Stoke City v Leeds Utd Match Thread

[gessa]

3 defeats in 4 though, thats not something you can just dismiss.

We were so poor today though, the manner of the defeat bothers me more then the defeat, defensively awful offensively devoid of ideas.

There are very few teams who go through a season without that type of run, very few.
The trick is to make sure it doesn't go on too long, there are a couple of changes we need to make but that's up to Bielsa, the one I don't think he will though.

[BGwhite]

Stoke definitely deserve it but all team's have extra motivation when playing against us and the ref as well.
We have a massive battle ahead for auto promotion

Correct

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[Mick Jones shoulder]

3 defeats in 4 but will still be top. All the teams we have struggled against have set their store to defend deep and look to catch us out and it works. We will have good and bad days just as everyone else will.

[gessa]

3 defeats in 4 but will still be top. All the teams we have struggled against have set their store to defend deep and look to catch us out and it works. We will have good and bad days just as everyone else will.

The nature of the beast mate.

Swansea help us out tonight and we still have a 4 point gap to third.

[Cjay]

3 defeats in 4 but will still be top. All the teams we have struggled against have set their store to defend deep and look to catch us out and it works. We will have good and bad days just as everyone else will.

Agree.

Thats how it is when your entire offensive play relies on pass and move.

If you havent got room to pass and move then you struggle, as we have.

Tiz why i hoped we'd go for a target man in January, another dimension offensively.

Roofe vs 3 big strong cbs with no room he hasnt a hope.

[Mick Jones shoulder]

Exactly chaps they adapted today and went with 3 central defenders, condense the space and force us to go through or around. Be nice just to have someone to chuck on and do something slightly different when it isn't happening, today for example.

We been great to watch so I'm not going to cut my wrists.

[whiteswan]

Exactly chaps they adapted today and went with 3 central defenders, condense the space and force us to go through or around. Be nice just to have someone to chuck on and do something slightly different when it isn't happening, today for example.

We been great to watch so I'm not going to cut my wrists.

Young Clarke was the one we used to chuck on....and he did make a difference

[SG90]

The refs are always against us and the opposition always raise their game against us, so nothing new. We need to use the 11 clubs trying to get a points deduction to our advantage now.

The annoying thing is Phillips will be at CB rather than Halme and Rotherham will hoof it long.

[Mick Jones shoulder]

Young Clarke was the one we used to chuck on....and he did make a difference

Very true, difficult for the lad when they double up though.

[leic white 63]

bad result , poor performance .
move on 18 cup finals left .

[Cjay]

BPF- 6, made some decent saves, not really at fault for any of the goals, although a weak punch was involved in the build up to one of the goals.

Ayling-3 Very poor, constantly putting his teammates under pressure with his lax passing, didnt help Clarke when he should be releasing the ball to him earlier.

Ali- 7. .Decent from Ali again, defended fairly well and got a goal.

Coops-5 Struggled with the pace and power of Afobe and Campbell, some lax passes very nearly cost us and a poor header in the build up for the first.

Jansson-4. .Same as Cooper, couldn't really cope with the Stoke forward line, caught out by a ball over the top, maybe a bit unlucky with the slip but he did slow Afobe down in doing so.

Forshaw- 4. . Unable to impact the game, Stoke allowed him plenty of room but he rarely did anything with it, wasteful long shots to, not good enough like many of his teammates today, Stoke bossed the midfield.

Klich-4 . .Same as Forshaw, to easily bullied by Etebo, Allen and Adam, seems to have lost all confidence in the final 3rd and dreadful for one of Stokes goals.

Hernandez- 5. . Again bossed to easily, couldn't impact the game, came deeper and deeper to try and get involved, looked extremely frustrated by the lack of options at times.

Harrison-4.. saw a lot of the ball, rarely did anything with it, easily dispossed many times, didn't beat his man enough or show any end product.

Clarke-6. Well handled by Stoke, doubled up on and allowed very little space, wasnt helped by Ayling releasing the ball to him to late, did at least manage to put a good cross or two in, not the biggest problem today but Stoke handled him as well as anyone has.

Roofe-4 Couldn't get involved at all, rarely touched the ball which isnt his fault entirely but easily bullied by the Stoke back 3, these type of games arent for Roofe, he is easily handled if not allowed space to move into.

Poor all round really, its games like this where our injuries and depth issues show, very little in terms of options when things arent going well.

Defensively to easily caught out by the pace of the Stoke forward line, to careless with our passing in the final 3rd, to easily defended against, full credit Nathan Jones, tactically spot on playing 2 up front meaning we cant swarm the midfield, 3 at the back keeping narrow so Roofe gets smothered, good display from Stoke and there manager, bad day for us.

[becchio bear]

Bit harsh. The game I watched had us having way more possession in the first half but failing to capitalise with a goal. Pablo should have had a penalty, Jansson went down without touching the opponent but got carded and sent off!!! Unbelievable. IF ANYONE STILL THINKS THE EFL AREN'T CORRUPT THEN THEY NEED THEIR HEADS LOOKING AT.

[Irish Ian]

Bad to to be making my first post after such a tough day, but Hello everyone!


Tough game today at the end of a tough week. I hope the social media / media war surrounding Spygate wont affect the players. I know some have got involved on twitter and while I admire their loyalty I personally I hope they are advised to ignore the hype and do the talking on the pitch.


Been looking at the game stats for the season so far. Loads of possession, passing accuracy high, lots of shots from outside the box too. From the games I have saw we don't seem to have a clean striker of the ball. Can be just the ticket when the oppo play so tight at the back. .... Also a big target man would help as well.... Bielsa says that players wont come in unless they are better than what we have, I get that but at the same time maybe a different player type will help..

Two weeks to strengthen the squad in what is our biggest season in almost two decades.

Re today:

The Boss announced the side on Thursday which just confirmed to Stoke that Leeds were going to play the same way as against Derby. Away from home things could do with being a bit different. Keep possession yes, but there are ways to do that and at the same time play risk free football, it can quieten the home crowd too which can help over 90 minutes.

Stoke away from home as always been a tough gig, thankfully Sheff Utd and Norwich have to go there too.

How many points does everyone reckon we need to secure promotion?

And Yay! Swansea beat Sheff Utd!!!

[BGwhite]

Bad to to be making my first post after such a tough day, but Hello everyone!


Tough game today at the end of a tough week. I hope the social media / media war surrounding Spygate wont affect the players. I know some have got involved on twitter and while I admire their loyalty I personally I hope they are advised to ignore the hype and do the talking on the pitch.


Been looking at the game stats for the season so far. Loads of possession, passing accuracy high, lots of shots from outside the box too. From the games I have saw we don't seem to have a clean striker of the ball. Can be just the ticket when the oppo play so tight at the back. .... Also a big target man would help as well.... Bielsa says that players wont come in unless they are better than what we have, I get that but at the same time maybe a different player type will help..

Two weeks to strengthen the squad in what is our biggest season in almost two decades.

Re today:

The Boss announced the side on Thursday which just confirmed to Stoke that Leeds were going to play the same way as against Derby. Away from home things could do with being a bit different. Keep possession yes, but there are ways to do that and at the same time play risk free football, it can quieten the home crowd too which can help over 90 minutes.

Stoke away from home as always been a tough gig, thankfully Sheff Utd and Norwich have to go there too.

How many points does everyone reckon we need to secure promotion?

And Yay! Swansea beat Sheff Utd!!!

I'd say 90 points is a good benchmark but it's so close at the top even fewer than that might get them up. Leeds require 2 pts per game on average to hit 90 which is a big ask but if they can get good results against the others up there I think they'll just scramble over the line.

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[rab_rant]

Quite a few losing games now, yet we are still top of the League
with four point above 3 spot which is Sheffield United. Norwich
still the main challenger. So what does this mean that we can loose
games and still remain at the top.

It means that the top six teams have hit a stagnant period, everybody
seems to be misfiring and just holding their position and marking time.
It is the chasing pack that we have to start worrying about and Hull in
particular, and to a lesser extent Swansea.

Had a look at Dan James for Swansea and he is another shortarse his
head barely comes up to Mc Burnie's shoulder. Has tons of pace,
can cross the ball and has an eye for goal, but if Bielsa wants players
better than the ones we have already got... then it is not him.

[BGwhite]

Massive opportunity next week to extend the lead over the teams behind us. With SU v NC & WB in the cup. Leeds need to take full advantage of this with nothing less than a win at Rotherham.

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[weasel]

I don't think there is a real need to over analyse the match today. Again boiled down to who scored first and we gifted Stoke the opener. Without that we probably get stronger as the game wears on and force a winner (great that again the lads never gave up and scored in the 95th minute which again highlights the fitness). i think you could probably compare the stats to many games this season and they would probably be similar to many matches where we actually won. Bielsa plays the stats and knows that if we produce 17 shots to the opponents 12 and we have 71% of possession that we would likely win most of those matches - football being football though the biggest stat is always the end scoreline. Bielsa would happily take those stats every match.

For those that are worried by the 1 win in our last 4 league matches well Norwich have won only 1 in their last 5 league matches (they also crashed out of the FA Cup), Sheff U had a run of 1 win in 4 not so long ago, WBA are winless in 3. It is the championship and teams have bad runs, the key is to bounce back quickly which we did under Monk when we always bounced back from defeat with a win until the wheels fell off.

The main concern is that we are gifting the opposition goals and hopefully the new keeper will help. Don't forget how many times Green had great matches and we'd nick the win and a crucial save here or there could be absolutely key - just look at Butland's save today from Ayling's header which would have made it 1-1 and could have turned the match.

[1964white]

Errors in the build up for both Stoke goals, a lack of creativity from our midfield & no punch upfront against a big strong pacy team cost us today although things certainly conspired against us. We also have to consider Stoke have players with bags of premiership experience in their line-up, one of few outfits where I recognised the majority of a championship team. We only had two players in our squad with prem experience

Just a bad day at the office with the whole team out of form !

Turning points

• Two yellow cards for Jansson & Forshaw in the first fifteen minutes, one misplaced challenge & the short-arse hitler official would definitely have one of them as was the case with Pontus whose gob got the better of him for his first yellow

• Hernandez tripped as he ran into the Stoke box, clear-cut penalty not given off course

• Jansson's harsh dismissal

• Butland's world class save from Ayling's header

Fouls

• Stoke - 11. only one yellow card

• Leeds -10. four yellows resulting into one red

• Stoke player leapt like a salmon with a blatant dive. Decision - free-kick to Stoke

• Hernandez is tripped in the Stoke box. Decision - no penalty

Says it all

6 Peacock-Farrell
5 Ayling
5 Jansson
5 Cooper
6 Alioski
6 Forshaw
3 Harrison
5 Hernandez
4 Klich
5 Clarke
4 Roofe
Subs
5 Roberts
n/a Stevens

[danhirons]

We've lost 3 in 4 in the league which is extremely worrying. I genuinely think we will finish play offs at best. Not because of bielsa but our squad is not good enough. The build up play is so slow as well though which at home is very worrying.

BPF - 7 no fault at either goal.
Cooper 5
Jansson 4 (needs to stop getting stupid yellows)
Douglas 6
Ayling 3 (could he give the ball away anymore times?)
Clark (overrated and not ready. Good prospect but needs time. Wasted the ball a lot)
Ali - 5 good finish at the end after wasting the ball the whole game
Forshaw - 7 sprayed the ball well
Klich and Hernandez - 4 poor both very poor
Harrison - adds nothing, sooner he leaves the better
Roofe 5 - can't mark him basically as hardly touched the ball.

Genuinely a really poor performance and 3 in 4 losses (4 in 5 including league game) is so bad

[danhirons]

Errors in the build up for both Stoke goals, a lack of creativity from our midfield & no punch upfront against a big strong pacy team cost us today although things certainly conspired against us. We also have to consider Stoke have players with bags of premiership experience in their line-up, one of few outfits where I recognised the majority of a championship team. We only had two players in our squad with prem experience

Just a bad day at the office with the whole team out of form !

Turning points

• Two yellow cards for Jansson & Forshaw in the first fifteen minutes, one misplaced challenge & the short-arse hitler official would definitely have one of them as was the case with Pontus whose gob got the better of him for his first yellow

• Hernandez tripped as he ran into the Stoke box, clear-cut penalty not given off course

• Jansson's harsh dismissal

• Butland's world class save from Ayling's header

Fouls

• Stoke - 11. only one yellow card

• Leeds -10. four yellows resulting into one red

• Stoke player leapt like a salmon with a blatant dive. Decision - free-kick to Stoke

• Hernandez is tripped in the Stoke box. Decision - no penalty

Says it all

6 Peacock-Farrell
5 Ayling
5 Jansson
5 Cooper
6 Alioski
6 Forshaw
3 Harrison
5 Hernandez
4 Klich
5 Clarke
4 Roofe
Subs
5 Roberts
n/a Stevens

Hernandez miles outside of the box for the "penalty" and it looked a dive anyway