FOOTBALL FORMATIONS

About this formation

Stoke were my last choice in this PL, some may consider it an odd choice, considering I have missed out West Brom, Crystal Palace, Sunderland and a few other teams that have proved their metal in the PL. The reason for Stoke is simple, a variety of playing styles makes things more interesting. Everyone knows Stoke had a reputation of being very physical and hard to break down. I have got plenty of exciting, attacking, skilful teams in this league, which is why Bolton and Stoke were both necessary, the more I thought about it. The team needs little explanation, I have gone for the more physical players which earnt Stoke their reputation - plus some top half finishes! Delap is one of the most unusual threats in the game, where as Shaqiri is there to offer the quality that they may sometimes need. Combined with Adam's passing range and Walters, power and finishing I feel this team could cause a lot of problems. Honourable mentions are Arnautovic - who was just a bit too inconsistent, Johnson, who would have been in if not for Pompey, Peter Crouch - who was strongly considered. If we had a bench Cameron Jerome would definitely be there. The captaincy goes to Shawcross and the manager of course is Pulis (both who don't really need explaining). I think Mark Hughes did a decent job and was never given the chance to evolve Stoke the way he wanted to, but he had to go to Blackburn.