Travelling to Stoke is best done outside winter. Everyone has to play them there, and frankly this is the best time for us to do so. They may try to rely on Crouch up front and he'd only have been there a week or so, so they could lack communication. That said, it's going to be a long day chasing high balls, and their pitch is narrow so Downing will not be as effective.
That said I would definitely plan to keep the ball on the deck and run circles around them. Playing Carroll by himself will be a waste as all we're doing to trying to take them on at their strengths, so it's gotta be a compact 4-4-2. With Suarez and Carroll up front they won't be able to focus on defending either in the air or on the ground - they'll have to do both and Huth just isn't good enough for that.
It will be a tough game, and they could sneak a goal because we're not that great at the back against route 1 ball now that Kyrgiakos is gone. But I would expect us to outscore them if we keep the tempo up. Stoke traditionally only play 60 minutes worth of football per game, so we'll have to make our possession count, run them ragged, and put the game outside their reach with 10-15 mins left.
Spot on, mate. I think forcing them to defend both is wise. We don't want them to be able to adapt. Coates might be able to fill in for Soto's absence though.
