10-02-2019, 00:18
(This post was last modified: 10-02-2019, 00:20 by Slick_Footwork.)
It's a fantastic result today and I'm chuffed with that, along with the clean sheet, but I wasn't happy with the performance.
I thought we were the better of 2 poor sides.
2 centre backs were excellent along with Barry and Holgate defensively, but going forward we were toothless. Stoke's best opportunities seemed to arise when we persisted on playing backwards into trouble. For example, Holgate sending a throw in back to Johnstone at knee height, rather than playing the percentages down the line like every other sensible side do.
Then we rode our luck with the Livermore tackle, which probably should've been a sending off 0-0. Again, situation was caused by own our mistake when Livermore is too cumbersome to control a simple ball in midfield. I did think Livermore contributed well defensively otherwise though.
Going forward we were more or less none existent. There was a handful of good moves, but that was about it. Most of the good work came through Gibbs.
As for the debutantes, I thought Johansen did okay, passed a few good balls through the lines and looks like someone who wants to play. Although did give it away a fair bit too. I expect his style could be more important at home when we dominate more of the ball.
Murphy looked poor IMO and was a passenger for much of the game. I've seen him play at Newcastle a few times and was unimpressed, but based on his stats at this level, I was quite excited by his signing. He'll need to do a lot better than today though. At times, it was easy to forget that he was even playing. Seems a bit rash and nowhere near the level to be seen as a replacement for Barnes.
Montero went from the sublime to the ridiculous when he came on. Looked excellent in one on one situations, but then lashed a shot out for a throw in. I don't think he was helped by the fact that when he went past someone and wanted to cross, we had nobody attempting to get into the box as Gayle and Rodriguez had settled for us hanging on to a 1 goal lead.
Do hope Phillips is back soon, as we desperately miss his guile.
As for Stoke, they really have gone downhill. I thought we could've won by more goals with a bit more belief going forward, as they looked shell shocked. Just goes to show what can happen when every footballer you bring in is a donkey. I use the term footballer loosely, after all, I am talking about the likes of James McClean.
I've been critical of Moore throughout the season but i'll credit him today for finally making a sub that wasn't 'on the script' when he pulled on Bartley to combat Stoke putting Shawcross up top. Bartley was only on for a few minutes but played his part.
I thought we were the better of 2 poor sides.
2 centre backs were excellent along with Barry and Holgate defensively, but going forward we were toothless. Stoke's best opportunities seemed to arise when we persisted on playing backwards into trouble. For example, Holgate sending a throw in back to Johnstone at knee height, rather than playing the percentages down the line like every other sensible side do.
Then we rode our luck with the Livermore tackle, which probably should've been a sending off 0-0. Again, situation was caused by own our mistake when Livermore is too cumbersome to control a simple ball in midfield. I did think Livermore contributed well defensively otherwise though.
Going forward we were more or less none existent. There was a handful of good moves, but that was about it. Most of the good work came through Gibbs.
As for the debutantes, I thought Johansen did okay, passed a few good balls through the lines and looks like someone who wants to play. Although did give it away a fair bit too. I expect his style could be more important at home when we dominate more of the ball.
Murphy looked poor IMO and was a passenger for much of the game. I've seen him play at Newcastle a few times and was unimpressed, but based on his stats at this level, I was quite excited by his signing. He'll need to do a lot better than today though. At times, it was easy to forget that he was even playing. Seems a bit rash and nowhere near the level to be seen as a replacement for Barnes.
Montero went from the sublime to the ridiculous when he came on. Looked excellent in one on one situations, but then lashed a shot out for a throw in. I don't think he was helped by the fact that when he went past someone and wanted to cross, we had nobody attempting to get into the box as Gayle and Rodriguez had settled for us hanging on to a 1 goal lead.
Do hope Phillips is back soon, as we desperately miss his guile.
As for Stoke, they really have gone downhill. I thought we could've won by more goals with a bit more belief going forward, as they looked shell shocked. Just goes to show what can happen when every footballer you bring in is a donkey. I use the term footballer loosely, after all, I am talking about the likes of James McClean.
I've been critical of Moore throughout the season but i'll credit him today for finally making a sub that wasn't 'on the script' when he pulled on Bartley to combat Stoke putting Shawcross up top. Bartley was only on for a few minutes but played his part.