18 Oct 2014 10:00:35
Hi ed. Do you have any information on the reported interest in shawcross and galatasarays kaya?? Could they be January deals?

{Ed002's Note - I am not going to talk about timing, but Manchester United are indeed "scouting" Shawcross but I am told they have not approached Stoke yet.. I have asked someone to check on Kaya.}

1.) 18 Oct 2014
Wouldn't mind either of them both are injury free and decent defenders also experienced

2.) 18 Oct 2014
Thanks for asking! I'd like shawcross! Not seen much of other guy but shawcross would bring visit like qualities

3.) 20 Oct 2014
Shawcross gets too many cards because his positioning is awful and he is over aggressive to compensate for it. We don't need more people suspended than we are already getting. Every time I see him play he gets a yellow in the first half an hour or so, which would put me on edge for the remaining hour too.

I appreciate that he's one of ours, which is a huge benefit - I know he loves the club, he was brought through the youth team and he wants to wear the shirt but so do a lot of players, it doesn't mean they are good enough to actually play first team football for us.

I just find myself shouting at the screen whenever I watch him, I don't know why he can't stay tight to his man - it's like he'd be good if someone went through the basics of defending with him again.

I'm not saying he isn't a decent player, he's just not United quality. In fairness, he's probably about Stoke quality.

On another note, oppose to looking around the world for a squad player who can player defensive mid, I think the Korean lad from Swansea has looked great for a while - I thought he looked good when on loan at Sunderland too. He'd tick a box and just provide cover for Blind when we need it. In real terms we've signed Blind who should be in that position long term, we just need someone to occupy it if he's injured, or doing 'a Raheem' and pretending to be tired.

4.) 20 Oct 2014
I'm sure shawcross could be trained to improve and would be a good addition as he knows the premier league and helps stoke keep a good goal difference! I'd personally like a defensive midfielder to play with blind and helpful to letting the top 4 attack