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ricardo

Ricardo's report v Stoke

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With the season winding down to the last quarter it was inevitable that this afternoons match would be a tight nervy affair and the quality of the first twenty minutes was on a par with watching paint dry. City could barely string three passes together and Stoke''s familiar uncompromising approach gave them control of the game against a weak home midfield. There was some invention there with the inclusion of Wes but his early influence was severely restricted by our lack of cohesive possession. In fact the only two balls of any consequence that came into the Stoke area were from Snoddy free kicks, one too short and one too long.Stoke had a series of early chances and should have accepted at least a couple but thankfully their finishing was woeful. First Crouch collected a fortunate rebound on the edge of the area but his low shot was easily stopped by Ruddy. Then another chance fell to Arnautovic who should have done better than sky over from 12 yards. Ruddy had made three or four stops before Begovic had even touched the ball.It had to get better, and it did midway through the half as City at last got a foothold. Olsson whacked a 25 yarder high over the top then Redmond''s run and pass was just too strong for Snoddy to get his foot round it. As we moved to the half hour there was finally a decent City move as Wes neatly slipped the ball to Snoddy just inside the area. The shot was clean and true but Begovic''s right arm was strong enough to knock it away. Then Bassong headed narrowly over and Wes tested Begovic with a long shot as City kept up the pressure. In truth the first half was pretty average fair but City did start the second with a lot more speed and energy. Begovic again foiled Wes by palming away a goal bound 30 yarder. Stoke cleared the corner with difficulty but a goal at last looked like coming and on 57 minutes it did. Snoddy and Martin combined to win a free kick on the right and this time the delivery was spot on as Johno rose perfectly to nod home. It certainly enlivened things and Redder''s almost made it two when he cut in from the left and powered a shot that the keeper did well to punch away.Howson came on for Wes after 67 minutes as Stoke were beginning to go long to Crouch in search of an equaliser. I thought we were holding them comfortably but fate took a hand with just over a quarter hour left as Bassong and a Stoke forward clashed in the area. There seemed no danger as the ball was going away from goal in the left back position but the Stoke player went down and the Ref pointed straight to the spot. I thought it was a very weak pen to give with little danger of a goal but that seems to be out luck at the moment. Needless to say it had to be Walter''s who stroked the ball high to Ruddy''s left for the leveller.Within minutes however the ex 1p5wich player was on his way to the dressing room with a straight red card for a shocking challenge on Alex Tetty. Elmander and Hooper then came on for the luckless RVW as City tried to exploit their advantage. Unfortunately there was little to cheer  as Stoke defended in depth and City could find no way through. The five minutes added ran away quickly with Stoke milking every second over goal kick''s and throw ins.With spring fast approaching I was surprised not hear the first call''s of the Hughtonout bird as I made my way out of the ground but somehow I managed to stifle the urge to make one myself. It was mightily disappointing with City yet again unable to take advantage of other results and it looks like the agony is set to continue right up to the final game before three teams are put out of their misery.

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It all hinged on the substitution.  Completely unnecessary.  Hoolahan wasn\t tired and we had complete control of the ball.  As soon as he went off it was only matter of time until Stoke levelled it up.  Completely surrendered the possession, momentum and let them come onto us.

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[quote user="6088m canary"]It all hinged on the substitution.  Completely unnecessary.  Hoolahan wasn\t tired and we had complete control of the ball.  As soon as he went off it was only matter of time until Stoke levelled it up.  Completely surrendered the possession, momentum and let them come onto us.

[/quote]
It''s funny how some including the OP felt last week he shouldn''t have played today, and is someone that losses possession. I felt as we looked much more threatening and comfortable with him in the side. When he went off, we effectively lost the chance to go 2-0 up.

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Thanks Ricardo, great report as per usual.

All I can add is that I am now getting very concerned about RVW, he is being given every chance but other than some decent hard work outside the box at times seemed to be absolutely clueless inside the box and the team did work a couple of decent openings for him......he seems to have lost the strikers instinct and in box positional sense.

Also, considering I dont think Wes should even be in the squad, I thought he had a decent match offensively and worked hard until he started to tire,and so I was pleased to see Howson come on as Wes was certainly being brushed to one side defensively by the stronger Stoke players and we clearly needed a different option for that part of the game, Howson did well too I thought for the time he was on the pitch. 

I too feel that its going to be decided on the final day...........

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I''ll summarise Ricardo''s old waffle in a few words.

"A crock of sh it" , there that''s much easier to read.

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[quote user="InchY_barn door_wolfswinkel"]I''ll summarise Ricardo''s old waffle in a few words.

"A crock of sh it" , there that''s much easier to read.[/quote]No one is twisting your arm sunshine.[;)]

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[quote user="6088m canary"]It all hinged on the substitution.  Completely unnecessary.  Hoolahan wasn\t tired and we had complete control of the ball.  As soon as he went off it was only matter of time until Stoke levelled it up.  Completely surrendered the possession, momentum and let them come onto us.

[/quote]No I don''t think so. Stoke never had much momentum second half apart from long stuff up to Crouch. We were hardly what you might call hanging on when they got their pen and I thought we were still the most likely to score. The pen changed the game allowing them to sit back and stifle the game. The Wes substitution was neither here nor there but I suppose it gives some a stick to beat the manager with so no change there.

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Ricky I recall that you are philosophical about relegation. I think your stance is that for a club of our stature it will happen sooner or later.

However your report suggests that your normal optimism has taken a kicking today and hints that this could be the year.

Like you I left the ground today hugely disappointed even though I have been around long enough to know that a result like this was highly likely, if not today then in one of the next two home games. Personally I now feel that it will take 2 or 3 exceptional performances if we are to avoid the drop.

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[quote user="Sussexyellow"]Ricky I recall that you are philosophical about relegation. I think your stance is that for a club of our stature it will happen sooner or later.

However your report suggests that your normal optimism has taken a kicking today and hints that this could be the year.

Like you I left the ground today hugely disappointed even though I have been around long enough to know that a result like this was highly likely, if not today then in one of the next two home games. Personally I now feel that it will take 2 or 3 exceptional performances if we are to avoid the drop.[/quote]There is absolutely no doubt that it will happen sooner or later. Those expecting long term stays in this division are doomed to be disappointed. I wish it wasn''t so but that would be a triumph of hope over experience. Last year it was pretty obvious we would be ok and I said so from a long way out and was proved right despite many dissenting voices. This season it has been almost impossible to call and it is only now that we can pretty much say for certain that Fulham have gone. As for the rest, I suspect Cardiff will fall with AN Other. I expect we have as much chance of being the AN Other as do half a dozen other clubs.The fact that they all have to play each other and cut each others throats so to speak, gives us an outside chance if we can just beat Sunderland and WBA. I suspect these two games to decide our future.

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[quote user="Sussexyellow"]Ricky I recall that you are philosophical about relegation. I think your stance is that for a club of our stature it will happen sooner or later. However your report suggests that your normal optimism has taken a kicking today and hints that this could be the year. Like you I left the ground today hugely disappointed even though I have been around long enough to know that a result like this was highly likely, if not today then in one of the next two home games. Personally I now feel that it will take 2 or 3 exceptional performances if we are to avoid the drop.[/quote]

 

Good spot Mr Sussex but I''m sure Mr Ricardo said we won''t go down earlier in the new year, apologies if I''ve got that wrong Mr R.

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Why Hootan took off Wes is beyond me. Lost all our creativity, I thought he worked really well today and RvW gave some more glimmers of salvation.I think the clock is ticking for Hoots, its just a matter of if hes going to take us down with him !

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A tactically inept performance which once again left more questions than answers . Why suddenly is Wes the answer to the number 10 after months of being out in the cold ? Why RVW in place of Hooper? Why the same old formation , which leads to no chances in open play without at least trying to change it from time to time? Why sit Bechio on the bench week in and week out (perhaps he should have asked for a transfer too) and not bring him on with 10 to go ? Why invert the wingers and not switch them?

 

Why doesn''t any of CH''s changes result in a goal. Ever?

 

That really was so depressingly dull and crap.

 

If we dont score from a set piece in our 4 4 1 1 formation then we are stuffed. And if the oppo stop our full back getting forward that''s it.

 

Wes and RVW against Stoke back four? Really?  

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[quote user="Jimbo Canary"]

[quote user="Sussexyellow"]Ricky I recall that you are philosophical about relegation. I think your stance is that for a club of our stature it will happen sooner or later. However your report suggests that your normal optimism has taken a kicking today and hints that this could be the year. Like you I left the ground today hugely disappointed even though I have been around long enough to know that a result like this was highly likely, if not today then in one of the next two home games. Personally I now feel that it will take 2 or 3 exceptional performances if we are to avoid the drop.[/quote]

 

Good spot Mr Sussex but I''m sure Mr Ricardo said we won''t go down earlier in the new year, apologies if I''ve got that wrong Mr R.

[/quote]I don''t think I ever said that we won''t go down. In fact I''ve had a look at my early predictions (posted under Ricky''s early relegation predictions at the end of November) where I said this:-My conclusion from this is that in May 2014 its going to be touch and go

whether we get a further season in the Premier League. At the moment

all we can be certain of is that 2 of the present bottom 5 will be

playing Championship football next season.
We were 5th bottom at that time. I may not be clairvoyant but it looks like I was right 4 months agoAnd this is what I said at XmasThis season because of the condensed nature of the entire bottom half of

the league I''m not yet prepared to go out on a limb with anything like

the same degree of certainty. What seems clear to me however is that 40

points won''t be needed for safety unless there are some remarkable

results when bottom half play top half. It doesn''t seem likely to me and

I now feel that safety could be 36 points or even lower. If things

continue as they are then between 5 and 7 teams won''t get 40 points.
No prediction that we would be o.k.there either and I still think 36 points may be enough.

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[quote user="Nexus_Canary"]Why Hootan took off Wes is beyond me. Lost all our creativity, I thought he worked really well today and RvW gave some more glimmers of salvation.I think the clock is ticking for Hoots, its just a matter of if hes going to take us down with him ![/quote]Whatever happens I suspect he won''t be here next season. Things have progressed too far now. Had we now been comfortably mid table I think he would probably have been kept on despite many wanting him out. Unfortunately for him too many chances have been spurned and the unrest is not going to subside. As I''ve said before, managers live or die by results and Chris Hughton is no exception to that rule.

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Thanks for the report as always Ricardo an enjoyable read.

I''m not sure I agree about the Wes substitution, it might not have lead directly to the goal but it seemed a clear signal of our intent to settle for our lead.

It also seemed indirectly fatal as once they went down to ten men personally I had no faith in anyone else unlocking their defence and as we hoofed balls into Elmander it looked ever more bleak.

I totally agree on your comment about Hughton above, if he manages to keep us up I cannot see the board gambling another huge warchest on his current performance.

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Thanks for the report as always Ricardo an enjoyable read.

I''m not sure I agree about the Wes substitution, it might not have lead directly to the goal but it seemed a clear signal of our intent to settle for our lead.

It also seemed indirectly fatal as once they went down to ten men personally I had no faith in anyone else unlocking their defence and as we hoofed balls into Elmander it looked ever more bleak.

I totally agree on your comment about Hughton above, if he manages to keep us up I cannot see the board gambling another huge warchest on his current performance.

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Wes was adding creativity which we lost when he went, without him we had less chance of getting another goal. Wrong decision.

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from the minute we scored we seemed to hand all initiative to stoke - yobo & tettey immediately told ruddy to slow the play down, hoolahan then went off for howson.

If i was a stoke player I would have got a lift from the fact that norwich had decided they were happy with 1-0. maybe if we scored with 5 minutes left (like v hull) but with 30minutes left its suicidal.

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Let''s not forget that Howson was one of our bigger goal threats (if we had such a thing) at the start of the season. He was keeping Hoolahan out of the side really, because he was pretty much our biggest attacking threat and added a little bit more bite in the middle.

Now, obviously after the red card and Stoke going down to 10, we were crying out for Hoolahan''s trickery in and around the edge of the box to try and create an opening. But had we not given a stupid penalty away, then it would probably have been the right decision to bring Howson on. It wasn''t about settling per se, it was about trying to maintain our attacking threat whilst becoming more solid (and fresher) at the same time.

Unfortunately, Houghton can''t stop the defence - and the captain especially - from making individual clangers which cost you the points.

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Another woeful performance, yet we still almost snatched 3 points. Hughton has to go at the end of the season.

You say we need to beat Sunderland and WBA Ricardo, whilst I agree, if we do indeed win both we''ll have a minimum of 35 points which I honestly think could be enough this season anyway. I can''t see 2 or 3 of the bottom five picking up a minimum of 10 points in the remaining games, it would take a dramatic turn in fortune for too many clubs. If we do not reach 35 points then we will most certainly go down, and most certainly deserve to go down too.

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I''m struggling to see where taking Wes off had a direct impact on Bassong''s challenge to give away the penalty... We were comfortable up until that point with or without Wes, there was no increased threat on our goal.

 

Now, I am not a Hughton ''Inner'' by any stretch, but the substitution made was in my opinion the right one at that time. The problem is that we then gave a needless penalty away which then resulted in us needing Wes on the pitch. Hindsight and all that. My biggest gripe with the substitutions then was why Elmander came on with Hooper, I thought RVW was working hard without much joy on his own and would have benefitted playing with Hooper for the final 20 minutes.

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Nobody has said that taking Hoolahan off directly led to that penalty. Its a pretty simplistic way to look at it...

After we took Hoolahan off, suddenly stoke were in our half a lot more. Our midfield, instead of pushing up and not giving stoke a chance to get forward we were on the edge of our own box. We through we could hold them at 1-0 for 25 minutes and it cost us. Then once they went down to 10 they showed us how it should be done

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Wes looked like he could create something, as soon as he went off we lost that threat, Howson has been out for a long time and was way off the pace, not surprisingly, wrong decision.

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Rogue, Wes was subbed in the 68th minute, Walters scored the pen in the 73rd.....

You are telling me there was a huge shift change in the pattern of the game for 6 minutes??? I didn''t see it noticeably.. I agree fully that Chris Hughton is on borrowed time and decisions he makes are sometimes baffling, but to argue the Wes change helped to create the equaliser yesterday is utter garbage. The game was going nowhere other than a 1-0 or maybe 2-0 win for us, there was no change whatsoever in the pattern of play for those 360 seconds!!!

 

 Ruddy had no shot to save from the 20th minute onwards. If you want to apportion any blame, look no further than Sebs rash challenge..

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As others have said, Wes (im not his biggest fan btw) was the player most likely to do something. He was our out ball. Suddenly the midfield were 30 yards deeper when Howson come on.

I agree re Bassong - he shouldn''t have even been in the team. Performances since Swansea have not been good enough.

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[quote user="Rogue Baboon"]

As others have said, Wes (im not his biggest fan btw) was the player most likely to do something. He was our out ball. Suddenly the midfield were 30 yards deeper when Howson come on.

I agree re Bassong - he shouldn''t have even been in the team. Performances since Swansea have not been good enough.

[/quote]

Got to agree with this. Bassong has been an accident waiting to happen for a while. Own goal, conceding a needless penalty, time for Ryan Bennett to come in I think. Bassong has struggled all season, he hasn''t looked sharp or fit enough. He''s put in some good shifts, but when his poor it really costs us.

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Thanks Ricardo.It''s annoying really because after the first 25 minutes Stoke didn''t seem to be any threat at all. I couldn''t see them getting back in it. Obviously I could be making a rod for my own back by saying this but I think that if we had won yesterday we would have "half-way there" with one more win and a draw or two being sufficient. Like you, I suspect that it will take far less than 40 this year.Looking at the table and the fixtures, I would still rather be in out position than that of Fulham, Cardiff, Sunderland, West Brom and Palace.

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[quote user=" Badger"]Thanks Ricardo.

Looking at the table

and the fixtures, I would still rather be in out position than that of Fulham,

Cardiff, Sunderland, West Brom and Palace.[/quote]

 

I still agree with this Badger. But it''s difficult to appreciate after the

disappointment of yesterday''s result. But come the end of the season yesterday''s

result will be a positive in the points total whether we stay up or not.

 

It''s becoming harder to remain positive but I said last week I thought we''d

stay up and I also said that we''d drop points in games we felt needed to win and

pick up points in games we didn''t expect them from. Looking back 5 points from

the last 3 home games with 4 of them coming from Spurs and Citeh. Without those

4 we would be in trouble.

 

So it''s on to St Mary''s. I reckon any points won there will be unexpected.

Maybe our run in will be our own version of "Tales Of The Unexpected".

 

 

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