Pressure on?

Stoke played well and they are in form. First half we could have finished it in the first 20 minutes. Second half they were much the better team and we were lucky to get a point.

Our passing was off all night but their pressing was good. A point gained as far as I was concerned, it’s the championship perhaps the most competitive league in the world.
 
I don't think we played our usual patient game today not sure if it was down to nerves or their pressing or bit of both.

We certainly weren't as big of a threat today. Might see forss back in on sat.

Good point tonight
 
The thing is also, clearly it was a Good battling draw, but one thing we need to remember is stoke played at home on Friday night and had a significant amount of extra recovery time versus boro away to Swansea on Saturday tea time which I believe made a difference and they still couldn't defeat us. Lots to learn from that tonight but stoke definitely had an advantage and probably contributed to our game being just off and theirs being super sharp....
 
Stoke ate on a decent run and we were due a draw and we have won around 6 on the bounce at home.

I said to my son 1-1 before the game, should have kept my mouth shut.
 
Stoke dismantled a good Sunderland team the other week, they had the perfect players and tactics to take us apart today given how powder puff our midfield is without the ball, the Jonjo Shelvey lookalike absolutely bossed the game
 
We weren't able to play our normal patient game because they didn't allow us to.

They pressed us aggressively and even when we won the ball we often gave it away straight away, due to their counter-press.
 
A bit of both I reckon, Stoke pressed really well and smothered our passing game and we started to hurry the passes and lost a bit of composure. However, if we recall the play-off and promotion seasons under Karanka, all the top teams will go through games like this at the end of the season, drawing and losing winnable games and then pulling surprises out of the bag. There are a lot more twists and turns to go before the fat lady starts to warm up her tonsils....
 
They have a proper shi*house midfield.
Knew exactly when to foul and knock our key players of their game. Ben Pearson is fantastic at it, similar to how Clayton was for us under Aitor
Ben Pearson, looks a bit overweight, slow, not brilliant in possession. Yet as you say, he was almost always perfectly positioned to stop our breaks, brilliant reading of the game from him.
 
Stoke were good. They had their tactics spot on. Made it difficult to keep possession and play our usual fluid style. Even the chances we created in the first half came from a more direct route than what we have been playing.

We got away with a draw in the end. Probably deserved to lose the game. Although if Chuba's strike from the edge of the box had dipped under the cross bar and we had been 2-0 up we probably would have won the game. Fine margins.

A draw isn't the end of the world, we can't win them all. Big reaction required on Saturday though.
 
Was that the reason for the sloppy, disjointed display, or was it just that Stoke were that good?
For me Stoke were quite good, not great. We were poor in some aspects, our passing was off all night. If we don't pass well our game falls apart.

I don't believe it was too do with nerves. We just fell a little below our usual high standards. It happens occasionally.
 
Although to be fair our goal was completely his fault.
Aye Chuba completely out muscled him. He's not the first or the last Chuba makes look silly though.
In terms of the midfield battle, he had Hackney all night and stopped Ramsey really well. Whenever we turned them he was there with a tactical foul. I think our players grew frustrated with it, when he got the yellow Chuba did gesture.
Usually we get turned, get a run on and slide our forwards in. Stoke knew how to defend it and got some joy going forward
 
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