Horses for courses. Shawcross, Crouch and Huth up for corners!! Faye will play. Faye will score. If SB goes 3 at the back its gotta be Davies Faye and Chezz. But i'm ok if its Macca or Bruce instead of Chezzy.
Begovic looks like a doubt for them. http://sport.bt.com/sportfootball/football/stoke-concerns-over-begovic-fitness-S11363858340751
Good news, Begovic is a cracking keeper. Is Sorensen still their backup? Butland is on loan at Barnsley so it can't be him.
"Thomas Sorensen, who has not started a league game since the final day of the 2011-12 season, is on standby to replace him."
I'm not convinced that Macca is as good a defender as Alex Bruce and he is certainly more prone to a rush of blood to his brain.I'd say leave well alone and just let Davies handle Crouch from set pieces.
So giving up a goal in the first minute through poor marking is ok is it?? How long is he allowed to make mistakes...10...20...30 minutes. A goal given up counts the same whenever it is scored. As for the rest of the game I'd say he was definitely the poorest of our back three on the day, several times misplacing passes out of defence and giving back possession. He's a very good young CH but he needs time to play himself back into form. I'd feel a lot more confident with Faye on Crouch.
Of course it isn't okay, but unfortunately for us and him, having to come back in to the team, away at Arsenal, in to a back 3 that was without probably our best player of the season so far, along side AB who had only started 2 other games all season, and Fig who isn't really a CB was far from ideal. Especially when you consider it was against one of the best pass/move teams in the world. The situation wasn't ideal, but in reality it was a free hit and had no other real options. You were pointing to him being terrible in that game and at fault for the opening goal (along with Ab actually), I was merely giving reasons why it was unfair to single out that specific goal as a reason alone to drop him. As I said, the Swansea game he had a much better game, and was part of an outstanding back 3, so why on earth would we consider changing and breaking that up. Davies is as tall as Faye so can mark Crouch at set pieces, but as others have already pointed out, Stoke this season are a much better footballing team, and actually Crouch is way better with the ball at his feet than with his head.
