Jan Poortvliet intends to mix it with Stoke City tonight, in more ways than one.

The Saints boss intends to adopt a mix and match approach to tonights friendly with Stoke City and he doesnt just mean with regard to his team selection.

The Dutch coach will field the same side as played West Ham on Friday for at least the first 45 minutes and then he will start to make substitutions aimed at resting players for Saturday alongside giving others a chance to force their way into the reckoning.

But it isnt just the team selections that will be mix and match, last season Stoke were a very physical side and poortvliet knows this is the type of game he can expect from a lot of sides in the Championship, in that respect he knows that their will be a lot of long and high balls and he is looking for his players to be able to firstly mix it with Stoke and then match them in strength.

He knows that his is a young side and still learning and he has to find out if he has the right balance for the opener against Cardiff on Saturday.

Whatever the result tonight Jan Poortvliet is sure to learn a few lessons, not just about his own players, but about English football itself. 

Photo: Action Images

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