
Keeping Nathan Collins has to be such a relief for Stoke City fans. The young defender was a target for a number of Premier League sides in January, though it looked like their bids never came particularly close in the end. Keeping Collins, along with signing Harry Souttar is great news for Stoke and hopefully the two will be a fixture for years to come.
Nathan Collins getting forward
The most impressive aspect of Nathan’s Collins’ form of late has been his ability to get forward. Not sure how the usual center-back does it, but he seems to just force himself into dangerous areas and has the ability to deliver balls right across goal. Last week his interplay with Jack Clarke looked fantastic. Stoke fans should hope that they keep up this momentum and continue to create. With Steven Fletcher and Nick Powell also attacking, we might be able to see most of Stoke’s offense coming down the right side with Clarke and Collins feeding some quality players in front of goal.
On the defensive side, Collins will look to continue to assert dominance. If Emi Buendia lines up on the right side, expect this to be a key matchup. It looks like Stoke will continue to use four at the back with Collins, Chester, Souttar, and Fox which hopefully will solidify the back end which was exploited in their earlier match. It’s easy to forget that Collins is not a natural right-back as he has never really looked out of place this season. Stoke will need another top quality performance from the young defender if they want to get back in the win column on Saturday.