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Pete Raven

Stoke v Norwich - Match Thread (with team line-ups)

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Stoke City: Simonsen, Hoefkens, Duberry (c), Higginbotham, Griffin, Chadwick, Russell, Diao, Hendrie, Sidibe, Fuller.
Subs: Bangoura, Brammer, Pericard, Hill, Sweeney.

Norwich City:
Ashdown, Drury (c), Shackell, Fleming, Doherty, Colin, Etuhu, Hughes, Robinson, Croft, Dublin.
Subs: Gallacher, Thorne, Ryan Jarvis, Rossi Jarvis, Eagle.

Follow updated match report here

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Can''t see where the goals will come from.  Haven''t we tried Robinson, Hughes and Etuhu before and it didn''t work.  So much for giving the youngsters a chance.

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Good question!

Maybe 5-4-1 with Dion as a lone striker and Colin and Drury as wing backs, or maybe 4-4-2 with Doc and Dublin upfront for that extra bit of pace on the counter-attack...

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More news....

PETER Grant was unable to call on the services of three key players for the clash at Stoke. The trio of Darren Huckerby, Youssef Safri and Robert Earnshaw all stayed behind in Norfolk with injury, leaving the recently installed City boss with a real selection dilemma.

When the team sheets appeared shortly after 2.15pm it appeared Grant had been forced to play an experimental formation of 3-5-1-1, with the personnel dictating the shape - as the Scotsman had predicted in his Thursday press conference.

The three centre halves were Gary Doherty, Craig Fleming and Jason Shackell, with Jurgen Colin and Adam Drury acting as wing-backs. This left Carl Robinson, Andy Hughes and Dickson Etuhu to make up the central three, with Croft playing in the hole just behind Dion Dublin.

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Sounds like a 4-5-1, with Doherty in midfield playing the ''Safri'' role.Not sure about Fleming at centre back though. Hope he has one of his better days.

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Before the game progresses too much can I say a few things in faviur of Hughes?

He manages to play despite a lack of fitness and matches.

He may not be a specialist but he will bursts a gut anywhere he is put and will compete for physicality with Stoke.

He wouldn''t be a first choice player for me but I''m glad we have the likes of him in the squad....I hope he has a decent game.

What is also intriguing is how Doc Oc performs in the Saf''s role. At least his fouls will be further from his own goal.

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Oh dear, Stoke go a goal up. Can''t see how we''re going to create many goal scoring chances with all these defenders and defensive midfielders. First test for Grant.

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and now the ineptitude of our squad under worthington bears fruit!!!! we are paying for the lack of options we were left with by him.

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Essential we don''t conceed again before half time. How come Stoke aren''t doing better in the league? What is their weakness?

Concerned too about our ability to take chances. Earnie isn''t playing although recently he has been on a dry spell and Norwich have struggled to score.

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What about the option of playing with Jarvis and Eagle though - something our new manager has not gone with and something that Worthington was berated for not playing the youngsters - still all too easy to blame Worthington I guess

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Sounds like we have made a couple of half chances but we are under pressure. Rudolph just made a good call re ''The Doc'' and Stoke duly wasted the resulting  freekick. I totally agree with RH about Hughes BTW.

I love these match threads, 1-0 down and it''s Worth''s fault! [;)]

 

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Strange choice - who is renowned for giving away freekicks outside the box - Doherty. So who do we play in that area of the pitch? Doherty. Surely Hughes would be the better option in this position with Eagle on the left?

Oh, 2-0. Game over.

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If I wanted to be optimistic i would say 2-0 is a dangerous lead. It all depends on who gets the next goal and whether Stoke convince themselves they have won already.

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[quote user="baldyboy"]and now the ineptitude of our squad under worthington bears fruit!!!! we are paying for the lack of options we were left with by him.[/quote]What a joke. We have youngsters who played very well against Port Vale, and instead our manager decides to play Doherty in central midfield and Hughes on the left, rather than giving a good quality natural left-sided attacker (McVeigh) a decent game. It seems after all his talk about playing people in their natural positions, he decideds to play some sort of bizarre defensive line up with the exact opposite being true. This is exactly what I hated about Worthington''s management, but it seems absolutely nothing has changed. I agree Worthington left us with a thin squad, but that is more down to the board than the manager. However, PG seems to be making some very similar decisions to Worthington, yet somehow Worthington gets the blame. Absolutely ridiculous, and laughably inobjective.

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he has to change it now! take a midfielder off and put eagle on and go 442 with doc and dublin up front or bring on ryan jarvis for doc. i would love to be a fly on that dressing room wall at half time if they really are playing that badly!!!

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Grant is now reaping the benefit of changing a back four who hadn''t conceded a goal in 300 minutes.  What was wrong with starting with Eagle and Rossi Jarvis.  Doherty is not a striker and not a midfielder.  Just remind me that Grant said he prefers to play people in their natural position.  Shame he didn''t practise what he preaches.

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Well thats that game set and match then - unless our dynamic strike force of Dublin can come up with a hat trick - Rudolph - such an optimist

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[quote user="Web Team - Pete"]

Strange choice - who is renowned for giving away freekicks outside the box - Doherty. So who do we play in that area of the pitch? Doherty. Surely Hughes would be the better option in this position with Eagle on the left?

Oh, 2-0. Game over.

[/quote]

 

Cmon Pete, its never over until the final whistle.

Can someone tell me when we last won a match without my Hucks playing?

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[quote user="I. Shurmer"]What a joke. We have youngsters who played very well against Port Vale, and instead our manager decides to play Doherty in central midfield and Hughes on the left, rather than giving a good quality natural left-sided attacker (McVeigh) a decent game. It seems after all his talk about playing people in their natural positions, he decideds to play some sort of bizarre defensive line up with the exact opposite being true. This is exactly what I hated about Worthington''s management, but it seems absolutely nothing has changed. [/quote]

McVeigh is suspended so can''t play, although judging by his recent performances I''m not sure he''d have been picked anyway had he been available.

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im sure many people have been waiting for this so they can start slating grant!!! i agree he should have gone with eagle and rossi jarvis and stuck to the tried and trusted back four. whatever the final score is there will be changes on tuessday, of that im sure.

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Very dissapointing. Is he (granty) still taking advice from our coaching staff like he stated in his first press conference. That line up was so so negative.

You can only win if you score. What''s wrong with our club and youngsters. Martin is superb for reserves and youth / el ourigari has fantastic pace. We need to take a chance and fill in players up front instead of tinkering with the defence

Think this will be a learning point today for Granty  

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