Yes Rory is an integral part of how Stoke play, which is part of the problem in itself. He should not be on the pitch at the expense of better players. We should not be setting out just to use this one tactic. We need to develop the midfield to retain possession and play a more flowing style of football. If you stay the same in this division you are really going backwards.
Delap as a squad player for me is not a big problem, I have always said that coming on with 10 or 15 mins to go when the pace of the game has slowed down, then he is not as exposed for pace etc...and his throws become more effective. However, when you consider that we are likely to have Delap, Sidibie, Fuller and possibly Diao as members of our 25 man squad, then that becomes a worrying prospect! Rotter, I havent established if you are a WUM, but I find it hard to belive you are an 11 season ticket holder - if you are you obviously are not a football man becomes you appear deluded and blind to the obvious!
Agreed about Mama and Diao, As things stand, withtheplayers we've got now, Fuller is a good player to have in the squad, but we do need an "upgrade"
Its the average age thing aswell! No resale value and no pace! You cant build a squad that has an average age of 30 ish!
I don't think we need to worry too much about that, our average age is 29, and that's with 10 players over 30, one being Nash (38) and 4 of them I expect (or hope) will leave at the end of the season (Collins, Diao, Mama, and one of Upson or Woody. I'm hopeful Arismendi will make it into our squad next season too, I think he'd be gone by now if we didn't have plans for him.
I hope your right, but going by the past TP tends to replace like for like and repeat his mistakes. He is also loyal to the "ard working" & "smashin lads" who "started us on this journey"! Pardon me but I am hardley filled with faith given the lack of felexibilty and change in our prem tenure!
I hope so too, I think he will still try to replace pretty much like for like, just with a little more quality. I can't see him breaking the mould too much, but that doesn't mean were not going to improve.
