Stoke play a 4-4-2 formation and the expected line-up is to be..
CUTLER
THOMAS HANDYSIDE SHTANIUK CLARKE
GUDJONSON GUNNARSSON O’CONNOR VANDOERZEN
MOONEY COOKE
Tommy Mooney is the man to look out for – On loan from Birmingham for 3 months with The Potters, he looked useful in our last game but its if we can provide for him, which seems to be the problem at the moment. Cooke is a hardworking forward to can hold the ball up well and has some nice touches.
Shtaniuk is a solid defender, captains his country Belarus, he will prove hard to get past and Peter Handyside is that experience you need at the back – our defence was very solid last season but this season it has taken a slip.
How do I rate Brighton?
I think the loss of Peter Taylor hasn’t done you any good at all. I never thought you would be good enough to be promoted but you were and credit to you. Without Zamora you don’t seem to win many games, which does portray a message of One Man Team.
I don’t think anyone would expect us to be in the positions we are in and hopefully we can pull out of the relegation zone and both survive in Division One.
The Squad..
We sacked our manager a few days after promotion last season which really shouldn’t have happened but at least we have now got Steve Cotterill – a manager on the up – on our books. His sides show commitment and a fighting spirit, usually, but the inconsistency of Stoke means you can never know!
The team is the same side that got promoted through the playoffs last year except we have lost premiership players Deon Burton and Arnar Gunnlaugsson. Arnar was on a short term contract and is now playing for Dundee and Burton now plays for Portsmouth – he was on loan from Derby to us for the final part of the season.
We’re a young side overall and we’re expecting youngsters to do a very difficult job. On Friday we signed Tommy Mooney – experienced and well thought of forward in from Birmingham on a 3 month loan but that is the only boost Stoke have had for the squad this season, bar Chris Greenacre who hasn’t played in the league yet, getting injured on his opening friendly.
What do I think will happen?
Well I’d love to say Stoke will come down and score 2 or 3 but it’s more likely to be either a 1-0 to us or a 1-0 to you. Both sides desperately need the 3 points and will be looking to put them on the board on Tuesday night.
Our last two games have also seen red cards but hopefully no Stoke players will be sent off in this game.
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