went to the game on Saturday, and it was pretty average. Stoke truly are a terrible team - every time Shawcross got the ball he tried to hit Crouch. I understand that not every team has to try to play attractive football, and there is a place in the game for a long ball team, but you have to try to mix it up a little. It was so predictable it was laughable. Stoke have a couple of decent players (N'Zonzi, Etherington, Adam when he is fit) but it must be horrible to play in that team. After half a dozen games you would just stop bothering to try and make yourself available to the centre backs when they have the ball as you would learn that there is no chance you would get it.
It was very funny after the game - I was sitting right by the Stoke fans at the game, and there was the usual "no, you're a wanker" "I'd so fight you if there wasn't all these police around" bollocks that you always get at games here. When I was leaving I noticed this big guy in the Stoke section doing all the usual "grrrrr, I'm gona get you" type fist shaking, but then his demeanour changed and he started signalling to a guy in the Arsenal crowd that he would meet him outside and it was all on. Knowing that there is no segregation once you get outside at the Emirates, I was intrigued. As I was coming out of the stadium, I could see the big bloke and his little mate standing by the exit, trying to find the bloke he was signalling to in the crowd, and I thought "oh, it is on". Got my popcorn out and settled in for a good giggle. The Arsenal guy comes out and there is a bit of shouting at each other, lots of "yeah, what'ya going to do about it" and then they both realised they didn't actually know what to do next. What made it worse is that the little bloke (who was with the big bloke - sorry if this is confusing) decides he is properly going to fight the Arsenal fan, which causes the big bloke to hold him back as it is not worth it. The guy who raced out of the stadium with the expressed purpose of fighting this guy is now trying to stop his mate from actually fighting him. After another 30 odd seconds of slightly embarressed posturing, a couple of stewards and a policeman wander over and tell all three of them to pull their heads in, which kicks off lots of "oh, I'd so be punching you if these stewards and policeman weren't here" type threats again. You just know that the Stoke fans will be the pride of their council estate with their stories of the time the police had to stop them battering a load of Arsenal fans on their patch.
Not sure if this story really works in print, but it was genuinely funny to watch.