I'll bite the bullet as no one else has, one of my simpler threads! (delete if a better one comes up!) Stoke City v Southampton. Venue:- bet365 Stadium, Stanley Matthews Way, Stoke-on-Trent ST4 4EG. Premier League Saturday 30th September 2017. Kick Off 15:00. Referee:- Mike Jones: Assistants:- Simon Beck. Derek Eaton. 4th Official :- Bobby Madley. Stoke City Manager:- Mark Hughes Currently : 16th Position Played 6. Won 1. Drawn 2. Lost 3. GD -5 = 5 points. Last game : Saturday 23rd September 2017: v Chelsea : Lost 0 - 4. Morata 3, Pedro. Team: 1 Butland. 8 Johnson. 15 Martins Indi (* Subbed - 14 Afellay). 3 Pieters. 18. Diouf. 4. Allen. 24. Fletcher. 32 Sobhi. 22 Shaqiri (+ Yellow card). 10 Choupo-Moting. 11 Jesé (*Subbed - 25 Crouch + Yellow card). Substitutes 9 Berahino. 12. Tymon. 14. Afellay *. 16 Adam. 25 Crouch *. 33 Grant. 36 Souttar. Premier Head to head: Played 10. Stoke - Won 3 (I home, 2 away) . Drew 5. Lost 2 (I home 1 away). Saints are on a 4 game unbeaten run away from home with two wins and two draws. The real problem is the inability to score goals. Stoke have injury problems in defence with Ryan Shawcross, Bruno Martins Indi and Kevin Wimmer all very doubtful to play.
Not overly confident in the thread predicting the next 6 games. Of those who specified particular results, we have gone for 4 Draws, 1 Win, and 2 losses so far. I can see any result happening...not a clear cut game....but would be very disappointed to lose this match. We should do well in games like this and, although we haven't done as well as we would have hoped against lower sides, I'm hoping we have turned a corner.
Our improvement in form means we'll win However, off-form teams aften find their mojo when they play us they'll win On the other hand neither of us score many so w'll draw I think one of my best qualities is my decisiveness ... but it might not be So to summarise 2-0 to Saints
I hope we batter them. 6-0, and Mark Hughes whinging to the media afterwards because our 6th goal was 6 yards off side.
2 comments from me on the formation. 1. Gabb has to play. He is our best attacking player by a country mile 2. Our midfielders cannot shoot. This leads me to conclude that 4231 is a poor formation for this team. It has to be 532 which allows the chaos factor of Long to still play. Unless pelligreno can somehow make the players better with 4231 but months of this and no goals makes me wonder if a manger can.
This is how we should play with 4231 ignoring the 42 because its basically sorted Gabby Nathan Davo Shane /Dusan but importantly the outside players need to be getting past the opposition defence so they give Davo (&Mario) some options for forward passes and they can then play some better quality balls in for Gabby who can score if he gets service Shane will do this naturally but Nathan needs to get forward quicker and Dusan needs to do this cunningly because he can't run !!! Then Gabby may find gaps appearing as the full backs are being kept busy This is my theory. Its all I have to offer
Tough start at home for stoke, arsenal, man utd and chelsea so far and they have done ok. A depleted defence v an attack short of confidence. That's where this game will be won or lost.
One thing for certain is it will be a wounded Stoke after taking a hammering last week and they'll be targeting a win here. Expecting a tight game really and it could come down to fine margins.
https://southamptonfc.com/news/2017-09-27/stat-pack-stoke-city-vs-southampton-1718 The Stat Pack from the OS. Saints are on a 4 game unbeaten run in away matches (2W, 2D)....our record is 6 matches. Thought I would start with a nice positive post as all the stats are in our favour....if you believe in stats....and the tooth fairy.
The Stoke website saying that we are the first club to request a smaller allocation than the normal 2300 seats for this weekends game so they are selling the additional tickets to their own fans. That's not good news
We have sometimes had extra tickets to sell because the opposition doesn't take them up, so not unusual. However, disappointing if our away support has dwindled....though it wouldn't surprise me with recent form. Bad enough to drag yourself to SMS, never mind Stoke. Some great results would change all that.* *delusional maybe, but I can dream, can't I?
I just had a look , I read it as we have requested 2,300 tickets. Not that we have asked for a smaller allocation than.
