***stoke v city official match thread***

[Foreverinbluedreams]

No we shouldn't have played Delph on the wing we should have played him as part of a three in central midfield. At least start that way. We had to match Stoke physically and we didn't. Pellegrini said everyone was tired then why leave out a young keen player who's full of running?

Spot on.

Because Stoke are so physical with the likes of Affelay, Bojan and Shaqiri?

[South Stand Balti]

No we shouldn't have played Delph on the wing we should have played him as part of a three in central midfield. At least start that way. We had to match Stoke physically and we didn't. Pellegrini said everyone was tired then why leave out a young keen player who's full of running?

Spot on.

Because Stoke are so physical with the likes of Affelay, Bojan and Shaqiri?

Stoke made a tactical change to play us yesterday, copying what the dippers did. They went 4-3-3 and outnumbered us in the middle with the 3 central midfielders. It's happened before, particularly in Europe. The battle won in midfield allowed the like of Shaqiri to play which he did, outclassing the likes of Sterling.

[Foreverinbluedreams]

No we shouldn't have played Delph on the wing we should have played him as part of a three in central midfield. At least start that way. We had to match Stoke physically and we didn't. Pellegrini said everyone was tired then why leave out a young keen player who's full of running?

Spot on.

Because Stoke are so physical with the likes of Affelay, Bojan and Shaqiri?

Stoke made a tactical change to play us yesterday, copying what the dippers did. They went 4-3-3 and outnumbered us in the middle with the 3 central midfielders. It's happened before, particularly in Europe. The battle won in midfield allowed the like of Shaqiri to play which he did, outclassing the likes of Sterling.

Where did Silva play? And why if we lost the midfield did we dominate possession?

It's fairly obvious what caused the problems yesterday, a simple lack of work rate which caused us to be outnumbered when they broke on us. Why people can't see this and have this obsession with playing three specialised central midfield players is beyond me.

[South Stand Balti]

No we shouldn't have played Delph on the wing we should have played him as part of a three in central midfield. At least start that way. We had to match Stoke physically and we didn't. Pellegrini said everyone was tired then why leave out a young keen player who's full of running?

Spot on.

Because Stoke are so physical with the likes of Affelay, Bojan and Shaqiri?

Stoke made a tactical change to play us yesterday, copying what the dippers did. They went 4-3-3 and outnumbered us in the middle with the 3 central midfielders. It's happened before, particularly in Europe. The battle won in midfield allowed the like of Shaqiri to play which he did, outclassing the likes of Sterling.

Where did Silva play? And why if we lost the midfield did we dominate possession?

It's fairly obvious what caused the problems yesterday, a simple lack of work rate which caused us to be outnumbered when they broke on us. Why people can't see this and have this obsession with playing three specialised central midfield players is beyond me.

Silva played in an attacking role. He didn't track back etc like centre mids do. We lost the battle in centre mid v the dippers. It's just an obvious tactical thing. We had a similar bad run towards the end of last season with the same set up. It looked like we may miss out on the top 4. Fat frank was then brought into the side for the last 6 matches and we had just one up front and 3 in centre mid. We won all 6 games. I can see the difference cos I see every game. It's as clear as the balls on the bull.

[Foreverinbluedreams]

The thing is SSB Silva should fucking track back, why is it accepted that he doesn't and that's that? It's not fucking acceptable. If he did what he should be doing we wouldn't be outnumbered.

I could accept this argument last season when we were playing with two strikers, now we're playing with one there is no excuse for being outnumbered in the centre of the park.

[South Stand Balti]

I think Silva and KDB could both track back a lot more than they do. I just don't see Silva battling it out with Whelan etc. It's not his game though it's no excuse for not working hard. We have a luxury player too many at the mo and I would leave one out and have a battler in there instead.

[Foreverinbluedreams]

Glenn Whelan shouldn't even get close to Silva in a 50/50, he's a carthorse. The thing that's bugging me most about this is they had Affelay playing in their midfield, he's an attacking player yet he could get stuck in and ours can't? Fuck that for a game of soldiers.

[South Stand Balti]

Glenn Whelan shouldn't even get close to Silva in a 50/50, he's a carthorse. The thing that's bugging me most about this is they had Affelay playing in their midfield, he's an attacking player yet he could get stuck in and ours can't? Fuck that for a game of soldiers.

Another reason I would prefer 3 in the middle at the moment is because Fernando doesn't offer enough at this level. It's almost compensating for the deficiency of those in the middle. The back four were exposed far too often yesterday. It could have been a lot more than 2-0

[Foreverinbluedreams]

Glenn Whelan shouldn't even get close to Silva in a 50/50, he's a carthorse. The thing that's bugging me most about this is they had Affelay playing in their midfield, he's an attacking player yet he could get stuck in and ours can't? Fuck that for a game of soldiers.

Another reason I would prefer 3 in the middle at the moment is because Fernando doesn't offer enough at this level. It's almost compensating for the deficiency of those in the middle. The back four were exposed far too often yesterday. It could have been a lot more than 2-0

If he doesn't offer enough then he shouldn't be playing, simple as. He was found wanting on both then goals yesterday although he wasn't the only one, when he slid in on Shaqiri he didn't show enough determination to get the ball but he did do enough to knock it a yard away from him by which point Kolarov should be coming in and nicking the ball, instead he stands off him and makes a token effort at blocking the cross ( look at Otamendi behind him doing his level best to stop the cross and then compare and contrast with Kolarov's effort ). Then when the ball comes in Demi just watches it go by him and Sagna who was also a bit dozy throughout gets beaten to it by that Ibrahimovic wannabe.

The second goal he got badly done too but must credit Shaqiri for a sublime piece of skill there ( if that was Silva we'd be creaming ourselves ) but again watch Demi just fucking standing there offering himself as a guide to where the pass should be played, it was ducking atrocious centre back play.

Anyhow I've gone off point with my ranting so I'll leave it there.

[Dameerto]

No we shouldn't have played Delph on the wing we should have played him as part of a three in central midfield. At least start that way. We had to match Stoke physically and we didn't. Pellegrini said everyone was tired then why leave out a young keen player who's full of running?

Spot on.

Because Stoke are so physical with the likes of Affelay, Bojan and Shaqiri?

They have one of the tallest squads in the league, if I'm remembering correctly. Did you see how that dickhead was holding Navas off the ball with his body when it was out of play and he was trying to recover it for a throw-in towards the end of the match?

[Foreverinbluedreams]

No we shouldn't have played Delph on the wing we should have played him as part of a three in central midfield. At least start that way. We had to match Stoke physically and we didn't. Pellegrini said everyone was tired then why leave out a young keen player who's full of running?

Spot on.

Because Stoke are so physical with the likes of Affelay, Bojan and Shaqiri?

They have one of the tallest squads in the league, if I'm remembering correctly. Did you see how that dickhead was holding Navas off the ball with his body when it was out of play and he was trying to recover it for a throw-in towards the end of the match?

They may well do but it's not as if it was an aerial bombardment that was the reason for them bettering us. It was simply down to a lack of fight, the same lack of fight that's been evident in most of our games that have fallen before CL fixtures this season.

[Dameerto]

Taller players are naturally heavier for a given level of fitness though, and heavier players can throw themselves around more forcefully.

[Foreverinbluedreams]

Taller players are naturally heavier for a given level of fitness though, and heavier players can throw themselves around more forcefully.

So how would you propose we match them physically then? What could Pellegrini have done differently to counter our disadvantage in terms of height?