Stoke City

[Norwichshrimper]

I really don't get this hoofball stuff, we have not been knocking it long.
certainly at home we very rarely lump an aimless hoof forward (some mis placed passes have not found thier man but thats not an aimless hoof but a mis hit pass) and I cant recall any long balls forward into the channels for the inevitable chase.

We do, however , try to get if forward quickly and avoid too much time on the ball for the defence, The ball is usually attempted to hit the targetman around 40 -50 yards from goal , now goal keeper excepted , the person playing that ball is usually 30 yards , at least, from our goal, the pass is , therefore no more than 40 yds max , hardly a long ball .

Honestly, does anyone who saw the Wimbledon and John Beck long ball games think we are playing the same football ?

Personally I don't think the issue is the style, its the execution, its when it doesn't work its the wrong option, hindsight is a marvellous thing

FS - I'm going to respectfully disagree with you if I may....I actually think it's a very similar style of football to Wimbledon and John Beck's Cambridge...I just think that we aren't as good at it as they were.

 

[Shrimpson]

Top of the league and top scorers. Yeah whatever style it is, we're not very good at it.

 

[OldBlueLady]

Top of the league and top scorers. Yeah whatever style it is, we're not very good at it.

Exactly, we must be absolute ***** really.

 

[Firestorm]

FS - I'm going to respectfully disagree with you if I may....I actually think it's a very similar style of football to Wimbledon and John Beck's Cambridge...I just think that we aren't as good at it as they were.

Perhaps thats because we still cut the grass at RH and dont heavily sand the channels :winking:

I agree, that it does look similar, in as much that the passing is not on the ground, but Cambridge in particular used to put the ball into space (so the precision was less) for players to run on to, we are playing (or trying to) to a target man who then tries to build from there.
When the pass to the target man doesn't work find him, it looks more like a long punt into space...

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

I disagree (even assuming you mean three not four). To get out of the Championship, upwards, you have to be better than 21 Championship teams. To get out of League One, you have to be better than 20 League One teams. To get out of League Two, you simply have to be better than 20 League Two sides at least half of which are very poor and little better than the Conference.

Agree with this. It's the easiest division to be promoted out of, although I will say it's one of the tougher years to get promoted from it as there are quite a few teams who are very competitive this year.

To be honest, I'm not much enjoying games at the moment. That's not down to the football (or lack of) being played, it's not down to the results, it's down to the fact that Roots Hall isn't a pleasant place to watch games these days. The air of negativity that pervades the place is just depressing. Even top of the table there's very little singing and there's an expectation that we need to be entertained before fans will deign to clap or cheer.

Contrast that to Plymouth away where I felt a tingle down my spine as the Plymouth fans, 2-0 down and being outplayed got behind their team, despite being 22nd in the table and having faced similar financial difficulties (worse even!) to the ones we faced and inspired their team to an unlikely draw. Now there's a club whose fans deserve success.

The "anything to get us out of this awful division" crowd are just going to be disappointed when we get promoted and don't turn overnight into Barcelona. We're just storing up problems for the future. What this club needs is a dose of Alvin Martin, Alan Little and Steve Wignall to give a wake-up call for fans' expectations. Unfortunately Ron Martin's ego wouldn't stand for this as so we're stuck in our current position.

 

[Norwichshrimper]

Perhaps thats because we still cut the grass at RH and dont heavily sand the channels :winking:

I agree, that it does look similar, in as much that the passing is not on the ground, but Cambridge in particular used to put the ball into space (so the precision was less) for players to run on to, we are playing (or trying to) to a target man who then tries to build from there.
When the pass to the target man doesn't work find him, it looks more like a long punt into space...

Maybe we don't have the sand budget that John Beck was working with :smile:

I agree that perhaps we aren't quite at that level...people often talk about how Cambridge and Wimbledon were far worse, but their primary aim was the same, to get the ball upfield and play with it there. Yes Wimbledon used to whack it vaguely in the direction of Fashanu/Harford/Blissett etc they still had quality players to make things happen when they had bullied their way to possession in the final 3rd....Glyn Hodges for example was a fantastically gifted player and even that odious little pr1ck Dennis Wise could play a bit....the same could be said for Cambridge who would bang it up for Dion Dublin / John Taylor or whoever, but they had players like Lee Philpott, Cheetham and even Claridge who could play a bit once the ball got there....to me this isn't dissimilar to us using Dickinson to bounce the ball off and then using the likes of Hall, Martin and Harris (ideally) to do the more skilful stuff.

For me Stoke are worse than Wimbledon or Cambridge ever were...they don't even pretend to play...it's all about winning cheap free kicks or throw ins within 50 yards of the opponents goal then bombarding the box.....so my concern is that Cluniemore was referring to Stoke in a recent thread as if their style of play was a target to be aimed for :sad:

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Maybe we don't have the sand budget that John Beck was working with :smile:

I agree that perhaps we aren't quite at that level...people often talk about how Cambridge and Wimbledon were far worse, but their primary aim was the same, to get the ball upfield and play with it there. Yes Wimbledon used to whack it vaguely in the direction of Fashanu/Harford/Blissett etc they still had quality players to make things happen when they had bullied their way to possession in the final 3rd....Glyn Hodges for example was a fantastically gifted player and even that odious little pr1ck Dennis Wise could play a bit....the same could be said for Cambridge who would bang it up for Dion Dublin / John Taylor or whoever, but they had players like Lee Philpott, Cheetham and even Claridge who could play a bit once the ball got there....to me this isn't dissimilar to us using Dickinson to bounce the ball off and then using the likes of Hall, Martin and Harris (ideally) to do the more skilful stuff.

For me Stoke are worse than Wimbledon or Cambridge ever were...they don't even pretend to play...it's all about winning cheap free kicks or throw ins within 50 yards of the opponents goal then bombarding the box.....so my concern is that Cluniemore was referring to Stoke in a recent thread as if their style of play was a target to be aimed for :sad:

What about the Dave Webb team of the same era?

 

[Firestorm]

I agree with the Stoke comment, They are playing long with , what seems like the primary, aim to win something which allows them to pack the box and get on the end of a delivery which can be placed well , because there is no one challenging the player making the delivery.

As things stand for Stoke , I do not have a problem, if they can sort the club out financially by staying in the prem for a couple of years and then use the increased revenue to build a better "footballing side" without getting relegated, good luck to them, and I find it entertaining when they out muscle one of the "better" sides too. If they started winning eveything and could top the league I might find it concerning but at the moment its quite amusing.
Theres nothing wrong with playing to your strengths, but if they start spending money on lots players because they play a certain way it may get a bit boring

Regarding us, I am happy at the moment, we are struggling to get players which are multi skilled and , tbh, I prefer to have, for example, a Centre back who can defend well rather than one who can defend a bit but is good on the ball, if that means he has to get rid and let the midfielders forward keep the ball, and keep it as far away from him as possible, then so be it.

 

[ooh-andy-ansah]

You are all bang out of order, how dare you come on a fans forum and express opinions, cluniemore says you shouldn't do it so belt up the lot of you :winking:

 

[BOYCEY]

I totally agree with sturrock

out of interest did Dickinson and Gilbert get grief yesterday?

I am in W block and I honestly dont hear the abuse that is given

Me too solid plan and like anything in life it will take time to come to fruition so patience and more importantly a little
belief in the man and the team can only be beneficial in the long run !

I am in the East and there are the usual morons who have obviously never played the game slating Dicko at every opportunity I just do not get it he runs his **** off week after week is top scorer so far and brings a lot of players
into the game with his running patterns and knock downs ! UTB

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Me too solid plan and like anything in life it will take time to come to fruition so patience and more importantly a little
belief in the man and the team can only be beneficial in the long run !

I am in the East and there are the usual morons who have obviously never played the game slating Dicko at every opportunity I just do not get it he runs his **** off week after week is top scorer so far and brings a lot of players
into the game with his running patterns and knock downs ! UTB

Agree with all of that, other than the idea if someone has or hasn't played the game it means they do or don't know what they are talking about. Jose Mourinho and Arsene Wenger didn't play the game to any standard, yet clearly know a lot more than former England defender Alvin Martin.

 

[Blueshrimper]

I have never known a subject to be discussed as much as this football vs winning debate. It puts Flavs and Bart to shame!

 

[hockleyshrimper]

For me winning is the most important thing. The pride of being top of the league out weighs everything else.

When im watching a game on TV with 2 teams I dont care about, thats when I want to see entertaining, slick passing football. Swansea are a joy to watch this season, but give my Southend 3 points.

Also, if you're reading this Luggy, give us your opinion on that fat **** Evans.

 

[BOYCEY]

Agree with all of that, other than the idea if someone has or hasn't played the game it means they do or don't know what they are talking about. Jose Mourinho and Arsene Wenger didn't play the game to any standard, yet clearly know a lot more than former England defender Alvin Martin.

Yes agreed was a bit of a generalisation there !! I suppose what I meant was an understanding of the game and the intricases of what the players are doing and why as opposed to assuming that they are running around in space for fun !!

 

[Colchester Shrimper]

To be honest I don't really care about the style as long as we get results. However I would prefer it if we could kill teams off and win games more comfortably rtaher than having to hang on with slender leads a go through those nervy final minutes.

 

[Onion_Bag_Dave]

Agree with all of that, other than the idea if someone has or hasn't played the game it means they do or don't know what they are talking about. Jose Mourinho and Arsene Wenger didn't play the game to any standard, yet clearly know a lot more than former England defender Alvin Martin.

This crops up every now and then. Whilst I accept your point re Jose and Alvin Martin, they still played the game. In general if you haven't ever played football then you are less likely to know as much about football than somebody who has played.

 

[Tommy2holes]

TBH i would just like us to play the simple ball more often, wether that be inside to feet or long im not fussed, but time and time again we can play it infield from defence and just aimlessly punt it foward. Its only the fact the there is so much dross in this league that we get away with it.

It is also no coincidence that any team with passing ability and pace seems to have the beating of us.

If we get to league one we will get beat most weeks playing as we do.

 

[Napster]

This crops up every now and then. Whilst I accept your point re Jose and Alvin Martin, they still played the game. In general if you haven't ever played football then you are less likely to know as much about football than somebody who has played.

No. I've never done carpentry but can appreciate good furniture.

 

[Norwichshrimper]

No. I've never done carpentry but can appreciate good furniture.

But you might not appreciate what goes into creating that piece of good furniture