IT'S good and bad news from me this week.

First the bad news, which is my medial knee ligament injury has put me out of Saturday's game at Stoke.

Now the good news: It is only a small tear so I shouldn't be out for too long and hope to be back for next weekend's trip to Wigan.

I've had few medial ligament injuries and I knew what it was straight away when it happened against Chelsea.

My foot was planted from passing the ball and the challenge took me out.

But because I've had those injuries in the past I have strengthened my knee up so the damage is not as bad as it could have been.

I'm hoping to get on the bike tomorrow, start running as soon as possible, and then hopefully join in training next week.

The trip to the Britannia Stadium will only be the second league game I have missed this season.

It is a massive game and I wanted to be a part of it.

But you get disappointments in football all the time and missing the Scotland game against Argentina tonight is another one for me.

It would have been good to show what I can do against what is a really talented side.

And, of course, there is the Maradona factor.

I'll be watching on the telly and supporting the lads.

Hopefully, Roman Bednar will get some time on the pitch for his country after his late call-up to the Czech Republic squad for the first time in a couple of years.

Roman has been working hard, he has scored a few goals and he's been desperate to get in his national squad.

It will probably give him an even bigger head but I'm sure the lads will keep his feet on the ground!

It's good for him and good for the club that we've got another international player.

Confidence is key to a striker so if it gives him confidence that can only be good.

We'll need him at his competitive best at Stoke after what was a disappointing game against Chelsea for everyone last weekend.

We made a good start against them but I think the first goal knocked the stuffing out of us, which we shouldn't let happen really.

We should have got hold of the ball and tried to keep it tight again.

But their class shone through and they were just too good for us.

We couldn't cope with their movement and physicality.

Everyone can see we're playing well in spells but conceding silly goals.

We need to cut out the stupid errors.

We've had a tough period, which has included fixtures against three of the top four.

Our season starts now and we're looking forward to Saturday.

We haven't won at Stoke for 26 years but it was a similar story at Middlesbrough where we won for the first time in 56 years in September - records are there to be broken.

If we go there and win it will be huge stepping stone and massive confidence boost because I feel as if everyone is down in the dumps at the moment.

I'll hopefully be at the game on Saturday to encourage the lads.

It will be very similar to the goalless draw we fought out at Bolton earlier in the season.

Stoke have the same style of play and use what they're good at.

At home they have caused a lot of good teams problems and we'll have to be right on our game.

We need to stand up to the physical test and then play with freedom when we have the ball.

The defence and goalkeeper will have to be right on their game.

Having so many players away on international duty means we won't really get the chance to work on defending set-pieces until tomorrow and Friday.

You can set up as much as you want against Rory Delap's long throw-in but at the end of the day you just need to be brave and head it away.

It's a big team effort that is needed.

We also have to remember our own strengths though and that we can counter-attack with our pace on the break.

Ricardo Fuller being suspended for them can only help us as well.

He's a top quality player and has scored a few goals this season.

He's been a dangerman to us in the past with his pace, power and goals, particularly in the game there last season, so at least we won't have that headache this time.

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