Jon Walters

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Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

Who was it that said Stoke laid on a bus to take the 3 of them to the airport? Stoke themselves?

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Something about a bus was mentioned in an article by Miguel Delaney in the Irish Examiner on Thursday. It spoke about the three having been given permission by the FAI to attend Stoke's end-of-season awards ceremony on the Sunday night and then mentioned a club bus upon which the three had departed at 11:15 that night, but it was unclear as to whether it was a bus to take them to the airport or just one to take them to their homes in Stoke or wherever. I suspect Delaney meant the latter as he'd earlier mentioned that, as far as Stoke were concerned, Marc Wilson was to travel to Dublin on the Tuesday morning.

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Wilson’s situation is less clear. Tardelli yesterday said he is "out. He has a problem, injured." But a source within Stoke City said that wasn’t the case. As far as the club hierarchy were concerned, Wilson was set to travel to Dublin on Tuesday morning. All three players had been given special dispensation to attend Stoke’s player-of-the-year awards on Sunday and come to Dublin later. In the event all three left on a club-arranged coach at 11.15pm.

Efforts to contact Wilson’s camp yesterday proved unsuccessful. Stoke also declined to make an official comment.

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Scored the only goal in Stoke's win over Hajduk Split in a Europa League third round qualifier tonight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncnGOLNCGY8

Walters missed a penalty for Stoke against Norwich a few minutes ago. He'd been brought down to win it.

Crouch and Jerome joining Stoke last night. Not great news for Walters.

Walters is better than Crouch. Hopefully he'll end up showing him up for what he is... an over rated failed circus freak

having a very effective game against United today and forced a world class save from DeGea with a shot out of nothing. Delap also playing well and good to see Whelan getting stuck in. Nani's goal was sublime.

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Originally Posted by SkStu

having a very effective game against United today and forced a world class save from DeGea with a shot out of nothing. Delap also playing well and good to see Whelan getting stuck in. Nani's goal was sublime.

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Best player for Stoke today I reckon, looked a threat all game.
Whelan's tackle on Evra was crunching, no broken bones though... Shame!

I thought Walters was suberb today, and the ESPN commentators were picking him out as well, he didnt waste much and turned some very hopefull deliveries in his general direction into decent posession, carried a goal threat and ran all day.

excellant cameo from walters tonight. i'd start him in the playoff with cox

He held the ball up superbly. He had to adapt very quickly to Doyle's sending off as he had only just come on and probably didn't anticipate playing as a lone striker. Very impressed.

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Originally Posted by the bear

excellant cameo from walters tonight. i'd start him in the playoff with cox

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Can't see him and Cox playing together, both drop deep. I'd actually have Walters ahead of Cox despite Cox's MoM performance last night. Long and Walters for me but think that's unlikely. Big fan of Walters and have been for a while.

I thought he was excellent. His control from the hoof balls up to him was sublime at times and he didn't do much wrong. A serious contender for starting place now. poor old Shane long. Went from starting place V Slovakia to 4th choice striker last night. That's gotta hurt

myself and my mate I went to the game with both agreed when Doyle came on that Walters was the ideal player to have up front alone when down to ten men, he'll win the ball in the air, keep possession, and bring midfield into the play.
Which is pretty much what he did.

real worker for the team.. and also hes good 4 a goal.! he is a real asset to the team, all we need know is trap to bring in james mccarthy or wes hoolahan in midfield for that bit of creativity.. arguably fahy could supply that spark also. steven reid at right back and john o shea partner dunne is another option i would look at but trap will never pick reid 4 the squad again after his row last year

I'd have Walters and Long start myself. Walters would be very strong at holding up the ball or laying off passes for Long. He is also a threat on goal himself. Ideally, you want two strikers who could score, as this gives the defence more to think about in the game.

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Originally Posted by Fixer82

I thought he was excellent. His control from the hoof balls up to him was sublime at times and he didn't do much wrong. A serious contender for starting place now. poor old Shane long. Went from starting place V Slovakia to 4th choice striker last night. That's gotta hurt

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I reckon thats over simplistic. I would fully expect Long to start in the playoff. Trap like one striker sitting on the last defenders shoulder (Doyle/Long) and one to drop deep (Keane/Cox)

Walters is more in the Keane/Cox mode, but could conceivably do both jobs. I don't see him starting in the playoff unless something happens to Long between now and then. It'll be Keane & Long if they are both fit, or Cox and Long if they both make it. But if Keane is fit i reckon Walters will be on the bench before Cox.

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Originally Posted by Fixer82

I thought he was excellent. His control from the hoof balls up to him was sublime at times and he didn't do much wrong. A serious contender for starting place now. poor old Shane long. Went from starting place V Slovakia to 4th choice striker last night. That's gotta hurt

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Glad to see the outpouring of support for Walters. Glad to see that Trap finally recognizes that he needs the big man up front to validate our game (which more often than not is Route One). As for Walters himself - he was better at holding up the ball than Quinn, better at laying it off than Cascarino, and was as good as Stapleton at running at the opposition defence.

This happened in a must win game, with out qualification hopes on the line. So he's not overawed by the big occasion.

And all this in just ten minutes of football.

He's a locked on starter for the playoffs, and if Trap doesn't play him then his team deserves to lose.

I was impressed by Walters when he played earlier in the year. He seemed to do himself no favours at the end of last season. Had he turned up for Macedonia away, I think Trap might have given him the nod, as it was, it was Cox that benefited. I'm not one of these after the event people either, while I could accept calls for Long's inclusion, I called it before the game that Cox would do well.

He did fine but remember it was only for 10 minutes against a team who had played an hour down a man.

To be honest, I was equally impressed with him against Wales in February. Worked his socks off for the whole game, and despite not scoring I thought he was in the running for man of the match