Match Thread Stoke away 10th August 12:30 - Opening day! (13 Viewers)

[Tommo1993]

Can’t understand why people are rating Torp higher than Allen yesterday. Blindness maybe.

 

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[Otis]

Yeah early call but for the fee you’d expect him to show instant impact. Same as Kitching.

Frankly I’d be telling the recruitment department no League One players over £2m until they figure it out. The jump is huge and no one who is over 21 and hasn’t played at a higher level is worth that much. Always a huge gamble whether they’ll be able to step their game up.

Not sure we should be expecting anyone to make an instant impact to be honest.

Some hit the ground running and others, take a little while to settle in.

Just the nature of the beast.

 

[no_loyalty]

Isn’t it an opening day AWAY game since 2007?

Yes, we beat Forest at home on the opening day a few seasons ago.

 

[Sky Blue Harry H]

Is that correct?! I cba to check but that’s absolutely mad if so, surely not? So we’ve gone 17 seasons without having won an opening day game? Seems like we’re destined to always start shit

Beat Forest 2-1 didn't we (the year they went up)

 

[shmmeee]

Not sure we should be expecting anyone to make an instant impact to be honest.

Some hit the ground running and others, take a little while to settle in.

Just the nature of the beast.

I just think at that age and that fee you should see something early. For the money you should have a natural talent level that shows. I think everyone saw from day one that MvE Hamer Sakamoto for example had something about them.

 

[shmmeee]

Not saying he won’t come good. Just that for the money i wouldn’t want to wait too long. Less about the player and more about the decision to spend over £4m on someone who isn’t going to hit the ground running.

 

[BlueSkiesForever]

Frankly I’d be telling the recruitment department no League One players over £2m until they figure it out. The jump is huge and no one who is over 21 and hasn’t played at a higher level is worth that much. Always a huge gamble whether they’ll be able to step their game up.

I’ve been saying it for ages but this is why I rate European players over English league players. The pool of players is much greater and I feel that at the level we’re working at, prices aren’t inflated compared to the ability the players actually represent.

I’ve got no evidence to back any of this up (shock) but I’m sure that if Kitching was Italian and played in the Dutch league he wouldn’t have been bought for anywhere near £4m. Teams in the championship seem to love other players in the championship and league 1, honestly don’t get it.

Edit: players like Grimes etc I don’t have an issue with, I take issue with spending £4m on a defender from Barnsley that seems clueless at times.

 

[covcity4life]

I think people panicking a bit and looking into things too much

These players will continue to gain experience and some will become leaders in time. Don't have to buy a seasoned player although I wouldn't be against it either

We do need a midfielder in though as Allen isn't of the quality required for auto promotion contending team week in week out.

I like Thomas alot which is why it's so silly @Samo accused me of having a boo boy! But his passing was poor yday. That said do we really want a seasoned pro I go de trail Thomas and binks development? I'm not so sure

Fine margins in this game. Has binks scored that header or even if it remained scoreless we would be here talking about a clean sheet and away point whilst playing poorly. Mark of champions etc

I think we will be okay personally. Just need that midfielder in for sure and hopefully a RB back up

 

[Cally Fedora]

So let’s get things straight. Torp isn’t good enough but we should focus on foreign signings. EMC has played 60 minutes but is criticised for lacking impact! We shouldn’t sign L1 players any more. Kitching will be the cornerstone of our defence for a good while. One game in guys. We just needed to play with more intensity.

 

[Boicey]

I think people panicking a bit and looking into things too much

These players will continue to gain experience and some will become leaders in time. Don't have to buy a seasoned player although I wouldn't be against it either

We do need a midfielder in though as Allen isn't of the quality required for auto promotion contending team week in week out.

I like Thomas alot which is why it's so silly @Samo accused me of having a boo boy! But his passing was poor yday. That said do we really want a seasoned pro I go de trail Thomas and binks development? I'm not so sure

Fine margins in this game. Has binks scored that header or even if it remained scoreless we would be here talking about a clean sheet and away point whilst playing poorly. Mark of champions etc

I think we will be okay personally. Just need that midfielder in for sure and hopefully a RB back up

We've had 2 good spending seasons to build a cohesive squad. And it seems we are still way out of balance. Plenty of forwards (and keepers!), weak midfield, no RB cover.
I'm not sure 'we will be okay' will be good enough for Doug.

 

[Boicey]

So let’s get things straight. Torp isn’t good enough but we should focus on foreign signings. EMC has played 60 minutes but is criticised for lacking impact! We shouldn’t sign L1 players any more. Kitching will be the cornerstone of our defence for a good while. One game in guys. We just needed to play with more intensity.

Midfield is the heart of 'playing with intensity'. Winning the ball and quickly passing to players who can move forward.
Do you think Torp, Allen, Eccles have the capability to deliver that?

 

[SkyBlueCharlie9]

I couldn't quite see who was CDM yesterday at times lost our shape a bit, and wasnt clear who was pushing forward and holding. Allen was poor but it's not his role against a physical stoke team. Torp works much better with Sheaf. Allen and Eccles togrther with Palmer does not work as all give ball away too much..... ( I'm not just basing this on yesterday)

 

[SkyblueTexan]

we haven’t won an opening day game since 2007/2008 season (4-1 at Barnsley)

No, we beat Forest on opening day in 21-22. We’ve had Hamer and Fadz’s leadership at the back for every opening day since we’ve been back in the Championship (2-1 loss to Bristol C, 2-1 win v Forest, 1-1 draw v Sunderland and 2-1 loss to Leicester), but this was by far the poorest performance. We never looked like scoring for all the firepower at our disposal.

 

[Otis]

I just think at that age and that fee you should see something early. For the money you should have a natural talent level that shows. I think everyone saw from day one that MvE Hamer Sakamoto for example had something about them.

He only had 62 mins

How early are you expecting it?

 

[covcity4life]

We've had 2 good spending seasons to build a cohesive squad. And it seems we are still way out of balance. Plenty of forwards (and keepers!), weak midfield, no RB cover.
I'm not sure 'we will be okay' will be good enough for Doug.

Okay for me is a promotion push tbf

 

[SkyBlue_Bear83]

EMC has only played one game so it's a bit harsh but I do think he's been majorly over-hyped on here and will need time to adjust to the Championship. 100% agree about the others, especially Kitching and Torp.

Hope we haven't fallen for the classic Peterborough scam of overhyping their attacking players to get big money for them.

 

[Otis]

Okay for me is a promotion push tbf

Has to be

We should definitely be challenging around the top 6.

 

[Cally Fedora]

Midfield is the heart of 'playing with intensity'. Winning the ball and quickly passing to players who can move forward.
Do you think Torp, Allen, Eccles have the capability to deliver that?

Eccles, yes. Allen, yes. Torp, possibly. But the squad also has Sheaf. Yesterday wasn’t about ability for me. It was mindset.

 

[Sky Blue Pete]

Midfield is the heart of 'playing with intensity'. Winning the ball and quickly passing to players who can move forward.
Do you think Torp, Allen, Eccles have the capability to deliver that?

Eccles does

 

[Brighton Sky Blue]

I can agree that part of the issue is spending high amounts on players who don’t seem worth the price, but there’s a growing part of me thinking that we keep moving away from playing to the strengths of what we’ve got.

We’re asking players to move the ball slowly around the back when they struggle under a press. Aiming to put lots of balls into the box when our main striker is weak in the air. Getting players to mark zonally at corners when they keep losing track of opponents etc.

And yet, this isn’t what we spent pre-season working on. So what were the instructions yesterday?

 

[Evo1883]

Woke up in a foul mood.. great

 

[Boicey]

Eccles does

I'd possibly agree with that. Although Eccles needs to improve his passing.
Torp and Allen aren't ball winners.
Allen is better without the ball than with it (not yesterday), but that isn't enough.
What's worrying about Torp is he doesn't want the ball, verging on hiding.

 

[clint van damme]

Woke up in a foul mood.. great

I've learnt to let it go, only took me 50 plus years, you'll be fine in 20 years mate.

 

[Sky Blue Harry H]

We are quite capable of thumping Oxford by 4 goals, but then losing by a couple at Bristol City in the following league game. When Sheaf returns and we hopefully get another player (or two ) in, we'll be fine.

 

[Sky Blue Harry H]

TBH?

Tommy Bloody Hutchison (very disappointing iirc!))

 

[TomRad85]

Woke up in a foul mood.. great

I think this is the hardest I've ever been before a season, trust CCFC to make me limp again in double quick time.
Reality is though that this is an excellent squad at Championship level so it's on Robins to get them performing.

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[Sick Boy]

We are quite capable of thumping Oxford by 4 goals, but then losing by a couple at Bristol City in the following league game. When Sheaf returns and we hopefully get another player (or two ) in, we'll be fine.

Oxford won’t be as easy as some are making out. The “we’ll be fine once…” stuff seems to get said every season.

 

[clint van damme]

this is an excellent squad at Championship level so it's on Robins to get them performing.

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I'm not sure it's as good as people think, I need a bit more convincing after yesterday.

 

[TomRad85]

I'm not sure it's as good as people think, I need a bit more convincing after yesterday.

I disagree, but if we go with your opinion then Robins would arguably have more questions to answer than less.

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[clint van damme]

I disagree, but if we go with your opinion then Robins would arguably have more questions to answer than less.

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Well we clearly need a other midfielder, someone does need to answers questions as to why that's not been addressed.

 

[TomRad85]

Well we clearly need a other midfielder, someone does need to answers questions as to why that's not been addressed.

100% agree with that. Baffling we haven't seen one come in yet.

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[Evo1883]

If that's how we are going to play this season then frankly we are all way off In our assumptions

 

[Sick Boy]

If that's how we are going to play this season then frankly we are all way off In our assumptions

I think playoffs should definitely be achievable but I do think some people have got carried away with how good we are.

 

[Sky Blue Harry H]

Oxford won’t be as easy as some are making out. The “we’ll be fine once…” stuff seems to get said every season.

To be fair, it's been right over the last 7 seasons or so

 

[clint van damme]

If that's how we are going to play this season then frankly we are all way off In our assumptions

The midfield really concerns me, I worry that there's not much more to come from Torp which means we're hanging our hat on Sheaf, a player who seems to experience at least one mid term injury and one spell of drastic lost form every season.
If that area is not right then it's going to be a difficult season.
It's only one game, so early days but not a great start against a pretty poor side who had two players really taking the game to us and that was enough.