Teasy

Past meetings don't mean nothing, but they certainly aren't everything. I'm unsure about this game, we've definitely got a chance despite their good form. But while they usually don't play well against us/we play well against them every run has to end eventually and 6 wins in a row against any team is already pretty extraordinary. Incidentally I wonder what the record is in the Premiership for teams dominating other teams?

Loudest set of fans I've seen this season. Yeah they were loud like, when it came to being nasty abusive pricks anyway. I heard very little support of their own team though.

Expecting to beat Stoke at the Brittania stadium has turned out to be unrealistic for 13 teams out of 16 so far this season! Why on earth should we expect to do it? Obviously we should go there and try and believe we have a chance, but that's a far cry from expecting to win and calling a draw there a poor result. I've heard not one person saying they expect us to beat Villa on the last day of the season, yet there home record is nowhere near as good as Stoke's! On another note, looking at Villa's home record that's a game we should really look at get something out of. There home record isn't good at all (only 4 points better off then ours).

Its not just expecting a win against a team in 13th though, its expecting an away win against a team with the 7th best home record in the league. If we were playing them at home I'd agree with it being a poor result, in fact I did earlier in the season I'm not expecting us to win 3 more games by the way, I'm hoping we can. I expect us to beat all those teams we have left at home as individual results, but winning all three is going to be more hope then expectation to me. I'm not sure what I expect realistically from the rest of the season. But I think we need at least 8 more points.

How can you look at a game against a team who have only lost 3 times all season as a must win? Like I said if you keep being this unrealistic you're going to keep being disappointed. Did I say don't whinge about being 19th?, no so don't be silly ok? I said don't whinge when we get a good result, and no amount of unrealistic expectations will change a good result into a bad one.

If anyone had offered me a point before the game I'd have happily taken it, we got the point which is a positive. If we'd played well yesterday but lost the same people whinging here would say "We don't need performances, we need results". But we got a result and played poorly so instead its "We didn't deserve the result, where's the performance?". You're only going to keep getting disappointed if you can't see a positive in getting a draw against Stoke away in our situation..

Have you honestly been looking at the last three games (Arsenal, Chelsea and Stoke) and saying "we need to win this one, oh no we didn't, we need to win the next one them"? Its those three home games which are the must win games and have been for ages. We're basically just drifting towards those must win games and hoping to pick up as many points as possible along the way, that's how I see it anyway.

i agree, wed be a ten , but for the makems, its us or them now, hopefully thier shitness will pull us through like it always has, this time would be the sweetest of them all. Have you looked at Hull's fixtures?

They've been beaten only 3 times at home and have won every single game that they scored first in (until this one of course). Yes we're in a shitty situation and need to win games, but we still shouldn't ignore how good Stoke are at home, its definitely a good result.

We do have Spurs though.. An away match against one of the in-form teams in the division aiming for a top 7 place. Spiffing. Won't be easy but we've got a better chance against them then we had against Stoke IMO.

Having a look at a couple of forums some of them reckon the ref was biased towards us. Apparently he looked to give us a many free kicks as possible and booked their players because our players play acted constantly They scored from a corner that should never have been given yet complain the ref was against them. Fucking lunatics I tell ya Its a pity, because they must actually have some good fans somewhere.

To be fair considering we've beaten them six times in a row we can call them anything we want 7 I'd like it to be 7 , but I can only remember 6 myself. Ah hold on I get it

To be fair considering we've beaten them six times in a row we can call them anything we want

The other teams have just as many points to pick up as we have, and seem to have the ability to do so now and then. Sunderland haven't shown that ability mind.

It's not surprising at all though. They're a bunch of two bit thugs that grind out results by knocking the s*** out of their opponents, and that's how they'll survive. I used to have a positive ish attitude towards Stoke, due to their history and whatnot, but after this game I really do wish they'd go down. Their fans are c***s as well. Anyone see the situation where they threw something at Raylor? Action has to be taken by the FA imo. I've only ever been there once and what a shi+hole. Horrible place. Did I totally imagine one of their players taking at least three corners with the ball placed well outside the corner area? (including the corner for their goal). I agree by the way that in general they're fans are a right bunch of cretins. Probably the worst I've ever come across.

Agreed. We got to shake up central mid too (Barton is CRUCIAL). When is he back?? J Barton Metatarsal Fracture 19th Apr 09 according to physioroom.com. However Nolan and Butt need to sharpen up, giving away the ball with sloppy, EASY passes all the time. And Raylors set-pieces is so bad its unfair to us that have to watch. But i belive Shearer/Dowie already knows this, and hopefully we can see an improvement and get a typical win a Whitehart next week. Previously it had 11th of April as his return date, obviously he didn't make it today so its moved the return date to the Spuds game. Once a players injury is healed Physio room will probably just keep moving the date back to the next game until he plays so I wouldn't put too much stock in it. One things for sure, we need to be certain that when we bring him back we're not putting him in the position to just get injured again. We NEED him for those three home games.

People also seem to be forgetting how formidable Stoke are at home. People were expecting us to join only Manure, Chelsea and Everton in beating them and are gutted and talking about us being down and Shearer not having what it takes when we've just become the first team to come back against Stoke this season. Its hardly a coincidence that they've won every single time they've gone ahead at home this season! (until now).

We're the first team this season to get anything off Stoke at the Britannia after they've gone ahead, every other team has lost once Stoke went 1:0 up.

Did people really expect a fucking win like? They've lost 3 games all season!

Owen is quality. Shola is not. Owen and Carroll is quality. Owen and Shola is not. Owen and Martins is not. There. I know you've got something against Oba but what has Owen done in let's say like last 15 games to convince you he should be starting? He's been pure shit. Top earner of the team and captain...maybe he should be performing just a bit better? How many times do I have to say that Owen needs to be provided with chances, he's not fast enough anymore to make them himself. And that if given the chances, he scores. Which our other strikers don't. And I don't have something against Oba especially, I just don't want shite playing for us. It's the same with Butt and Ameobi and so on. But you thought starting Ameobi ahead of Martins (when we didn't know Martins was injured) was a good idea because Ameobi "might work". Martins has been here a few years and scored 27 goals. Shola has been here for nearly 10 years and scored 32 goals. You don't have anything against Martins though do you?

Is Martins injury longish term like?

I don't think we were fortunate at all. Decisions went against us but we put loads of pressure on them for the last 20 minutes and got a deserved goal. Aye, that goal really was coming alright... Was there goal coming? We put pressure on them and scored a totally fair goal, more then they did. They had more chances yes but we still deserved the draw, great header as well.

But if Martins is fit doesn't he have to start against the Spuds considering his record against them? Martins and Carroll?

I don't think we were fortunate. Decisions went against us for a start, but we put loads of pressure on them for the last 20 minutes and got a deserved goal.

How does it do nothing for us? Before today we were 3 points off safety, we're now 2 points off, so we've narrowed the gap. This match may also have been a bit of a turning point. We were 1:0 down away against a very formidable home side and we came back instead of crumbling.