It’s up to Stoke: https://www.efl.com/carabao-cup/about-the-carabao-cup/carabao-cup-rules--regulations/
Looks like they changed their entire starting eleven for the last round. Given that they also have midweek fixtures either side of the cup game, would expect them to do the same again. Should be a good chance to progress.
Don't think I'll be going this time, it'll be a bit of a trek down from Welwyn Garden City by the time the game comes around!
Stoke fans are loving Wilmot and I'm not surprised, he hides his defensive frailties much much better in a back 3 - especially when the other CBs are quality like Ostigaard and Souttar. Obviously a small sample size but his stats last season are very promising
Does he play on the right of their back three? Must be quite susceptible to being beaten down that side if exposed as he's not the most mobile centre back.
He plays on the left of the 3 (well, I just checked their last game but I imagine that's been consistent so far), below is Stokes defensive actions map (that tracks every foul, tackle, interception, challenge, interception, shot block + pressure) and it's clear they've been much much busier down Bens side so far
The schools are back next week, I wonder how that will impact the attendance, 2 years ago we went from over 12k vs Coventry to just under 9k against Swansea in the next round
Interesting that his aerial stats look so good, that was one of his (relatively few) weaknesses with us. Would it have anything to do with the fact that the other two CBs are massive units, do opposition teams leave their smaller forwards on Wilmot?
Good tie. I would play same 11 again just to see if that squad is good enough for Championship football next season.
I think that only people who attend every round should be allowed to go to the final versus Man City (0-7). Hopefully that'll keep our allocation down to under 5,000 and every other seat can be taken up by a new automatic flag-waving device I'll shortly be debuting on Dragon's Den. The Flag-O-Matic 3000 has many uses in these febrile and patriotic times and will come in particular handy later this autumn when the food shortages really kick in.
While you’re at it can you make them lightly flammable with a light touch of glue on one side so I can roll a massive blunt out of one of them.
Foster (if fit) Masina Kabasele W̶i̶l̶m̶o̶t Cathcart Kiko Tufan Louza Cleverley Cucho JP Fletcher While I'd love to win (and this team should be strong enough to do so), next weekend is the more important one. Think we need to see Tufan and JP play their first games of the season, and while I think Ngakia might be preferred to Kiko these days, I'd like to see Kiko get a chance to compete for the shirt
Agree @wfc4ever we need to see who can step up. I generally think we need a total re-think on formation, it clearly isn't working as is.
Indeed it is! While maybe the two players in question may play against Norwich, the Newcastle game is equally important!
While I don't think yesterday was quite so bad as Brighton (we were in the game in the first half at least), we ended up being comprehensively outplayed in both games against two teams who play 3 at the back. Not sure what Stoke will do in the Cup, but I'm pretty sure in the league they play 3 at the back, so it might be a good time to try something new out, particularly as, with Sarr surely not playing, we don't have to worry about shoehorning our best player into an unsuitable system
