I doubt Stoke will get promoted. I doubt we even will. Stoke will make a good run though, deffo top 10.
I don't know if any of you Stoke fans got to watch the friendly against Madrid, but for those of you who didn't... First half you sat off us far too much and gave Guti too much time on the ball. Ramos had an early goal disallowed (not sure why...push maybe) but Raul (who's movement caused you a lot of problems) scored a nice goal after about 20 mins. At this point you had little play up front and didn't really trouble Dudek. Towards the end of the half both Guti and Granero should have scored and in truth 1-0 was a bit flattering to you. Second half you came out a lot stronger. Your defence sat deeper to stop us playing balls in behind you, you cut down the space we had and certainly gave us less time on the ball. While the play was not as entertaining as the first half (we had changed 10 of our 11 at HT), the game became a lot tighter as you started to work our defence and cause us some problems and create some chances. However after about half an hour you gave away a penalty for a tackle on De la Red (justified penalty for a clumsy tackle) and Soldado made it 2-0. I think that perhaps the goal knocked you back a bit as the game seemed to die after that (though I think we should have had another penalty for a foul on Soldado ) and neither side created much at the end. If you play like you did in the 2nd half you should have a good season as you had a good shape ,looked solid and strong, and managed to work some openings. This was a good workout for us and the game was played seriously but in a good spirit. Thanks for the game and good luck for your season.
Wow, That's good news coming from a Madrid fan. We need to workout our kinks on the attack but I think our defense will be key this upcoming season. It's always a treat to play the likes of madrid or barca, hopefully this workout will strengthen chemistry and teamwork. I hope workouts like this will help us in a run for promotion! goodluck to madrid as you'll need it with henry at barca now you have your hands full!
One or two people have now said that we gave Madrid a good work out. Bad news today though about Carl Hoefkens going to the Baggies. Carl has been sound at the back & will be hard to replace. Pulis defo' needs to beef up the Midfield as it's looking a bit thread bare, and now a full back to replace Carl. Salif Diao is still knocking about somewhere and hasn't signed for another club. He was a bit of quality last season and I'd like to see him back again.
What do you think about Cresswell signing. I was a bit surprised that he went to Stoke after seeming all set for a relegation battle with Hull. Maybe Pulis thinks he may get goals if he stays injury free. I can't complain about his effort, but again I doubted whether he would score enough goals for us, and apart from the Playoff semi goal against PNE he didn't do a great deal. Hopefully for you, he turns good, and gets 15 goals or more, but I think we did a good deal if the reported £250,000 fee is correct.
I must admit it was a bit of a shock signing. Turned down at Hull cuz he fails the medical and then we snap him up. Mind you we've had a habit of signing players with a passed history of injuries. That's why we get then quite cheap. I remember Cresswell being quite handy at Preston and all's we can do is give him a try. To be honest another striker was the last thing we were thinking about. Strange for us as we are always scratching about for strikers virtually every season. Now we've got half a dozen ! As I said before, it's midfield where we are struggling at the mo. Hope you have a good season - you deserve it. (the fans that is and not Batesy)
COME ON, COME ON, there must be some more Potters out there some where in this big wide world ! The big Kick off to moz against the Welsh sheep botherers. Should be a tight game with the mighty, mighty Potters just edging it 2 - 1. COME ON YOU RIP ROARING MIGHTY MIGHTY POTTERS !! GOOOOOO ARRRRRN !!
A Stoke thread cool. A nice start to the season but losing Higgy and Pericard(dickhead) is going to hurt.
Yep, a better than expected start. Never expected a win at Cardiff - never an easy place to go to - and then coming from behind against Charlton. I wasn't very impressed with Charlton at all. Pre-saeson favourites to go back up into the Prem' but they never really threatened. Even their goal was a fluke coming off Fortunes arse. Yes, it is a blow about Higgy going to join the Sunderland revolution. But a 3million deal for someone who cost us £250k just over a year ago has got to be a good deal. Especially when the bloke says his heart is no longer with us. As soon a players heart goes, get shot of them. I don't care who they are. A pity about the Southampton result but I'd have taken 6 points out of 9 at the start of the season. Pericard !! Knob head. What p***es us off is that he's on £3.5k a week for doing sod all in the reserves and occasionally gracing the field on match days for the odd ten minutes never looking like he will score. Anyway - fingers crossed for Saturday against the old enemy Wolves.