The Dazed Review – Stoke at the KC

After encouraging performances and results over the last few weeks Stoke arrived at the KC and the feeling amongst a lot of fans was one of optimism that we could carry on this unbeaten run leading up to a tricky trip to Norwich ?

Danny Mills unfortunately had to return to Man City with an injury and Parkin hobbled out of last weeks games so Forster and Dawson came into the side with Ricketts returning to the right back position ?

Stoke threw Liam Lawrence straight into the side after only signing him the night previous as a replacement for Luke Chadwick who had moved to Norwich during the week ?

The game started and after 90 seconds reality hit us hard as stoke took the lead from a corner that had been given away cheaply, people had barely sat down only for us to be down already ?



This was to prove a test of our resolve as to whether we could firstly calm things down from them taking an early lead and try and claw our way back into the game, we, to be fair started looking the more likely to score after the early goal but they were always dangerous on the break with their two big men up front they always posed a threat and Turner and Coles at times struggled to keep with them ?

Forster went close as well as Jarrett but we seemed to be lacking any cutting edge and the ability to hold things up front with Parkin being missed and more so Mills at the back as Stoke continued to push forward and come close on occasions as they kept Myhill, who looked a bit nervous, busy in the hull net ?

Before the half winded down Marney had a couple of attempts and Forster once more, Fagan had one of the best duels he had had this season against their full back , the full back was becoming increasingly frustrated and in the end got himself booked for his efforts ?

Half Time – Hull City 0 – 1 Stoke City

The Second half got underway in pretty much the same vein as the first although we were starting to look like we may snatch something from it with Forster failing to spot Elliott who would have surely scored, Elliott had a free kick shortly afterwards which was only denied from a great save from the keeper ?

Delaney even tried to get in on the act before Parky made his first change, He brought on Nick Barmby for Dawson which moved Delaney back into the left back position and placed Barmby in the middle of the park so he could try and create something as we were looking on top, he almost set up Elliott almost immediately which again brought out a good save from the keeper ? after that he had less and less involvement as he seemed to have gone AWOL on the pitch ? We had seemed to have lost some of the steel in the middle of the park and Stoke began to get more and more in the game, Parky tried to switch something around by bringing on Yeates and Bridges to spark something in ? unfortunately neither had a major impact and then Stoke dealt a killer blow by getting the second which duly prompted many to leave the stadium ?

After that the game seemed to go nowhere and I must admit that the better team won on the day ? we were out played and out muscled by a hard working industrious stoke side ?

Full Time – Hull City 0 – 2 Stoke City





Anyway Player Ratings



Myhill – 5? Looked nervous in Mill`s absence and to be honest was partly at fault for the second goal, did not seem to have confidence in the defense and they did not function well as a unit throughout the game ?

Dawson – 5? At the minute his play seems to be spiraling downhill at an alarming rate! just did not look at the races at all ? shaky in defense, every dead ball he played Marney had to come across to take the resulting one as especially on corners did not beat the first man ?



Turner – 6? Struggled against the big forwards that stoke brought with them but to be fair him and Coles did not let them through ? bring back Delaney to here though next week please Parky! ?



Coles – 7? Struggled again with the big forwards but looked like he was coping better than Turner ?.



Ricketts – 7? Probably the best defender we had on show but he was not anything too much to write home for ? a lot more composed than the rest of the back line and tried to galvanize movement forward when he could but spent most of his time keeping Hendrie quiet which he did well ?



Elliott – 6? Not the Elliott of a couple of weeks ago but still not afraid to give it a go when the opportunity presented itself ?



Marney – 7? Tireless and all action but no end product, did not stop him trying when we were up against it, a solid display from Marney



Jarrett – 6? Not his best game for us but again did the simple things effectively, at times looked overpowered though ?



Delaney – 6? Along with Jarrett not great but not the worst, switched to left back and did ok, think its time for him to go back to centre defense though now that Livermore is fully fit once again ?



Fagan – 7? In the first half had their full back committing fouls to stop him and if we had carried on in that vein we would have got him sent off I am sure, second half went missing though ?



Forster – 6? A lot of tireless running was left chasing lost causes down the channels more often than not ?



Subs



Barmby – 5 ? He came on in the position that most people had craved for him to play for a long while now, he came on and to be honest looked out of his depth, an early good pass to Elliott but apart from that huffed and puffed with no end product, people have said that he needs a run of games to show his talents once again but in order to get that run of games you have to prove yourself when you do come on, once again he failed to do so ?

Bridges – 6 ? Came on too late in the game, did not do too well when on but I feel he may get a start next week ?

Yeates – 6 ? did not do too much, I get the feeling him and Bridges coming on may have been preparation to switch back to 4-4-2 next week ?

Top Tiger? I think it was a toss up between Fagan for his never ending effort to try stuff or Ricketts more likely for keeping Hendrie out of the game to such good effect ?



Tigers Tail? Dawson, a rapid decline in form is becoming far too apparent but the trouble is we have no replacements at either full back role that would be good enough so we must preserver with him



Parky`s Performance – 6/10? Strange one here, the system was right, the players were right yet just as we were looking like we may get an equalizer he started tinkering which ultimately probably cost us any chance of getting a point out of this game ?



Ref Watch – 6/10 ? No real bad decisions as he kept the game flowing generally well



Crowd Watch – 6/10 ? Clamored for Barmby and you got what you wanted, maybe a few more realize he is not the savior a few people think that he is ?



where to from here?? Norwich away and a tough game to follow on from this one ? I would go back to 4-4-2 and try the Forster / bridges partnership, it has not done us so bad and we have the defensive midfield cover in Jarrett, Livermore and Ashbee to shore up the middle of the park, drop Marney (nothing against him) and have Livermore and Jarrett in the middle with Fagan and Yeates on the Wings ? Put Delaney back in the centre of defense with Coles and keep with the two full backs as we have no real alternative ?