We need to stop letting them dictate the game. They get their long grass, their thug playing style, and their fans on top of us. Let us control the ball and play our game. Suarez is going to get one but we need to stop leaking in the back.
If we can get the next goal and whether the high-pressure thuggery to open the second half, we can certainly win this.
He's getting into space though which is good, theres just not enough support for him and Suarez. Stoke are so damn difficult to open up.
What I don't understand is when we're taking corners, why is shelvey standing out at the edge of the box? Seems he's arguably one person we'd want in there with the Stoke giants
I hate Stoke. I hate the fans, unintelligent thug lovers, they only cheer when Stoke players play dirty. I hate Tony Pullis, he should coach hockey, he'd be good, team of goons. I hate the Stoke players, they are nothing more than thugs who get away with every dirty little tug and pull and punch. I hate oat cakes. They suck too but only because they are from Stoke.
Semantics, but I think we are being out-pressed not out-played. Stoke is not playing anything but kickball right now.
Can they keep this up for a full 90 minutes? I can't stand Stoke. Let's get one back and see what happens.
There's the half. Disappointing after that early penalty. We should be better versed at handling a pressing game. Suarez looks menacing as always, but that's about it.
btw - gerrad out - allen in + sterling - downing out. that's what I want. (I guess BR's big thing was benching Carra - so SG ain't happening)
I don't think anyone comes off unless it is tactical. Coates or Carragher may come on for a forward to make a 3-5-2 at some point. One thing for certain, if Joe ********ing Cole subs on, I am going to break my damn television remote into 1,000 pieces. Keep Sterling on the bench, too.
We need someone who can retain the ball and dictate the tempo in the middle. Allen is a guy like that obviously but will BR pull Gerrard? Shelvey is the only one that is getting into good positions besides Suarez so pulling him is not ideal either. Question is, how do you play teams like Stoke? Do you fight fire with fire or do you try and keep the ball away from them? I think we're better off trying to do the second but don't have the confidence in the personnel out there to pull that off.
Suso can't stay upright. He's a minnow physically. I can't imagine who would come on for him, though.
Well the irony of that first 15 minutes was ridiculous. Stoke just make it hard to play football at times and at other times stupid errors get punished. One thing that annoys me is that while watching the pre-game the three pundits (especially Curbishley) talk about Suarez diving but NOT ONE FUCKING WORD was said about Robert Huth's blatant stamp while Luis was lying defenseless on the pitch. Bloody ridiculous.