Stoke City

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Last summer, Stoke City signed Bae Junho from Daejeon Hana Citizen, and the midfielder has now given his first interview in English to evaluate his opening campaign at the club, alongside how his bond with the fans is growing more and more by the day.

"I think it was successful. This season is my first season in Europe and I've done a lot of things. I feel physically stronger now and have more confidence, so my play is getting better.

"I have a stronger connection with the supporters because they are always supporting me and the team so I love Stoke fans. It gives me more confidence knowing that they are behind me."

When asked how it's been working with Steven Schumacher, the 20-year-old said: "I like him because he trusts me. He's really professional. He has given me some great advice."

Delivering his opinion on the Potters faithful creating him his own song to the music of ABBA's Voulez-Vous, he added: "I love this song. Sometimes, I hum this song. Me and the team, we are going to do our best to do well. I hope we can finish the season in a good position."

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Stoke City's U21s secured a 2-1 win over Derby County in the Premier League 2 at the Loughborough University Stadium on Friday.

The Potters went ahead through Dara McGuinness’ strike just five minutes before the break, before Nathan Lowe doubled the club's lead after getting on the end of a low cross from Tom Sparrow to make it 2-0 at half-time.

The Rams got a goal back in the closing stages of the game when Cruz Allen fired a powerful effort past Tommy Simkin, but the visitors did enough to hold on and secure all three points on the road.

Alex Morris' side will next be in action when they face Leek Town in the semi-finals of the Staffordshire Senior Cup at the F. Ball Community Stadium on Tuesday 19 March, with kick-off scheduled for 7:45pm GMT.

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Stoke City suffered a 3-0 defeat to Norwich City on Saturday, and head coach Steven Schumacher admitted during his post-match interview that it was his team's most disappointing display since he joined the club from Plymouth Argyle.

"Rubbish. Not good enough. Way off it. From the first minute, they were a better team than us and sometimes you've got to hold your hands up and say that. We were not aggressive enough, we said that we needed to try and make it uncomfortable for Norwich and try and get in their faces, but we were just too deep. Didn't get close enough to them and it took us 78 minutes to win a tackle.

"We didn't seem to play with any energy, every time we did win the ball back, we made errors and gave it straight back to them. We had one or two opportunities to go ahead, we hit the post and we had a chance from Josh Laurent from a set play and if we get the first goal then who knows. It might have sparked us into life, but as soon as they got the first goal, we sort of folded."

When asked what work will be done over the international break, he added: "A little bit of rest but also another reset. That could be the worst performance that I've seen since we've been here, it's probably one of the worst performances that I've ever been involved in since I've been a coach so got to reset and got to find a way to go again."

Heading into the game against Norwich City, Stoke City are likely to be full of confidence following last weekend's 2-1 win over Preston North End.

The Potters will still be without Junior Tchamadeu due to an ankle injury, plus Wouter Burger won't be available as he misses the first game of his two-match suspension.

However, Ben Pearson is back in contention after serving his ban, while Enda Stevens and Ryan Mmaee have both trained and are expected to return to the matchday squad.

BBC Radio Stoke commentator Sohail Sahi has chosen his preferred team to face the Canaries, but do you agree? What would be your best starting eleven?

Get in touch by sending us your thoughts here.

• Stoke City have won two of their last three home games in the Championship (L1), as many as their previous 13 matches at the Bet365 Stadium (D4, L7).

• Norwich City are unbeaten in their previous six league meetings against Steven Schumacher's side and could record a domestic double over them for the second time in three attempts.

• The Potters have secured victory in just one of their last five second-tier fixtures against Saturday's opponents (D2, L2).

• The Canaries have conceded in each of their previous 16 away league games, last going longer without a clean sheet between August 2011 and October 2012 in the Premier League (24 in a row).

• The Carrow Road outfit have only won one of their last eight away games in the Championship, with their most recent result on the road being a 3-1 defeat to Middlesbrough.

With Stoke City preparing to face Norwich City on Saturday, we asked you to send in your score predictions and thoughts as to how you think the game could pan out.

Here are some of the responses that we received:

David: Stoke are on a roll, and coming off an away win where fan support was important. I think the atmosphere will be rocking and Stoke players fired up to claw more points away from the drop zone. It'll be hard to keep Norwich out of the goal, but 2-1 Stoke, and that's the first Stoke win I've predicted in an awfully long time.

Joey: Whatever has happened to us since Jon Walters took over as interim technical director is really good. There's team spirit again and players fighting for the badge. Josh Laurent for me is a really positive captain, just hasn't been getting the love until recently but cares. Gotta be positive and say 2-1 win.

Dave: Two one to Stoke. The home crowd are on top form. ‘So, before, you come to knock down our door, forgive us Delia, we're gonna beat Norwich on Saturday. Bye bye bye, Delia’.

Rob: The Stoke fans are going to be well up for this. I predict a feisty 2-2 draw. Norwich coming from 2-1 down to equalise at the death!

Harry: Stoke City till I die. 1-0 Stoke.

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Former Stoke City defender Lee Dixon has full belief that the club will be able to survive relegation and retain their status in the Championship.

The Potters moved out of the bottom three last weekend following their 2-1 win at Preston North End, and the pundit thinks that their recent upturn in form shows that the squad have enough fight to get themselves over the line.

“I hope Stoke have enough to stay up this season, but you know what the Championship is like. It’s an absolutely brutal slog of a league, whether you’re trying to get into the play-offs or you’re trying to avoid relegation at the other end of the table.

“They’ve obviously got a very young manager in Steven Schumacher and I think his development from now until the end of the season in terms of how to manage in a relegation battle is going to be key for the club’s survival chances.

“Obviously the players have got to go out and perform, but they still need to be in a frame of mind where they understand the magnitude of what they’re involved in. It’s going to be a big ask for them to avoid relegation but I still think there’s enough there in the squad to keep them up.”

On how fans can have a positive impact on the team, he added: "I played there at Stoke for two-and-a-half seasons, and while it wasn’t full every week, the fans that do turn up do make a noise. If the Stoke players can give those supporters something to cheer about then it will give them a massive boost in return and I think they’ll be ok, that could help make the difference.”

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Stoke City midfielder Jordan Thompson has been called up to represent Northern Ireland for their two upcoming friendlies against Romania and Scotland.

The Potters star is set to reunite with former manager Michael O'Neill when he heads off on international duty later this month, with his nation's first game taking place on Friday 22 March and the second on Tuesday 26 March.

Steven Schumacher will also be sending Bae Junho away over the break after he was named in South Korea's U23s squad to participate in the West Asian Championship in Saudi Arabia.

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Ahead of Stoke City's upcoming home game vs Norwich City on Saturday, Steven Schumacher has been speaking to the media at his pre-match press conference to discuss this weekend's opponents, the return of his captain and the backing of supporters.

The Canaries: "They are difficult to prepare for because of how they move and how they rotate in midfield. They've got some really good players. They are in good form and in the top six so we are well aware of their strengths, but I'm sure they will be aware of us as well."

Josh Laurent: "Having Josh back in the team has been a bonus because obviously he got injured in the first game that we were here so that was a bit of a blow, but he's the captain and leads by example when he's on the pitch. He's not the most vocal captain I've ever seen, but he can have a good impact on the team."

Potters fans: "The atmosphere in the last home game was the best atmosphere since we've been here at the Bet365 so we are going to need that again. Get right behind us and hopefully we can cause Norwich a few problems."

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Previewing Saturday's showdown vs Norwich City, BBC Radio Stoke's Lucas Yeomans has been speaking to Canaries fan Terri Westgate to discuss which visiting players are likely to pose the biggest threat when they arrive at the Bet365 Stadium.

"The person who is getting all the goals at the moment is Josh Sargent. He's probably our number one player. Also, both Gabriel Sara and [Marcelino] Nunez have come into the team. They are more sort of attacking midfielders and they've been creating a lot of chances as well, so they are probably the ones most to look out for."

When asked for her score prediction, she added: "If you look purely at our away form over the last couple of months, you wouldn't be predicting a win which sounds strange. We've won so many home games but we've struggled away. We lost to Middlesbrough, we drew at QPR so we actually are a bit nervous on the road. I think 1-1 is a pretty fair prediction."

Nick Mashiter
Senior football news reporter

Stoke have held talks with former Norwich sporting director Stuart Webber as they look to replace Ricky Martin.

The Potters are looking for a new technical director after Martin was sacked in February, just 15 months into the role.

Joint-Chairman John Coates has been speaking to a number of candidates, with Webber a contender to take the job at the bet365 Stadium.

Webber is available after leaving Norwich in November, although he has served a 12-month notice period which expires this month.

Stoke are looking for a replacement for Martin despite him helping oversee a recruitment drive last summer with 18 players arriving at the club, including Ki-Jana Hoever on loan from Wolves and Enda Stevens from Sheffield United.

But the Potters have struggled this season with Alex Neil sacked in December and replaced by Steven Schumacher.

The ex-Plymouth boss has won five of his 16 games and Stoke sit 19th in the Championship – three points above the relegation zone - ahead of Saturday’s visit of Norwich.

Webber, Huddersfield’s former head of football operations, oversaw two Championship title-winning campaigns at Carrow Road but two awful seasons in the Premier League saw the Canaries finish bottom.

After handing his notice in last March he was eventually replaced by Ben Knapper, Arsenal’s loan manager, in November.

Stoke City are set to welcome Norwich City to the Bet365 Stadium on Saturday as they look to secure back-to-back league wins following last weekend's victory at Preston North End.

The Potters displayed an extremely positive performance when they visited Deepdale, but can they follow that up with another three points against the Canaries?

Get involved by sending us your score predictions and thoughts ahead of the match using the online form below.

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