FISO

Will Bojan start or will he be eased in slowly?

His pre-season performances definitely merit a starting berth, but who knows what's in Mark Hughes' mind?

Stoke's opening fixtures are pretty kind, and a home game at Villa (at least on paper) shouldn't be the toughest assignment.

I'd guess that he will play him from the start in the Villa game, but not 100% confident. What I can tell you is that there will be thousands of unhappy Potters if he doesn't start, as he's already reached cult status in the Potteries.

He's looked different gravy in the friendlies so far, but we mustn;t lose sight of tha fact that these are just friendlies, and we won't know for sure until he perfrorms on the big stage. If he continues as he's started, then I won't be able to believe how we picked him up for next to nothing!

Team for today's game away to Freiburg:

Starting XI: Begovic, Bardsley, Shawcross (c), Wilson, Muniesa, Whelan, Nzonzi; Odemwingie, Ireland, Bojan, Diouf

Substitutes: Sorensen, Pieters, Huth, Arnautovic, Adam, Walters, Cameron, Sidwell, Teixeira, Crouch.

Interesting that Wilson retains the centre-back position ahead of Huth. Is this a sign of Hughes' preference or merely Huth being brought back slowly from injury?

Muniesa given an outing at left back so that he can be compared with Pieters in that role.

Arnautovic drops to the bench to allow Odemwingie to be brought in to get more match practice.

Bojan starts again!

There seems to be competition for the midfield slots. What do Potters think that the starting midfield will be next weekend?

The starting midfield should be:

N'Zonzi (box to box)
Whelan (holding / defensive)
Ireland (attacking or playing behind/supporting front men)
Arnautovic (wide left)

Regarding Bojan, there's a school of thought that he will start the firts few games from the bench and be introduced second half, to gradually get him used to the pace of the Premier League. I'd like to see him from the start but this could be a more sensible approach from Hughes (have him terrorise tiring defences).

Takeshi Kovacs wrote:The starting midfield should be:

N'Zonzi (box to box)
Whelan (holding / defensive)
Ireland (attacking or playing behind/supporting front men)
Arnautovic (wide left)

I thought Adam would be the first pick in the mf?

Not according to popular opinion (or signs from pre-season). I guess he's up against Ireland, and the bald one has been very good in pre-season, linking up well with Bojan and Diouf. Think Ireland is benefiting from having better quality players around him, as he did during his 'golden spell' at Man City (before he fell off the rails).

Takeshi Kovacs wrote:Not according to popular opinion (or signs from pre-season). I guess he's up against Ireland, and the bald one has been very good in pre-season, linking up well with Bojan and Diouf. Think Ireland is benefiting from having better quality players around him, as he did during his 'golden spell' at Man City (before he fell off the rails).

thats really useful thanks (now logging in to tff to see how many "Adams" I have)

Palacios, Shea and Ness won't feature.

Ireland is cheaper than Adam and could get a decent number of assists. Whelan is cheap too for someone who should feature more than the more expensive Sidwell.

Takeshi Kovacs wrote:Think Ireland is benefiting from having better quality players around him.

Perhaps his granny has had a word in his ear.

Thanks for your views Takeshi. Very useful!

Striker wrote:

Takeshi Kovacs wrote:Think Ireland is benefiting from having better quality players around him.

Perhaps his granny has had a word in his ear.

Thanks for your views Takeshi. Very useful!

has he got enough ears for his grannies?

Takeshi Kovacs wrote:Regarding Bojan, there's a school of thought that he will start the firts few games from the bench and be introduced second half, to gradually get him used to the pace of the Premier League. I'd like to see him from the start but this could be a more sensible approach from Hughes (have him terrorise tiring defences).

Im surprised to hear this, I thought Bojan would be a certain starter (No 10)? I have him as one of my 3 strikers.

brownie30 wrote:

Takeshi Kovacs wrote:Regarding Bojan, there's a school of thought that he will start the firts few games from the bench and be introduced second half, to gradually get him used to the pace of the Premier League. I'd like to see him from the start but this could be a more sensible approach from Hughes (have him terrorise tiring defences).

Im surprised to hear this, I thought Bojan would be a certain starter (No 10)? I have him as one of my 3 strikers.

What is with the Bojan train? I don't quite get it, yes hes from Barcelona and has done well pre season (pre season!!) but as anyone actually looked at his assist/goal scoring record?

13/14 - Ajax - 4 goals 4 assists, 17 league starts (+7 as a sub)
12/13 - Milan - 3 goals 2 assists, 5 league starts (+14 as a sub)
11/12 - Roma - 7 goals 1 assist, 13 league starts (+20 as a sub)

Similar story at Barcelona.

Take a look at Mame Diouf, he will outscore Bojan this season.

Also, is Arnautovic a nailed on starter please? Seems a lot of competition now. He was on fire at the end of last season

Fudge Brownie wrote:

brownie30 wrote:

Takeshi Kovacs wrote:Regarding Bojan, there's a school of thought that he will start the firts few games from the bench and be introduced second half, to gradually get him used to the pace of the Premier League. I'd like to see him from the start but this could be a more sensible approach from Hughes (have him terrorise tiring defences).

Im surprised to hear this, I thought Bojan would be a certain starter (No 10)? I have him as one of my 3 strikers.

What is with the Bojan train? I don't quite get it, yes hes from Barcelona and has done well pre season (pre season!!) but as anyone actually looked at his assist/goal scoring record?

13/14 - Ajax - 4 goals 4 assists, 17 league starts (+7 as a sub)
12/13 - Milan - 3 goals 2 assists, 5 league starts (+14 as a sub)
11/12 - Roma - 7 goals 1 assist, 13 league starts (+20 as a sub)

Similar story at Barcelona.

Take a look at Mame Diouf, he will outscore Bojan this season.

Also, is Arnautovic a nailed on starter please? Seems a lot of competition now. He was on fire at the end of last season

It's all about now, what will he do now for Stoke, the past is in the past, Ajax he played on the wing, the same at Barca. The boy is on a roll, so what if its pre-season, let the roll continue, also Bojan is now playing in his prefered position, (No.10)!

I was on the Bojan train until I realised Pelle will be an excellent risk.

No one on here agrees with me though... Could be a good thing

Pelle certainly had an impressive goalscoring ratio.

Takeshi Kovacs wrote:Pelle certainly had an impressive goalscoring ratio.

Only in the Dutch league.

brownie30 wrote:

Fudge Brownie wrote:

brownie30 wrote:

Takeshi Kovacs wrote:Regarding Bojan, there's a school of thought that he will start the firts few games from the bench and be introduced second half, to gradually get him used to the pace of the Premier League. I'd like to see him from the start but this could be a more sensible approach from Hughes (have him terrorise tiring defences).

Im surprised to hear this, I thought Bojan would be a certain starter (No 10)? I have him as one of my 3 strikers.

What is with the Bojan train? I don't quite get it, yes hes from Barcelona and has done well pre season (pre season!!) but as anyone actually looked at his assist/goal scoring record?

13/14 - Ajax - 4 goals 4 assists, 17 league starts (+7 as a sub)
12/13 - Milan - 3 goals 2 assists, 5 league starts (+14 as a sub)
11/12 - Roma - 7 goals 1 assist, 13 league starts (+20 as a sub)

Similar story at Barcelona.

Take a look at Mame Diouf, he will outscore Bojan this season.

Also, is Arnautovic a nailed on starter please? Seems a lot of competition now. He was on fire at the end of last season

It's all about now, what will he do now for Stoke, the past is in the past, Ajax he played on the wing, the same at Barca. The boy is on a roll, so what if its pre-season, let the roll continue, also Bojan is now playing in his prefered position, (No.10)!

Maybe

But if hes so good how did he end up at Stoke. Well as usual time will tell, no doubt I will be wrong, he will score a hat trick and become the latest must have that I missed the boat with!

Hi guys, just wondering if you think Arnautović is a nailed-on starter? I saw he was dropped/rested for Stoke's last friendly and that has got me worried, as I had previously assumed he was very much Stoke's main man in attacking midfield, given his performances towards the end of last season (as already mentioned by Fudge Brownie). I know he's an excellent free kick-taker, and occasionally penalty-taker too I believe? Although I watched a bit of the Schalke friendly where he took one and missed!

I want a Stoke midfielder as a GW1 punt in my fantasy team before (probably) doing a switch to Gylfi Sigurdsson for GW2. I had also been considering Odemwingie, but I believe he only took a limited part in pre-season due to his World Cup involvement? Could he be a better shout than Arnautović? Or how about Stephen Ireland maybe? Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Arnautovic will play a key role this season on the left hand side. We don't currently have an alternative, but have been pursuing Assaidi for some time as cover.

I think there will be a certain amount of flexibility this year from Hughes, and the set-up may be different away from home versus at the Britannia.

I think he's a safe bet for the first transfer window, then you can decide what to do at that point.

Ireland could be the bargain at £1m, as he will be in the starting XI to begin with, then if Stoke click with him supporting Bojan and Diouf, then £1m could end up a snip.

We are looking to bring in one or two more before the transfer window, with Yarmolenko rumoured to be a target to play on the right wing, and we also have Odemwingie knocking on the door.

So, I think Arnautovic will start the season, and it's really his to keep if he performs well. However, he can be a little bit hot and cold, and he won't be able to afford too many cold spells with the options we now have in the squad.

Think both Ireland and Arnautovic might be better options for TW1 than Odemwingie, who I think will start off on the bench.

Only Mark Hughes will know though, to be honest.

Great stuff, thanks!

Do we have a likely defence as I am binning my palace enabler and. Think stokes fixtures are fairly kind and they are fairly tight also.

---------------------------- Begovic --------------------------
Bardsley (Cameron) - ( Wilson / Huth ) - Shawcross - Pieters (Muniesa)
------------------------- Whelan Nzonzi ---------------------
Arnautovic ------------- Ireland ( Adam) ------------- Bojan
--------------------------- Diouf ( Crouch) ---------------------

This is my best guess atm ...

( ) - likely to be sub / could go either way

But we still got - Sidwell / Odemwinge - to consider !!!!!

Bloody Hell - we rather look quite good !!!!

Don't think that Hughes is planning to start with a 10 man team.

Don't know much about Stoke but possibly remove the / between Whelan and Nzonzi?

Striker wrote:Don't think that Hughes is planning to start with a 10 man team.

Don't know much about Stoke but possibly remove the / between Whelan and Nzonzi?

Cheers striker you twit - (was still trying to work the team out myself) but didn't know where to place Sidwell (never mind Walters who will still be thereabouts)

and our Brazillian CB ( + plus whatever winger we sign - ( Assaidi / Redmond / Yarmolenko )

Looks like we can add Victor Moses to the squad now too. Likely to sign on a season long loan tomorrow if the medical doesn't raise any issues.

Will have quite a forward line to chose from:

Arnautovic
Diouf
Bojan
Odemwingie
Moses
Crouch

This is how I think we will line up tomorrow at home to Villa:

Begovic
Bardsley, Shawcross, Wilson, Pieters
Whelan, N’Zonzi
Bojan, Ireland, Arnautovic
Diouf

Subs:

Sorensen
Huth
Muniesa
Odemwingie
Crouch
Sidwell
Adam

Have I messed up getting Cameron as a late replacement for Shaw Ward Pullis Out Panic = Cameron

I had Cameron in an auction game and ditched him for Bardsley as FISO and others said he had no chance of starting.