Today

[Cuzer]

A brave manager when so in the ascendency would have brought Cole on for Grady and gone two up top

We’re not saying Cole is good enough but he clearly wants a chance,  came on today for 3 minutes, gave the centre halves a different style to deal with, one big punt down the field from Palmer, he challenges the CH ball goes through to Grant who has a chance to win it, and should have done a lot better

Love DA, Boaz and Brunty and they’ve done a good job of stepping in for CC especially given the appointment took way too long but their in game management has certainly cost us points IMO

Cuzer

Agreed.

Cole is a striker, he may not do the stuff Maja can do, but without game time we don't know what he can do.

Swift left mid at Swansea I’ll never forgive them for 

Utter madness and completely changed the momentum of the game and we lost MJ dribbling ability causing them all sorts of issues

Wallace today up top against a side playing a low block? Head scratcher 

Cuzer

[Cheshire East Baggie]

Enjoyed the game. Stoke frequently manage to get a lucky goal against us. Agree with the gist of the other comments. Couple of observations:

- it seems to be generally accepted that a defence becomes more shaky if they don't have the confidence of the keeper behind them. I am wondering whether Furlong's drop in form might be influenced by having Holgate inside him
- this has been a bugbear of mine for a while, when we are defending corners; we leave nobody upfield. Until the very end of the game Stoke consistently left 2 upfield for our many, many corners and, yes, I know we haven't been the best at converting this season, but I felt this nullified the danger even more - at the very least the potential chaos resulting from a corner is reduced by having 4 fewer bodies in the area.

It would explain his lack of mobility and movement today.

Furlong has been poor defensively two games in a row - so let's blame Holgate, eh? If he lacks confidence in Holgate he should focus more on defence instead of getting caught out of position, as he did for today's goal and two of Bournemouth's last week.

I don't quite understand the anti-Holgate obsession on here. Ajayi isn't available, so the alternatives are Bartley when (if) fit who lacks pace, or Taylor who is untried at this level. There's no quick fix. We'll soon see if Tony Mowbray shares the view of many posters on here.

[Bob Fossil]

What injury is Mowatt carrying and, if so, why is he playing?
We missed Diakite today so no reason for a CM to be playing injured. Mowatt was poor.

[Paddock]

Enjoyed the game. Stoke frequently manage to get a lucky goal against us. Agree with the gist of the other comments. Couple of observations:

- it seems to be generally accepted that a defence becomes more shaky if they don't have the confidence of the keeper behind them. I am wondering whether Furlong's drop in form might be influenced by having Holgate inside him
- this has been a bugbear of mine for a while, when we are defending corners; we leave nobody upfield. Until the very end of the game Stoke consistently left 2 upfield for our many, many corners and, yes, I know we haven't been the best at converting this season, but I felt this nullified the danger even more - at the very least the potential chaos resulting from a corner is reduced by having 4 fewer bodies in the area.

It would explain his lack of mobility and movement today.

Furlong has been poor defensively two games in a row - so let's blame Holgate, eh? If he lacks confidence in Holgate he should focus more on defence instead of getting caught out of position, as he did for today's goal and two of Bournemouth's last week.

I don't quite understand the anti-Holgate obsession on here. Ajayi isn't available, so the alternatives are Bartley when (if) fit who lacks pace, or Taylor who is untried at this level. There's no quick fix. We'll soon see if Tony Mowbray shares the view of many posters on here.

No, let's not blame Holgate. He is who he is; but I think it's fair to pose the thought that perhaps (what I perceive as) Furlong's dip in form may be influenced by having Holgate inside him (the same observation might also apply to Heggam). Has our back four previously looked more assured and confident with Palmer in goal vs Button, for example? Again, this is not to blame Button (who also is who he is) but to make an observation. I can assure you that I neither seek to blame Holgate, nor do I have any sort of obsession with him - though I appreciate your reply may have been to what you see as a general board sentiment and not to me specifically.

As for the Stoke goal, Furlong was doubling up on Koumas with Molumby in line with the rest of the back 4 - I would argue this is a reasonable position to take against by far Stoke's most dangerous player - but still gets across to make a challenge when the ball comes out to the Stoke 3 (Stevens?). In fact, Furlong gets something on the ball but the ricochet/deflection bounces up nicely into Stevens' path, who then lays it back to Koumas, who is challenged by Fellows, again getting something of a block/tackle, but the ball deflects kindly back to Stevens - Mowatt gets drawn towards him, leaving a man free on the edge, his shot is woeful but falls directly to Lowe, who sticks a leg out and in it goes. It's a sequence of very lucky breaks for Stoke and I personally don't find Furlong at fault. Holgate is not involved in any way, other than to raise his arm at the end for offside when in fact he (and perhaps Furlong as well) is the one playing Lowe on.

My observation about Furlong was in relation to his general form and not to the Stoke goal specifically.