Stoke City 0 - 0 Newcastle United - 06/01/08

[Guest alex]

I'm with Stevie, "we're still in it", "at least we drew". Fucking hell, we were pish. This time next year we'll be millionaires.

 

 

We are in it and yes Smith was shocking, but with the injuries we have and being away why not? We could be Everton or Blackburn, IE Not in the fucking draw!!

 

With injuries and shite away form, being in the cup is an advantage somehow?

It's better than being knocked out. Which fucking way do you want it like? You're basically moaning we're still in the draw. Tiresome wum tbh.

 

If you believe we're going to perform any better in later rounds, without getting injuries, and without affecting league performance and fitness considering the state of our squad, you're dreaming.

Yeah, that's exactly what I just said. In fact if you look deeper you can see I said we'd definitely win the cup this season too.

 

We're not in Europe, we're pretty unlikely to go down, we're out the League Cup, so let's have an F.A. Cup run if we can.

Textbook Vic btw

 

How do you have a cup run without performing better than we did tonight?

Will there ever be a boy born who can swim faster than a fish?

[wykikitoon 16798]

I'm with Stevie, "we're still in it", "at least we drew". Fucking hell, we were pish. This time next year we'll be millionaires.

 

 

We are in it and yes Smith was shocking, but with the injuries we have and being away why not? We could be Everton or Blackburn, IE Not in the fucking draw!!

 

With injuries and shite away form, being in the cup is an advantage somehow?

It's better than being knocked out. Which fucking way do you want it like? You're basically moaning we're still in the draw. Tiresome wum tbh.

 

If you believe we're going to perform any better in later rounds, without getting injuries, and without affecting league performance and fitness considering the state of our squad, you're dreaming.

Yeah, that's exactly what I just said. In fact if you look deeper you can see I said we'd definitely win the cup this season too.

 

We're not in Europe, we're pretty unlikely to go down, we're out the League Cup, so let's have an F.A. Cup run if we can.

Textbook Vic btw

 

How do you have a cup run without performing better than we did tonight?

Will there ever be a boy born who can swim faster than a fish?

 

Billy

[RlCO 0]

I'm with Stevie, "we're still in it", "at least we drew". Fucking hell, we were pish. This time next year we'll be millionaires.

 

 

We are in it and yes Smith was shocking, but with the injuries we have and being away why not? We could be Everton or Blackburn, IE Not in the fucking draw!!

 

With injuries and shite away form, being in the cup is an advantage somehow?

It's better than being knocked out. Which fucking way do you want it like? You're basically moaning we're still in the draw. Tiresome wum tbh.

 

If you believe we're going to perform any better in later rounds, without getting injuries, and without affecting league performance and fitness considering the state of our squad, you're dreaming.

Yeah, that's exactly what I just said. In fact if you look deeper you can see I said we'd definitely win the cup this season too.

 

We're not in Europe, we're pretty unlikely to go down, we're out the League Cup, so let's have an F.A. Cup run if we can.

Textbook Vic btw

 

How do you have a cup run without performing better than we did tonight?

Will there ever be a boy born who can swim faster than a fish?

 

Billy

 

Shark boy

[Tribal 0]

How do you have a cup run without performing better than we did tonight?

 

You score more than the opposition, stupid fuck.

[RlCO 0]

How do you have a cup run without performing better than we did tonight?

 

You score more than the opposition, stupid fuck.

 

Did you not understand the question you moron?

[Tribal 0]

How do you have a cup run without performing better than we did tonight?

 

You score more than the opposition, stupid fuck.

 

Did you not understand the question you moron?

 

Yes, hope this helps.

[RlCO 0]

How do you have a cup run without performing better than we did tonight?

 

You score more than the opposition, stupid fuck.

 

Did you not understand the question you moron?

 

Yes, hope this helps.

 

It didn't help you obviously.

[NobbySol 0]

Today, two players stood out for me, Smith and Rozenhal. They are both bollocks and shouldn't either be playing in the positions they were today, or not playing at all. Smith is a liability, gave away many free kicks in dangerous positions and slid stupidly when they were on the counter with us outnumbered. And rozenhal, well he was just absolutely fuckin shite and useless. Good points however is duff is improving, taylor put in a decent performance and jose enriqe played well and fizzed the ball round nicely.

[Guest alex]

Rozenhal must have bottled every 50-50.

[Noelie 103]

After the tumult and shouting dies the captains and the kings depart.

Well I wish Allardyce would depatrt. I'm sick of seeing him sitting expressionless in the stands chewing like a cow until halftime then coming down to the sideline for the second half to standi there waving his arms around like a traffic-cop and chewing like a cow.

Enrique did OK at left-back and makes you wonder why ugly Sam hasn't been playing him.

Zoggy did OK in the first half but became fairly annonymous in the second. Him and Enrique may play well together.

Rozenhal at right-back seemed to be another clueless decision by Allardyce.

Faye and Taylor defended well but maybe Taylor should have been at right-back and Cacapa in the middle with Faye.

Duff did OK wide right but sometimes I think he held the ball too long and should have been more giving.

Butt did OK butt his shots on goal, ...weel wor lass cudda done better.

Smith was a bit of a non entity except for his eye-catching hairstyle and fouls.

Owen & Viduka were somewhat OK but didn't get good service mostly due to Stoke's endeavour to snuff them out.

Shudda won in the 1st. half. --------- Cudda lost in the 2nd. half. (mebbe that had summat to do with ugly Sam leaving the stands)

[Guest alex]

Shudda, wudda, cudda Jerry.

[acrossthepond 707]

Terrible performance, they want shot with shit if I'm honest.

 

Smith may as well have not been on the pitch, and he's to be our captain? Christ.

Rozenhal was dire and for some reason kept appearing in the final third with the ball for no good reason.

I can't fault his committment but Butt is not exactly a sharpshooter. I'm at a loss to explain why our strikers and wingers kept laying it back to Nicky Butt for him to take shots.

Faye and N'Zogbia were solid, Viduka looked vaguely in it but never had the support, Enrique was awful, England's Michael Owen was anonymous as ever save for his token attempt (doesn't it seem to you he always has one 1v1 a game and usually muffs it before going AWOL again?)

 

A bright point was that Duff appears to be regaining some of his game. And that we didn't lose.

But people saying "oh we'll turn them over at SJP" forget Birmingham. I can't help but see the same happening in the replay.

[Ketsbaia 0]

Cup games are gash for this very reason. People seem to have expected us to have turned them over when third round ties away from home against lower league opposition are always tricky. Just look at the other results.

 

Overall I though the performance was average but there were brighter signs in Sam's team selection. Faye, Taylor, Viduka and Enrique all put in decent shifts, with Butt being the stand out.

 

Lua Lua looked bright and tricky when he came on. I'd start him in the second leg to see how he copes against a fresh Stoke side. It would be nice to have an attacking player in the centre for once.

 

EDIT - I don't think Acrossthepond watched the match

Edited January 6, 2008 by Skol

[Big TRon 0]

Well the result wasn't a disaster, that's a plus point. Watching that though, I don't think it will be much easier at home. it's not like we are going to pass them to death, and I don't think we are going to out-muscle them either. That line up was too confused to do either tbh.

Edited January 6, 2008 by Big TRon

[acrossthepond 707]

EDIT - I don't think Acrossthepond watched the match

 

All tiresome 90 minutes. All we really disagree on is Enrique's performance, which I really think was lacking. His defending wasn't too bad but his passing looked hopeless and he never really looked involved, I thought.

 

I do agree about LuaLua...is that his first appearance for the senior team? I can't remember. He looked lively to say the least.

[NobbySol 0]

EDIT - I don't think Acrossthepond watched the match

 

All tiresome 90 minutes. All we really disagree on is Enrique's performance, which I really think was lacking. His defending wasn't too bad but his passing looked hopeless and he never really looked involved, I thought.

 

I do agree about LuaLua...is that his first appearance for the senior team? I can't remember. He looked lively to say the least.

 

I think enrique fizzed it round nicely tbh

[sammynb 2929]

Will there ever be a boy born who can swim faster than a fish?

Thorpie, everyone knows that Alex!

 

Cup games are gash for this very reason. People seem to have expected us to have turned them over when third round ties away from home against lower league opposition are always tricky. Just look at the other results.

 

Overall I though the performance was average but there were brighter signs in Sam's team selection. Faye, Taylor, Viduka and Enrique all put in decent shifts, with Butt being the stand out.

 

Lua Lua looked bright and tricky when he came on. I'd start him in the second leg to see how he copes against a fresh Stoke side. It would be nice to have an attacking player in the centre for once.

 

EDIT - I don't think Acrossthepond watched the match

 

But what's your opinion on Allardyce's insistance on playing Smith in the midfield and as captain?????

To me it is an example of why Allardyce must go NOW!

Everyone knows Smith is not a midfielder and yet the twat continues to play him there week after week and it's as good as playing with 10 men.

 

Also when did Owen become such an ancy cunt?

On more than one occassion he was abusing his team mates for not playing a ball into where he perceived it should have been, quite often somewhere where he could of easily got to if he had of made an effort - but it looks like that's above him now.

 

EDIT - there is no doubt across the pond saw the match (although I can't vouch for what he saw) because he would of seen the same feed I had on ESPN. And it was here where the one highlight of this shower of shite we constantly have to watch was found, as was one of the commentators was none other than Shaka Hislop.

[The Fish 9039]

my two penneth,

 

A steady improvement of the performances we've previously endured. Overall we looked a little more balanced, especially in the first half, where N'Zogbia and Enrique looked to be slowly building some kind of rapport. Duff looked bright on the right, but obviously Rozenhal isn't a fullback; his distribution, decisions and positional sense were atrocious. Time and again I found myself screaming at him for diving in, being woefully out of place or launching a nothing ball when a 10 yard ball to Duff, Butt, Faye or Taylor was on.

 

I thought Faye and Taylor look like building a good partnership at the back (admittedly against pretty direct 1 dimensional opposition), Faye in particular seemed to revel against the physical Sidibe as well as matching Fuller's pace. Taylor was, again, fully committed to the cause and any penalty decision against him would have been incredibly harsh. Enrique looked ok, slowly growing in confidence as the game wore on. Has a decent engine, needs to sharpen his passing and awareness for match day but that will come with games.

 

Duff was bright (as I said) in the first half, but grew frustrated more and more as the game wore on, time and again he was left staring at a ball sent four yards behind him. With his frustration came a lack of positional discipline, but I think I'd be overly critical if I blamed him for looking for the ball when more often than not he was not getting the right kind of supply from his fullback.

 

Given was as sharp and dependable as ever. When they were in the ascendancy I believed in him as I have done for the past decade.

 

Butt was industrious but if ever a man needed a creative midfielder to take the ball from him more I'd be afraid to see it. He was restricted to long hopeful balls, attempting a dribble and heaven forbid, shooting from outside the box!

 

Smith was pretty awful, simply diving into tackles, running a lot and having a stupid haircut does not make you any kind of player. I get that his full throated approach to the game endears him to some managers, some players and some fans, but I fail to see what (other than animosity) he brings to the middle of the pitch. His tenacity, though praiseworthy for the effort expended, was in fact contributing to Butt's task in my opinion. Not only did we have to disrupters in the middle of the park, but neither have the where with all or guile to create anything from there. Most of the balls went back to Faye or Taylor, or were dumped long.

 

Which leads me to the strikers. Neither saw enough of the ball to actually create anything in my opinion. What little they did see were flashes of white against the sky as the ball sailed over their heads. Viduka and Owen like the ball to feet, Viduka and Owen can turn a man, can hold the ball (Owen to a lesser extent) and can both inter-link with supporting midfielders. Neither were given the opportunity to show this to be true.

 

there were scant chances for our men as Stoke marshaled their area well, seldom leaving one on one against the wingers and sufficiently populating the 18 yard line to make any lumbering approach from Smith or Butt pretty impotent.

 

So all in all a better performance and signs of definite improvement, but not a good performance yet.

 

special mention to the ref who, in the first half gave us the square root of fuck all and in the second permitted pretty brutal tackles from both teams. I appreciate it's a cup tie and you have to let the English game retain it's bite, but there's a difference between commitment and cruel intent. Smith is evidence of that.

 

A replay will probably help us in the long run, could provide a very meaningful pick-me-up if the next few games turn sour.

[peasepud 59]

I can't fault his committment but Butt is not exactly a sharpshooter. I'm at a loss to explain why our strikers and wingers kept laying it back to Nicky Butt for him to take shots.

 

I dont think that was any kind of gameplan tbh I get the feeling that Butts attempts on goal are borne of the frustration of seeing the front line pass it backwards, forwards, stumble over it and generally not attempt a shot.

[JawD 31]

Pretty much agree with Fish's assessment. On reflection today, I reckon I'm glad we're still in it and have every chance to go through at home. Stoke were bound to be up for it and give it 100% until the final whistle. Looking at what happened to some other clubs were were perhaps fortunate.

[Kevin Carr's Gloves 3230]

Well it seems BSA's tactic is working. We have been fed so much shite recently we saw yeaterdays game as an improvement. My big fear is Roederesque. BSA made the changes we have all been screaming for due to loss of players. Do we think he will keep the team that way or would anyone like to bet as soon as we get everyone back he will revert to some abortion of 433?

[Happy Face 29]

Got to be happy with a clean sheet.

 

Ashley was pretty close by and didn't get any anti Allardyce vibes off the fans.

 

Don't know why Alex Ferguson bothered like, it was bloody freezing and we'll have a completely different team and formation against them.

[Ketsbaia 0]

Will there ever be a boy born who can swim faster than a fish?

Thorpie, everyone knows that Alex!

 

Cup games are gash for this very reason. People seem to have expected us to have turned them over when third round ties away from home against lower league opposition are always tricky. Just look at the other results.

 

Overall I though the performance was average but there were brighter signs in Sam's team selection. Faye, Taylor, Viduka and Enrique all put in decent shifts, with Butt being the stand out.

 

Lua Lua looked bright and tricky when he came on. I'd start him in the second leg to see how he copes against a fresh Stoke side. It would be nice to have an attacking player in the centre for once.

 

EDIT - I don't think Acrossthepond watched the match

 

But what's your opinion on Allardyce's insistance on playing Smith in the midfield and as captain?????

To me it is an example of why Allardyce must go NOW!

Everyone knows Smith is not a midfielder and yet the twat continues to play him there week after week and it's as good as playing with 10 men.

 

Also when did Owen become such an ancy cunt?

On more than one occassion he was abusing his team mates for not playing a ball into where he perceived it should have been, quite often somewhere where he could of easily got to if he had of made an effort - but it looks like that's above him now.

 

EDIT - there is no doubt across the pond saw the match (although I can't vouch for what he saw) because he would of seen the same feed I had on ESPN. And it was here where the one highlight of this shower of shite we constantly have to watch was found, as was one of the commentators was none other than Shaka Hislop.

 

 

As much as I think Alan Smith in midfield is a waste, i'm not using that as the sole basis for wanting Allardyce out. I'm not that one track minded.

 

As for Owen he has every right to have a go at his team mates. He's not the biggest fucker on the pitch so hoofing the ball forward against a team like Stoke is going to result in him getting very little. He's much better with the ball at his feet, that's a given.