Match Day Thread Stoke City v Norwich City, Sat March 18th ko 1500 hrs @ bet 365 Stadium.

Our bid to secure a promotion play-offs spot is reaching a critical juncture ahead of their Saturday match at bet365 Stadium against Stoke City, who sit in mid-table ahead of their visit.
We sit in seventh place on 56 points, while Stoke City are placed 14th on 47 points. With nine matches left, the Canaries trail sixth-placed Millwall by four points for the last spot in the promotion play-offs. The Potters are 13 points outside of the tournament spot.
We played out a 1-1 draw against Huddersfield Town at John Smith's Stadium in their last Championship match. Stoke also earned a point in their last Championship match, drawing 1-1 at Riverside Stadium against Middlesbrough, extending their unbeaten streak to three (W2 D1 L0).
When the two sides last met in Championship action,
City won 3-1 at Carrow Road in October. Aaron Ramsey led the Canaries with goals in the 38th and 71st minute. Gabriel Sara also was on target. Nick Powell scored the lone goal for the Potters in the 92nd minute.
We have got the better of Stoke of late, unbeaten in their last four Championship matches (W3 D1 L0). Stoke are looking for their first league win in encounters between the two teams since October 2018.
The Canaries have outscored the Potters 12-6 during their unbeaten streak.Josh Sargent and Teemu Pukki have been Norwich City's most prolific players, scoring 11 and 10 times, respectively.
Stoke have been led by Tyrese Campbell, Lewis Baker, and Jacob Brown. Campbell is the side's top scorer with eight goals, followed by Baker with seven and Brown with five.
Hosts Stoke have secured 22 points (W6 D4 L8) from a possible 54 on offer in 18 Championship contests at home this season. Norwich have eight wins, four draws, and six losses on their travels this season in league matches. The Canaries will be out to extend a three-match away unbeaten streak (W1 D2 L0). The last time they were defeated away was February 11 against Bristol City.
In their last six league matches, Stoke have won three, drawn one and lost two. Norwich, meanwhile, have won three, drawn two and lost one in their last six.

Why did we let Ramsey go?

More to follow

 

After last night, Stoke must surely be favourites to Hoever up the points. It will be interesting to see who plays wide left in front of Giannoulis. Dimi will need all the help he can get.

 

We're mid table flat track bullies ... so I think we'll win.

Anyone with something to fight for is another story and it depends which side shows up

 

Marcelino Núñez has been awarded the Sky Bet Championship goal of the month for February.

The Chilean international won the award for his strike in the 3-1 win against Birmingham City on February 21.

Núñez scored twice on the night, his first effort a stunning volley from 25 yards after he connected perfectly with a ball dropping from the Sky.

Alongside Núñez, Chuba Akpom (Middlesbrough), Ilias Chair (QPR) and Perry Ng (Cardiff City) were nominated for the award which was decided via a fan vote.

 

Alex Neil is the "anyone with something to fight for" in this case. Took his Stoke side back to old club Sunderland the other week and tonked them 5:1.

 

Marquinos will be available after his red card was overturned from Wednesday night. It was a poor decision by Keith Stroud IMO.

https://www.canaries.co.uk//content/marquinhos-red-card-overturned

 

Justice!

 

Stroud is a very poor referee and should be removed from top league games.

 

I was not expecting that to be overturned! Normally they just claim it was in the balance

 

My guess is that it was overturned because Stroud indicated at the time his reason for giving the red card, namely that Marquinos had deliberately elbowed the Huddersfield player. It was clear from replays that Marquinos didn't make any such arm movement. Presumably Stroud recognised that after seeing the replays and acknowledged the mistake. It's hard to imagine that it would have been overturned if Stroud had insisted the decision was correct.

 

It looked to be accidental contact and a ridiculous decision in the immediate replays and I was amazed Stroud didn't consult the lino on that side.

 

Wow! Wasn’t expecting that, is that a first for us? Don’t remember many reds being overturned.

 

Yeah from memory we have always had the appeal denied

 

As we're talking red cards and are playing Stoke today,
here's one of Gary O'Neil's more 'robust' challenges!

 

https://la.freestreams-live1.tv/ifollow-40/

 

Tzolis starts.

 

I have used this stream for some time, including watching cricket. It is mostly solid.

 

This is an alternative. It's buffering a bit for me, but not too bad so far. (But these sites always get worse once the game starts! And always seem to be fine for the adverts.)

https://thegentleclass.com/dwat19/

 

Comment:

I have never rated Idah, but he had been frequently played out of position.

Sara seems to be attracting attention from some major teams

I believe that there will be a major overhaul of players this summer as some have been showing little enthusiasm for a play-off place. Many have played in EPL and probably don’t fancy being stuffed in most games again.

Pukki is clearly not the player he once was, but his scoring record is still impressive.

Beginning to think that DS was not the reason for our erratic form. DW started well, but now seems to be managing a team that is in a state of flux.