Back from the Game - Stoke City (H)

[LoyalRoyalFan]

Enjoyable, evenly matched first game back in the Prem.

Absolutely baking hot. The players looked a tad nervous for an hour or so, generally quite sloppy, but once McCleary came on that changed. He tore the Stoke defenders apart. Guthrie in the middle of the park was very impressive, that creative midfielder we have been missing for years.

Robson-Kanu looked out of his depth, but that can change.

Good result and glad the football is back!

[Royal Rother]

Fridays_Legacy tweeted it was "a woeful 1st half performance".

[Rusty royal]

Legs was the outstanding player in the first half. McCleary was brilliant in the second

[W&E Royal]

Fridays_Legacy tweeted it was "a woeful 1st half performance".

Yeah I saw that. We controlled the first half without creating anything for the first 30 mins. Then we let Stoke have their first spell and they scored, we struggled then until half time. I presumed FL was at QPR.

[Simon's Church]

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

[sandman]

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

Time for your pills.

[jumpers for goalposts]

It was utter dross, let's be blunt. A decent battling point, but we were poor today. McCleary played very well when he came on, and Guthrie got better as the game went on. We looked a much better team when Pog went off and we started trying to play football. Stoke were time wasters and physical as was expected.

[floyd__streete]

Before this game I feared we wouldn't have enough quality up front to do anything other than struggle and after today I am even more convinced. Pog looked unfit, won nothing in the air and looked slow. 35k a week doesn't get you much on that evidence. Le Fondre as usual was willing if not entirely able. And when Noel Hunt is your first-change upfront in the Premier League you know you're in trouble.

Deserved draw against a side who fouled and time-wasted their way to the brink of 3 points, a deserved murking for Stoke. McLeary and Guthrie are really good additions and I congratulate the team for their efforts if not their quality.

[Royal Lady]

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

Heard you on BBCRB John - strange call!

[Reading Aloud]

Well earned point. Could have won it. Sorry if you're the bloke I accidently head butted when Harte's shot just went over the bar.

Feds - 7 - Did well (apart from their goal of course)
Gunter - 6 - Looked a bit nervous
Harte - 7 - Equiped himself well. I think he'll have tougher games coming up
Gorkss - 7 - Solid
Pearce - 7 - Would like to see a bit more composure on the ball
Jobi - 8 - Didn't stop running. Gave them a few problems down both wings
HRK - 6 - Struggled to get into the game
Legs - 7 - Very assured, as normal
Guthrie - 8 - My MOTM. Controlled the midfield at times (when we didn't hoof it)
Pog - 6 - I'm sure he's got a lot more to come.
ALF - 7 - Great Pen. Also caused their defence problems

McCleary - 8 - Changed the game when he came on. Won the penalty. Gotta start next game
Noel - 6 - Did ok. Mad at himself for not scoring. Thankfully it didn't matter cos the ref pointed to the spot for the foul on McCleary

[LoyalRoyalFan]

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

Time for your pills.

I did hear you on the radio.

[Royal Lady]

McCleary and Leigertwood stood out for me. Disappointed with Pog - but it's early days - so not going to knock anyone yet! At least we're not QPR or Norwich today. We deserved a draw I think - pretty even game - they didn't really bother Feds. We seemed to manage to contain Crouch a fair bit, which was my worry before the game. At least it was exciting second half and the atmosphere at times from the crowd was great - didn't hear one song from the song sheet - and saw a lot of people using them as fans due to the heat.

[Basingstoke Royal]

Happy with this start - and a little disappointed we couldn't get the three points we deserved.

New additions still need time to settle in, and we got better and better as the game went on.

If Stoke are a mid table premiership side then we are in for a good season after outplaying them for long periods and letting them have two shots all game.

Onwards and upwards.

[grey_squirrel]

Positives
Guthrie / Legs - good, solid. More creative than Jem / Legs.
McLeary and Gunter worked amazingly well down the flank. Great to see a right back of ours not get a nose bleed when going forward. Gunter > Cumming x1000.
Gorkss / Pierce. Rarely exposed. Surprisingly solid, if untested.

Negatives
Fed. Was spilling a lot of saves in the warm up, Maybe nerves but I wasn't surprised he spilled that one.
The Pog. Shawcross absolutely had him wrapped up the whole game. What ball Pog did win, he did zippo with it. Roberts > Pog.

The way we went about it, a draw feels like a win tonight.

With the other Prem scorelines today, it looks like it is going to be another topsy turvy unpredictable year, so even though a draw at home against Stoke might not seem the best, I think anything can (and will) happen this season.

[LoyalRoyalFan]

Negatives - Hal Robson-Kanu

[RedRum]

Hi all. Decided to sign up this season after a few years just browsing posts... (Cue f*ck off newbie )

Thought a draw was fair, perhaps could of deservedly taken three points had Harte scored his free-kick.

First half I thought both teams were fairly sluggish, perhaps the team had pre-season nerves bearing in mind most hadn't played at such a high level before. We dominated and created most of the chances and perhaps could have made more of a few crosses and set-pieces. Harte's left foot didn't seem on form and believe Guthrie started taking them. Tony Pulis had clearly done his homework and Stoke tried to cut off our wing play pretty effectively, although I wasn't happy with the amount of times their full-blacks checked McAnuff and HRK. Most of the time each team had the same plan - hoof it to Pog/Crouch, and there wasn't really much flow to the game. Turned to my mate and said 'we've been the better team' and suddenly Stoke have a little spell and score, Feds unfortunately spilled and it rolled under him. Heard some idiot on Radio Berkshire slating Feds but he'll pick himself up and will be working on smothering the ball all week in the training ground I have no doubt.

McDermott said after the match that the goal knocked the steam out of us for 15 minutes, and in the second half we didn't really get going, can't really remember much for the first 20 minutes over than a couple of scrambles in our box. As always, McDermott made a good substitution replacing the quiet HRK with McCleary and he immediately made an impact. Made some good runs and created a couple of chances, Stoke seemed to be doubling up on him and McCleary seemed to be frightening them to death, reminded me of McAnuff on form. Didn't really see what happened for the pen, but the ball fell to Hunt who really should of scored from there (a bit like at West Ham 1-0 down) but the ref brought it back anyway and gave pen, which was very very cooly taken from ALF. Really thought Harte would score in injury team for some reason, but it was close, just over the bar.

I said before the game that it would be 1-1, I thought Stoke were pretty awful and didn't create much chances, Crouch kept quiet by the reliable Gorkss-Pearce pairing. I believe we are a counter-attacking team and play best soaking up the pressure and spitting it back at the opposition, but Stoke offered very very little attacking force and didn't really give much chances to counter, especially in the first. This meant we had to form chances on our own and we weren't impressive in doing so.

Feds - 6 - didn't have to do much, should of saved Kightly's shot but everyone makes mistakes.
Gunter - 6 - had a shaky first half with a few missed placed passes but was much better in the second, especially after his best mate came on.
Pearce/Gorkss- 8 - Solid. And Kept Stoke's forward line very quiet. Only thing, especially with Pearce, is just hoofing it and heading into nowhere.
Harte- 6 - Stoke tried to take advantage of his lack of pace and it worked occasionally, but made some good tackles, perhaps could of done better with set pieces.
Legs - 8 - Really impressive, won many many balls and made some good passes too, my MoM.
Guthrie - 7 - The midfielder that we really needed, made many long passes, spread the play and created chances. He will be a contender for PoS
McAnuff - 6 - Was fairly quiet, not much to say.
HRK - 5 - Was also quiet, didn't really do much, felt his head may of dropped after being blocked many times, had to come back alot to help Harte though.
McCleary - 7- Changed the match, made good runs, put some good balls in, and believed he won the pen. Should start ahead of HRK.
ALF - 7 - Didn't do much to note of but was fairly lively and tried to get in good positions, still believe he will be our top scorer. Pen was very very good.
Pog - 7 - Won lots of challenges, has a great touch, had a few really good touches but blocked by Stokes good defending. Thought he should have had a pen but the ref didn't get it. Didn't have a great view though.
Hunt - uhh 5/6 - didn't really do much when he came on that Pog couldn't do, should of scored and was distraught that he didn't.

[RoyalBlue]

In Tony Pullis we meet the PL Neil Warnock. What a cynical, time wasting, injury feigning, ref berating outfit Stoke were. They only have to master the art of deliberately setting out to injure opponents (some of the challenges were a bit heavy but not deliberately violent) to complete the full Colin portfolio.

Sadly Mr Friend seemed lived up to his name when it came to dealing with the Stoke players and for most of the game seemed happy to turn a blind eye to their antics, only to finally lose patience or realise that he had to be seen to do something in the last few minutes of the game.

Yes, Whitehead finally got the red card he had been looking for all game but should have gone some 15-20 minutes prior to that for one of the most blatent and cynical body checks you are ever likely to see on Pog as he threatened to break into the area. Since when has a challenge like that not been deemed worthy of a yellow (and therefore followed by a red if Whitehead was the offender)?

As for the penalty, when Huth finally finished ranting at the ref (again sufficiently prolonged to have warranted action) he walked straight over and deliberately barged into ALF as he waited patiently to take the penalty - once again Mr Friend and his officials opted to look the other way.

Stoke's time wasting started whilst there was still more than 30 minutes left as both their keeper and one of their outfield players was allowed to stop to have a drink prior to taking a goalkick and a throw in respectively. Even when the keeper was finally carded for timewasting, it had no effect whatsoever as he gambled on Friend not being brave enough to book him again for a repeat of the offence.

What a shame Harte couldn't do better with the freekick right at the end; a 2-1 defeat would have been just desert for Stoke's tactics.

[KDRF]

Was impressed with: CB's as always were solid and didnt really put a foot wrong, Guthrie was class, his distribution will be key this year! ALF worked the channels well, and McCleary when he came on his direct approach was what we needed. Legs was also class, worked his socks off.

Was dissapointed with: Gunts, gave away the ball way too often and didnt really offer anything going forward, needs to improve! Pog seemed off the pace a bit and never seemed to get time on the ball, also struggled to win headers! HRK was a bit meh, didnt really get enough of the ball.

Refuse to comment on Fed, he made a mistake, is not mistake prone, probably his only one for the season so we move on and forget about it.

[LoyalRoyalFan]

Was dissapointed with: Gunts, gave away the ball way too often and didnt really offer anything going forward

Absolute nonsense.

He made a number of overlapping runs and got forward on numerous occasions. He's a right-back with a primary role to defend, not to be a right-winger.

[RoyalBlue]

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

I doubt Taylor can even remember how to play in goal! I guess we were missing a perennial benchwarmer from our squad.