Hoefkens braced for tough return

It is just four months since Carl Hoefkens left Stoke.

But Albion’s right-back will return to his old club tomorrow expecting almost everything to have changed.

Different players, different style, loftier ambitions – only his friends in the stands will be familiar to the Baggies’ summer signing.

But the Belgian international is still relishing coming face to face with the club he served for two seasons.

“I had a good time over there,” said the £750,000 capture. “It was my first team in England and it’s always good to go back one day.”

The 29-year-old has stayed in touch with several of his team mates from the Britannia Stadium.

But he does not expect to see many of his old friends in red and white stripes tomorrow.

“I speak to quite a lot of them but there aren’t many left from last year,” he said. “Most of them left.

“They have brought a few others in and a lot of their team are players who didn’t play last year.

“But I’ve still got a lot of contacts there and loads of friends who are fans.”

And the new personnel is not the only change Hoefkens expects to see on his old stomping ground.

The Potters have earned a reputation this season as the Championship’s most effective exponents of route one football – a philosphy Hoefkens believes has been adopted since his departure for The Hawthorns in August.

“Last year at Stoke we tried to play proper football because we had a team with a lot of flair with Andy Griffin, Lee Hendrie and Liam Lawrence,” he said.

“We tried to play football last year but this year they either didn’t have the players to do that or they wanted to change it because of the lack of flair players they had.

“It has paid off so why would you change something that pays off.

“I think as a player you always want to play like Albion do. I definitely do but maybe some players like to play the way Stoke play because they have got other qualities.

“It is a totally different style of football and it’s not just about the style.

“Anything can effect the game on Saturday, especially if you’re not mentally prepared for it.

“It is the coldest ground in the world – it’s unbelievable.

“The fans are going back them for what is one of the biggest games of the year.

“They have done very well and they now have the chance to play the team who are at the top of the table.

“It’s going to be a very hard game and the players over there will really go for it.

“They all think everyone sees them as a small side and they have a bit of a ‘little man syndrome’.

“It’s up to us to cope with it, especially physically.

“Everybody knows the way they play and it is just a mental thing.”

And Hoefkens admitted he is surprised to see his old club among the promotion contenders after a summer of transition.

“I am quite surprised because of all the players who left last year,” he said.

“There is a lot of quality gone from last year, when we had a proper good team.

“You never know how the new players are going to do but players like Shawcroft have come in and done well and is a really good centre-half.

“Other players they have brought in have done really well.

“I didn’t expect them at the start of the season to be up there but I saw the game when they played Watford at home and they completely outplayed them.

“It wasn’t like they outplayed them on the ground but they got in their faces and were so physical that even Watford couldn’t cope with them.

“If you look at the players Watford have got that says a lot really.

Hoefkens insists the Baggies will be well-prepared for the aerial bombardment they will face, although he admitted it has been impossible to replicate the Potters’ style in training this week.

He said: “You can’t really do it in training because we don’t have the players to do that.

“We can’t ask Tininho to run over and head a ball away from Bostjan Cesar.

“We don’t have the players to train for them, but we know what’s coming and we have to be ready.”