Stoke post match thread

Sterling should have started. He has a chemistry with Sane and they complement each other. Sane looked like he was missing his team mate /friend.
Zabman should have started, probably wouldn't have lasted the ninety but Sagna could have replaced this leader and done a solid job when the damage had been done.
Silva should have started, or at least come on at half time (to replace de Bruyne , who was trying to be too clever all game.).
I was disappointed to see Navas start, but to be fair he played well and showed a lot of passion and commitment.
Not much wrong with Ota and Kolarov but Stones should have been a starter.
Also some decisions (non decisions?) from the officials were head scratchers .
In my view we should have had at least two free kicks awarded on the edge of their 18 yard box.
Was Sane guilty of diving for his yellow?
We drew a blank, but on another day we could well have lost!
 
Kinkys Left Foot said:
I can't agree that they deserved a point.
They surrendered midfield constantly and played a back 5 with a close support of a bank of 4 with 1 slightly further forward. No spaces behind and no space between the lines. Time wasted at every opportunity, feigned injury and hoofed it upfield to relieve pressure. I understand why (because it works) but its shite to watch and its supposed to be an entertainment business. If you think that deserves a point thats your opinion.
Why didn't they play that way at Spurs then, or did they 2nd half?
In the end we only have ourselves to blame missing 4-5 good chances, quite how Iheanacho and then Sane failed to hit the target with those two gifts at the end baffles me let alone Silvas and the Kuns missing the target as well. We score 1 we win the game. Its been the story of our season at home and we've got more cloggers to come who'll do exactly the same. Palace, United et all. It's all about finishing chances. If we'd have scored last night it would have been a thoroughly deserved victory whilst not being at our best. It happens occasionally in all seasons but too many this year. Take the points from those home League games as we deserved to were sat 2 points behind Chelsea instead of scrapping for a top 4 spot.
Everton
Boro
Stoke
Southampton
Celtic x 2
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Stoke got away with it but, sadly, teams have a chance of doing so at City by parking the bus because the team, whoever is fielded, is not clinical enough, often enough. This is a player problem primarily: it is about players failing to execute consistently enough and will ultimately require personnel changes in the squad.

I thought Nacho's miss may have had something to do with Shawcross holding a big chunk of his shirt but have not kept a recording of the game and couldn't be bothered anyway to go back and try and study exactly when Shawcross grabbed Nacho's shirt but he certainly had a good hold on it; not that the ref noticed...
 
Richard said:
Rotation is inevitably, and given the fact that the human body takes 72 hours to recover after a game, completely understandable.

We've got less time than that before Middlesbrough, and then not much more than 72 hours before Monaco.

I get the impression that some people think that because players are professional athletes, and are paid millions to perform, that they should be able to defy biology.

Whilst I have no doubt the we have the best sport scientists/facilities to aid recovery, sometimes rest is needed, particularly in a case of someone like Sterling who's game revolves around sprints.
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Too many people cannot seem to grasp facts like this!
 
Tom_mcfc said:
Absolute bollocks. So next season do you think they will drop Hazard needlessly? Will they chop and change their back 4 nearly on a weekly basis? I highly doubt it. I'd even understand it as well if we had Monaco in a few days time but we haven't. We have a cup game before hand where we will probably rest a few AND we was hardly over strained at Sunderland was we, after about an hour we was in first gear so there was no reason for last nights changes. They was made purely for the sake of it and it has cost us another 2 points.
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I'd say you know fuck all about football after reading this, changes for the sake of it ffs. You have no idea what the sports science and back room teams will have discussed, hell even David may have said he's not got a full 90 minutes in him.The fact we didn't win last night isn't down to Pep resting Silva and Sterling, it's because KDB and Fernandinho played shite and forced him to put Silva on when he really shouldn't fucking have to, this isn't down to play a couple of kids and it costing us points, but top class players who are main players in Brazil and Belgium being below par.

The constant he's dropped a bollock by resting whoever it is that particular game we don't win is becoming tiresome.


Tom_mcfc said:
Not saying your logic is bollocks mate, I just hate it as a defence. Up until recently every one who has won the league would of been involved in European football. We have played is it 9 games more? 2 of them being the qualifiers where we didn't break a sweat and the final Celtic game where we made changes and was a dead rubber. I just think it is crazy how professional footballers, paid absolute millions have to be dropped but a team that will end up playing maybe 10 games less are fine. I just had a look at minutes played and to be fair it counted the Euros but Sterling has played 50 minutes more than Hazard since then. One is bang in form and carrying his team to the title, the other got dropped last night needlessly where his style would of opened up a stubborn Stoke more.

He hyped up John Stones before the game, so he is playing better, getting confidence, manager behind him with momentum and erm dropped. Crazy.
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Again proving you know fuck all, how many headers did we lose on Sunday without Otamendi? Last night was always going to be an aerial bombardment, could have been worse if Crouch had played, so he picked a back four to counter it, if you can't see why Stones didn't start then......
 
OB1 said:
Wasn't Gundogan supposed to help on that score?
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Yep, although getting and keeping him fit is another matter. If Isco is indeed available I'd hope we'd be in for him (again).
 
Tom_mcfc said:
Talk me through Stones for Otamendi then mate? Whilst it wasn't an issue last night and Otamendi had a decent game was that not for changing sake? There was zero need to make that change and then we will probably throw him back in against Falcao. That spark that Silva brought changed the game, not the scorel ine granted and no one can say correctly what would of happened had he of started. Just think though that urgency and them chances created happening from the first minute rather than the 55th or whenever it was.
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I think Pep wants to give Ota and Stones game time and doesn't want to over expose Stones. He quite possibly doesn't think there is a huge difference in overall effectiveness of the back four of switching between to two. He may also have expected Crouch to play and have thought Ota was a better bet to handle him. You'd have to ask Pep that question. However, given that Pep sees the need to rotate - based on the science involved etc - and select the personnel he thinks best suit the game-plan for each match, he needs to change things just so that players get used to operating that way. He needs as many players as possible in the squad to get a decent amount of minutes in competitive fixtures putting into practice the way he wants to play and doing so with all their squad mates in lots of different permutations.

Playing the same 11 game in game out is not a realistic option so the more everyone gets used to not doing that, the better: practice makes perfect but you cannot just do it (practice) on the training pitch.
 
Too tired to play but not too tired to train - which is the most important?
Genuine question - I think the most intersting interview and insight wouldn't be from a player or manager, but from a fitness coach/sports scientist. Then we would all have a better idea.
You look at other sports and football fitness really does appear to be a different science altogether.
 
Before the game I had a feeling we'd either draw or even lose by a late over the top punt upfield. The game played out as I'd feared but we got the draw.
A boring game only livened up by Silva's late sub appearance. The new balti pies at half time were a treat though.
 
Tom_mcfc said:
That's a different argument but if he does end up making changes which is very likely then it means there was no reason for last nights, especially after not being overly worked at Sunderland.
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If its different players (and it will be, unless someone is carrying a knock), there is every reason, as I said medical advise will have been offered, players are tested daily for levels of fitness, some will be less or more tired than others. I don't know without checking, exactly how many games each player has played, how many miles they have run etc etc, but some will certainly need to be rotated more than others, and that is all that is being done.
Tom_mcfc said:
You say a game we need to not lose against Liverpool, why is that?
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Not losing to them is more important than beating Stoke, because they are direct rivals for top 4, and so it prevents them getting points. I'd have thought that fairly obvious.
 
OB1 said:
I thought Nacho's miss may have had something to do with Shawcross holding a big chunk of his shirt but have not kept a recording of the game and couldn't be bothered anyway to go back and try and study exactly when Shawcross grabbed Nacho's shirt but he certainly had a good hold on it; not that the ref noticed...
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Aguero diving in front of him didn't help either, if that is the chance you mean, I think that put him off slightly.
 
Still disappointed,i'm sure pep expects more from any team he puts out,rotation has to happen though and we must get someone who can step in when dave has a rest
 
nico1 said:
Before the game I had a feeling we'd either draw or even lose by a late over the top punt upfield. The game played out as I'd feared but we got the draw.
A boring game only livened up by Silva's late sub appearance. The new balti pies at half time were a treat though.
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yeah same here, I am not sure what it was but they started playing and it seemed to be the City of last year. We have had a couple of games or so like that this year.... And sometimes we score, sometimes the opposiotion score in the last 5 mins, basically it feels like anything could happen in these games. We need to control these games
 
It's not game like last night that really miff me off. It happens. It's Stoke. It's Hughes. The games that really have bothered me at home this season are Everton. 1 shot 1 goal. Middlesbrough 1 shot 1 goal and Spurs. 2 nil up with 25 to go. All 3 of those games we played well and controlled the games. Convert those into wins which they should have been and that puts us 5 behind Chelsea with them to play.

That De Bruyne chance at 1 nil against them goes in and we could well be 1 point ahead of them. They are the real turning points that stick in my mind when looking back at where the title was lost. Not games like last night v Stoke.
 
Pep got it wrong, from the squad to the XI to the subs to getting the fullbacks to play CM again.

God forbid that be the case but it is, believe it or not.
 
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