Stoke reaction, it may be anti-football but it sure is ‘effective’

Away with your football!

‘Go out there and enjoy yourselves’, one of the most overused managerial clichés going. It does however have a very salient point behind it. Football should be enjoyable, it should be entertaining. The brand of football that Stoke play and aspire to is neither of these things and despite being reassured otherwise I cannot believe Stoke fans happily hand their money over to watch it every week. The word most often used to describe their approach is ‘effective’, and if that is the best compliment your interpretation of the beautiful game can receive you have to expect at the very least to polarise the opinion of the neutral.

Initial Reactions, Norwich 1-1 Stoke

So here we are, we’ve arrived. We’ve got to the point where we are disappointed with a draw against a side playing in the Europa League. Certainly a landmark in our season. The Europa league creates these anonymous Sunday games that aren’t officially televised. Instead fans without tickets such as myself are huddled around their computers to experience the atmosphere of the return of Premier League football to Carrow Road.

Lambert and Culverhouse talk the talk ahead of Stoke

The moon landing, the assasination of JFK, 9-11 and when Craig Phillips confronted Nasty Nick in the original Big Brother.

We all know where we were at the monumental defining moments of our generation. Last night I was on my sofa finishing a stir-fry when I saw Stuart Jarrold’s question on Sky Sports News raise a smile from Paul Lambert. An entirely unforced, genuine, throughoughly un-scottish smile. Are we to take from this that relegation favorites Norwich City’s manager is actually enjoying being in the Premier League? Who would have thought it.

The MotD Debate & Scouting Stoke

The dream team

I can’t help thinking reading the reactions from some fans to the media’s coverage of our return to the Premier League, that we have become the victims of a targeted media blackout and smear campaign. This of course is not true, the fact is some of our fans have high expectations and thin skin.

Twitter was abuzz with city fans on Saturday complaining about the time our game was given, the way the BBC inaccurately portrayed a game in which we had the (albeit minimal) majority of possession. Recently it seems if the Yellow Army can find something to complain about with regards to Norwich in the media, then we do. We need to stop taking things so personally. It would be very easy for these complaints to come across as ‘Big Club Syndrome’, a terrible affliction the worst documented cases being the terminal ones at Elland Road and St.James’ Park. Let’s not get like that, it really isn’t worth it.