Stoke Game

[stokie]

Looking forward to visiting your fair city this weekend.

A good win for you boys at Blunderland. You looked as lively as they did poor. Nevertheless, any away win in the PL is to be applauded.

It should be a decent game on Saturday, especially if we can get Shaqiri and Bojan some game time. How's Cameron Jerome playing ? I was surprised that we sold him as he never let us down. I presume he just wanted first team football. He looked like a key part of your success last season.

Anyway enjoy the game.

 

[Beauseant]

He was massive on Saturday. Never gave Kaboul or Coates a moment's peace. Think it will be a great game, and don't be fooled by the opening day loss! Our midfield and Redmond are really clicking so hopefully you've got pace at the back.

 

[splutcho]

Hi Stokie - on Cameron Jerome, I think he's vastly underrated, even by our own fans!

Strong, great movement and a decent finisher.

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

I would agree on Jerome. I thought he was a second-rate signing when we brought him in, having never really rated him - but I had my opinion totally changed by his performances last season and I have every faith he can be effective for us at this level. if we didnt sign the much talked-about 'new striker' I wouldnt care - I think Jerome is capable of being what we need him to be this season, Id only be concerned if he got injured.

I have to say its hard to shake the opinion I have of Stoke from the Pulis days, but I am aware you've undergone quite the transformation (even though I've not personally witnessed it) so will be interested to see how you guys play

 

[Suffolk Canary]

Think its going to be a really interesting game.  Stoke clearly have a far superior team on paper, but new signings take time to set in and our squad is virtually unchanged and getting better by the week.  I'd definitely take a point!

 

[Canaryboy]

Stoke clearly have a far superior team on paper

Far superior? 

Slightly better technically, on paper, is as far as I'd go. 

Players like Bardsley, Whelan, Walters and Cameron are about as average as you can get.  

More higher profile players perhaps, but when I suggested Glen Johnson on here people were horrified. 

I think it will be a close game, Stoke are usually a well drilled team but so are we under Alex Neil. 

Which Stoke players do you think would walk straight into our team? Shawcross is the only player I'd get genuinely excited about.

 

[splutcho]

Shaqiri would stroll into our team, as would Bojan, Muniesa, Shawcross, Van Ginkel, Affelay, Adam and possibly Diouf.

 

[KeiranShikari]

Probably not a bad time to be playing these. Certainly putting together a talented side up there. Hopefully the likes of Affelay and Shaqiri won't be up to speed yet.

 

[Canaryboy]

Shaqiri would stroll into our team, as would Bojan, Muniesa, Shawcross, Van Ginkel, Affelay, Adam and possibly Diouf.

I knew somebody would say Aleffey and Van Ginkel, but the former hasn't been a regular player at a high standard for about 4 years and the latter hasn't played a great deal over the past 2.5 years either. 

Van Ginkel has yet to prove that he is anything other than over-hyped. 

Neither have proven anything in this league yet, nothing at all, just because their Dutch internationals like Leroy Fer and Van Wolfswinkel? 

Are you saying that you'd instantly drop Redmond or Hoolahan for Afellay? On current form? 

Muniesa gets less football than Marc Wilson. I'd have Shawcross in our defence any day of the week, but alongside Bassong.....

We've got players who would improve their squad. I wouldn't swap Whelan for Tettey, and I certainly wouldn't swap Stephen Ireland for Wes Hoolahan. 

Jack Butland has only played 8 Premier League games (now their first choice keeper), I'll stick with Ruddy please. 

I'd take Charlie Adam, but I think he'd have to fight for his place. He scores the occasional worldie and is a potential match winner, but in terms of what he can do week in week out, is it anything that Dorrans didn't do on Saturday? Thought he was class. 

I'd take Muniesa too, as a good prospect and a versitile player, but he isn't walking into the team.... over Bassong? 

"Far superior" is extreme language for me, I doubt the final league table will have us that far apart. 

I think teams should be a lot more afraid of Crystal Palace this season. 

 

[Suffolk Canary]

 More higher profile players perhaps, but when I suggested Glen Johnson on here people were horrified. 

That's because some get a little silly during transfer rumour season   just because someone wasn't good enough for Liverpool doesn't mean they're not good enough for Norwich!  The fact he's walked into a top 10 team is surely evidence enough that anyone who was horrified at the thought of us signing him was being a bit silly 

 

[Canaryboy]

Forgot about Shaqiri, he'd of course walk into our side, on that left side.

 

[Canaryboy]

That's because some get a little silly during transfer rumour season   just because someone wasn't good enough for Liverpool doesn't mean they're not good enough for Norwich!  The fact he's walked into a top 10 team is surely evidence enough that anyone who was horrified at the thought of us signing him was being a bit silly 

I was the first to suggest we sign him, didn't go down too well.

I often sense that players with fancy foreign names who get a couple of exotic clubs on their CV and a couple of caps for a strong international side are massively over-hyped whilst players with normal names who play for unfashionable international sides, like Ireland, are dismissed. 

Van Wolfswinkel, a £9m pretty boy with a couple of Holland caps who played for Sporting Lisbon and has scored in the Champions League, deserves an infinite number of opportunities to make it in his league and must have at least a little bit footballing genius hidden somewhere deep inside because he played a couple of friendlies for Holland and we found a few YouTube videos which were edited to make him look half decent. 

Whilst Robbie Brady, young talent with a great left foot and regular international, must be a waste of money at £7m because only carthorses and Championship players are spawned out of boring countries like the Republic of Ireland and he only has Hull on his CV, and we all know Hull is one of the worst cities in the country.  

We've got a squad full of players who have proven themselves good enough to do well in this league, not going to dismiss them as inferior to fashionable players who were once good on football manager but have yet to prove them have the mettle to succeed in the best league in the world. 

I can remember when people were hyping up Van Aanholt at Chelsea (2 caps for Holland), Redmond tore him to pieces on Saturday. 

 

[Lavanche]

There is certain reason why people with "normal" names (for me they would be Korpela, Ojanen, Nieminen etc) wont win major national tournaments. Playing for spain or netherlands is bit different than playing for Ireland or Finland. At the end it doesn't mean 100% success, but it gives you hint of players potential.

Brady looks like a decent player, but we probably payed few millions too much because he is homegrown. He might fit in Alex's playbook, but as a pure player he really isn't as huge signing for us as his price tag might suggest. 

For me getting exited about player he needs fair ammount of natural talent and at least potential to grow up to be something more.

That said we need couple players that make the stable spine for our team who perform week after week on average level. Martin and Howson are players like that. Nothing spectacular in their games, but you know what you get when you put them on the field.

Where Hoolahan and Redmond might dissapear from the game, but they got that something to win few. 

Also buying something should be done by need basis. So there is no reason to buy fragile small talented players, if you are going to hoof the ball like Stoke did couple years ago. 

Anyway what I mean is that there is reason why people get exited when players like Redmond are signed and why they don't when we sign Whittaker. Other one can be a player in top-6 where other one at the best is useful player for us and most of us can even see us finding better RB.

So at the end I would say Stoke is better team on the paper and even thought gap isn't big as football manager 2012 could suggest you can clearly see it. But if we can keep the form we were playing against Sunderland we should be quite equal on the field.

 

[Canaryboy]

There isn't a single national team in the world which hasn't had distinctly average players kicking a ball for them. 

Often the difference between a successful international side and an unsuccessful one is just two or three genuine world class talents.

Yes Holland came 2nd in the 2010 World Cup (although they have never won one, and have failed to qualify for major tournaments several times in reasonably recent history!). 

But that doesn't make Van Ginkel the next Wesley Sneijder because he has a couple of Holland caps, just like it doesn't make the next van Aanholt the next Giovanni Van Bronckhorst, or Van Wolfswinkel the next Van Persie. 

Just like Jack Butland getting an England cap doesn't make him the next David Seamen. 

We actually played against a Dutch international last season, in the Championship, in a 0-0 draw at Hillsborough. 

We own one who can't get in our team, and sold one a year or so ago who asides from being a match winner against Everton contributed very little. 

International football is a lot easier than Premier League football. Most International games are friendlies where players don't break a sweat, or qualifiers where teams like Holland are pitched against teams like Andorra or Latvia. 

Asides from the knockout stages of major tournaments, playing for Ireland is no easier than playing for Holland, in fact arguably more difficult due to seeding. 

By the way.....

 

[GJP]

Van Wolfswinkel, a £9m pretty boy with a couple of Holland caps who played for Sporting Lisbon and has scored in the Champions League, deserves an infinite number of opportunities to make it in his league and must have at least a little bit footballing genius hidden somewhere deep inside because he played a couple of friendlies for Holland and we found a few YouTube videos which were edited to make him look half decent. 

Whilst Robbie Brady, young talent with a great left foot and regular international, must be a waste of money at £7m because only carthorses and Championship players are spawned out of boring countries like the Republic of Ireland and he only has Hull on his CV, and we all know Hull is one of the worst cities in the country.  

Nailed it.

 

[stokie]

I would agree that we have probably got more technically gifted players but that doesn't always make a team. It helps that we have had a  7 year run in the PL as this has encouraged better players to join us.

i see there's still talk of our hoof ball under TP. The first 2 yrs in the PL were amazing watching us giving established PL teams a bloody nose. However, we the fans knew that we had to evolve to become more established. 

Our away performances were mind numbingly boring to watch as we tried to suffocate the opposition, only to concede a goal and have no back up plan. I got sick of opposition fans asking why we watched the rubbish on offer.......but you support the club and not the manager. Most away games saw us leaving early to drown our sorrows safe in the knowledge that our home form would see us safe. Pulis has proved his ability to keep teams in the PL but he doesn't have the nous to move a club on. His talent at "putting out fires" is unquestionable though.

its safe to say that we weren't over the moon with Mark Hughes' appointment but he's been a revelation and has overseen a complete overhaul of the playing side at the Brit. I'm sure you'll see on Saturday that we are unrecognisable from the last time you played us. It helps that we've now got Barcelona as our feeder club.....lol. I don't think Bojan is ready to play yet but he's been a genius for us so far as has Muniesa ( you'll love the Muniesa song by the way. Spurs fans were saying how they couldn't get the tune out of their head after the game last Saturday )

As a few of us are staying over on Saturday night can you give us any pointers on where to go for a decent pint ? A real ale boozer selling Oakham beers would be perfect..........enjoy the game and good luck this season.

 

[Canaryboy]

Shaqiri would stroll into our team, as would Bojan, Muniesa, Shawcross, Van Ginkel, Affelay, Adam and possibly Diouf.

If they have 7 players who would walk straight into our XI, then does that mean we have 4 who would improve their XI? 

Been dwelling on this a little, by making an XI with those 7 players in it, we'd have no Redmond in the team? Yet people on this forum have been valuing Redmond at £30m this week, and when he leaves (probably next summer), I doubt Stoke could afford him, Liverpool/Arsenal/Spurs much more likely. 

If we chose the best players from Norwich and the best players from Stoke, what would the XI be? It would seem odd to pick 4 Norwich players without choosing either one of Redmond or Hoolahan. 

 

[Canaryboy]

As a few of us are staying over on Saturday night can you give us any pointers on where to go for a decent pint ? A real ale boozer selling Oakham beers would be perfect..........enjoy the game and good luck this season.

Pre-game you are best heading to the designated away pub, which is the Compleat Angler just across the road from the train station (less than 10 minute walk from the ground). Doubt you'll find much real ale in there though, lager in plastic cups.  

Post game jump in a taxi to the other side of the city centre to the Fat Cat, which is probably one of the best real ale pubs in the country.... http://www.fatcatpub.co.uk/  Two times CAMRA National Pub of the Year. You won't regret it. 

 

[Fenway Frank]

Fat Cat and Canary or Coach and Horses are both ten mins walk from the ground. Both are " home " pubs but you should be absolutely fine in either. Where are you staying ? Just so you're aware, we should be having a minutes silence or applause before the game as Sandy Kennon who used to play in goal for us died yesterday.

 

[ZLF]

going to be a good tough test for us;   quality players and experienced PL campaigners will show us how far we have come, particularly up front and in defence.    Nothing to be fearful off and we should play our own game;   one thing in our favour is we are playing them before their star players are fully fit and tuned into their system;   that can only benefit us.

Going to be a tight game either way;   but I am confident that our players wont get as much time and space on the ball as they saw on sat.