Match Thread Stoke City - Coventry City [FA] Match Thread - Saturday 10th Jan (2 Viewers)

Sheffield Sky Blue · Jan 8, 2026

Don't the loan deals will have an expectation that they'll have a certain amount of time on the pitch? This was one of the reasons why Oggy has argued against loans - it puts constraints on the manager. It may also explain the termination of the loan to Portsmouth.

If so, then playing them both from the start will make it easier to meet the minimum levels expected.

covcity4life · Jan 8, 2026

I think people getting carried away thinking we will be playing youth players.

We have a good squad with 2 players for each position pretty much. It will be a strongish team

procdoc · Jan 8, 2026

No have revised the team;
Wilson
Lati Woolf Perry Brau
Allen Eccles
Esse Rudoni YMH
Wright

if Allen not available then start Andrews. Rudoni and Wright need to find form so that’s why I’m starting them

Viktor17 · Jan 8, 2026

Something like this:

Wilson
Lati Perry Wolf Bidwell
Eccles Andrews
Esse. Rudoni. YMH
Wright

Bench - Simms, Brau, Shepard, Tats, JDS, Kitching, Varney GK, U21 to fill rest.

Not available- Allen/KKH/BTA

Not involved at all - Grimes, Torp, EMC, MVE, rush worth

Sky Blue Harry H · Jan 8, 2026

procdoc said:
No have revised the team;
Wilson
Lati Woolf Perry Brau
Allen Eccles
Esse Rudoni YMH
Wright

if Allen not available then start Andrews. Rudoni and Wright need to find form so that’s why I’m starting them

If Rudoni's toe still hasnt fully recovered, then let him swerve this. Like to see Shepherd at some point, too.

oscillatewildly · Jan 8, 2026

Why would people assume Frank would jeopardise the two loanees - Who have been brought in to help push us over the promotion line, not enable some sort of cup run.
And have both parent clubs instructed non cup participation anyway?

Matt Grimes' Beard · Jan 8, 2026

I’d go with

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JSL · Jan 8, 2026

Watching the weather forecast this morning and Stoke is expecting 20-30cm of snow imminently and their council have ordered extra rock salt supplies. I expect this to be called off if I am honest, which will be a PITA to our fixture list.

Boicey · Jan 8, 2026

oscillatewildly said:
Why would people assume Frank would jeopardise the two loanees - Who have been brought in to help push us over the promotion line, not enable some sort of cup run.
And have both parent clubs instructed non cup participation anyway?

Because he needs to have a proper look at the loanees, maybe in a position or two.
He's not just going to shove them in a crucial match is he.

edgy · Jan 8, 2026

JSL said:
Watching the weather forecast this morning and Stoke is expecting 20-30cm of snow imminently and their council have ordered extra rock salt supplies. I expect this to be called off if I am honest, which will be a PITA to our fixture list.

I'm not sure on the weather. Yesterday it looked like a big dump of snow was coming for the whole midlands. Just watched BBC's forecast and it now looks more like mainly rain with snow on the hills. We'll see but knowing how our media like to build up every sprinkling into Snowmaggedon, I'm not convinced we'll get anywhere near as much as some are suggesting.

shmmeee · Jan 8, 2026

Playing a game of football is not a risky task. Certainly not more than training every day. This idea that you’re “risking” players is nonsense. Manage their fatigue and fitness but you don’t not play them in case of injury or you’d also not train them. Which is obviously dumb.

CovRes · Jan 8, 2026

Sheffield Sky Blue said:
Don't the loan deals will have an expectation that they'll have a certain amount of time on the pitch? This was one of the reasons why Oggy has argued against loans - it puts constraints on the manager. It may also explain the termination of the loan to Portsmouth.

If so, then playing them both from the start will make it easier to meet the minimum levels expected.

It depends on the deal. According to Dean Austin, Callum Doyle came in with little expectation from anyone that he'd get minutes. Not us, not Man City, not himself. To us he was an extra body as cover, to himself and Man City it was for the general experience of being in a 1st team environment.

There's probably more expectation with Esse and Yang. But our lack of cover/options on the wings means that we can probably meet their expectations.

shmmeee · Jan 8, 2026

Ultimately other than be upset with us there’s nothing they can do if we haven’t put actually playing time clauses in.

Ccfcisparks · Jan 8, 2026

covcity4life said:
I think it will be a strong 11

Well that would be stupid

Ccfcisparks · Jan 8, 2026

Rushworth, Grimes, Kitching, MVE, Sakamoto, eMC should all not be playing that would be ridiculous

curly_tom · Jan 8, 2026

People are weird about cup matches. Everyone seems to think it's crazy or stupid to put out a string team. I just don't buy it. It's not like we're getting injuroes every week, of course it can happen (BTA and KKH for example) but most players survive a game of football without injuries. As for fatigue, I can't say really, but I would have thought that most players can do a game a week after the last. We should play a team that can win the match and on to the next.

curly_tom · Jan 8, 2026

Ccfcisparks said:
Rushworth, Grimes, Kitching, MVE, Sakamoto, eMC should all not be playing that would be ridiculous

With respect, I disagree. They're unlikely to get injured. They could do with game time. The oonly one who seems knackered is MVE as he was ill but the rest should play.

Ccfcisparks · Jan 8, 2026

curly_tom said:
With respect, I disagree. They're unlikely to get injured. They could do with game time. The oonly one who seems knackered is MVE as he was ill but the rest should play.

Grimes is knackered the last few games and its meant his passing is wayward.

Its not injury that is the concern, its the rest they need

Balli001 · Jan 8, 2026

curly_tom said:
People are weird about cup matches. Everyone seems to think it's crazy or stupid to put out a string team. I just don't buy it. It's not like we're getting injuroes every week, of course it can happen (BTA and KKH for example) but most players survive a game of football without injuries. As for fatigue, I can't say really, but I would have thought that most players can do a game a week after the last. We should play a team that can win the match and on to the next.

Tell Lampard and Robins that then

Brighton Sky Blue · Jan 8, 2026

curly_tom said:
People are weird about cup matches. Everyone seems to think it's crazy or stupid to put out a string team. I just don't buy it. It's not like we're getting injuroes every week, of course it can happen (BTA and KKH for example) but most players survive a game of football without injuries. As for fatigue, I can't say really, but I would have thought that most players can do a game a week after the last. We should play a team that can win the match and on to the next.

Win the tie and the Boro game, which is looking like a massive one, gets moved. So it's a question of whether or not you think that's to our advantage. They're away at Fulham so probably lose that tie.

Scheduling Championship fixtures on 4th round weekend itself has always been stupid to me, but that's a separate issue.

JSL · Jan 8, 2026

If BTA is now fit, he should get a run out IMO to get game time for Leicester

clint van damme · Jan 8, 2026

JSL said:
Watching the weather forecast this morning and Stoke is expecting 20-30cm of snow imminently and their council have ordered extra rock salt supplies. I expect this to be called off if I am honest, which will be a PITA to our fixture list.

Don't think it will make too much difference to our fixture list as far as the players are concerned as I expect to play a 2nd string, though it will be a distraction for Lampard and the coaching staff.

curly_tom · Jan 8, 2026

Balli001 said:
Tell Lampard and Robins that then

I include football managers amongst people. I guess I'm just old school in that respect and love a good cup run. I don't think it will be the difference to our league run. I guess if we did well in the cup and failed to go up people would blame the cup. There's no tangible way we can ever know really.

Ccfcisparks · Jan 8, 2026

curly_tom said:
I include football managers amongst people. I guess I'm just old school in that respect and love a good cup run. I don't think it will be the difference to our league run. I guess if we did well in the cup and failed to go up people would blame the cup. There's no tangible way we can ever know really.

Last thing we need is more fixtures

scott87ccfc · Jan 8, 2026

Brighton Sky Blue said:
Win the tie and the Boro game, which is looking like a massive one, gets moved. So it's a question of whether or not you think that's to our advantage. They're away at Fulham so probably lose that tie.

Scheduling Championship fixtures on 4th round weekend itself has always been stupid to me, but that's a separate issue.

Isnt the Boro game now moved to the Monday, i wonder if either of us got through that the FA cup game would be the Thursday/Friday to allow the Boro game to go ahead! all conjecture and both of us will probably be knocked out anyway

shmmeee · Jan 8, 2026

curly_tom said:
People are weird about cup matches. Everyone seems to think it's crazy or stupid to put out a string team. I just don't buy it. It's not like we're getting injuroes every week, of course it can happen (BTA and KKH for example) but most players survive a game of football without injuries. As for fatigue, I can't say really, but I would have thought that most players can do a game a week after the last. We should play a team that can win the match and on to the next.

Its not about recovery time its about total minutes in the legs over a season.

Williescar · Jan 8, 2026

covcity4life said:
I think people getting carried away thinking we will be playing youth players.

We have a good squad with 2 players for each position pretty much. It will be a strongish team

I hope so.I may to be in the minority but I want us to win

chiefdave · Jan 8, 2026

shmmeee said:
Playing a game of football is not a risky task. Certainly not more than training every day. This idea that you’re “risking” players is nonsense. Manage their fatigue and fitness but you don’t not play them in case of injury or you’d also not train them. Which is obviously dumb.

For things like muscle injuries caused by fatigue they have the data these days to know when players shouldn't be playing, or in our case when we have to play them due to lack of squad depth but are risking injury.

Remember a few years back one of the England cricket physios talking about an injury to Broad being a shock because he was in the 'green zone' and therefore considered fine to play with no risk of injury.

So your only real risk is an injury from a reckless tackle, not sure what the stats on those are but imagine its not that common.

shmmeee · Jan 8, 2026

chiefdave said:
For things like muscle injuries caused by fatigue they have the data these days to know when players shouldn't be playing, or in our case when we have to play them due to lack of squad depth but are risking injury.

Remember a few years back one of the England cricket physios talking about an injury to Broad being a shock because he was in the 'green zone' and therefore considered fine to play with no risk of injury.

So your only real risk is an injury from a reckless tackle, not sure what the stats on those are but imagine it’s not that common.

Would like to see stats on injuries in game vs training. Players train a lot more too. Like you say beyond markers like injuries are more likely in the last few minutes or when they’re tired you can’t really worry about it.

I’d play the new lads and even up to Simms in terms of minutes played I think assuming the medical team have zero concerns. Simms loved the FA Cup before for a few goals and he should be pretty fresh having played just over 1k minutes.

AOM · Jan 8, 2026

I do love the FA cup and would like to be in the draw for the next round, but this really does seem to be the season where we could do without the extra games.
Would probably rest whoever really needs it and then fill the gaps with those who need game time or haven't featured much recently.
A win would be good for confidence as well.

clint van damme · Jan 8, 2026

curly_tom said:
There's no tangible way we can ever know really.

Players have said in interviews how much the 23-24 Cup run took out if them, especially the semi final.

Get to the prem we'll have better players and more chance of winning it as Palace did last year.

curly_tom · Jan 8, 2026

clint van damme said:
Players have said in interviews how much the 23-24 Cup run took out if them, especially the semi final.

Get to the prem we'll have better players and more chance of winning it as Palace did last year.

Sure but teams in the Premier League who are fighting relegation, always seem to throw the cup as well. It seems a lot of teams at both ends of the table don't take it seriously. It annoys me, always has. There is some kind of rule about how many players you can change from the previous fixture I think?

oscillatewildly · Jan 8, 2026

Boicey said:
Because he needs to have a proper look at the loanees, maybe in a position or two.
He's not just going to shove them in a crucial match is he.

Aren’t all of our remaining league fixtures crucial?
Weren’t they brought in to boost the thin squad in the knowledge of their playing position?
I’m not sure pitching them into a competition which not only we but the overwhelming vast majority of the PL and FL have very little interest in at this stage, to risk potential injury and/or suspension would be a wise tactical move would it?

shmmeee · Jan 8, 2026

If we do get another couple in, say at CM and ST or LB, I think we would have a decent second string who could happily share the burden of an extra couple of games.

The teams people are suggesting are basically no first teamers starting outside of players like Eccles and Simms who have played far less that most starters.

I think the bigger issue is compressing remaining first team games though. Assuming Boro go out then we’d just be giving them a day off before their next game then playing them midweek some time.

shepardo01 · Jan 8, 2026

If we win, what league game does it impact? (Next round)

Match Thread Stoke City - Coventry City [FA] Match Thread - Saturday 10th Jan (2 Viewers)

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