MATCH THREAD: " STOKE CITY v CARDIFF CITY " MATCH THREAD

STOKE CITY v CARDIFF CITY
Saturday 22nd February, 3pm
Sky Bet Championship
Bet365 Stadium 

CARDIFF CITY FC:

Smithies; Richards, Morrison, Nelson, Bennett; Adomah, Pack, Vaulks, Murphy; Ward, Paterson.

1,280 Cardiff tickets sold

No pay on the day.

Cardiff can have up to 2,500 tickets if the demand is there from Cardiff fans

Match is on a Saturday 3pm / not live on Sky tv




Stoke have lost 3 of their last 4 league games including a hammering by Derby County 4-0.
Stoke are 21st in the Championship.


Injury news?



NEIL HARRIS:

No, Joe Ralls is back in training for the week so that’s good news. He comes back in contention which is a real positive for us. No problem for us for Saturday’s game.



Ralls from the start?

Joe has got a big heart as we know.But he is desperate to be back in the group. He’s a fit lad and a warrior but you need time. In my time here Joe has had very limited time on the grass. He’s an important part of the squad and it’s a real plus for us

Harris


Team News:


Joe Ralls is back in training, but not ready to start .

Connolly, Isaac Vassell , Greg Cunningham and Mendez-Laing are all still injured.

Brad Smith not totally fit, but might make the bench v Stoke




About Stoke City

Stoke City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. Founded as Stoke Ramblers in the 1860s, the club changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke-on-Trent was granted city status. Stoke were one of the twelve founding members of the Football League in 1888. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football.

Their first, and only major trophy to date, the League Cup was won in 1972, when the team beat Chelsea 2–1. The club's highest league finish in the top division is fourth, which was achieved in the 1935–36 and 1946–47 seasons. Stoke played in the FA Cup Final in 2011, finishing runners-up to Manchester City and have reached three FA Cup semi-finals; in 1899 then consecutively in 1971 and 1972. Stoke have competed in European football on three occasions, firstly in 1972–73 then in 1974–75 and most recently in 2011–12. The club has won the Football League Trophy twice, in 1992 and in 2000.

Stoke's home ground is the 30,089 all-seater, bet365 Stadium. Before the stadium was opened in 1997, the club was based at the Victoria Ground, which had been their home ground since 1878. The club's nickname is 'The Potters', named after the pottery industry in Stoke-on-Trent and their traditional home kit is a red and white vertically striped shirt, white shorts and stockings. Stoke's traditional rivals are Midlands clubs West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers whilst their local rivals are Port Vale with whom they contest the Potteries derby.

Previous Meeting

We beat Stoke 1-0 in November with Leandro Bacuna scoring the only goal.

Team News - Predicted Line-Ups

Stoke City: Butland, Smith, Batth, Chester, Martins Indi, Allen, Clucas, Ince, Powell, Thompson, Campbell

Cardiff City: Smithies, Richards, Nelson, Morrison, Bennett, Vaulks, Pack, Murphy, Adomah, Tomlin, Paterson

Form - Last Three Games   

QPR 4-2 Stoke City
Stoke City 0-2 Preston North End
Stoke City 3-1 Charlton Athletic

Cardiff City 2-2 Wigan Athletic
Huddersfield Town 0-3 Cardiff City
Luton Town 0-1 Cardiff City

Match Odds

Stoke City - 10/11
Cardiff City - 14/5
Draw - 23/10

Predictions

Post your predictions below 

Team News:


Joe Ralls is back in training, but not ready to start .

Connolly, Isaac Vassell , Greg Cunningham and Mendez-Laing are all still injured.

Brad Smith not totally fit, but might make the bench v Stoke

Cardiff can have up to 2,500 tickets if the demand is there from Cardiff fans

Match is on a Saturday 3pm / not live on Sky tv

tough game.. draw i think

Stoke currently in a relegation battle and are on a bad run, it's teams in situation like this that usually beat us so im not feeling too confident about this game so i think we'll lose.
Hopefully im wrong.

Its frustrating we have dropped points at home recently as it would have really took the pressure off a tough away game. A win against Wigan would have meant a draw tonight would have been great. I still think a draw away is a decent result but we really need a win to push on as we have.

Hopefully we can nick a win here. Their stadium is renowned for being a difficult place to get 3 points from but their form this year and of late isn’t the best so let’s see if we can get the win

its definitely Barry thats voted for a stoke win

Going for a win for us. Read a book ages ago about a Stoke fan realising he had become middle class. Good laugh. Spoilt it when he called us Bluebird fans "scum".

2-2

Stoke City are currently in 21st place on the Sky Bet Championship league table, with 34 points earned so far in their current campaign. Their current tally leaves them outside the bottom three by three points, with only Wigan Athletic (31 points) Luton Town (30 points) and Barnsley (28 points) below them.




Having won two from their last five league matches, Stoke City's most recent victory came on Saturday, February 8th when they defeated Charlton Athletic 3-1 at home.

James McClean put the Potters ahead just before the half-hour mark, though they couldn't take their lead into the interval as Ben Purrington's volley brought the score level once again in the 45th minute.

Regaining their lead against the Addicks, Tom Ince struck home minutes after the restart, with Nick Powell doubling the lead 20 minutes later, the score proving insurmountable for the visitors.

Since the three points at the start of the month, the Potters have lost two consecutive fixtures, falling to defeats against Preston North End and Queens Park Rangers.

Lining up against the Rangers on February 15th, the Potters made a lead of two goals for themselves with two quick strikers around the 30 minute mark. However, they found themselves level at half-time due to two responding goals from their hosts, with Jordan Hugill and Ebere Eze finding the back of the net.

Overturning the lead by taking it for themselves, QPR then scored an additional two goals in the second half, and the Potters left the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium without any points to show for their efforts.

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Stoke City's manager is Michael O'Neill, who took over at the club on November 9th, 2019 following the departure of former manager Nathan Jones.

O'Neill is currently in the unusual position of managing two sides at once, having agreed to continue the Northern Ireland international side for the remainder of their Euro 2020 qualifying campaign, with the next match being a Play-Off Semi-Final against Slovakia on March 26th, 2020.

The former midfielder has held his current international side's role since 2011, and during his tenure the Green and White Army qualified for their first ever European Championship, held in France in 2016.

Reaching the knockout stages of the tournament, they bowed out following a narrow 1-0 defeat against Wales, with an own-goal by Gareth McAuley proving the difference.

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Going to Stoke with my son, should take 2,000 bluebirds

Another important game .

This really is a must win game. Four of the next five after this are in the top six. A win here would put us in a huge position to go on and possibly even take 2nd place away with the right results . Lose or draw and it will probably leave us with too much to do points wise even for the play offs

Stoke have lost 3 of their last 4 league games including a hammering by Derby County 4-0.
Stoke are 21st in the Championship.

Score draw I reckon. We always struggle against crap teams

Injury news?



NEIL HARRIS:

No, Joe Ralls is back in training for the week so that’s good news. He comes back in contention which is a real positive for us. No problem for us for Saturday’s game.



Ralls from the start?

Joe has got a big heart as we know.But he is desperate to be back in the group. He’s a fit lad and a warrior but you need time. In my time here Joe has had very limited time on the grass. He’s an important part of the squad and it’s a real plus for us

Harris

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NEIL HARRIS:



NEIL HARRIS:


Stoke, Michael O’Neill’s impression there?

"Inconsistent, up and down, he’ll be searching for that formula. Anybody can see it’s a tough job he has really taken on.

It’s not always about players being fit. He’ll be working extremely hard to get the best out of Stoke City. He has a wonderfully-talented group of players.

Stoke are a big club with a passionate fan base and we have to rise to the occasion.

I think it’s a really good game for us and a good week of us."

Harris




Stoke have lost 3 of their last 4 league games including a hammering by Derby County 4-0.
Stoke are 21st in the Championship.



Stoke City Michael O’Neil

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Feeling positive...2-0 city

Stoke are shite. Come on let's thunder over em

Neil Harris: “ We are playing against a big club with passionate fans.”


Neil Harris | It's another huge week for us

CARDIFF CITY FC

Friday 21st February 2020



As the Bluebirds prepare for Saturday’s trip to Stoke City, Neil Harris held a press conference at the Vale Resort.

Eyeing a third away victory on the spin, Harris called for his men to continue their momentum into another crucial run of fixtures.

“We spoke ten days ago about last week being an important one," began the City boss. "This week will be just as important and it’s another huge challenge for us.

“A good week is not going to guarantee us a Play-Off place, and vice-versa. But we’ve found a consistency as a side, on the whole, being hard to break down and hard to score against.

“We’re finding better play moving forward too, creating more chances, and looking more of a unit in both directions. We need to keep improving on that moving into the challenges ahead.”


The Manager continued to narrow his focus on Saturday’s encounter, as he relished the challenge lying in wait.

“We go into the game at Stoke City," he said. "Against a big club at this level and a passionate fan base. We look at it and say: ‘What a great challenge for us.’

“We’re playing against really good players. We have to be at our best and rise to the occasion. I think it’s another really good game and week ahead for us.”

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The early Stoke City vs Cardiff City team news

The Bluebirds travel up to Stoke today to face the lowly Potters, with Neil Harris' side having not lost in their last seven games


Cardiff City boss Neil Harris will finally be able to call upon Joe Ralls for today's clash against Stoke City.

The Bluebirds midfielder has endured a rotten few months when it comes to injuries, having played just one full match against Leeds United before Christmas.

But, having been so influential for much of the start of the season, Harris will be happy to welcome Ralls back into the first-team fray.

How much of a part he will play, given he has had so little game time, however, remains to be seen.

"Joe has got a big heart as we know," the manager said.

"He has missed a lot of football, so he is desperate to be back in the group.

"But we all understand that, as much as he’s a fit lad and a warrior, you need time.

"In my time here Joe has had very limited time on the grass, so we have to be respectful to that as well.

"He’s a super player and an important part of the squad and it’s a real plus for us."

Elsewhere, the Bluebirds have had a clean bill of health following last week's 2-2 draw with Wigan.

If fans were thinking Brad Smith might get a run in the side following Harris' curt response to Joe Bennett's substitution last week, they can think again as the City boss poured cold water over any talk of a dressing-room feud at half-time.

"Heat of the moment at the time, I was quite disappointed with the referee’s performance," Harris said of his thoughts after the Wigan game.

"When I was asked why Joe came off, for reasons I didn't go into, everyone made quite a big deal of it.

"But it was nothing, he had played three games in a week. When I said big calls for a manager, I meant big calls in the sense of sometimes you have to take good players off.

"Joe came off, for protection, tactical reasons, whatever way you want to put it. Jazz came on at left-back, Leo (Bacuna) came on at right-back for his attacking output, and it was the right call at the right time."


So it appears Harris could name the same starting XI for the fourth game in a row, which will be a real plus considering the rich vein of form the Bluebirds currently find themselves in.

That could also mean, unfortunately, that both Dion Sanderson and Brad Smith could be left waiting once again for their Cardiff City debuts.

Nathaniel Mendez-Laing, Matthew Connolly and Isaac Vassell continue to be the long-term absentees.

1,280 tickets sold by Cardiff

No pay on the day .

Stoke City Injury update:


Stoke City defender Stephen Ward is unavailable. Ryan Shawcross has been a long-term absentee for them, but he has started training only this week so will again be unavailable.

Winger Thibaud Verlinden will miss the rest of the season with a knee injury, but Tyrese Campbell has declared himself fit after being withdrawn due to a calf problem in last weekend’s 4-2 loss to QPR.

James McClean will also remain out, with the player still recovering from a long-term medial ligament injury.

Got a bad feeling about today but in general kind of warming up to Harris

Alex Smithies
Jazz Richards
Sean Morrison
Curtis Nelson
Joe Bennett
Marlon Pack
Will Vaulks
Albert Adomah
Josh Murphy
Callum Paterson
Danny Ward

SUBSTITUTES

Neil Etheridge
Aden Flint
Leandro Bacuna
Joe Ralls
Gavin Whyte
Junior Hoilett
Robert Glatzel

Callum Paterson looks like his head is still sore from an earlier foul

Albert Adomah playing really well