News: Welcome Brek: Potter (Brek Shea at Stoke/ On loan to Birmingham)

I watched about 10 minutes. He did play on the right (Walters played on the left) but mostly cut in a la Not Arjen Robben while Bardsley was always working the sideline.

To me, he fit in. He delivered one in-swinging cross from the run of play, after cutting inside.

 

Is there a stream for today's match?

 

Inverted wingers seem to be all the rage these days. Lots of it at the World Cup, as I recall.

Some of it makes sense -- in a 1v1 situation, if (for example) a right-footed player on the left attacks the endline hard, then pulls back to get the ball on his strong food, it's only natural that space opens because the defender has to change his natural momentum to step up and possibly use his off-leg to push back.

It's virtually impossible for a defender to be fast enough to block that next ball, and you don't have to worry as much about the GK cutting off the angle or snagging the pass. (Plus, you can shoot or pass more easily than you can from the endline.)

On the downside, timing runs for a pass like that is somewhat harder, and it's a pretty darn difficult shot to make (across the goal, inswinging to the far post) in terms of technique. Just guessing, but you might also bring the rest of the defense into the play earlier.

 

From the Oatcake Fanzine site, they say this is today's line-up:

Begovic; Wilson, Shawcross (c), Huth, Pieters; Nzonzi, Ireland, Whelan; Bojan, Diouf, Arnautovic. Subs: Butland, Muniesa, Palacios, Shea, Ness, Adam, Teixeira, Crouch. Shotton

Poor Butland, must have caught hell in elementary school.

 

A major part of it is because not many teams play for an early flank&cross anymore. This takes the pressure off the wrong footed winger.

An inside run then lets him shoot on goal with his strong foot, cut back toward the touch line for a centering ground pass to the near post or toward the "high slot" or deliver a through pass to a teammate making a diagonal run behind the defense. The final option is to dump the ball back to an overlapping fullback, who should have plenty of real estate for a cross or a dribble.

Most teams these days will feature one winger "on" and one winger "off" and, should they be stuck with two "off" wingers, they will often flip-flop them from the both "off" to both "on".

 

I think you mostly said what I did, but good point about making the cross from the fullback the final option rather than the first. A changing fullback role would be the most logical explanation for the explanation, so to speak. Related to that, maybe more teams are taking guys who might make great wings and turning them into FBs -- see Fab Johnson as an example.

Changes to the roles of the central mids and the strikers obviously matter too. You can wait on a later run if you're passing to raiding box-to-box midfielders rather than strikers playing against the backline.

 

BTW, the downside is that the winger runs into a far more congested area. Jürgen Klopp always double teams Robben and, whenever Arjen cuts inside, there is usually a holding mid waiting for him.

Robben's "problem" is that he basically wants the ball at his feet all the time. Thomas Müller, who is naturally right footed, is far more comfortable leaving the ball and just making his darting runs into space.

In that bit that I saw vs. 1860, Shea cut inside so far from the penalty box that there was no one in the vicinity. He then delivered an in-swinger that almost found Crouch's head.

PS. Ribery, a right footer playing on the left, will - unlike Robben - cut to his weaker foot and dry to dribble toward the goal ... and dive upon the slightest of contacts.

 

So reading the Oatcake site it looks like they lost 2-1 to Schalke in today's preseason game. The fans seemed pretty positive about Stoke's play. No mentions of Shea though, so doesn't sound like he played

 

Shea didnt get on as far as I know, was really concentrating. We looked alright, missed a penalty and Bojan scored a lovely first goal.

Bojan was on the wing as expected, so thats another competitor for Brek. Positive for him though is that none of Bojan, Arnautovic or Walters are out and out wingers, so he adds a different option for Hughes

 

Good video of training, lots of brek in here.

 

Do you think Brek will be on the bench for the first game? Besides Bojan, Arnautonic, Walters and Shea, are there any other guys that you figure could see time as a winger? How likely is it that Brek beats out Walters and whoever else is the other competition to back up Bojan and Arnautovic?

 

Since it is the EPL and it is a real physical league, I think that Shea has a chance eventually to start.

 

I'm really intrigued to see how much progress Brek has made in his game since coming to stoke til now. Hopefully a bit more polished player

 

Odemwingie played on the wing last year. Shotton can play there but hes painfully shit. Jamie Ness can play there, but I'm starting to think he is just a myth.

I'd say atm, with no injuries the first team would be: Begovic; Bardsley/Cameron (havent got a clue on this until Geoff starts pre season), Huth, Shawcross, Pieters; Nzonzi, Whelan; Bojan, Ireland, Arnautovic; Diouf.
Then you've got Sorensen, Muniesa, Sidwell, Wilson, Adam, Walters, Crouch and the other one of Cameron and Bardsley competing for the bench, and all ahead of Shea. 7 of those would be my picks for the bench, I think they're all ahead of Shea, I think it will take injuries to get him a spot in the 18. If Assaidi signs, then he'll almost certainly take a spot on the bench.

This is all conjecture with the new signings, and I cant really comment on Shea's quality as I've seen the lad play for about 10 minutes overall. However, Arnautovic will definitely start, Assaidi will be a regular in the 18 if he ever signs, Bojan will be given as many chances as possible, and Walters' versatility and defensive endeavor makes him a great option on the bench. Wing is a tough spot to break into here this season

 

All signs pointing to a loan then. Ahem, another club that wears striped red jerseys could maybe use him.

 

I really don't think there are any other clubs that would want/need him on a loan.

 

Which one - the one all Yanks Abroad aficionados hate or the one with a new manager that just lost all their best players?

 

Hehe, the one with a mascot of a certain black feline variety.

 

Chivas USA?

 

so.. how did he do in the friendly?

 

buncha hipster lookin dudes

 

O/T but Stoke has some really tall dudes.

 

Literally wasn't mentioned in Stoke's twitter commentary on match. Fans on their forum weren't impressed either, saying he didn't do much.

This might have been his last chance to impress to be honest, guessing he won't play much in their last few friendlies.

 

None anywhere in the world?