Elton

Mate, you’ve got the wrong Elton. I’m Ben.

Fred did avoid it, he just left him. Weird that anyone can think that’s ok. So by your logic Fred should (as he did) leave Deeney who is about to nod it in and mark some empty space on the right wing?

Totally agree. Really young for a CB. Remember Ugo, he wasn’t exactly a great passer when he came into the team but grew and grew.

I really don’t get this viewpoint. Fred was marking him and left him knowing that Konsa was facing the other way and not able to see Deeney. Fred could see the whole picture. It would be the same if El Ghazi playing up front decided to leave a man he was marking when defending but that’s ok, it’s not his normal job. What if a defender has a tap in but decides not to bother because that’s not his normal job? These are basics of football and if we want to stop conceding so freely then everyone has to be alert and do the basics and not fall asleep at crucial moments and that applies to everyone if we like them or not.

A reasonable position to take but I can’t help feel that all these fluky wins and late points is ridiculous luck rather than good management. If he thinks his squad isn’t good enough to play any other way then fair enough I suppose.

Perhaps they are hoping for other bids when clubs get more desperate. Even with players clubs are happy to let go of, it makes sense to do the deals later in the window in case of injuries to the squad as well as hoping for a bidding war. Although, that said, Leeds could come to their sense so sell quick!

Smith said he is having his visa interview which is the last formality. He will have his permit this week, probably tomorrow.

Because he was marking him and then let him go to nod in a free header...

So you do agree with me then I’m not saying Konsa couldn’t have done better but Fred was the main culprit. I think he’s a really good prospect but just these little concentration/awareness issues let him down at times. If he was the finished article we wouldn’t have signed him as a championship team and he wouldn’t occasionally get dropped for Elmo.

Nope, you’re wrong. Fred was marking him at the time and let him run off him into space. Watch it back, it’s very clear. Just because a right wing back doesn’t usually mark a forward doesn’t mean he wasn’t on this occasion.

I like him but he was clearly at fault for Deeney’s goal. He let Deeney drift off him and amble into the 6 yard box for a simple free header when he could see that Konsa was wasn’t picking him up. He needs to improve his defensive awareness and he’ll be a good player.

Whether the club lied about that or he was genuinely ill (there’s a lot of it around) or just unselectable as his head was elsewhere, I guess we’ll never know. I just can’t see the issue with Engel’s being dropped given results have improved since.

I disagree. We were incredibly poor aerially from crosses and set pieces when Engels was in the team. This has been massively improved by Hause coming into the side.

Why? They are all just reading and spreading the same nonsense source on Twitter. Bit like Kodjia’s medical at Forest..

There is no conspiracy here. Frankly I didn’t see any stand out performances early in the season that he is some incredible CB. He looked OK but nothing more, we were conceding for fun when he was playing. He played against Fulham so hasn’t been frozen out. Despite still conceding too many the defence doesn’t seem as vulnerable (Man C apart) with the new structure/personnel. Chester has also played in a back 3 before regularly and as club captain seems a reasonable selection as a sub over Engels.

I think there is no doubt he is much braver player in wanting to receive the ball in tight areas than Hourihane in particular and a leader too. But he is in no way an upgrade on Douglas in his current condition. In all honestly I didn’t really see a significant improvement from the stands. He still isn’t match fit or match sharp. Smith must have thought the same to drag him off after 55 minutes and say afterwards that it wasn’t a game for him. Shame he can’t play against Leicester. He could really do with more game time before Bournemouth.

But tonight was a 6 pointer..

Smith has confirmed he is eligible to play in the 2nd leg of the semi final.

He made some vital tackles and headers as usual. Him winning the long ball lead to our goal. Reina to Hause, Mings, Konsa and Mings. Not sure we’ll see more defenders involved in a goal than that. Also free kick because of Deeney’s foul on Fred. Unlucky Troy..

7th in the form table and more wins in the league than Arsenal. Facts are odd sometimes. 9 points from 5th place. Push for Europe is on

Wow! Just back because I didn’t leave on 86 minutes. What are you early leavers doing missing out on pure joy!! Nakamba was marvellous tonight. Jack was less effective than usual but still a class above most. I thought Drinkwater was lucky to start the 2nd half. Douglas is levels above him in fitness and sharpness at the moment. Whilst we had plenty of the ball we didn’t create many good chances and I can’t wait to see our play develop with an actual centre forward on the pitch. That result was absolutely massive.

Purslow did an interview saying as such. Ambition was very high, possible European qualification was a stated ambitious aim for this season.

In that case he’ll be the only person in human history that would rather stay in Stoke.

As did we but Davis and Kodjia. Agree we needed another forward though. It’s being put right now and it’s not too late. I know you’re a glass half broken kind of guy but we can’t go back in time and this has been a good window in very difficult circumstances.

Having just watched his interview, he isn’t short of confidence. Woodward asked about starting like Benteke and he said he wanted to do better than Benteke did with us. About time we had more characters, Samatta and Reina both seem big personalities, which is much needed.