Today at 2:45 p.m. ET, Tranmere Rovers and Stoke City go head-to-head in 2013 Capital One Cup Round 3 action from Prenton Park in England. The game can be live streamed here.
Tranmere manager Ronnie Moore has stated that he expects a challenge from new-look Stoke City as they are currently led by new manager Mark Hughes.
Hughes, who played with European powerhouses Manchester United, Barcelona and Bayern Munich during his career, has changed the culture of Stoke City, which has impressed Moore.
"Mark Hughes is trying to get them to play and to play out of the back," the Rovers manager said per ESPN. "They do go long at times but they're good passers into proper areas. It's going to be a tough game, no doubt about that, but it's a game we look forward to because we're not expected to win. But we have to make sure we play without any fear."
Moore is hoping to stamp the aggressiveness that Hughes has brought to Stoke City onto his own players after struggles for Tranmere have led to the team winning just one Sky Bet League One game.
"We're too nice and we need to be aggressive," Moore told ESPN. "It's hard when you're not really an aggressive person. I'm not saying go out there and boot somebody and kick them in the air, I'm saying be aggressive by closing people down and getting in people's faces."
Hughes took over the reins for Stoke City over the summer, and since he joined the team they've looked very promising, having earned seven points out of their first five Barclays Premier League matches with Hughes at the helm and notching a 3-1 victory over Walsall at home in the second round of the Capital One Cup.
Despite his team's success, Hughes believes there's still a lot of work to be done as far as improving and despite being just three days removed from a 3-1 league defeat at Arsenal, he's excited for a quick turnaround so that the team can look to improve.
"The more games we can play, the better for the group in terms of what we are trying to do," Hughes said per ESPN. "At this point in the season, we are still very much a work in progress, so games will help us. We will get better as we play more often together."
While Stoke City has taken strides, Hughes believes there's more work to be done.
"I feel we have taken huge strides in a small space of time but we need to keep the performance levels going in the right direction," he told ESPN.
Tranmere Rovers will be looking to become more aggressive and notch a third-round win while Stoke City will look to continue on improving its game when these two teams square off this afternoon.
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