right times to score and that's a nice habit to have. Long may this continue.

Wonder how his goals per minute for us compares to the much quicker Navas?

[Mase]

So the two blatant fouls by AutonomomoVic on Zabs are ok . The raking of Silva's calf is o.k, but Sterling's innocuous hands up is a penalty. Shawcross also had his arms out pushing at Sterling.

See how Dean lightly gave city players yellow cards and compare it to what he missed from the stoke players. Two times also players were taken out off the ball and they didn't show any replays. Dean was rubbish today and not just against City, for both teams.

What annoys me most is his face gestures when he's talking to the players. Is he in pantomime?

[Beefymcfc]

So the two blatant fouls by AutonomomoVic on Zabs are ok . The raking of Silva's calf is o.k, but Sterling's innocuous hands up is a penalty. Shawcross also had his arms out pushing at Sterling.

See how Dean lightly gave city players yellow cards and compare it to what he missed from the stoke players. Two times also players were taken out off the ball and they didn't show any replays. Dean was rubbish today and not just against City, for both teams.

What annoys me most is his face gestures when he's talking to the players. Is he in pantomime?

By the letter of the law Dean was correct in giving both. Regardless of the fact that none of those would have been given before today (didn't happen last night) doesn't mean that they aren't an offence.

I like Dean, and if the refereeing continues in this vein, we'll be quids in.

[Im_Spartacus]

So the two blatant fouls by AutonomomoVic on Zabs are ok . The raking of Silva's calf is o.k, but Sterling's innocuous hands up is a penalty. Shawcross also had his arms out pushing at Sterling.

See how Dean lightly gave city players yellow cards and compare it to what he missed from the stoke players. Two times also players were taken out off the ball and they didn't show any replays. Dean was rubbish today and not just against City, for both teams.

What annoys me most is his face gestures when he's talking to the players. Is he in pantomime?

By the letter of the law Dean was correct in giving both. Regardless of the fact that none of those would have been given before today (didn't happen last night) doesn't mean that they aren't an offence.

I like Dean, and if the refereeing continues in this vein, we'll be quids in.

I seem to recall news over the summer about a change in focus on shirt pulling and nonsense in the box, but I didn't notice much change last week. I hope this does signal a real change to the way games are refereed in that area of the pitch, as corners are a fucking shambles more akin to wwe these days.

[South Stand Balti]

What bitter cunts Quinn and Souness are. Fuck off the pair of you.

Yes they are horrible. It took me back to that fantastic win away at Palace when we won the league in 2014 and Souness said we hadn't played like champions the bitter tw@. The following week the dippers drew that having been 3 up. Karma karma karma

[nottsblue]

We looked a bit leggy second half. That non penalty and booking for Raheem was laughable by Dean. It seemed to throw us out of our stride.
KDB is not up to speed yet and wasn't great.
I think Mase mentioned that Kun always runs behind his man and I agree. It made Sterling and Navas dwell too long before passing. Nullified s lot of our threat second half.
Navas off and Sterling switching to the right made a big difference.
Nacho coming on just topped it off.
Two totally positive substitutions and it paid off.
Fabulous cameo from Nacho. He obviously took on board whatever bollocking he got about not passing to Delph last week and layed it on a plate for Nolito.
Sublime dummy for Sterling to race through and do the same. Game over points in the bag. Pep will be delighted with that.
I know I am. We have a team here. And they will only get better.

Whether, or not, Nolito will turn out to be a veritable 'goal machine' (??) remains to be seen.

However, he was in the right place at the right times to score and that's a nice habit to have. Long may this continue.

Wonder how his goals per minute for us compares to the much quicker Navas?

Imagine his goals per minute ratio is better than Navas' goals per game ratio

[iwasthere2012]

What bitter cunts Quinn and Souness are. Fuck off the pair of you.

Yes they are horrible. It took me back to that fantastic win away at Palace when we won the league in 2014 and Souness said we hadn't played like champions the bitter tw@. The following week the dippers drew that having been 3 up. Karma karma karma

Indeed. And Dippers are 2-0 down at Burnley now.