Who plays up front?
Last updated : 13 September 2002 By Tony Scholes
 | Gareth Taylor - hoping for a recall to the starting line up |
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Just over a week ago we were a team struggling to find the net no matter what the combination but that all changed at Pride Park when Robbie Blake and Ian Moore replaced the internationals Gareth Taylor and Dimitri Papadopoulos.
They both did well and Blake picked up the Man of the Match accolades after our 2-1 win. Blake and Moore started against Blackpool but by the time an hour had gone they had been replaced by Taylor and Papadopoulos with the young Greek scoring twice.
Now everyone is debating just who will start and who will be on the bench on Saturday and despite all our deliberations Stan will have made up his own mind.
Firstly though he will need to find a replacement for Paul Weller who had to leave the field with a groin injury on Tuesday. Early indications are suggesting he will be out for around a month but there are options. Alan Moore or Paul Cook could come in with Lee Briscoe moving into a more central role or Cook himself could take the central position with Briscoe staying on the left hand side.
None of the other injured players, Gordon Armstrong, Steve Davis and Brad Maylett are close to a recall and with a bit of wild guesswork I think the team could be something like (in 4-4-2):
Marlon Beresford, Dean West, Ian Cox, Arthur Gnohere, Mark McGregor, Glen Little, Tony Grant, Lee Briscoe, Alan Moore, Robbie Blake, Ian Moore.
If my attempts at guessing Stan's team are correct then that would leave the five places on the bench for: Nik Michopoulos, Paul Cook, Andy Payton, Gareth Taylor and Dimitri Papadopoulos.
Stoke's main worry all season has been the absence of new signing Chris Greenacre who picked up an injury in a pre-season game. Manager Steve Cotterill does though have one name to add to his squad and that will be new loan signing Tommy Mooney.
Cotterill has described the main problem as an inability to put the ball in the net and this is why Mooney has been brought in for three months. It is expected that there will only be the one change from Tuesday and this could mean Andy Cooke missing out on a start on his first return to Turf Moor. It will be Cooke or Iwelmo who make way for Mooney.
The Stoke side that lost at Bury on Tuesday was (in 4-4-2): Neil Cutler, Wayne Thomas, Peter Handyside, Sergei Shtaniuk, Clive Clarke, Bjarni Gudjonsson, James O'Connor, Brynjar Gunnarsson, Kris Commons, Chris Iwelumo, Andy Cooke.
For more on Stoke, a look back at past games and results and a very special former player of both clubs check out our
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