MATCHWATCH : Stoke City (h) sponsored by Dylan Kerr

[muirinho]

He takes too long to change what is happening on the pitch. It should not have taken until the half time interval to sort the problems out down the left flank. It was obvious Gunter was being overloaded from the first few minutes.

Ok. Now please tell me how many unenforced first 60 minute substitutions there are in the entire season across all Champ teams.

And then realise what you're describing is also the very essence of reacting.

Empty criticism.

We should have been two down in the opening 15 minutes because of weaknesses down our left flank. Fortunately Stoke didn’t punish us. Clement should have reacted a lot quicker. That’s my criticism.

He should have reacted before the match started! Exact same issue last game.

[Zip]

Ok. Now please tell me how many unenforced first 60 minute substitutions there are in the entire season across all Champ teams.

And then realise what you're describing is also the very essence of reacting.

Empty criticism.

We should have been two down in the opening 15 minutes because of weaknesses down our left flank. Fortunately Stoke didn’t punish us. Clement should have reacted a lot quicker. That’s my criticism.

He should have reacted before the match started! Exact same issue last game.

Precisely. As soon as I saw the line up I knew our left flank was going to be a problem

[muirinho]

We should have been two down in the opening 15 minutes because of weaknesses down our left flank. Fortunately Stoke didn’t punish us. Clement should have reacted a lot quicker. That’s my criticism.

He should have reacted before the match started! Exact same issue last game.

Precisely. As soon as I saw the line up I knew our left flank was going to be a problem

I suppose it's theoretically possible he was going to play Blackett there rather than Gunter, and Moore's injury scuppered that - but it wasn't Gunts that was the problem (or at least, not most of it) - I can't see Blackett doing any better, with that narrow defence, and Swift playing the way he did.

[sandman]

Depends whether Blackett would go wandering into central midfield like Gunter did yesterday.

[biff]

Don't fairly criticise Gunter, you'll be accused of scapegoating.

[Snowflake Royal]

There was no one to play but Swift. There were no better alternatives. The problem wasn't Clement or Gunter, it was Swift.

[Old Man Andrews]

Can we just take a minute to congratulate David Coote on a spectacular refereeing display?

[Sutekh]

Can we just take a minute to congratulate David Coote on a spectacular refereeing display?