All the footprints you've ever left and fear expecting ahead (Stoke)

We'll start with a bit of a defence of Ben Foster, who Sir Alex has given the nod to for today's game. He's been getting a bit of stick after the last couple of games, stick that's a little harsh as far I'm concerned. Here's Sir Alex on him:

"With Edwin van der Sar still three weeks away from fitness, we thought it was a good opportunity for Tomasz to play on Wednesday.

"But Ben will play tomorrow and I haven't had any doubts about that. Ben hasn't had a lot of game experience, but he will be ok."

First off, Kuszczak didn't do (didn't need to) enough on Wednesday to force his way past Foster. He wasn't a commanding presence, he did enough, and I don't want to turn a defence of Foster into an attack on Kuszczak, but Foster is the man with the baton in his hand, and I don't think that his mistakes so far are enough to make him pass that baton. Of course, once Van der Sar is fit he should come straight back, for if Kuszczak hasn't done enough to dislodge Foster, then Foster hasn't done enough to dislodge VDS. As to the mistakes, these seem borne more from too much confidence than a lack of it, despite some papers arguing that his confidence has taken a knock, but even then, the upcoming point remains. His error for Man City's first was not from him dithering but from him trying too much. And in between errors (which we should note haven't cost us any points) he has produced some fine saves and looks good generally in the box, dealing with crosses well. Allowing him the chance to keep playing, work on getting the errors from his game, a couple of games just immediately booting any back passes away, nothing fancy, seems a better way to deal with it, than banishing him to the bench, forcing him to dwell on the mstakes, affecting his confidence more- gotta get straight back on the bike, as they say...

Onto the game and let's stereotype Stoke - the team that has Rory Delap doing long throws. Here's a video of him from last season

Don't see so much written about it this season but it's still there, here's Carlo Ancelotti:

"I have not seen this before – it is a fantastic throw-in and is a new situation for me," the Italian told reporters at his press conference this afternoon.

"It is very, very dangerous. For sure we have to take counter measures but our aim is to go to Stoke to play football. It will be more difficult but that is our objective.

And James Lawton (have I really stooped so low as to bring James Lawton in in defence of my laziness in singling out such an obvious aspect of the game for my match preview?) mentions it in his rubbish piece in today's paper:

the ability of Stoke's ace strategist Rory Delap to spread a little alarm with his cannonball throw-ins

And here's an analysis from last season, pointing out the specific danger at the Brittania Stadium:

What sets Stoke apart is their drive to perfect the art. Pulis has worked with Delap on the pace and trajectory of his throw-ins, demanding that they be as flat as possible to make it more difficult for defenders to clear and more dangerous for a goalkeeper to attempt to claim. Two players are deployed inside a 6ft target area and it is Delap’s job to hit them, a task made easier at the Britannia since the pitch was narrowed to the minimum permitted dimensions of 100m by 64m in the summer.

“It’s more accurate than a corner and it’s so tough to deal with. A defender or attacker is more likely to flick it on than anything else,” said Delap. “You have to use your natural assets. I used the throw-in in the Championship last season and the manager made clear that not a lot was going to change this season. It’s not much different to what I’ve done at other clubs but it’s getting more attention because we’ve got more height in the team and had more success with it. If it’s done right, there is no way of defending it.”

From what I remember of last season's games against Stoke we dealt with the threat particularly well. The long throw is perhaps just something to attach to Stoke's overall play, the work-ethic, nothing spectacular but effective, rather than singling out a particularly skillful player the singling out of a tactic, and Stoke's good home record is also symbolised by the dimensions of the pitch being suited to the throw, giving a psychological edge to their home pitch, "this is our pitch, designed with us in mind."
Sir Alex bigs them up anyway:

“Stoke are going to be a force.

“They have a fantastic support. They say it is the noisiest in the country and I wouldn’t disagree with that.

“Last season was about survival. It is not easy for anyone coming out of the Championship.

“But I saw a marked change there. There is good ambition, they have a good managerial structure and a good chairman.

“It is a club on the up.”

It's almost too obvious to say, but we should have too much class for them again this season. Can't see anything but us winning, see it being a good day's work but nothing more, Stoke 0 - Man Utd 2.