![\"Mark](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0_GettyImages-2238041108.jpg\")
Mark Robins is preparing Stoke City for a home match against Bristol City.(Image: Trevor Wilkinson\/MI News\/NurPhoto via Getty Images)<\/p>\nStoke City return home to host promotion hopefuls Bristol City at the bet365 Stadium and Mark Robins has a near-full squad to pick fromMark Robins is preparing Stoke City for a home match against Bristol City.(Image: Trevor Wilkinson\/MI News\/NurPhoto via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Mark Robins will be weighing up one or two changes to his Stoke City<\/a> starting XI as he heads into another busy week before the international break.<\/p>\n Stoke, in fifth, host fourth-placed Bristol City on Saturday (3pm)<\/a> before heading to Gary Rowett’s Oxford United on Tuesday and then returning to the bet365 Stadium to take on leaders Coventry City on Saturday, November 8.<\/p>\n Junior Tchamadeu is back available after serving a one-match suspension<\/a> and is likely to come straight back in despite an impressive performance from centre-half Maksym Talovierov as a stand-in right-back as Stoke won 1-0 at Portsmouth.<\/p>\n Tomas Rigo and Tatsuki Seko are options to be recalled in central midfield too, which could see either Bae Junho or Lewis Baker then utilised as a number 10 – or Robins could go with the same Ben Pearson-Baker-Junho midfield trio that he used at Fratton Park.<\/p>\n Robins has been fairly consistent with his selection so far this season and eight players have featured in at least 11 of the 12 Championship matches.<\/p>\n There are others who have had to be more patient, such as Jamie Donley (four substitute appearances); Lamine Cisse, Eric Bocat and Robert Bozenik, who have each made just two starts; and Steven Nzonzi and Talovierov.<\/p>\n Robins insists the door is open to break into his plans but a player has to be ready to take their chance.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cYou\u2019re going to lose players through suspension and injury, which we already have done and all teams are facing that. You\u2019re going to have to use the squad and once thing is for sure: players need to be ready to go because that certainty is there \u2013 they are going to be used.<\/p>\n \u201cIf, for any reason, they haven\u2019t been 100 per cent in it and mentally they have come off it a bit, there is no chance for them. There is no chance.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can see it when players come into the team. I\u2019m generalising rather than pinpointing specific individuals. They can\u2019t hit the level and then, eventually, will come out of the team for whatever reason. They have to be on it.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s difficult for them because sometimes their expectations of themselves and where they feel they need to be or want to be or should be has an impact on them mentally and they come off it, whether that\u2019s two per cent, five per cent of 20 per cent or whether they just throw the towel in. That happens as well and you see it.<\/p>\n \u201cBut you\u2019re a squad, you\u2019re a team and you\u2019re together and it\u2019s why everyone needs to be strong and ready for whenever they are going to be used because it is guaranteed they will be used.\u201d<\/p>\n Ashley Phillips needed to be patient too<\/a> through the first few weeks but he has seized his opportunity since coming into the defence in late September and has started every game since then.<\/p>\n Robins said: \u201cThat\u2019s it. There are 11 spaces, one goalkeeper and 10 outfield, and you\u2019ve got to be ready for whatever comes. Things are thrown up all the time and if you\u2019re ready for that and you go in, your chance is there whether you\u2019re a young player, senior experienced player, new player or have come from abroad or whatever, you have to be ready to go and show you are competent to deliver in a highly competitive environment. That takes all of your effort, concentration, determination.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s brilliant. We\u2019re in a great environment every day. Come to work, work hard and get your rewards from doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n Predicted Stoke team vs Bristol City:<\/strong> Johansson, Tchamadeu, Cresswell, Phillips, WIlmot, Pearson, Baker, Junho, Manhoef, Thomas, Mubama.<\/p>\n How should Stoke line up? Click HERE to join the debate<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Sky Sports discounted Premier League and EFL package<\/p>\n This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more<\/a> \u00a349<\/p>\n \u00a335<\/p>\n Sky<\/p>\n Get Sky Sports here<\/a><\/p>\n Sky has slashed the price of its Essential TV and Sky Sports<\/a> bundle for the 2025\/26 season, saving members \u00a3336 and offering more than 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more.<\/p>\n Sky will show at least 215 live Premier League games this season, an increase of up to 100 more.<\/p>\n While you’re here, we have launched a new WhatsApp group to deliver the latest Stoke news directly to your phone. Click on this link,<\/a> select ‘Join Chat’ and you’re in. If for some reason you decide you no longer want to be in our community, you can leave at any time by clicking on the name at the top of your screen and clicking ‘Exit Group’, simple as that.<\/strong><\/p>\n Every day, the StokeonTrentLive football desk strive to deliver news, features and transfer-related stories as a part of our overall package of Stoke City content.<\/p>\n Our dedicated reporter Pete Smith – who you can follow on X by clicking here <\/a>– follows Stoke home and away and offers you comprehensive coverage from matchdays, press conferences and everything that happens in between.<\/p>\n With so much going on, we send out a daily free Stoke City newsletter which you can sign up for – and means you’ll have a round-up of the key stories land in your email inbox. 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You can get it from Apple here <\/a>and for Android here <\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stoke City return home to host promotion hopefuls Bristol City at the bet365 Stadium and Mark Robins has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":536985,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8818],"tags":[381,2686,748,393,4884,173479,97562,74089,140605,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-536984","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bristol","8":"tag-bristol","9":"tag-bristol-city-fc","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-junior-tchamadeu","14":"tag-mark-robins","15":"tag-stoke-city-fc","16":"tag-tomas-rigo","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115461623225152008","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=536984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536984\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/536985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=536984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=536984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=536984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Content](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1755043638_712_0_Sky-Factbox.jpg\")
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