Stoke home matchthread

[Mathewbet1]

Taking the positives, at least those of us in the Lower Centenary had a cracking view of Sian Massey's arse.

 

Perv

[Randy Marsh]

Can I just say, as much as I love Jose Enrique and I am made up with his signing, his final ball is bollocks. Just sayin.

[christhered]

Can I just say, as much as I love Jose Enrique and I am made up with his signing, his final ball is bollocks. Just sayin.

 

Any ball is going to look bollocks when you have nobody in the box, I like Henderson but someone needs to teach him where the 18 yard box is.

[King Emlyn]

It sucks being shit.

[TheHowieLama]

Lot of talk about Henderson needing to get forward, agree. But at the same time I do not want to see Gerrard dropping (past Adam) into our third to take the ball of one of three CBs feet. He is our number one attacking option in that setup, designed to have him pushing past Kuyt.

[s(k)aturation]

As well as a siege mentality at the club, Luiz's absence seems to have ushered in a defensive one.

 

It may only be temporary, but unfortunately if it persists for another month, the damage to our season might be permanent.

 

Of all the sides in the Premier League, I would've thought Stoke at Anfield would be the team to start Carroll against.

 

Anyway...

[Jairzinho]

We've bought some shite, so we're shite.

[xerxes]

Of all the sides in the Premier League, I would've thought Stoke at Anfield would be the team to start Carroll against.

 

I thought so too.

 

At home, a 352 might have been deployed too.

[SCOUSE TAPAS]

I thought so too.

 

At home, a 352 might have been deployed too.

 

I think every fan would say the same thing and also on seeing the team sheet also could see the 0-0 or a stoke win coming up.

 

To be honest the second half performance against City brought back the memories of his last season as manager flooding back.

 

That was the first time since his return has the team shown a fear or respect to a team.

[TheHowieLama]

That was the first time since his return has the team shown a fear or respect to a team.

 

But in a cup tie - a goal up away - to a side like that it is deserved. Stoke is another kettle of fish.

[Mathewbet1]

Today was a weird one. It had 0 -0 set instone. Dont underestimate stokes performance today though. It was text book and they kept their shape very well.

[Paco]

"The last club to end a season in the top four, having been ranked sixth or worse after 20 matches, were Liverpool themselves under Rafa Benitez in 2006/2007 when they finished third" BBC

 

can we do it again? Get some momentum from success in the cups and take that into league games? It's possible I think but I'd say we're more likely to win a cup than get 4th.

[ngogswilly]

"The last club to end a season in the top four, having been ranked sixth or worse after 20 matches, were Liverpool themselves under Rafa Benitez in 2006/2007 when they finished third" BBC

 

can we do it again? Get some momentum from success in the cups and take that into league games? It's possible I think but I'd say we're more likely to win a cup than get 4th.

 

It really does hinge on bringing in somebody else to score goals.

 

I just don't see the attacking players we have right now going from ridiculously goal shy to banging them in for fun. Maybe Gerrard and Suarez when he gets back can hit a run of goalscoring form that will propel us up the table but I'm just not sure.

[Red Phoenix]

One good thing I remember about today is that I managed to miss the first half. Not going to get too down about us recently though as I think some of our players will develop/improve and start playing better with eachother.

[clangers]

It's not all doom and gloom. We'll look a lot better in a few weeks with Suarez back in the side and with Gerrard fully back up to speed. His quality is obvious but it's going to take several games yet for him to be properly back. Let's just hope he doesn't get another injury.

 

January as we all know is more often than not a difficult window to pickup real quality.

 

Personally if I was Kenny, I'd be trying to put a team out for the rest of the season that included Gerrard, Suarez, Maxi and Bellamy for as many minutes on the pitch as possible and regroup in the summer. A serious rethink of our transfer strategy is stating the obvious.

[Colonol]

Does anyone actually read a full Redshadow post? Clearly only someone with Masochist tendencies.

 

The lads a fuckin twat and just rambles and tries to write like we are in the same room as him. The nob probably takes 30mins to write each post and pictures us nodding in agreement with each comment made. He then reads his own posts back to himself while jerking off. His next fix is then to slate others opinions as they don't conform to his. Look at me I bold random words and I'm cool. Get a life twat.

 

How do I put the fool on ignore?

[moof]

Does anyone actually read a full Redshadow post? Clearly only someone with Masochist tendencies.

 

The lads a fuckin twat and just rambles and tries to write like we are in the same room as him. The nob probably takes 30mins to write each post and pictures us nodding in agreement with each comment made. He then reads his own posts back to himself while jerking off. His next fix is then to slate others opinions as they don't conform to his. Look at me I bold random words and I'm cool. Get a life twat.

 

How do I put the fool on ignore?

 

Get to bed ye blert

[neko]

You have to score to win.

[Unrighteous]

Today was a weird one. It had 0 -0 set instone. Dont underestimate stokes performance today though. It was text book and they kept their shape very well.

 

We made it easy for them, because they just needed to keep pressing, and staying in shape. We didn't try to load the box, and our delivery was from wide was generally to places loaded with Stoke players, and playing to their strengths.

 

We should have kept the ball on the perimeter until they got frustrated... and then we'd have seen them giving up a bit more space.

 

Have someone like Johnson or Enrique putting delivery in, whilst the opposite wingback gets into the far box to join threeish of Kuyt/Carroll/Gerrard/Adam/Henderson and we might have seen more Joy.

 

In the end, we just kept putting a quick cross in, and hoping for the best. That's usually not the way to break down a aerially strong team like Stoke.

 

They're always going to defend well, Stoke, and they have done so for their entire premiership stay...

 

 

 

Of course, the officiating was appalling. Carroll drew two clear penalties ALONE...

[silverlining]

Lot of talk about Henderson needing to get forward, agree. But at the same time I do not want to see Gerrard dropping (past Adam) into our third to take the ball of one of three CBs feet. He is our number one attacking option in that setup, designed to have him pushing past Kuyt.

 

Gerrard was - inexplicably - playing behind Readysalted hendersons in the man shitty game too.

 

This makes zero sense. Readysalted shouldn't be playing in the team anyway, given that all he does is run about and make short, easy passes, but playing Mr Anodyne in a more advanced position than Gerrard is bewildering

 

I haven't really bothered venting much about the game because I said in summer we'd wasted nearly 80m and wouldn't finish top 4 and nothing has changed

[Rafiagra]

Even if we sign a goal scorer, it's unlikely to make much of a difference unless he can create all his own chances. Our midfield is terrible in terms of attacking threat and seem scared of getting into the box. That has to be addressed tactically before we just start signing people.

[Super Ken]

I haven't really bothered venting much about the game because I said in summer we'd wasted nearly 80m and wouldn't finish top 4 and nothing has changed

 

same here Mr Lining, just a casual shrug when I bothered to see the result, I doubt i'll bother recording the 90 mins from lfctv tonight either.

 

There's nothing exciting about us. Mind you, I think the same of every other team in the division these days, all unimaginative shite.

[Super Ken]

Even if we sign a goal scorer, it's unlikely to make much of a difference unless he can create all his own chances. Our midfield is terrible in terms of attacking threat and seem scared of getting into the box. That has to be addressed tactically before we just start signing people.

 

The blame only lies in one place, and that's the brutal truth of it. I don't think Adam or Gerrard particularly like not being in and around the box, so it's obviously related to an instruction to be cautious.

 

If Kenny doesn't like what he's seeing then he can change it, he can buy players. That he doesnt, suggests he's not seeing a lot wrong.

[Unrighteous]

I haven't really bothered venting much about the game because I said in summer we'd wasted nearly 80m and wouldn't finish top 4 and nothing has changed

 

You were wrong then, and you were wrong now.

 

Your stunning little prediction of doom failed to take into account nine games suspended for our best player.

 

You'll parade around saying you're right if we fail to finish top 4, but we all know that finishing top 4, without Suarez for fucking nine games of suspension, wasn't going to be an easy job. Finishing top 4 wasn't going to fucking be easy even WITH Suarez the entire season...

 

Arsenal, Tottenham, Man City, Man Utd, and Chelsea. Those are the teams above us if we finish 6th. It's not exactly easy to finish above them without our best scoring threat.

 

 

Don't let reality slow down your agenda, though, Silverlining.

[Phoenix]

Spending a record amount on another striker and hefty amount another winger shouldnt mean that our top four hopes depend on Suarez.

 

The only reason we are even in touch with the top four is because Arsenal and Chelsea had dire first half of the season.