v Stoke City (A) Match thread

[GenBr]

38 minutes ago, Rampage said:

Dowell and Hudds have not done brilliant. Evans more defensive. I would drop Hudds. Scoring goals is the issue.

To be honest i'd drop Dowell as well even if only for a couple of games. I'd give Shinnie or one of the younger lads a shot in his place.

[Sparkle]

                   Roos

lowe.  Keogh Clarke malone 

                Belick 

         Dowell Shinnie 

Bennett Waghorn Lawrence 

knight and Huddlestone and Marriott to come on 

[SaintRam]

2 hours ago, cosmic said:

Wait, what is this? Can any old sod (apologies @Pastinaak) start the match day thread now? 

How are we ever going to go on a run?

The forum has fallen into chaos. The blame lies solely on @Rample for this one. 

What have we become...

[RadioactiveWaste]

How about a sort of "thunder dome" approach to match day thread starters?

Two forum members must battle to the death for the right to start the next thread. Obviously, it'd end with curtains starting the cast majority, but it's bound to have some entertainment value.

Anyway, I'd drop Huddz for belick but keep the rest the same apart from Lowe obviously being the RB for now.

 

[Andicis]

The butchering of Bielik's name is already taking place. Would like to see him start though, if he's fit enough. I think Knight did enough to earn a start too. I'd like to see a midfield 3 of Bielik, Dowell and Knight.

[RamLad1884]

52 minutes ago, Andicis said:

The butchering of Bielik's name is already taking place. Would like to see him start though, if he's fit enough. I think Knight did enough to earn a start too. I'd like to see a midfield 3 of Bielik, Dowell and Knight.

Don't know what you're talking about, we all want to see Billock, Duwell and Knught play together. 

Bring on Hubblerock for Billock if he gets tired ?

[brady1993]

1 hour ago, Jourdan said:

Interesting.

Do you think Knight might get a chance v Bristol City at home?

Cocu will have to mix things up with the schedule we have this month.

Six league games in August is bonkers.

Hard to say but I could see him featuring sooner rather than later.

[Will Hughes Hair]

Having done my research ? it seems Stoke have far too many players and a novice manager trying to control a number of egos.  The locals are restless and I'm not so sure the team aren't either. 

On the other hand there are some decent players in that squad.

Long story short, if they're not successful early the pressure is likely to tell and the crowd could turn on them.  That and the fact that they'll play a midfield diamond should influence who plays for us and how we play.

[brady1993]

1 hour ago, GenBr said:

To be honest i'd drop Dowell as well even if only for a couple of games. I'd give Shinnie or one of the younger lads a shot in his place.

I think Dowell has been ok and I think just needs a bit of time to get going. There's an argument for one of the younger lads but Shinnie would be leave us way too negative.

[Rampage]

1 hour ago, Andicis said:

The butchering of Bielik's name is already taking place. Would like to see him start though, if he's fit enough. I think Knight did enough to earn a start too. I'd like to see a midfield 3 of Bielik, Dowell and Knight.

Bielik and Knight after 60 minutes realistically, especially if we have a two goal lead.

[Rev]

What fresh madness is this?

First we had the @Rample trample taking over the matchday thread, which I put down to inexperience.

Next we have a Sophie's choice of matchday threads, between a obscure African country, and a poster in @Pastinaak who seems unable to carry out the simplest transaction without causing a commotion.

I can only assume @David is spending the summer in a luxury beach cabin on the Playa del Kevin Clifton, and the WiFi signal is dodgy.

It's probably for the best if @Boycie takes command tbh, a sentence I thought I'd never type.

 

 

 

 

[brady1993]

I don't think Bielik will come in for this one. Colour it a hunch but I think Cocu will wait a little longer on bringing him into the midfield. Fully expect him on the bench though. 

I think we could do with a little more spark in the middle and I'd probably bring in knight for this. 

Something like this 

                 Roos

Lowe Keogh Clarke Malone 

                   Evans

          Dowell      Knight 

Jozefsoon Waghorn Lawrence 

Subs: Hamer, Buchanan, Bielik, Shinnie, Bennett, Paterson, Mariott 

Harsh on Huddlestone (who i think might start if we play more defensively) but I think that bench gives us better balance. 

People will probably pick at me going for Jozefsoon but I think we need the width with Lowe at left back and it's only really him or Bennett (who i thought looked really off it at Scunthorpe) that can do that. 

[GenBr]

31 minutes ago, brady1993 said:

I think Dowell has been ok and I think just needs a bit of time to get going. There's an argument for one of the younger lads but Shinnie would be leave us way too negative.

I disagree. Shinnie was great against Scunthorpe and I fail to see how playing Shinnie would be too negative. He is more of a box to box midfielder ala Bryson than a typical defensive midfielder. 

[RamsFan10]

I'd go:

                 Roos

Lowe Keogh Clarke Malone

   Huddlestone Bielik

Waghorn Dowell Lawrence

               Marriott

Subs: Hamer, Davies, Evans, Knight, Bennett, Jozefzoon, Paterson

Only way i can see us getting both Waghorn and Marriott into Cocu's system. Sooner we get Jack playing in the league the better. I'd like to see that front 4 as fluid as they have been in the last few games. I originally had Evans in for Huddlestone, but changed my mind - Bielik as the ball winner and Huddlestone spraying passes would work well. Couldn't find room on the bench for Shinnie, Knight has to be there. 

[Andicis]

37 minutes ago, Rampage said:

Bielik and Knight after 60 minutes realistically, especially if we have a two goal lead.

Probably what will happen. I'd like to see them both from the start though. Don't rate Huddlestone, and whilst Evans has been good, I like what I see from Bielik more. No complaints really if Bielik isn't fit enough and Evans starts over him. Definitely would like Knight over Huddlestone though.

[Dimmu]

3 hours ago, Remy the hare said:

In this league you need momentum a good start is very important, Norwich, Cardiff, Huddersfield, etc. have all proven this. So keep the unbeaten run going, put in a good performance and play your best 11 regardless.

Bielik has to start.

I'm not gonna check the other ones but Norwich had poor start last season. 5 points out oft he 6 first games. After that Pukki took his place from Rhodes and rest his history.

[brady1993]

22 minutes ago, GenBr said:

I disagree. Shinnie was great against Scunthorpe and I fail to see how playing Shinnie would be too negative. He is more of a box to box midfielder ala Bryson than a typical defensive midfielder. 

I though Shinnie was just ok against Scunthorpe. I think it's fair to call him a box to box midfielder (Bryson however you could argue was more attacking in his prime) and whilst he looks solid enough he lacks spark. 

And where he certainly can't play well is at #10 where you'd want your third midfielder to be if you were playing Evans and Bielik.

Dowell has been patchy but he's demonstrated flashes of real talent and I think we'd be better off giving him game time and trying to get that out of him more.

[Dimmu]

18 minutes ago, RamsFan10 said:

I'd go:

                 Roos

Lowe Keogh Clarke Malone

   Huddlestone Bielik

Waghorn Dowell Lawrence

               Marriott

Subs: Hamer, Davies, Evans, Knight, Bennett, Jozefzoon, Paterson

Only way i can see us getting both Waghorn and Marriott into Cocu's system. Sooner we get Jack playing in the league the better. I'd like to see that front 4 as fluid as they have been in the last few games. I originally had Evans in for Huddlestone, but changed my mind - Bielik as the ball winner and Huddlestone spraying passes would work well. Couldn't find room on the bench for Shinnie, Knight has to be there. 

I'd be very much against the decision having two left footed on the right side. Also, Marriott really didn't show any reason why he should replace Waggy. Other than that, it looks fine. Huddz and Evans are different but both fine options.

[PhilGeeWasMyIdol]

6 hours ago, RadioactiveWaste said:

I fear the re-emergence of Derby's "oh they are in terrible form we're bound to beat these... Oh poo.... They beat us" tendency that we've had fir absolutely years.

A draw would be OK, a win great, a loss can't be ruled out, but won't be the disaster the later stages of this thread might lead you to believe.

This is entirely my feeling. Hard game to predict but probably low scoring. Watch it be 3-3 now I've said that. Would like to see Bielek and Marriott start.

[Parsnip]

4 hours ago, brady1993 said:

To be honest I thought other than Bielik the player who made the biggest case for a start was Knight.

Is the Bielik/Knight midfield partnership destined to be the beating heart of The Rams for the next few seasons?