Line-ups: Stoke: Begovic, Cameron, Shawcross, Huth, Pieters, Wilson, Nzonzi, Walters, Adam, Arnautovic, Jones. Subs: Whelan, Pennant, Palacios, Assaidi, Crouch, Sorensen, Ireland. Norwich: Ruddy, Martin, Turner, Ryan Bennett, Olsson, Tettey, Howson, Snodgrass, Fer, Pilkington, van Wolfswinkel. Subs: Whittaker, Johnson, Hooper, Bunn, Hoolahan, Elmander, Murphy. Referee: Anthony Taylor (Cheshire) Personally, very happy with our line-up. Presumably Bassong hasn't shaken off his injury, but glad to see Olsson get the LB spot, and Martin over Whittaker is presumably a tactical decision so we only have one attacking full-back. Tettey, Fer, Howson is also the midfield 3 I'd have gone for, and I'm glad Pilks is included as I feel he'll support RvW more than Redmond does. Murphy on the bench is a nice reward for him after his midweek performance.
He played 120 mins midweek and hasn't long returned from injury, so might not have been at full fitness for another 90 mins. Redmond's just tweeted that he picked up a slight knock in training, so that's why he's missing.
Now let's see if we were all right in saying he SHOULD be in the starting XI, and really good to see Murphy getting on the bench (I presume it is Josh?). I had a sneaky feeling he would after the Watford game
I think I said on another thread that because he's pretty similar to Redmond, we'd only ever see one or the other involved. Redmond out, so Murphy's inclusion is fairly logical. The only other wing cover we'd have would be to push Olsson forward and put Garrido on the bench to cover that eventuality, but I'd rather see Murphy rewarded for his good performance.
You should support Northampton Town, DH, judging by the way you 'cobbled' that thread together just 26 minutes before kick-off
CH was only ever going to start with one up top in this match so the obvious choice has to be RVW, Hoops should get 20-25 mins if we're still in the game ! Glad to see this formation rather than how he started v spurs.
The pressing on Stoke is the best I've seen for a while from Norwich. Passing seems far better, need the end product now. Stoke have picked their game up a little but still mostly us.
