Swansea v Stoke

K

keith margam

Vital Football Legend
Swansea v Stoke Sat 7 March 15:00

Next up it’s “The Potters” of Stoke City and we play another team above us in the table, albeit by only the one point.

Their owner is mega rich billionaire John Coates. He has put around £100million of his own fortune into the club since returning for a second spell as chairman in 2006. The Coates family own bet365 and are worth almost £10 billion. The club is debt-free and own the bet365 Stadium and its Clayton Wood training ground outright.

The manager is ex-Coventry head-coach Mark Robins since Jan 2025.

Both Swansea and Stoke were relegated from the Premier League on that black day 13 May 2018, following Swans 2–1 defeat to already relegated Stoke and neither team have managed a return since then.

Stokes recent away form:

PL6 W2 D2 L2 F5 A4

L 28/2 Coventry 2 - Stoke 1

L 11/2 Charlton 1 - Stoke 0

D 7/2 WBA 0 - Stoke 0

D 24/1 Birmingham 1 - Stoke 1

W 4/1 Norwich 0 - Stoke 2

W 1/1 Hull 0 - Stoke 1



Swansea, strong at home but faltering away with a resounding defeat at Ipswich still fresh in their minds, need to regroup this week and get their mojo back. Their high intensity pressing and swift counter attacks have been missing last few games and a lethargy has crept into their play.

Stoke player to watch is danger man Wales International left- winger Sorba Thomas, 9 goals and 8 assists and most of their play goes through him.

Good luck to the Swans. Matos please pick our best players to start this time.
 
Vitor Matos overall record since his appointment

PL19 W9 D2 L8 F25 A21 Pts29 (a win percentage of 47%)

Our home form has been impressive but our away form has been dire, with 7 defeats from 9 away games, conceding five goals without reply in our last two away matches.

Matos’ home record since his appointment

PL10 W7 D2 L1 F17 A6 Pts23


(L) Tue 25 Nov Swans 1 - Derby 2

(W) Sat 6 Dec Swans 2 - Oxford 0

(W) Tue 9 Dec Swans 1 - Portsmouth 0

(W) Fri 19 Dec Swans 2 - Wrexham 1

(W) Thu 1 Jan Swans 1 - WBA 0

(D) Sat 17 Jan Swans 1 - Birmingham 1

(W) Tue 20 Jan Swans 3 - Blackburn 1

(W) Sun 8 Feb Swans 4 - Sheff Wed 0

(W) Sat 21 Feb Swans 1 - Bristol City 0

(D) Tue 24 Feb Swans 1 - Preston 1



Matos’ away record since his appointment


PL9 W2 D0 L7 F8 A15 Pts6


(L) Sat 29 Nov West Brom 3 - Swans 2

(L) Sat 13 Dec Stoke 2 - Swans 1

(L) Fri 26 Dec Coventry 1 - Swans 0

(W) Mon 29 Dec Oxford 0 - Swans 1

(L) Sun 4 Jan Millwall 2 - Swans 1

(L) Sat 24 Jan Hull 2 - Swans 1

(W) Sat 31 Jan Watford 0 - Swans 2

(L) Sat 14 Feb Derby 2 - Swans 0

(L) Sat 28 Feb Ipswich 3 - Swansea 0
 
One conundrum for Saturday. Our full-backs were targeted and ruthlessly exposed leading to all three goals at Ipswich. Stoke will pose the same threat with Sorba Thomas on their left side and Bae Jun-Ho on their right. Their leading scorer and creator Thomas in particular will need close marking. How do we deal with the threat, do we double down on him? Do we play Galbraith there after he was beaten several times by Wes Burns at Ipswich or maybe bring Key back as cover in front of him?
 
It could have been a different game after the first half but a comfortable win in the end after some scares early on. Stoke will rue their 2 missed chances in the first half and that stupid sending off from Sorba Thomas.

Vipotnik does what he does best inside the box and Cullen produced something special from just inside the Stoke half when he saw the goalkeeper off his line.

Good to see Key back in and Galbraith moving into midfield. he had a really good game, same couldn't be said for Ronald who should have gone off sooner than he did.
 
Swansea 2 (Vipotnik 53’, Cullen 92’) - Stoke 0
Stoke didn’t make it easy for us and it was an even match until Sorba got his second yellow.
Lovely header by Vipotnik and super goal by Cullen from near the half-way line with the goalkeeper way off his line unable to get back.
Unbeaten in the last 10 home games with 8 wins and two draws.
Top of the table Coventry next home game!
 
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