Back from the Game - Stoke City (H)

[Mr Angry]

Well, that was interesting.

For the first 25 minutes, it was all us; Stoke's tactics seemed to either hoof the ball, or hoof anyone wearing blue, and we played all the football.

Then their keeper had a problem and had a load of treatment on the pitch and that seemed to make us lose focus and so allowed Stoke into the game; however, it was only after we gave them a soft goal that Stoke began to control the game, itersperesed with "agricultural" challenges and blantent time-wasting.

This continued well into the 2nd half, and frankly, we seemed to have run out of ideas; the game wasn't helped by an amazing number of injuries that Stoke players picked up, and also more blatent timewasting to the extent that the ref gave 3 yellow's to Stoke for it.

Without a doubt the turning point was bring on McCleary; he immediately gave us focus and direction in our attacks, and we looked far more dangerous as a result, and it was one of his runs that led to the penalty and the deserved equalizer. Had Harte's freekick a couple of minutes later gone in, it would have been a bit fortunate and whilst I agree that it is these games at home which we need to get 3 points from to help secure survival, a dramatic point won late in the game isn't the end of the World.

As for the players - my opinions follow;

Feds - only had one thing to do, and fluffed it. Distribution was good though.
Gunther - solid debut, looked to overlap a lot though not used much, linked well with McCleary when he came on.
Harte - generally poor delivery on free kicks and corners; got defensive support from Gorkks
Gorkks/Pearce - massive battle all day against the Stoke forwards, which they generally won.
Jobi - did ok, linked well but didn't really attack the Stoke defenders
Ledge - did a lot of good stuff in the middle; a typical Ledge performance really
Guthrie - ran the midfield, lots of vision with the pass and skill on the ball. Excellent debut.
HRK - fairly anonymous, unsurprised that he was subbed and McCleary's performance should - imho - relegate him to the bench
Pog - Struggled to link up effectively with ALF and came second best in most of the aerial challenges.
ALF - as with POG, but buried the penalty

Subs: McCleary - superb; looked dangerous the second he got the ball and you felt he could create something all the time.
Hunt - did ok in the relatively short time he was on the pitch.

[cmonurz]

Gunter 5 - for me too many misplaced passes and looked uncertain at times. Early days but not convinced Gunter is any more of a prospect than Cummings.


Possibly the worst comment i have ever seen on this forum

Pretty ridiculous response that, to my honest opinion. He didn't look to have much about him, and didn't look better than Cummings. Only early days though and he was well thought of at Forest, am sure he will improve.

[Cripple Creek]

Ups and downs - as regards the racist thug in front of you. Write to the club and describe his behaviour - if the club follow the FA's guidelines on this matter he should be banned for the rest of the season. Alternatively, if there are any police around let them know and, if they do their job (and I have no reason to think they wouldn't), he should be arrested. The stewards may not have heard him but if they do they should pick up on this. No reason at all why said "fan" should be allowed to continue to come to games.

[Arnie_Pie]

All in all, it was a fair point.

McCleary to start the next game.

[Mr Angry]

As an aside, I popped into the megastore a while after the game, and Anton and his entourage, including his wife, were in there.....

[Zammo]

The back four were superb and can only get better in time. Robson-Kanu totally out of his depth. McCleary the new fans fav. Stunning debut. Ledge outstanding. Pog needs to jump a bit higher.

[winchester_royal]

Came out of the game disappointed not to get the win that we deserved. Having had some time to think about it...a point is a decent result and at least we're off the mark now.

Stoke were horrendous, never have I seen a team so cynical, hope they go down after that performance.

Thought the new boys all showed what they could add. Gunter was very solid, Guthrie our MOTM easily, McCleary made McDermott's decision to start HRK look totally ridiculous, and Pog looks dangerous when the ball is played to his feet.

Must keep the ball on the floor though, neither Pog or ALF are going to hold the ball up when Gorkss/Pearce aimlessly hoof it up in their general direction. Get it to Guthrie who will then get it wide. Didn't make the most of that line of attack today.

Agreed with Floyd with regards to lacking something up front. Bring in a new striker and we may have a real chance of survival.

We weren't disgraced today, but we weren't clinical enough and our one mistake got punished.

Encouraging but disappointing at the same time..if that makes sense....

[Jackson Corner]

Bloody hell it was hot

This. Anyone who would like to see summer football can do one!

[peterroyal76]

Bloody hell it was hot

This. Anyone who would like to see summer football can do one!

And the buses after were a nightmare!

[SHORT AND CURLY]

From the North Stand and the way I saw it

All the play in the first half was at the other end. Stoke were pretty useless concentrating on fouling time wasting etc. Their wingers ran up blind alleys quite comfortably handled by Harte and Gunter, Crouch and the other forward were easily handled by Gorkks and Pearce.
Up until Feds error from a deflected shot he had bugger all to do and hardly touched the ball.
Some how we are 1-0 down

We huffed and puffed whilst their defence pushed, shoved and ooofed it up field. We wanted to pass and play but they tried to stifle us. A few substitutions including Mcleary who caused havoc among their defence.
He changed the game forcing a penalty and we nearly got the three points we deserved.

I suppose I am satisfied with a point as we were going into the last few minutes with nothing. However I cant help that we should be getting three points from poor negative teams like this. Could prove costly come May next year.

[E. Andrew]

As an aside, I popped into the megastore a while after the game, and Anton and his entourage, including his wife, were in there.....

Bringing ownership fashion into a new era, perhaps? Scarves are a bit dated...

[Elm Park Old Boy]

Fair result. We had the better of possession but didn't do anything with it. Thought McCleary looked raw but fat and offered much more than HRK. How many shots on target did we get though? I counted the header.

To be honest, my enjoyment of the game was spoilt by finding out that I'm gonna be stuck behind a complete racist animal for the rest of the season.ive never sat in y26 before but was well prepared for the fan to fan banter, but this horrible fukk is just too much to take. Calling a stoke fan a 'nigger' a 'wog' and his white, presumably, father 'wog meat' throughout made me feel nauseous. I told him what I thought of him at half time but what else are you supposed to do?

He'll have to go - tell the stewards or report it to a police officer.

[andrew1957]

Cannot disagree with too much that has been written except that I thought HRK was far more effective than Jobi before he was subbed - however both were eclipsed by the excellent McCleary when he came on. Perhaps it is easier for a sub to make an impact against a tiring defence - as HRK also often looks more effective off the bench.

Guthrie was excellent and looks a very exciting prospect and together with the equally excellent Leigertwood bossed midfield for most of the game.

The defence also did well apart from Fed's aberration and clearly our main problem was in the final third. However, far too early to write Pog and ALF off after one game against a very tight Stoke defence. I have to say that Roberts is missed and will be interesting to see if he starts next Saturday.

Well done to all the lads for persevering and getting a great point under the circumstances.

[West Stand Man]

Time for Alex McCarthy to come back in, or Taylor. Or Henly.

Are you John from Risely or another braindead moron who should be put out of his misery?

[Ups and Downs]

Ups and downs - as regards the racist thug in front of you. Write to the club and describe his behaviour - if the club follow the FA's guidelines on this matter he should be banned for the rest of the season. Alternatively, if there are any police around let them know and, if they do their job (and I have no reason to think they wouldn't), he should be arrested. The stewards may not have heard him but if they do they should pick up on this. No reason at all why said "fan" should be allowed to continue to come to games.

I'm sure it would all be based on evidence and I'm sure there is none. At first he was just mouthing it and saying it very quietly to the bloke so he could lip read. Then just after half time he was practically shouting it and making slit your throat gestures, but the stewards had their backs turned. Also, at the end of the match, him and his equally moronic friend were up at the barrier shaking hands with the stewards (the black ones too) and winding the away fans up one last time.

I've seen a lot of stuff at football that you could put down to banter but this was just grim.

[winchester_royal]

Time for Alex McCarthy to come back in, or Taylor. Or Henly.

Are you John from Risely or another braindead moron who should be put out of his misery?

Think the same question should be directed at you tbh

[RockheadRumple]

Time for Alex McCarthy to come back in, or Taylor. Or Henly.

Are you John from Risely or another braindead moron who should be put out of his misery?

Think the same question should be directed at you tbh

Indeed.

Seriously, how does no one get Simon's Church is just trolling?

[Ginger Ninjas]

To be honest, my enjoyment of the game was spoilt by finding out that I'm gonna be stuck behind a complete racist animal for the rest of the season.ive never sat in y26 before but was well prepared for the fan to fan banter, but this horrible fukk is just too much to take. Calling a stoke fan a 'nigger' a 'wog' and his white, presumably, father 'wog meat' throughout made me feel nauseous. I told him what I thought of him at half time but what else are you supposed to do?

Report them to a steward? There is no place for this, and if you and whoever you sit with will stand up to this idiot then I'm sure they'll deal with it appropriately.

(Yeah, yeah, don't be a snitch, blah, blah)

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

Stoke came down to be awkward, stop football being played, and keep the ball in the air. The plan worked a treat and you couldn't really see us scoring. You couldn't see them scoring either to be honest.

In some ways it was good. It showed the players how high the bar has been raised. It's up to them to respond. I do think we are capable of playing better than that.

[gdroyal]

I wouldn't get on the Pog's back yet, I think the service he got today was aerial and against a team like Stoke we should have given Pog the ball at his feet. Thought McAnuff was just as poor as HRK, as they both didn't provide a lot of service to the strikers. Just a very rare mistake from Federici and I don't think his place is at risk.