Stoke post match thread

[HarrytheBlue]

Fucking hell Harry. How many of you are there?

Just the one last time I looked.

 

[cleavers]

Cleavers - Away fans are in the South Stand - and unless you get a decent team visiting there's always empty seats in the away block.

You weren't talking about away fan empty seats earlier though, it was how you were embarrassed by OUR empty seats.

 

[HarrytheBlue]

You weren't talking about away fan empty seats earlier though, it was how you were embarrassed by OUR empty seats.

Yes, I was embarrassed by our empty seats in all areas last night. The away fans thing is a separate issue. Normally, away fans get the worst seats in the house. We give away fans plum seats.

 

[Two Gun Bob]

Yes, I was embarrassed by our empty seats in all areas last night. The away fans thing is a separate issue. Normally, away fans get the worst seats in the house. We give away fans plum seats.

So with respect Harry why did they not fill these plump seats ?

 

[jrb]

We haven't got the fanbase willing to pay these prices for a Wednesday night match against Stoke City.

Getting close to 50K is about our current level.

We are well off the 55k and 60k mark that would warrant a NS expansion, even if City made match tickets more affordable, which they won't.

Sadly I'm coming to the conclusion that the NS won't get expanded, and we have reached our Etihad capacity of 54,000+, even with Pep in charge of the team.

A honest reality check is due.

 

[Wanchope n me Dickov]

I thought the North Stand expansion is definitely happening in the summer?

I think we could fill 60k for every game in 5 years. Just need to build our tourist quota sadly. Prefer plastic seats to plastic fans TBF

We haven't got the fanbase willing to pay these prices for a Wednesday night match against Stoke City.

Getting close to 50K is about our current level.

We are well off the 55k and 60k mark that would warrant a NS expansion, even if City made match tickets more affordable, which they won't.

Sadly I'm coming to the conclusion that the NS won't get expanded, and we have reached our Etihad capacity of 54,000+, even with Pep in charge of the team.

A honest reality check is due.

 

[nellyonthewing]

Success ,prolonged and exciting success is what is needed to build the fanbase. We have wasted 4 years of that process whilst we went into standby mode . Not a popular view I know ,we are moving beyond our peer group of Everton ,Newcastle etc but are still not where we would be had we won 3 or 4 back to back titles. I have been one of the 25-30,000 and the 40,000 but not sure how we fill the 60,000 without that consistent trophy haul.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

We haven't got the fanbase willing to pay these prices for a Wednesday night match against Stoke City.

Getting close to 50K is about our current level.

We are well off the 55k and 60k mark that would warrant a NS expansion, even if City made match tickets more affordable, which they won't.

Sadly I'm coming to the conclusion that the NS won't get expanded, and we have reached our Etihad capacity of 54,000+, even with Pep in charge of the team.

A honest reality check is due.

If I could draw an analogy; imagine a restaurant: it would be empty on a Monday and a Tuesday and overbooked on a Friday and Saturday - turning loads of customers away on a weekend - and it would seem your solution in that situation would be to do nothing. My solution would be to make the restaurant bigger to cope with the demand when it was most exposed. Who gives a fuck how busy it is on a Monday? No cünt goes out on a Monday.

The weekend is where it's at.

 

[HarrytheBlue]

So with respect Harry why did they not fill these plump seats ?

Why did Stoke not fill those seats ?

 

[Two Gun Bob]

Yes mate why ?
Given your thoughts that they had plumb seats ?

 

[Armaan]

Success ,prolonged and exciting success is what is needed to build the fanbase. We have wasted 4 years of that process whilst we went into standby mode . Not a popular view I know ,we are moving beyond our peer group of Everton ,Newcastle etc but are still not where we would be had we won 3 or 4 back to back titles. I have been one of the 25-30,000 and the 40,000 but not sure how we fill the 60,000 without that consistent trophy haul.

Very true, I agree with every word.

 

[Mancityus]

I'd argue you lose Monaco and Boro you win nothing this season, so no, last night's game wasn't more important.

Further, people need to shut up about Navas. He played quite well last night and wasn't the reason we couldn't take our chances.

As for Nolito, he's done little the few times he's played. Huddersfield for example. Don't know why you think he deserves a game based off poor performances in training and in games.



Pure hyperbole.

Unsurprising from a poster who has waited quite some time to bring back the "no better than Pellegrini" bullshit.

Saying that KDB, Yaya, Sane, Aguero, Dinho et al was evidence we handed the title to Chelsea is an insult to the quality of those players. You think that squad wasn't good enough to beat Stoke? We had our chances but just didn't take them.

KDB, Yaya, Sane, Aguero, Dinho are just part of eleven - the top eleven unless injured needed to start the game and they did not. However good Navas or Dinho might have been it would have been better to have Silva and Sterling on the field and make sure we were just 8 points behind Chelsea rather than 10. With game against them and really going for it would have meant a 5 point gap.

Now it appears Pep has given up before the fans and team did.

 

[Akiva]

KDB, Yaya, Sane, Aguero, Dinho are just part of eleven

You know how many non-regular starting XI players we had? 1. Jesus Navas. That was literally it.

- the top eleven unless injured needed to start the game and they did not.

They didn't need to start the game, we created enough chances to win without them. Poor finishing did us in and it has done us in against lesser sides with Silva/Sterling on the park this year too.

However good Navas or Dinho might have been it would have been better to have Silva and Sterling on the field

You don't know that. Sterling, for example, played quite poorly against Sunderland. Misplaced passes and high possession loss, He's clearly tired having played 11 games on the bounce.

It makes no sense to sacrifice Sterling, or Silva's, performance levels for later in the season because you feel they have to start every single game. This isn't FIFA and like it or not, rotation is necessary, normal and expected.

and make sure we were just 8 points behind Chelsea rather than 10. With game against them and really going for it would have meant a 5 point gap.

Know what would have created that situation? If we'd not missed our chances.

Now it appears Pep has given up

Bullshit statement. Pep played a really strong team, but he's given up? Given up is playing Fabian Delph. He even brought on Silva towards the end, but you say he's given up? Ridiculous.

before the fans and team did.

Who are you to speak for the fans and the team?

Plenty here have been saying for weeks that the FA Cup is our best chance of silverware this season and needs to be a priority. We are in two trophies with two very, very difficult games in the next five days and you come on here to attack the fucking manager because David Silva, Kelechi Iheanacho, Leroy Sane, Sergio Aguero and Kevin De Bruyne couldn't hit the target against a team that has shipped 40 goals this season. Beggars belief.

 

[mancity1]

KDB, Yaya, Sane, Aguero, Dinho are just part of eleven - the top eleven unless injured needed to start the game and they did not. However good Navas or Dinho might have been it would have been better to have Silva and Sterling on the field and make sure we were just 8 points behind Chelsea rather than 10. With game against them and really going for it would have meant a 5 point gap.

Now it appears Pep has given up before the fans and team did.

He could have started with those two and its pure speculation as to whether the result would have different.

Silva had on fair chance to score but put it just wide.

You know how many non-regular starting XI players we had? 1. Jesus Navas. That was literally it.



They didn't need to start the game, we created enough chances to win without them. Poor finishing did us in and it has done us in against lesser sides with Silva/Sterling on the park this year too.



You don't know that. Sterling, for example, played quite poorly against Sunderland. Misplaced passes and high possession loss, He's clearly tired having played 11 games on the bounce.

It makes no sense to sacrifice Sterling, or Silva's, performance levels for later in the season because you feel they have to start every single game. This isn't FIFA and like it or not, rotation is necessary, normal and expected.



Know what would have created that situation? If we'd not missed our chances.



Bullshit statement. Pep played a really strong team, but he's given up? Given up is playing Fabian Delph. He even brought on Silva towards the end, but you say he's given up? Ridiculous.



Who are you to speak for the fans and the team?

Plenty here have been saying for weeks that the FA Cup is our best chance of silverware this season and needs to be a priority. We are in two trophies with two very, very difficult games in the next five days and you come on here to attack the fucking manager because David Silva, Kelechi Iheanacho, Leroy Sane, Sergio Aguero and Kevin De Bruyne couldn't hit the target against a team that has shipped 40 goals this season. Beggars belief.

This year was one for consolidation and with Liverpool and Chelsea not having Europe to contend with there was/is always the chance we could miss out on top four especially with no top class goal keeper and an ageing and injury prone defence.

All things considered we have done well so far not spectacularly well but well and a draw against a side hell bent on defence showing nothing going forward when we missed a couple of the chances we created misfiring ala Noacho, Kun and Silva to some extent was an outcome just a likely as a win IMO despite the big bookie odds on a draw.

 

[The Colonel]

Sorr

KDB was poor. But he delivered three excellent crosses that should have resulted in goals. Navas didn't. He did nothing.

not true we can see what we want to see sometimes. Navas also put in three good crosses. It's easy to fall into the scape goat trap. How many times have we seen it at city? Some fans were just waiting to jump on Navas' back from the first whistle no matter what.

 

[inchy14]

Gutted by everything last night. From our season ticket seats in the North Stand, loads of us were cringing at the empty seats. I for one felt embarrassed - knowing that I'd get some stick at work today. Doesn't help that the tv cameras face the Colin Bell stand where the VIP seats are........ I'll be honest with you, and it's painful stuff, Pep probably didn't imagine that we'd have so many empty seats. Probably best to put further expansion on hold. Is it something to do with the configuration of our stands - too much space between the seats ? In some grounds you barely notice when fans don't turn up. For example, at Anfield the seats are so close together you don't notice when half a row is missing. I honestly believed that the Pep factor would bridge the fan gap - to say nothing of the superb attack he's building (with the exception of last night - we were leggy and knackered). No club gets great crowds in the cup, but for a crucial league game that could have given us some momentum with tough games coming up I couldn't believe it - even for a Wednesday night. We'll fill the ground for the next more standard time kick off, but for these evening games I find myself looking across at the other three stands hoping the fans are socialising in the ground or at the bars or that there's some traffic chaos outside and the seats will be filled half an hour in.

Can i be the first to say the following:
Get a fucking spine,
Grow a pair
Wipe your fanny.

We sat in the top 3, in the CL and a chance of the FA cup semi finals and you're more arsed about some rag prick in work laughing because we've empty seats? A rag who probably never ever goes and you can't handle that!!
FFs what is our fan base becoming.

 

[cleavers]

Why did Stoke not fill those seats ?

Probably because the game was moved at very short notice, and the good folk of Stoke weren't able to take extra time off work ?

Also there were major issues with travel on the M6 on Wednesday, for instance the match summariser on 5live took 5 1/2 hours to get to Manchester from Warwickshire, and only made the stadium for 7:45pm, a journey normally 3 hours at most, I don't know where this issue was, but if it was between Stoke and Knutsford, maybe some just turned off and went home.

 

[fergal_oc]

Been overthinking this a lot. From a purely mathematical point of view it makes no sense to rotate against 'poorer' teams unless:

1. You're happy to not win
2. You think it's unlikely you'll win

With a full strength team you might say there's a 8/10 chance of beating a team like Stoke at home. Likewise an away game at Chelsea you might say it's a 5/10 chance.

Therefore if the goal is to get as many points as possible, from a purely probability POV by changing against Stoke you're dropping your chance of winning down to 7/10 or even 6/10. That's more like a draw than a win.

If that means you you don't rotate against stoke you may reduce your chance of winning at Chelsea down to 4/10 because your players are more tired but.. you haven't really had much of an impact on the probability of a win there and it's still most likely you'll get a draw.

Instead of getting 3 & 1 points you may end up getting 1 & 1. Given there's a relatively high chance of losing against Chelsea anyway, 3 & 0 points is still better.

Of course I know it's not that simple but from an abstract model the principal still runs true I believe within this limited context.

 

[Gray]

Probably because the game was moved at very short notice, and the good folk of Stoke weren't able to take extra time off work ?

Also there were major issues with travel on the M6 on Wednesday, for instance the match summariser on 5live took 5 1/2 hours to get to Manchester from Warwickshire, and only made the stadium for 7:45pm, a journey normally 3 hours at most, I don't know where this issue was, but if it was between Stoke and Knutsford, maybe some just turned off and went home.

What impacts most in my opinion is the shocking infrastructure around the stadium.

If you go by car you can queue for ever to get out of car parks and the road network does not allow for the fast transit of vehicles.

Public transport is awful especially the Metrolink who are incompetent. After the match on Wednesday I got to the tram station and we waited a good ten minutes before a single unit pulled in closely followed by an empty double unit. The double unit had obviously been waiting in the extra track alongside the Asda store but instead of sending that to the stadium the scheduled single unit was given priority.

You can not blame people who have to contend with these problems at every match deciding that for an 8pm mid-week kick that is being shown live on Sky that they will just give the match a miss, rather than arrive home approaching midnight. This would be even more of a consideration for any of our fans living some distance away.

 

[Bill]

We haven't got the fanbase willing to pay these prices for a Wednesday night match against Stoke City.

Getting close to 50K is about our current level.

We are well off the 55k and 60k mark that would warrant a NS expansion, even if City made match tickets more affordable, which they won't.

Sadly I'm coming to the conclusion that the NS won't get expanded, and we have reached our Etihad capacity of 54,000+, even with Pep in charge of the team.

A honest reality check is due.

the north stand will get built, it will house us, the rank and file. the whole of the second tier will be corporate so they have to put us somewhere. by then I will be retired and will take up a corporate (the cheapest) rather that sit in the gods. exactly what they want to achieve. in fairness they have paid a lot of money out to furnish us with the best team in our history. they expect and deserve a return.