Stoke City 3-1 West Ham Utd (15/03/14)

[BondsoBob]

We are not going down.

I thought Reid looked unfit too...it clearly wasn't the Reid we all remember of him.
When I saw Joe Cole coming on I knew things weren't going to get better. I loved the guy, love that he is in a C&B shirt but he really isn't the JC he used to be unfortunately. It happens to us all at some point.

My biggest gripe (and I turned the TV off when Cole came on so I can't comment on the whole game) is - why wouldn't our beanpole mark their beanpole on corners? I would've thought AC would be marking good looking Peter Crouch however it was Tomkins on that goal marking him.

Are you Mystic Meg then ?

[61dicksey]

61dicksey"]Missed the Gin ger Pele simple

Whilst I'm not disagreeing with you, who would you have benched to make way for him today?[/quote]

Well i am of the thinking Collins and Tomkins at present are the best pairing, Reid looks slightly off the pace and Collins is a better header of the ball than both Reid and Tomkins.
All ifs buts and maybes but i would have kept with the team that narrowly lost to Everton.

[MB]

So Sam makes the changes most of his detractors have asked for. We lose and he shouldn't have changed it! Who would be a football manager!

[61dicksey]

So Sam makes the changes most of his detractors have asked for. We lose and he shouldn't have changed it! Who would be a football manager!

What changes have his detractors called for in the last few games?
It is my opinion not a criticism , but Collins would in my opinion , dealt with Crouch a lot better than Reid or Tomkins did.
And has anybody actually siggested Nocerino take the place of Taylor?

Oh! Yeah and who would be a football manager? Me at £3 million a year i might be **** but i would get my pay off and be comfortably off for the rest of my days , hard life isn't it ffs!

[Adam 'The Smudge']

G ood news!
Can't wait to get up there and get the job done touch wood.
Lets hope we don't get any training niggles before then.

Surprised Reid started. Very surprised Noccerino started.
We were slow on the ball and never tested them with width which has been our strength.
Downing poor.
Without key players, Stoke were better in possession.

[Roby]

Very poor result, especially going a goal up early on.

That team looked good on paper but sadly not so good on grass.

We need to just move on and get another 5 or 6 pts as quick as we can to ensure safety and then evaluate a lot of the players in the summer.

[Hammer83]

I liked the changes of Collins for Reid and Taylor for the Italian so I won't complain about,however they looked rusty given their lack of playing time.My one hate yesterday and have had all season is the persistence of playing centre mid Diame out wide it simply doesn't work.Get him back in the middle like last season and we will look better for it.

Another Couple of points Downing was terrible and yet again he escapes criticism if that was Jarvis everyone would be on his back.Downing has been a poor signing doesn't score goals and doesn't create anything.Which brings me onto my next point I noticed yesterday we lack creativity when Joe Cole came on I thought good here come the creativity needed and what I sadly saw was an ageing player who has lost a yard of pace and confidence to beat a man with a trick Joey looks like he is done at this level now.

[MB]

What changes have his detractors called for in the last few games?
It is my opinion not a criticism , but Collins would in my opinion , dealt with Crouch a lot better than Reid or Tomkins did.
And has anybody actually siggested Nocerino take the place of Taylor?

Lots of posts suggesting Reid should have walked back into the side with Collins dropped due to his habit of hoofing.

Also been a fair few posts calling for the Italians to play more and saying what a poor footballer Taylor is.

Those wanting Diame in the middle I'm assuming are remembering the half a dozen good games last season and not all the ones where he'd run down a blind alley then get caught in possession and out of position.

We got done by a team with a great home record who have turned over Man Utd and Arsenal in recent weeks. It just highlights how limited we are and what a great achievement the run in February was.

[NorthBankAlliance]

Hold tight when we were losing left, right and centre it was called as being down to injuries / suspensions.
Stoke yesterday had a similar crisis but turned us over.
The players we had out there were far from limited and were good enough to get a result.
Standard Allardyce away performance though, same old, those that go are used to it!

[ponder]

Who wrote the match report in the news section? Apparently we only lost 1-0 and the penalty claim was while it was 1-1, when it was actually at 2-1. Oops.

[MarylandHammer]

Are you Mystic Meg then ?

She is far better looking than me.

However the stain patterns on my loincloths indicate that we will stay up.

[Nick Sneddon]

This a BIG reallity check. If anyone out there needed it. We are still in trouble and could yet go down.

dont be so bloody daft

[hawkins_hammer]

I actually think Allardyce picked a team that was good enough to win yesterday. Blaming his selections is just another creative way for him to blame the players he selected rather than himself.

We had two weeks to prepare for this game. I think we were a bit unlucky but we still weren't great were we? Having said all that Odemwingie will never score a screamer like that again.

[carnage]

I actually think Allardyce picked a team that was good enough to win yesterday. Blaming his selections is just another creative way for him to blame the players he selected rather than himself.
.

So he said he got his selection wrong but you think he is still blaming the players?

[ryanrc]

I actually think Allardyce picked a team that was good enough to win yesterday. Blaming his selections is just another creative way for him to blame the players he selected rather than himself.

This is a recursive mindf*ck.

[carnage]

bull**** trying to baffle brains...

[Estuary]

Manager made a poor call droping Collins. He is our best no nonsense defender and v Stoke would have been my first name on the defensive team sheet. The ref didn't help our cause, but Tomkins and Reid as a pair were poor. Goalie could have done better for the second.

[Pepin]

It was not first time this season when team good on paper did not produce good performance. While there were few very good performances from teams missing Andy Carroll, winston Reid while including Carlton Cole and Matty Taylor for example. But saying this, I still expected much more from the team selected at Stoke and was disapointed by our negative aproach (after we scored the first goal) and hoofing style. We lost the game in midfield imo and both wingers (may Diame be called winger?) were non existent.

I respect Sam and must admit, that he delivered results which were set as a targets in his first two seasons. But football we play under him is pain for eyes. And I do not tak the argument, that it is because of the quality of players and it is just question of the time anymore.

Come On You Irons !!!
Bring on ManU !!!!!!!!!!!

[w4hammer]

never going there again. just an awful experience isnt it?

[BondsoBob]

This a BIG reallity check. If anyone out there needed it. We are still in trouble and could yet go down.[/quote]

dont be so bloody daft[/quote]


And you must be Septic Peg !

So many people on here seem to be oblivious to how precarious our situation is.