Maksym Talovierov at centre-half, Bosun Lawal in midfield, reasons to kick the fixture computer and other Stoke City talking points
07:00, 11 Dec 2025
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Junior Tchamadeu (L), Aaron Cresswell (C) and Robert Bozenik (R) of Stoke City look dejected after the team's defeat in the Sky Bet Championship match between Ipswich Town and Stoke City at Portman Road.
A Jaden Philogene cracker settled a tight game between Stoke City and Ipswich in the latter’s favour although Stoke made a good fight of it, certainly compared to what fears there might have been when the net bulged in the second minute. Here are the talking points from Portman Road.
Maksym Talovierov at centre-half
Maksym Talovierov has had a long wait to get his chance in the league at centre-half. He had a rusty outing in the League Cup and a game at Portsmouth as emergency right-back but an initial injury and then the form of Ben Wimot, Bosun Lawal and Ash Phillips have kept him down the pecking order in the middle.
First and foremost, he looked like he was loving it. He was taking responsibility and trying to be the first to things. There were a couple of times when he was second as the game wore on and tested his fitness but he was always able to get back into and make tackles and blocks – or rip Jaden Philogene’s shirt off his back at one point.
It’ll be interesting if he’ll be ready to go again so quickly on Saturday but it’ll be a surprise if we don’t see a lot more of him in the second half of the season.
Bosun Lawal in central midfield
Bosun Lawal might be earmarked as right-back in December as Junior Tchamadeu goes off to the African Cup of Nations but this was his chance in central midfield and a new chapter in the eternal debate about his best position.
First off, that role is to work with teammates to make sure wingers don’t have space to cut inside like Philogene did in the second minute.
But he was better when he was willing to use his power to win the ball back. His driving runs didn’t come off but he was keen to try.
It’s difficult to hit the ground running in a different position, particularly to the level he reached at centre-half early in the campaign, and it will be down to Robins to decide how much time he gets and when to really stake his claim further forward.
Manager’s faith in Divin Mubama
Divin Mubama is going through a hard patch at the moment in his first season of regular men’s football but it was noted that Mark Robins grabbed him when he left the pitch and had a word in his ear.
“He'd done well,” Robins said. “I can be critical with them all and I am at times. It's a critique rather than being critical actually but I can lose my temper too when it's downright lazy or profligate. We give up situations that we shouldn't and we've got to go and be ruthless against teams. When you can be ruthless against teams, as soon as we can start to do that, that's when we become a team that will become feared in the division. You are looking at the next bit for us, the next bit for us in the evolution is to finish off chances more than we do.
“I'm really pleased with a lot of aspects of it and I'm really displeased about others and disappointed with others.”
The fixture computer
There are a couple of reasons to want to kick the fixture computer.
In a division as tight as this one, a friendly week with matches in a convenient order can see a team shoot up the table and momentum can fire you a long way – or you can be thrown mid-week trips to Millwall and Ipswich followed by early kick-offs on the Saturday. At least Stoke aren’t away to Portsmouth for that this time.
Stoke have hardly ever played Ipswich or Millwall on a Tuesday or Wednesday because there’s always been an understanding with the EFL that they’re incredibly difficult places to get to from the Potteries on a Tuesday or Wednesday night. Something must have changed and it isn’t better public transport.
Well done to the 900-odd Stokies who made the trip.
The truth is that Stoke are still smarting from not taking advantage of their home double header in the previous three-game week. That costly second half at Hull took the wind out of the sails, especially when it was followed by what happened Sheffield United. They’re going to have to find a way to make up for it.
Robins said: “It's very kind of them (to give us another 12.30pm kick-off after a long mid-week trip). I think there are a few teams who have had to cope with that but it is what it is, that's the fixture list.”
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