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Matchday Thread PNE v Stoke City - 9/03/24 - KO:3PM - Championship

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Matchday Thread PNE v Stoke City - 9/03/24 - KO:3PM - Championship

It was always going to be a battle today.

So we were found wanting in our commitment, they were more up for it.

On top of that we had planned for the set up Stoke used previously, unfortunately today they changed it, what a surprise, and we couldn’t deal with it.

But my big problem about today is why were we not taking the game to them so they had to worry about us instead of it being us worrying about them.

Season over for me now, still mathematically possible but today showed when the chips are down we havnt got it.

We simply weren’t good enough from strategy to delivery, second best all day.
 
Once again another game where we have created very little and not tested the keeper, that has happened so many times this season at home.

We said at half time about going to 4 at the back, AB should have either been subbed or pushed into midfield, the lack of a wing back on the right causing issues again... Taking LM off was daft, why cant RL swop wingers if things are not working, try something different...!!!!

When BW went off i was expecting DH to come on and us to go for it, should have known better.....
 
Just seen the goals again on the highlights. Truly abysmal defending, especially with the second.

This summer, we need a whole new backline - no doubt Ridsdale, Hemmings et al will think otherwise and think we can stick a couple of midfielders there instead...
 
The big question is, will the positions in question be addressed in the summer?
Well the feeling will be, we have been nowhere near relegation with the lads we have so, why waste the money!! A complete absence of a thought out plan or any ambition whatever. Here's the thing, I have been supporting our club since 1967, if the owners and people in charge over that almost 60 years, had deliberately set out to avoid the top division, they would not have made a better job of it, than the jokers,half wits and yes men who have been in charge! The cherry on top was Risdale!!!!! Just look at his history, his credentials,his financial mis management!! He wouldn't get on the board as an advisor to the monster raving loony party, he gets his big size 10 in our door and before you know it we are paying him handsomely for doing the square root of nowt into the bargain!!!! You could not make it up, if the were a coroners investigation on the demise of our club, the verdict would be suicide from self inflicted wounds !!!
 
Just done enough to make the faithful think it might be worth buying a season ticket again then back to the reality that we are not good enough or financially capable of making a proper challenge for the play offs .... happy to finish in top half of Championship without ever seeking to do more ....
That was my thought driving back up the Motorway!
 
I can't say that, that was totally unexpected and half what you would expect from PNE playing a Team at the bottom who, on paper, we are expected to beat, it shouldn't be this way but most fans will suspect that we will flatter to deceive, get somewhere near the play offs and then just not bother to turn up in a game where we looked more like a League 1 Team than our opponents who are actually in danger of being that.
Apart from Mads in the second half we looked like we had no idea, very little technique, flat and pedestrian.
Today was such a disappointing poor performance and back to how it has been for most of the Season and just as i had actually started to look forward to coming down to Deepdale, instead of it being a chore!!!
 
A good summary. RL has no answer for teams who play an efficient press
Not sure about this. I think it’s more so we only seem to be able to play well against teams that play out from the back.

If a team has a good press against us, it doesn’t really matter because we just smack it long anyway.
 
Brown is looking like a midfielder playing at full back,not his fault! Personally I think Woodman gets away with murder, he is a good shot stopper, but very weak in the air and his distribution is appalling!!
Gooch rinsed Brown all day and was probably MOM. Woodman looked really nervy, and yes his distribution, even after taking an age to decide what to do, is dire!
 
How many of the team we had on show today would be able to hack it in the Premiership?
How many players have finally realised that promotion would mean an end to their cushy lives playing for our team?.
How many would attract better offers for that level of performance we saw today from other clubs?
How happy would the Club Owners be to shell out £££££ to finance a year in the Premiership?
Will Ryan Lowe become the next Manager of Liverpool?
So many questions .... all with very similar answers ...
 
We are a bit of a one trick pony, counter attack and high press specialists. Fortunately most of the teams in the division play to our strengths by overplaying out from the back. We are pretty clueless against teams who play like Stoke. The Rotherham game could be a season low point.

Most disappointing thing was the start. We barely touched the ball on first 5 mins and that set the tone.
I might not have any badges, but you don't need any to say that the kick off is ale house football and Saturday or Sunday league parks Football level, if you can't even get that right, it does as you say, set the tone.
 
In this game it seemed like Ben Whiteman is returning to the form he had in that long crap run we had. Coming out of that spell, his improved form was one of the factors in the resurgence. I hope this is only a 'blip' for him & us.
Guess its all about opinions but i didn't think he had a good game today.
This Season Whiteman is often slow and pedestrian and doesn't seem to have great technique, although he's better if he plays deep.
 
Stats tell the stats story not the whole story.
I watched the game.
Going from the maths, it shows that Stoke were more than twice as good as PNE .
Which is nonsense
They might not have been twice as good - but they where definitely better, and as they where 3rd bottom and we where on the edge of the play offs, that really should not have been the case!!
 
I might not have any badges, but you don't need any to say that the kick off is ale house football and Saturday or Sunday league parks Football level, if you can't even get that right, it does as you say, set the tone.
Oh dear that bloody kick off .. just what is that about ? Week in week out. Center circle , passed back then hefted up to a wing .. throw in …. Like goal kicks .. keeper places ball all the players shift to one side of the pitch kick it into said sad bunch … throw in .. you don’t need a badge to know that’s crap and ineffective
 
We won’t concede two worse goals than that in a game again

2nd goal is comical, their lad knew nothing about it

You can usually tell within ten minutes of kick off if we have a chance in a game

Everything was off from the start

Yet another game where our lack of a natural wing back has cost us at home

But it’s ok apparently we don’t need one
 
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