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Stoke Build Up Thread


Wiggles31

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Same starting 11 please. Tough game with a lot of antics to watch out for (Shawcross and Moses will have alerted referees to their behaviour already). Crouch will want to have a good game too. I'd be happy with a scrappy win to be honest. With Man Utd and Chelsea facing one another on sunday there is a real opportunity to close in on the leaders.

 

I think you mean a chance for Chelsea to continue their unbeaten run.

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It will be interesting to see what the crowd is for this game, Ssints being 3rd in the league having just won 8-0 and ticket prices being Category C - cheapest available PLUS the ticket offer of £25 in the chapel stand for season ticket holders to buy extra for mates. Stoke won't bring many down so block 43 will once again remain empty behind the goal unless the rest of the ground sells out and they open it up for home fans.

 

I would play the same side for this, like the option of Mane coming off the bench and we can bring Wanyama on 2nd half. Will be a tough game - another team we have failed to beat since getting back up to prem, we always draw with them so about time we put that right. Strange having them in the cup a few days later as well

 

This.

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You'd have to be mental to make changes to a Starting XI after an 8-0 win!

 

Can't agree with you as two of last weekend's starting XI were forced on the manager by the late return of players. Wanyama & Mane are surely first choice over Cork / Long and five goals came after the changes don't forget. Those who claim Schneiderlin didn't play well are talking rubbish. Once he was the standout player now all around him are good but he still controls midfield magisterially with foresight in positioning for receiving passes and faultless distribution. Cork(y) needs to up his game quite a bit, he was slow off the mark in the first half and too often caught out of position or being unsure of where he should be to give cover to Clyne(y).

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Probably but they did not look very special against palace (2nd goal excepted!!)

 

They look like a team who can just ground out results this year. They'll thrash teams, but equally edge over in some very tight games - they just have the extra know-how in there, their spine is fantastic and as strong as they've been since the Drogba/Lampard/Terry days.

 

They look like a real challenger for Arsenals 'invincible' record if i'm honest.....(now watch them lose next week !)

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I am alone in thinking that Cork and Wanyama although different types of players are incredibly well matched in terms of ability. The great thing is we have both of them so can mix it up and always have that back up in case of injury. Why does it always have to be 'I think x is the better player'? We had the same thing last season with Chambers and Clyne.

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I'm sure that Koeman will pick the players suitable to match up against Stoke regardless of our thrashing of Sunderland. I heard somewhere that Sunderland were virtually an unchanged side from the one that easily beat Stoke 3-1. I never go for playing an unchanged team because of a decent win preceding the game, one or two tweaks could always be beneficial as playing a different side.

 

Koeman will check the strengths and weaknesses of stoke and apply our team accordingly, I do think that will mean Wanyama coming in to stand up to Stokes bully boy tactics and Mane on the wing for that explosive pace. Either way it will be interesting to see what team goes out there.

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Hypothetical Question-

Would you rather win the league game or the cup game?

 

I genuinely am not sure lol- I'd love a cup run but am loving being around the top :)

 

We can't go worse than 4th if we do lose :/

 

Cup every time while I'm enjoying our league position I just don't think we will sustain it in the long run coming 7th (or any where outside 1st) in the league really doesn't get me as excited as a thought of winning a cup I'm afraid.

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Can't agree with you as two of last weekend's starting XI were forced on the manager by the late return of players. Wanyama & Mane are surely first choice over Cork / Long and five goals came after the changes don't forget. Those who claim Schneiderlin didn't play well are talking rubbish. Once he was the standout player now all around him are good but he still controls midfield magisterially with foresight in positioning for receiving passes and faultless distribution. Cork(y) needs to up his game quite a bit, he was slow off the mark in the first half and too often caught out of position or being unsure of where he should be to give cover to Clyne(y).

 

Interesting take given the praise RK gave him post match.

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Koeman seemed to suggest that the two changes were forced on him by the international break and traveling, so wouldn't be surprised if Long or Cork drops out.

 

I think RK will bring in Big Vic but would think Long is more suited to the physical battle that Shawcross will bring.

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Interesting take given the praise RK gave him post match.

 

Of course, it is good people management to praise the good things in public and deal with the less good in private on the training ground mana-a-mana. No doubt wee Sammy has a knack with these things if his enthusiasm on the bench is anything to go by.

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I think RK will bring in Big Vic but would think Long is more suited to the physical battle that Shawcross will bring.

 

The pointed out on MOTD2 that Shawcross was taken off man marking after the pen for Swansea, which seeing as he rugby tackled Bony was a clear pen to me, and given a job in the middle of the penalty area. Stoke think Shawcross gets unfairly penalised by refs in the penalty box. So having Sadio Mane running at him might be a good thing because Shawcross seems to be a marked man by most refs.

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I think RK will bring in Big Vic but would think Long is more suited to the physical battle that Shawcross will bring.

 

Long would be a good choice. Both he and Mane are quick. Long played well on Saturday and he's good in the air which will be useful against Stoke.

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I'd stick to starting Cork, keeping Wanyama out of the team. Stoke may well be a physical team, but we should be playing to their weaknesses not their strengths. Cork will add more to the attack and hopefully start where we left off.

 

Whoever starts on Sat, the other will start next Weds. Same probably goes for Mane / Long. Assuming we line up as we did against Arsenal, Gardos and Targett will also play in the Cup, neither of which is a bad thing. Hopefully Targett will have just signed his new 5 year deal by then :)

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Whoever starts on Sat, the other will start next Weds. Same probably goes for Mane / Long. Assuming we line up as we did against Arsenal, Gardos and Targett will also play in the Cup, neither of which is a bad thing. Hopefully Targett will have just signed his new 5 year deal by then :)

 

Why? The switches weren't motivated by any deliberate policy. Mane didn't start the Swansea game (before the cup game) because he had only joined up with the squad on the Thursday/Friday. Likewise Gardos played in the cup because Alderweireld and Yoshida were both rule out with injuries. The only position where we appear to be rotating is LB.

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Cork and Wanyama have been swapping around already this season, including during matches with Morgan unlikely to be subbed and Davis usually the same (up to this weekend) so I would say why not? As most others have said already , this will be a pretty physical battle on Sat, and whatever changes Stoke make next week, it is a reasonable assumption that their style of play is the same throughout the club, so next Weds will be tough too. Gardos showed himself to be a more than useful alternative at the Emirates. Mane and Long are both first team players so why would we not rotate a few, where we can, for 2 tough games in a week.

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Long would be a good choice. Both he and Mane are quick. Long played well on Saturday and he's good in the air which will be useful against Stoke.

Nice to see someone else comment about Long. I was very impressed with him on Saturday, his best game to date imo.

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Can't agree with you as two of last weekend's starting XI were forced on the manager by the late return of players. Wanyama & Mane are surely first choice over Cork / Long and five goals came after the changes don't forget. Those who claim Schneiderlin didn't play well are talking rubbish. Once he was the standout player now all around him are good but he still controls midfield magisterially with foresight in positioning for receiving passes and faultless distribution. Cork(y) needs to up his game quite a bit, he was slow off the mark in the first half and too often caught out of position or being unsure of where he should be to give cover to Clyne(y).

 

Complete and utter big hairy ******s.

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Listening to 5 Live commentary and the Man Utd bias is unreal to the extent that the commentator claimed West Brom nil Man Utd 1 when Sessegnon scored. Simple error or Man Utd obsession? Should know better than to comment, it's always been this way. I hope Baggies stuff the ******

Edited by Graffito
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a WBA win will keep united 5 points behind us whilst their next two are chelsea and city

It make me smile that we've reach the stage where we're more concerned about results from the likes of Man Utd rather than the likes of West Brom :)

 

Happy days

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We must lose track of the fact that Stoke are on the same points and goal difference as Totenham..... They will be no walkover and we will likely feel complacent....

Yes we are good but just saying they will be nasty and dangerous .....

Beating them will be a good test yet again an indicator of where we are....

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We must lose track of the fact that Stoke are on the same points and goal difference as Totenham..... They will be no walkover and we will likely feel complacent....

Yes we are good but just saying they will be nasty and dangerous .....

Beating them will be a good test yet again an indicator of where we are....

 

Agree with you there, but I don't think RK and JF will be laid back about Stoke.

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I think the biggest surprise is that West Ham are sitting 4th. They were absolute dog turd when we played them. Like us, fairly kind fixture list I guess. Still gotta beat what's infront of you though.

 

Sakho and Valencia coming in since we played has improved them ten fold, they insisted on starting Cole against us which was nice of them.

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Sakho and Valencia coming in since we played has improved them ten fold, they insisted on starting Cole against us which was nice of them.

 

Agree. They had quite a few injuries back then I believe - And they've added Song in midfield since that. They've impressed me since our game up there.

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I think the biggest surprise is that West Ham are sitting 4th. They were absolute dog turd when we played them. Like us, fairly kind fixture list I guess. Still gotta beat what's infront of you though.

 

We played them at a good time - both Sakho and Valencia have really spiced up their attack. Neither played (or were at the Club) against us.

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We played them at a good time - both Sakho and Valencia have really spiced up their attack. Neither played (or were at the Club) against us.

 

I think Valencia came on as a sub, but he was still adjusting and wasn't really sure of his surroundings them.

 

Don't think it's fair to belittle the WHU result too much though, they're a pretty handy team all in all this year and we made seriously light work of them, and that was after we had to come from behind. Easily our best away result for a while in terms of control and domination.

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