***Official Stoke vs City match thread***

[paddyblue]

i qwould agree we had the better team but they worked a lot harder than us they challenged for every ball to the end and so broke up our tip taps almost every time

they didn't challenge for anything. All they did was get a 1 in a million goal. dead lucky.

well somebody kept taking the ball from us when we were tapping it around

[Swales4ever]

There would be loads of issues to comment after this game, from the manager picking Dzeko but not setting the team with the only available RuB capable to place a straight and direct cross inside the box, who also is perhaps our best shooter fm outside (where it was easy to predict even for a lawyer that wpuld hyad been the best weapon to unlock their hyperphysical footy) from the players who show desire and commitment but still continue to perform a strike ratio barely up to a relagation team but I wont because I feel paranoid and fucking fuming and the only relief I can only imagine is Carl battering my head hard with his punches.
BUT I also wonder when You see in half a week the fucking diverted shot gift the lead to Chelsea and Peter shit Crouch doing a Van Basten to have them lead I only can feel that THE MOON JUST AIN'T BLUE right now!

Once said that, because I cant even use Howard as a scapegoat while he almost ruled the game as we were the rags, I would like to use some of the fair play I have learnt by the Englishmen and take a bow to Pulis and Neanderthals for their almost perfect performance, particularly by the brave way they reverted the pressure on us after the magnificent equalizer by Yaya.
Now it's time to go all out in the remaining - all feasable - fixtures and bring the advantage on GD up the derby.

rant over and fuck me!

EDIT: and JOE had been simply perfect until that and only Merlin himself could had imagine Crouch to do that! no blame applicable.

[Moonchesteri]

The Poznan was just a way for them to get over their FA Cup final heartache. That's the sort of banter that you give and have to take in football.

I'll take issue with their kicking lumps out of us but not with their celebrating a killer goal.

I'm with you here pal. Surprised it took this long 'til someone really showed the poznan at our faces.
But we should've just come up with some sort of song about the FA Cup win.

[Ted Hughes]

i qwould agree we had the better team but they worked a lot harder than us they challenged for every ball to the end and so broke up our tip taps almost every time

they didn't challenge for anything. All they did was get a 1 in a million goal. dead lucky.

well somebody kept taking the ball from us when we were tapping it around

I think we were stronger in the challenge & on the ball than they were but they used fouls to break up our play & Webb kept giving them fouls for next to fuck all. Our passing was uninspired & Crouch is too big for Micah & Kolo. They did well to limit his chances.

No way did Stoke out battle us though. They just kicked us.

Why did they play so open against wonderful Spurs & play like that v us ?

[ashton287]

again nonsense, silva will get kicked whereever he plays.

how can you have width on a field deliberately narrowed to meet the needs of a throwin expert who was on the bench for most of the game?

first yellow, that's Howard Webb for you , did you expect anything else from him?

listen , when everybody and his dog is willing to cheer city's opposution on, it makes it pretty difficult.

now watch united f*ck up on monday. they really are a poor team.

There's a difference between getting kicked and then the player gets warned, it happens again and he is booked. Then you can get on with your football knowing the ref is doing his job. Playing a fair game.

Instead of being kicked-nothing. Getting fouled-nothing. Getting fucking elbowed in the head and cut open-a warning. Shits a joke.

Also it doesn't matter that the pitch is narrow, there was fucking acres of space down the sides. What's the point in putting our 2 biggest forwards on to deal with the strength of stokes CB's (which is what Mancini said) if your not going to cross the ball for them. Kolarov and AJ should of started instead of us running into a wall of stoke players over and over again.

The scum beat fulham 5-0 away. I wouldn't hold my breath for anything less than 3-0 to them on Monday. Fulham won't turn up. Being realistic the GD will be in their favour with 6 games left.

[Swales4ever]

i qwould agree we had the better team but they worked a lot harder than us they challenged for every ball to the end and so broke up our tip taps almost every time

they didn't challenge for anything. All they did was get a 1 in a million goal. dead lucky.

well somebody kept taking the ball from us when we were tapping it around

I think we were stronger in the challenge & on the ball than they were but they used fouls to break up our play & Webb kept giving them fouls for next to fuck all. [highlight]Our passing was uninspired & Crouch is too big for Micah & Kolo[/highlight]. They did well to limit his chances.

No way did Stoke out battle us though. They just kicked us.

Why did they play so open against wonderful Spurs & play like that v us ?

we knew that in advance and that's why I did advocate for Mancini to set up a game plan with extensive use of outside shooting. We just have been lucky - and very focused to be fair - not to get a goal from set pieces

[Dubaimancityfan]

I must say I'm not disappointed at getting a point at Stoke. Defensively we did as well as expected and it took a wonder goal to beat Hart and that not from a set piece which is what we expected from Stoke.
But it was frustrating seeing us go forward and create almost nothing. Obviously we missed Kun as Balo and especially Dzeko are not creative enough to score goals out of nothing as Kun does. Tevez should've been on much earlier.
Silva has been absent for quite a while now and I honestly thought he will be rested today. Milner or even AJ should have started in his place. Yaya is wasted when he has to go back to the defence and start a move forward. We all know he is much more lethal when he can play more forward as he did in the end and saved us the point.
Still we're back on top until Monday and lets hope Fulham can get something at the swamp.

[Beefymcfc]

I really am not that convinced that was an incredible shot.

Just watch at Joe for a second. First of all, he was just a thew meters in front of the line, so he doesn't have the excuse he was caught offguard, then the shot was from an important distance and he had time to see and to react to the direction of the ball. Then another problem was that he reacted with his both hands aside, if he tried to use his left hand, he could had been able to touch the ball.

And maybe, just maybe, Crouch pushed Gazbaz before taking the shot. In a replay, Barry looks after Webb.

There was a blatant push on Barry that would've been given 9 times out of 10. This was Howard Webb though who was looking straight at it.

[Douglas Higginbottom]

We deserved a point,Stoke were not the better team but we were not good.

we created nothing except a 40 yard deflected effort. stoke had a corner cleared off the line. a header which joe threw a hand at and got into numerous dangerous positions.

we created nothing, ballotelli should never have been on the pitch after the chelsea match, something is up with silva and it needs to be sorted

Dzeko alone had 3 chances which sadly he missed.One a cross from deep that he glanced just wide,then from a deep cross the far post he headed poorly over and then from a through ball chip he timed his run well,had a decent first touch and the keeper blocked the shot for a corner.Zaba had a good opening and for some reason decided to pass back across goal.Mario had that one break when he jumped up from a prone position,as if he got an electric shock ,jinked passed a couple ,ran into tbe box and hit a weak shot to the keepers left instead of passing.

You sure we created nothing? But as I said we were not good.

[Goaters 103]

Had hoped that things might change but sadly we got the same away performance we have had over the past 5 months.

Lots of nice tikka takka but no incision, no width and no pace to our attacks and we were largely punchless in the final third. Dzeko and Balotelli gave us next to nothing, and in the last 10 minutes when we needed to chuck the kitchen sink at it, we could barely get possession of the ball.

Last 7 Prem away games, none of which were against a top 8 side, have yielded 3 goals and only 2 wins. Thats the nub of the problem; we keep going away, playing the same way and wondering why we dont score or win games. Ordinarily a point at Stoke isnt too bad but our balls-ups atSwansea, Everton and Sunderland meant we had no margin for error. We now have to win all 8 remaining games, and given four of those are away you just cant see it happening.

Sadly, come Monday Utd will have wiped out our goal difference advantage too as they will put 4 or 5 past Fulham.

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Like it or not it's a shame that the best striker on view tonight,based on his contribution to his team and the game ,was Crouch by a mile.

[Spurge]

just have to face we are not good enough to be champions this season, a bit of tweaking needed for next season, our whole season depended on the form of david silva

I think this season we will have a better chance of winnin the prem than we will next season.

The reason is our current away from. We took teams by surprise at the beginning of the season, they didn't know what hit them. But now in the 2nd half of the season they know how to play against us or how we will play against them - it's probably a bit of both. So it's because of our early season form that we are still in with a shout of being champios at this stage in the season.

Unless we adopt a differnet approach to our away games next season we won't have the luxury of catching teams out on their own patch like we did earlier this season. Teams will be better prepared to negate our threat for the whole of next season so winning the title will be more difficult.

[Spurge]

And almost forgot, what a pathetic display of their fans.

I was really impressed by them untill today, but doing the poznan and acting like total shites, made me sick.

Booing Silva for being treated for a head wound caused by a red card challenge was beyond contempt. How the fuck can you boo a bloke for having his head cut with a forearm smash ?

Agree 100% re booing Silva, did they think he had a bandage on his head because of a hair strain or something - what a bunch of twats

[Alioune DVToure]

Like it or not it's a shame that the best striker on view tonight,based on his contribution to his team and the game ,was Crouch by a mile.

Correct. He's more England-squad-quality than Andy Carroll and any other recently-capped big man will ever be.

[clawbaggio]

Clichy is turning into Wayne Bridge. Weak as piss, doesn't get tight on his man and clueless with the ball. Although Kolarov is a poor defender we could have used him tonight as an attacking threat.
After the way we won on Wed I thought we would have gone out with loads of confidence, but no , back to the predictable. slow over-passing shit. No pace or urgency. We are worse than Arsenal ever were for trying to walk the ball into the net

[Superbia]

Clichy is turning into Wayne Bridge. Weak as piss, doesn't get tight on his man and clueless with the ball. Although Kolarov is a poor defender we could have used him tonight as an attacking threat.
After the way we won on Wed I thought we would have gone out with loads of confidence, but no , back to the predictable. slow over-passing shit. No pace or urgency. We are worse than Arsenal ever were for trying to walk the ball into the net

Disagree completly

[Ted Hughes]

I agree with comments about our unimaginative, non scoring, football v teams like Stoke & Everton.

HOWEVER: there are no more Stokes or Evertons apart from, potentially, Wolves, who can't defend like that & will need 3 points anyway. Wolves will have to attack us.

I saw Norwich play the rags & they made no effort to be defensive, they just took them on. If they suddenly change tactics & park the bus v us, it's proof the PL is bent. There is no reason Norwich won't take us on.

Arsenal will try to batter us. Newcastle need 3 points for Europe & have to attack us.

From now on, we will be presented with teams playing exactly as they were before we beat the rags; ie actually trying to beat us rather than just trying to stop us.

This presents us with a decent opportunity to play our ticky tacky football & win. This is exactly what we want. If we can't play football in these circumstances, then it will prove that our early season form was a fluke & that we are genuinely a mid table team away from home.

I think we'll give it a fucking good go & yesterday's point means it can still be enough to win us the league.

I also think either Wigan or Blackburn will give the rags a game & they may need help from a ref again.

[Bridge'srightfoot]

I agree with comments about our unimaginative, non scoring, football v teams like Stoke & Everton.

HOWEVER: there are no more Stokes or Evertons apart from, potentially, Wolves, who can't defend like that & will need 3 points anyway. Wolves will have to attack us.

I saw Norwich play the rags & they made no effort to be defensive, they just took them on. If they suddenly change tactics & park the bus v us, it's proof the PL is bent. There is no reason Norwich won't take us on.

Arsenal will try to batter us. Newcastle need 3 points for Europe & have to attack us.

From now on, we will be presented with teams playing exactly as they were before we beat the rags; ie actually trying to beat us rather than just trying to stop us.

This presents us with a decent opportunity to play our ticky tacky football & win. This is exactly what we want. If we can't play football in these circumstances, then it will prove that our early season form was a fluke & that we are genuinely a mid table team away from home.

I think we'll give it a fucking good go & yesterday's point means it can still be enough to win us the league.

I also think either Wigan or Blackburn will give the rags a game & they may need help from a ref again.

That's because whenever a team sits back against us it appears to work, certainly at their home ground anyway. The difference between us and united is that if Unite played Stoke yesterday they would of scored that chance Dzeko missed and then hit Stoke on the break for the rest of the game.

[Ted Hughes]

I agree with comments about our unimaginative, non scoring, football v teams like Stoke & Everton.

HOWEVER: there are no more Stokes or Evertons apart from, potentially, Wolves, who can't defend like that & will need 3 points anyway. Wolves will have to attack us.

I saw Norwich play the rags & they made no effort to be defensive, they just took them on. If they suddenly change tactics & park the bus v us, it's proof the PL is bent. There is no reason Norwich won't take us on.

Arsenal will try to batter us. Newcastle need 3 points for Europe & have to attack us.

From now on, we will be presented with teams playing exactly as they were before we beat the rags; ie actually trying to beat us rather than just trying to stop us.

This presents us with a decent opportunity to play our ticky tacky football & win. This is exactly what we want. If we can't play football in these circumstances, then it will prove that our early season form was a fluke & that we are genuinely a mid table team away from home.

I think we'll give it a fucking good go & yesterday's point means it can still be enough to win us the league.

I also think either Wigan or Blackburn will give the rags a game & they may need help from a ref again.

That's because whenever a team sits back against us it appears to work, certainly at their home ground anyway. The difference between us and united is that if Unite played Stoke yesterday they would of scored that chance Dzeko missed and then hit Stoke on the break for the rest of the game.

Apart from they fucking didn't.

[Bridge'srightfoot]

I agree with comments about our unimaginative, non scoring, football v teams like Stoke & Everton.

HOWEVER: there are no more Stokes or Evertons apart from, potentially, Wolves, who can't defend like that & will need 3 points anyway. Wolves will have to attack us.

I saw Norwich play the rags & they made no effort to be defensive, they just took them on. If they suddenly change tactics & park the bus v us, it's proof the PL is bent. There is no reason Norwich won't take us on.

Arsenal will try to batter us. Newcastle need 3 points for Europe & have to attack us.

From now on, we will be presented with teams playing exactly as they were before we beat the rags; ie actually trying to beat us rather than just trying to stop us.

This presents us with a decent opportunity to play our ticky tacky football & win. This is exactly what we want. If we can't play football in these circumstances, then it will prove that our early season form was a fluke & that we are genuinely a mid table team away from home.

I think we'll give it a fucking good go & yesterday's point means it can still be enough to win us the league.

I also think either Wigan or Blackburn will give the rags a game & they may need help from a ref again.

That's because whenever a team sits back against us it appears to work, certainly at their home ground anyway. The difference between us and united is that if Unite played Stoke yesterday they would of scored that chance Dzeko missed and then hit Stoke on the break for the rest of the game.

Apart from they fucking didn't.

9/10 times that's what they do. They get one chance early, take it and sit back.