A frustrating night to look back on right now, but in retrospect, it’s a good point. The Brittania (Or whatever it is now) is a tough ground to go to, disregarding all the jokes. Stoke set up very defensively, and we had the better of both halves. However, having the better of both halves is never a guarantee for success against Stoke, never has been, as many of the top teams have proven down the years.
In the first half, we struggled to find ourselves in the early stages, resulting in an abrupt Crouch goal, knocking the wind out of our yet-to-be-erected sails. The midfield struggled early on, with Barkley looking absent and the forward line nothing less than helpless.
We refused to kick on in the second half after Coleman’s timely equaliser, as the game limped to the finish. On the night, the midfield was slow, the defence was shaky at best and the forward line struggled to find their way.
And we still got a point.
Not that bad.
Ratings
Joel Robles - 9
Stunning, stunning saves which kept us in the game throughout and confidently organised (Or at least put his best efforts into organising) our defence.
Séamus Coleman - 5
Made some very nearly costly mistakes in the early parts of the game and looked, like the rest of the defence, careless.
Mason Holgate - 4
Not the young man’s finest night as he was largely at fault for Crouch’s goal and was subsequently removed at the break.
Ashley Williams - 7
Like a disappointed parent to the young, mistake-ridden defence tonight as time after time cleaned up Holgate/Mori’s mishaps.
Ramiro Funes Mori - 5
Certainly not Mori’s finest hour.
Sloppy possession coupled with a struggle to deal with even the most simple of balls is a recipe never destined for greatness.
Leighton Baines - 5
Very average, no major mistakes but nothing of note to contribute.
Morgan Schneiderlin - 8
Brilliant full debut tonight for the Frenchman as he silently caused chaos among the Stoke ranks, being sure to annoy everyone possible in the Stoke midfield with irritating tackles, and a persistence to always be first in the referee’s ear.
Tom Davies - 7
A stellar performance again from the seemingly undroppable teenager.
Should have added to his newborn goal tally with a late header, but instead a great save from Lee Grant denied him.
Ross Barkley - 6
Not the most dominant night but the games Ross has to improve on are his bad games.
His good games are always phenomenal, but his bad games were downright embarrassing in 2016.
If this is to be a benchmark of his bad games, then it’s certainly looking up for Ross.
Kevin Mirallas - 5
Was eager to find space and options between the Stoke back line and midfield, but the feeling was far from reciprocal as the match seemed keen to leave him behind.
Romelu Lukaku - 4
Rom had a concerningly more apparent isolated night tonight. Even with Kev next to him he struggled to make a significant impact on the game.
Not one to look back on.
Subs -
James McCarthy 5
On for Holgate at Half Time, nothing of note besides some standard cleaning up of possession.
Ademola Lookman 6
Another promising performance from the youngster who earnestly got involved in the game. He’s definitely not content with just being on the bench, this lad wants to start.