Stoke City v. Swansea City Saturday 2nd April 2016 Britannia Stadium Kick off 15:00 Having secured what could be described as an "ugly" victory over bottom club Aston Villa in their last match, the Swans travel next to the Britannia Stadium to play Mark Hughes' Stoke City. From the Swans' perspective, a win is a win and, at this stage of the season, the 3 points are what is important, particularly given the challenging last 7 games of the season that the Swans are facing First up is a venue where the Swans have never won in the PL (3 defeats, 1 draw). Last season's corresponding match was marked by controversy - the visitors, dominant in the first half, went ahead through a Wilfried Bony penalty after Ryan Shawcross was penalised for a foul on the Ivorian. Stoke levelled through a Charlie Adam penalty as Angel Rangel was harshly judged to have fouled Victor Moses. Swans' Manager Garry Monk claimed that Moses cheated for the penalty and there was certainly a view that Referee Mike Oliver had awarded the penalty to "make up for" the "soft" penalty awarded earlier to Swansea. Former England defender Danny Mills on BBC Radio 5 live said "I don't understand how you can give the first penalty because you would have to give six or seven a game. I think he knows he has given a soft penalty and then when Victor Moses throws himself to the ground, when most of the time he would have been given a yellow card for diving, it's a penalty. Very poor refereeing." Stoke currently sit in 8th place, only 4 points behind West Ham in 5th place, having beaten Watford 2-1 at Vicarage Road last time out. Whilst my heart says a 1-1 draw, my head says 2-0 to Stoke.
2-1 Stoke, they are still will be to big and physical for us to deal with and we will hope to hold out with two banks of four camped on the edge of our 18 yard box. I don't think we have to many happy memories at the Britannia. Still think we may nick one in our only shot on goal again.
Recently I've been saying something along the lines of "it all depends on how Guids sets us up, let's hope we're positive, blah blah blah". The truth is however, we will set up exactly the same as we have been doing and we may or may not get a shot or two on target but it will not be enough this time. Our luck runs out, 3 - 0 to Stoke.
Not looking forward to this game as I normally would be , we may play with a bit more freedom away from home due to the circumstances we find ourselves but unlikely so expect a defensive game . A long trip if we get a badly beaten .
Looking for a relaxed , semi changed line up getting us to 39 points after this ones over ...my take is we will see lots of improvement in our games from now till seasons end . Fab Naughton , Fernandez , Williams , Taylor Barrow , Britton , Siggy , Routledge Fer , Paloschi
Don't like dirty blunder land or Stoke so hope to Nick a win with no injuries but not counting on it, hues done well with them but with our lot playing **** I hope it's not a heavy defeat. So an optimistic 6-0 swans win
Stoke have come on leaps and bounds under sparky and are a formidable side. There is no doubt about it that they are a better team and better organized than us and on paper should win comfortably. But as we all know football cannot be predicted however Lowro thinks it can and it only takes a penalty here or a sending off there to give you a chance.......Stoke are a very strong physical side and that could give us a chance if we can put plenty of ball into their penalty area as i think the chances of a penalty are good against a side like stoke......So all in all stoke are hot favorites to win as long as they keep their disipline......2-0 home win...
Keep on playing like we have been we`ll be lucky to get one or two more points this season. Stoke are playing well, we are not, we can only hope that they squander a load of chances that they are bound to get and we only lose by the odd goal or two. On a more positive note. If we can thwart them for 89 minutes, then perhaps we can sneak another borefest with the only goal of the game. That is so long as we don`t score it in the first ten minutes, `cos then we`re going to be catenaccio for the rest of the game. Something which we are not suited for.
Stoke are exactly the sort of team we have great difficulty in coping with. I'd love a draw (probably an ugly one) but I think it's 2-0 to Stoke
If we set up defensively Stoke will pummel us and they have the big players to dominate our box. If we do this we could have a hiding. We have a fortnight to get back to 4-5-1 and take them on with two wingers in full flow. If we do that I fancy a 2-1 Swans win
Hope your right but now that we're at 36 points I wouldn't put any money on a guess what we will see ....and I'm good with that
Whitey I wish you would be right. He will I am afraid persist with the lob sided formation we play, which blunts us going forward and exposes us defensively. Still you never know he may play 2 wingers. I don't think I would put any money on it though.
I am hopeful of a point and would play this starting eleven to get it::- Fabianski Naughton Fernandez Williams Kingsley Barrow Leon Fer Routledge Paloschi Siggy
It's wishful thinking on my part Monk persisted with a lobsided formation and it got him the sack. I can't believe we've gone back to it.
mate I agree saw Kingsley look up to go forward on Saturday and all he saw in front of him was Villa players instead of Swansea. it stifles us both offensively and defensively.
Kingsley played well at Arsenal with Routledge in front of him. What does he get for his home debut at the Liberty? **** all. No one in front of him for protection or to attack with. He'd get better protection with the Mountain Dew seconds than what Guidolin gave him on Saturday.
I cant disagree and that is what we will get if we leave this clown in charge next season. A lopsided team with no direction.
