Stoke Vs City Post Match thread

[mosssideblue]

Is it just a coincidence that recently when we have more than 50% of the ball the opposition,irrespective of their league position or even league, seem to draw or beat us. Conversely with less than 50% of the ball we win ?

As Stokes manager puts it they chased the game in the second half and we (ie Stoke) paid the penalty.

You can't counter attack if the other team doesn't attack. This unfortunately happens all the time at home as team after team park the bus and defend with their lives.

Another factor is for whatever reason our back 5 as a collective has been dogshit this year, we can't keep a clean sheet if our lives depended on it.

Exactly. Away, I think other teams will try to actually play which gives us the space to exploit them with our superior passing game. Milner's header is a perfect example of our superior passing game at its finest. In my opinion, Stoke was foolish to play us in an open game. We probably have a superior player in every position.

At the Etihad on the other hand, teams are parking a double decker, waiting for an errant pass, and hitting us on the counter. This can very frustrating to cope with. You can't pass your way through 10 defenders. Getting the ball in the air and taking some shots from distance can help but a really organized back 10 can be very tough to crack.

Totally agree and I think that's why City get a lot of unecessary flak on here for the slow build up play and sideways passing which IMO is needed to try and draw the team out a little to make some space

 

[Blue Mist]

A big thanks yet again to Shady's blog site for providing links to streams.

I had a decent stream for 90 minutes (only breaking up a bit in the last 5 minutes). I always seem to get Trevor Francis as co-commentator and I honestly think he fucking hates us - even my young son could see that some of his comments were out of order. I know he didn't have a great time at City and I don't think he did much for us either (injuries etc.) and he was mates with Mancini but I was tempted to swirch to a stream with foreign commentary.

100% Correct. Francis has a very anti City agenda.

Francis is unbearable as a co-commentator. He really doesn't like us.

I was at the match last night so missed darling Trevor, just watched the match on $ky and I was shouting at the TV because of the bile he was spouting. If he cannot be professional he should not be on there. Not one ounce of credit was given by him.

 

[Andy hilditch]

Greetings from stoke; as you say you we're rubbish first half class second half' just like to say lampard giving our Shelton his shirt at the end who buried his mum 2 days a go, what. A class person he is. Best wishes for future hate chelsea

 

[East Level 2]

I've not read all the thread so some of this might have been said:
Fern and Fern offered only limited protection to the back four and Joe looked a bit shaky early on.
As for the first half we played some decent stuff once we'd stopped trying to hand them a goal. Dino messed up when in a good position, Sergio scored, and might have got a second, and someone else missed what appeared to be an easy flick.
We stepped up after the break and showed our class. Should Sergio have had a penalty early in the half? Should Dzeko have done better near the end? Were the finishes by Milner and Nasri brilliant? Yes to that one.
Chelsea winning was a pisser but from what I heard on the radio Maureen's head could explode fairly soon. He really is an obnoxious twunt and he's rivalling the piss can for scaring referees and the PL. The guy hates the fact that we have the more skilful players.
The only other downer was the bloody awful traffic from Trentham Gardens to the ground. It took about 20 minutes to do about a mile and a half and we missed the first couple of minutes.. But the M6 was clear and it wasn't too cold.

 

[moon]

Can someone who was at the match last night - enlighten me as to what happened immediately after Milner's 'hand-ball' - Hart caught the ball - then the TV cuts to Crouch & the ref. Having - seemed to have weathered that chance - the TV suddenly cuts back to Stoke having possession.

Did Hart fcuk up and give the ball away?

Joe kicked the ball out of his hands. Arnautovic stuck his leg up and blocked it. The ref played on because he had his back to it. Linesman didn't overrule.

Thanks for that as Wolfie says the tv missed it as they were showing the replay and the commentator didn't seem to know

 

[paulchapo]

Greetings from stoke; as you say you we're rubbish first half class second half' just like to say lampard giving our Shelton his shirt at the end who buried his mum 2 days a go, what. A class person he is. Best wishes for future hate chelsea

Lampard lost his own mother tragically young so he will know how the lad felt. I agree though he is a class act and has always come across as a nice guy even when he played for the chavs.

 

[Bluekiwi]

Can someone who was at the match last night - enlighten me as to what happened immediately after Milner's 'hand-ball' - Hart caught the ball - then the TV cuts to Crouch & the ref. Having - seemed to have weathered that chance - the TV suddenly cuts back to Stoke having possession.

Did Hart fcuk up and give the ball away?

Joe kicked the ball out of his hands. Arnautovic stuck his leg up and blocked it. The ref played on because he had his back to it. Linesman didn't overrule.

Thanks for that as Wolfie says the tv missed it as they were showing the replay and the commentator didn't seem to know

So should it have been a free kick for us?

 

[Marvin]

Greetings from stoke; as you say you we're rubbish first half class second half' just like to say lampard giving our Shelton his shirt at the end who buried his mum 2 days a go, what. A class person he is. Best wishes for future hate chelsea

Thanks Andy.

Chelsea are plumbing new lows every week with the conduct of their players and manager

I know Aguero got done for hand ball but I think that was instinctive. He always stays on his feet though and plays the game the right way.

You like Hughes then? Done a very good job at Stoke as Pulis was successful but had you playing one kind of football. And now you've matched that and play football. Hughes wasn't very popular at City, but he made some good signings at City. And some bad ones come to think of it (Santa Cruz).

Enjoy the Cup at the weekend. Getting knocked out of it at home to Boro was the low point of the season for me. Hopefully we're on the up now

Got all our players back now, whereas Chelsea have yet to really have any injuries of note.

 

[bluwes]

Its funny how we are having a go at Trevor Francis and his biased co commentary last night. I had a quick look at the Joke forum on Oatcake. They are absolutely slating him for being up our arse all game and calling Stoke, including the empty seats and the lack of atmosphere

 

[cleavers]

They are absolutely slating him for being up our arse all game and calling Stoke, including the empty seats and the lack of atmosphere

These pundits annoy the crap out of me when they comment on this nearly every night match, they whinge its not full at kick off, knowing full well everyone has had to rush home from work or straight to the game, through shit traffic, and a few hundred don't get in in time, yet they NEVER correct themselves later when its near enough full.

Its just an easy piece of shit commentary to fill a void, and its got nothing to do with the game, and everything to do with the logistics of night games, like family stands being 2/3 full.

Francis is an idiot anyway.