Stoke City 2 - 1 Newcastle United - 28/11/12 - post-match reaction from page 39

[AlanSkÃrare]

Just got back from the Britannia and I think a lot of people need to get a bit of perspective.

 

I'm gutted with that result, and so were the rest of the Geordie crowd, of which there were a fair few and we provided a great atmosphere for 90 minutes.

 

However, we were extremely unlucky not to win overall. The last 10 minutes were tragic. For 80 minutes, we were the better side and put in a thoroughly professional away performance at a place where it is difficult to pick up any points, let alone play good football.

 

I went into the game expecting an abject performance, and us to not even show up, so any performance whatsoever exceeded my expectations. The manner in which we lost was galling, no doubt.

 

80 minutes, we are 1-0 up having generally controlled the game and restricted a tough side at home to a couple of chances. After what looked like a blatant penalty to me, we should have been 2-0 up, home and dry and celebrating 3 points and a professional away performance.

 

2 defensive mistakes in the last 9 minutes gave Stoke the points, after most of the ground thought we would get away with it.

 

We may not have set the world alight today, but I think the players and manager put in a good shift overall tonight, and I've no complaints with individual performances except for Williamson.

 

Tactics were as good as you can expect, effort was there. Confidence seemed to be returning, until the mistakes at the end. Its painfully obvious to me that the main reason we are struggling is the lack of depth in our squad. Look at Stoke's bench (a lower mid table team) vs ours (a European team). They were able to bring on some players that we could use in our squad in terms of depth. Jones and Jerome enabled them to change things whereas we had no options- Marveux perhaps but there might be good reasons why Pardew didnt play him. Take Coloccini and Tiote out of our team and we've not got the reserves leading to our current slump.

 

Williamson is obviously short of what we need, as is Simpson. Retaining Leon Best, signing Debuchy and another centre back, we'd be several places above in the table now and the prize money would increase accordingly. Point your fingers at the beancounters at the top as to why this is not the case. Although I'd obviously have liked significantly more points and performances from the last 4 games, we've hit poor form, and the XI we've put out isnt that great.

 

Pardews obviously not a Mourinho or Guardiola, but he was deservedly manager of the season last year. Since appointed, he's done a sound job, and sacking him would be madness. There's no-one we could get that would be a step forward, and we'd lose the recent stability and credibility that the club has had. It was obvious that with the system we've got, Pardew is the man and he's not going anywhere.

 

Players and manager left the field to sympathetic/ grateful applause from everyone at the Britannia, and Pardews name was sung a few times throughout.

 

Good perspective and nice read.

[Cronky]

Well I'm sorry, but this is the result and the performance that has me reaching for the panic button. People moaned about losing to Swansea, West Ham and Southampton but they are half-decent teams who can play well on their day. Stoke are not.

 

We got our 4-3-3 but we didn't have the players to make it work. It looked to me like Anita was pushed forward, and he tried his best to close defenders down - something which Ba and Cisse aren't very good at - but he was doing it on his own and it wasn't effective. It smelt like a bit of desperation on Pardew's part.

 

We had no-one in the front six that was technically secure on the ball. Marveaux or Sammy can make things happen and at least one of them should have started. There are risks but they have to be taken.

[Guest neesy111]

We were never the better side.

[Flip]

2points from relegation. Invest heavily in January or we might actually go into a battle down south which we don't want to even if I have 100% confidence we won't go down.

[Ikon]

2points from relegation. Invest heavily in January or we might actually go into a battle down south which we don't want to even if I have 100% confidence we won't go down.

 

I agree. Just curious, when you say 'invest heavily' how much is it for you? For me that is closer to £20m. Can't see it happening, but that's probably what it would cost.

 

+income of potential player sales. (hope we don't lose any of our better ones, except maybe Ba if he wants to go/unwilling to play as LF)

[Guest neesy111]

2points from relegation. Invest heavily in January or we might actually go into a battle down south which we don't want to even if I have 100% confidence we won't go down.

 

 

Not a chance this will happen.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Great post Chris.

 

Gutted at the last 10 minutes and the missed chances earlier, but encouraged to see we played better. Doesn't help the league table at the minute, but it gives everyone something to build on.

[johnnypd]

2points from relegation. Invest heavily in January or we might actually go into a battle down south which we don't want to even if I have 100% confidence we won't go down.

 

I agree. Just curious, when you say 'invest heavily' how much is it for you? For me that is closer to £20m. Can't see it happening, but that's probably what it would cost.

 

+income of potential player sales. (hope we don't lose any of our better ones, except maybe Ba if he wants to go/unwilling to play as LF)

 

I could see us spending £20m in January as we seemed ready to spent that amount of Debuchy + De Jong.

 

Think there's four obvious candidates for spending the money - centre-half, right-back, another forward and another creative option. And as much as i hate Simpson, right-back is now the least important of those 4 signings imo.

[Disco]

If, and it's a big if, we need to buy players who are going to hit the ground running. Don't even have to spend that big money I don't think. Centre back and a wide forward /winger who can make a difference in the final third have got to be the priorities.

[huss9]

blatant pen, and how did Adam get away with that first foul when Webb has booked 2 of ours for less

[Ikon]

If, and it's a big if, we need to buy players who are going to hit the ground running. Don't even have to spend that big money I don't think. Centre back and a wide forward /winger who can make a difference in the final third have got to be the priorities.

 

 

In an ideal world we'd want/need 3-4 players, but these positions mentioned should be priorities.

[colinmk]

Thought a draw was the fair result, performance was better. Gutted to lose. Still think if we had Cisse as the striker and Ba the wide one we would be a hell of a lot better.

[Guest neesy111]

Ba should have been taken off after 70 minutes, he looked shattered.

[Pixelphish]

Overall I just think it's a shame we had a real chance to crack on and become a regular fixture in the top 8 with the necessary investment in the squad. Injuries are certainly adding to what appears to be Pardews inability to make the changes that seem painfully obvious to everyone else. I realise this adds nothing new to the discussion but fuck it, i'm pissed off.

 

Football is fucking shit.

[Oakie Doke]

Howard Webb? More like, Wowwhata Pleb! Heh. I feel better now.

[Lotus]

Some what perplexed that we brought Sammy on. Was obvious he would offer nothing other than lose the ball. Very strange decision.

[Guest pintofscottsellers]

Some what perplexed that we brought Sammy on. Was obvious he would offer nothing other than lose the ball. Very strange decision.

 

I stopped watching after Stoke scored the second I was that pissed off. Just found out now that he brought Sammy on, he is absolute garbage as far as i'm concerned like.

[morpeth mag]

I think the past month or so has shown Sammy has much to learn but he has a spark and if you need a goal in the last five minutes I don't think he's a bad call. The thing that is surprising me is that Marveaux isn't getting more pitch time. We need to run the clock done by keeping the ball.

[Mick]

I think the past month or so has shown Sammy has much to learn but he has a spark and if you need a goal in the last five minutes I don't think he's a bad call. The thing that is surprising me is that Marveaux isn't getting more pitch time. We need to run the clock done by keeping the ball.

 

Sammy should be nowhere near the first team, he's a good kid who could make it eventually, nothing else.

[Tiresias]

I think the past month or so has shown Sammy has much to learn but he has a spark and if you need a goal in the last five minutes I don't think he's a bad call. The thing that is surprising me is that Marveaux isn't getting more pitch time. We need to run the clock done by keeping the ball.

 

Sammy should be nowhere near the first team, he's a good kid who could make it eventually, nothing else.

 

This, shouldn't write him off but shouldn't be near first team for premier league yet, has obvious problems with his game. Looked alright one time in europa league...

[Cronky]

We lost to a crap side and people are laying into a player who only appeared for the last 3 minutes.

 

The pace and quality of the Premiership is different from the Europa League, so Sammy hasn't had the same impact. But he has a lot of skill, he can make things happen, and he should be given more of a chance because we need that kind of input. It's not as though Ba and Cisse are pulling up trees.

[Chris_R]

I went out when this was on and got drunk, I couldn't face another game. So just a quick question for those that watched it:

 

What formation did we play, and who played where?

[themanupstairs]

I went out when this was on and got drunk, I couldn't face another game. So just a quick question for those that watched it:

 

What formation did we play, and who played where?

 

Some sort of 433. Cisse was often out wide on the right. Tiote, Anita and Jonas were more or less central, but Jonas drifted out wide at times. Ba played quite deep for some time too. It was a little bit all over the shop, but it seemed to work ok because the players stepped up a notch from the previous few horror shows.

[newsted]

At times it was more 1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1 but they seemed to try a bit harder, bless 'em. Mag at work who went down said he would have been gutted at just getting a point. I guess you had to be there. A different experience without Barry Shitting Horne in your ear all the time I expect. And yes, that is the thuggish ex-midfield scuffler's real middle name.

[Teasy]

We lost to a crap side] and people are laying into a player who only appeared for the last 3 minutes.

 

The pace and quality of the Premiership is different from the Europa League, so Sammy hasn't had the same impact. But he has a lot of skill, he can make things happen, and he should be given more of a chance because we need that kind of input. It's not as though Ba and Cisse are pulling up trees.

 

A crap side who havent lost at home in 14 games.  We certainly shouldnt have lost after being 1:0 up.  But lets not get stupid with this idea that Stoke are easily beatable at home.

 

As far as Sammy goes he can be a useful player IMO.  Though I do agree that it made little sense to bring him on in that scenario.