Friday Dec 27th (H)

[Bannons boots]

Not much positive can be said about us as an attacking force tonight but again for all the possession they enjoyed they were hardly creating many chances. Definately grinding it out recently but taking points when not playing as we would hope is def a bonus.

[stokearab]

Not much positive can be said about us as an attacking force tonight but again for all the possession they enjoyed they were hardly creating many chances. Definately grinding it out recently but taking points when not playing as we would hope is def a bonus.

Agreed BB. Just to qualify what I said earlier, no meltdown here. I'm very very happy where the club is right now, very happy with the way the fans and the club are reunited in ambition and drive and very happy with our results.
But I just keep getting this nagging doubt that we dont play to our capabilities often enough.
We gave them hope tonight when we should have been grinding their noses into the dirt. We've got the quality to do that and we didn't do it tonight apart from one magic goal.
I understand derbies you cant always show your quality for the full 90 minutes but really we didn't show any quality at all after our goal and that's the part that concerns me a bit, more for next season than this one.

[weegiearab]

I think Robbie summed it up nicely...the players got caught up in the derby atmosphere and just started hooving the ball. Yep, we can play better but we have played worse and won.
Onto the next game and we don't let any negativity creep in.
Dundee played there best game in that second half and still didn't have enough to beat us.
QOS with prove another hard game for us and we still have to play it one game at a time.

[Whitfieldarab]

We weren't great and they weren't great, then the final whistle blew....and that was that. Pretty uneventful really.

[Bannons boots]

Last couple of games we have not been near our best & the opposition would have been reasonably happy with how they performed but they still didnt beat us. As i said grinding it out a bit just now but no team hoping to win a championship goes a season without having a mixture of performances. If this is as bad as we get we will be ok

[B4 i go]

Are you happy with the teams performance tonight?

Nope, been to a few home games this season and not been happy with all performances but happy with points picked up so far though. If the fun are happy with theirs then shows how far doon they are.

[stokearab]

Nope, been to a few home games this season and not been happy with all performances but happy with points picked up so far though. If the fun are happy with theirs then shows how far doon they are.

Correct. Cobra and his easily fooled disciples will be seeing that as a major trophy win

[swanny14]

Shankland is brilliant with a partner, but he struggles when asked to play on his own upfront. During our 9 in a row, for the most part either Clark or appere have played right upfront beside him. Can't understand why, for the past few weeks, we've reverted to playing him on his own up top, isolating him completely.

[stokearab]

Shankland is brilliant with a partner, but he struggles when asked to play on his own upfront. During our 9 in a row, for the most part either Clark or appere have played right upfront beside him. Can't understand why, for the past few weeks, we've reverted to playing him on his own up top, isolating him completely.

Someone will be along shortly and deny this on the basis it's a fluid 451 which becomes 433 or 343.
FWIW I agree with you.

[swanny14]

Cheers Stoke.