Stoke & Staffordshire

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Watch our pick of standout clips from Stoke and Staffordshire

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  1. A generic picture of the top of a police car, which has a flashing blue light.

  2. A charred tree sits in ground which is burnt and covered in rubble. In the background, green fields can be seen.

  3. A white cat is looking at the camera as she is being hugged by a woman with grey hair. The woman is wearing a dark-coloured jumper.

  4. A man with black hair and a dark shirt stares at the camera while in front of a light grey background.

  5. An aerial photograph of a large wildfire on an area of grassland. There are two fire engines in the bottom left hand corner of the image. There is a huge plume of smoke stretching from the right hand side of the image across the park.

  6. A man wearing a red and white tracksuit is seen smiling while holding a bronze medal. He is stood indoors in a brightly-lit sports arena.

  7. Alex Griffiths and his wife Danni both wear dark glasses and hats in a selfie

  8. A girl wearing a denim jacket is sitting next to a man wearing a white t-shirt. He has a beard and tattoos. Both are holding a drink in a glass. They are in what appears to be a restaurant with other people sitting at tables behind them.

  9. 'Work to do in attack for Stoke City'

    Mark Elliott
    BBC Radio Stoke commentator

    Stoke City's players, wearing their red and white home shirt with white shorts, celebrate in a group after scoring in the EFL Cup against Oldham. Getty Images

    Stoke did what they had to do against an Oldham side that acquitted themselves well throughout in their Carabao Cup tie.

    Viktor Johansson made several good saves behind a back four still coming together as a unit following Luke Graham's arrival to replace Ashley Phillips and in the absence of injured Junior Tchamadeu and Aaron Cresswell.

    The midfield has seen three new arrivals and remains a work in progress too, but this game - and pre-season before it - has served to further demonstrate what Stoke need to do in the remaining weeks of the transfer window.

    While they need another full-back, the club's main priority is surely to reconfigure and retool its attack.

    Currently, the squad looks built for a 4-3-3 with two number eights rather than two deep-lying players and a 10.

    Eric Bocat already inverts from left back, and with centre-half Ben Wilmot playing out of position at right-back, it looks from the outside like that base formation would allow Wilmot to tuck in and Stoke to build with a back three.

    The Potters could then push Bocat or the two eights on to attack in a fashionable 3-2-5, while still defending in their usual 4-4-2 with everyone bar Wilmot in their favoured positions.

    But Mark Robins seems keen to stick with last season's shape which leaves him looking for answers to last season's questions.

    Is Bae Jun-ho the answer in terms of creativity or can a buyer be found for him? Will Sorba Thomas attract a big offer that necessitates a sale? And can any of the club's recognised strikers be relied upon to score consistently?

    There are question marks over the future of almost every attacking player at the club for one reason or another and Stoke will need to let some go to free up space in their squad before making any more than one or two additions.

    The defence and midfield look like they're coming together but there's still work to do at the other end of the pitch with the Championship season just a week away.

  10. A teenager with long dark, braided hair and wearing a white shirt, shorts and knee pads, crouches down as she lifts a bar with weights on either end.

  11. Two osprey chicks perched in a nest above the ground. Rolling countryside is visible behind them.

  12. A composite of two images: on the left, a view of Birmingham's skyline with an array of urban buildings and skyscrapers. On the right: two elderly people sit on a bench on a hill in Shropshire, overlooking miles of green land.

  13. A butterfly, wings spread, is coming to land on a pink flower.

  14. A close up of a fire engine with "Staffordshire Fire and Rescue" written across the top

  15. National League football on a grass pitch

  16. An art exhibition displayed in a large hall, with paintings and sculptures arranged on freestanding white panels and plinths.

  17. An aerial image of several fields that are completely blackened and damaged by fire. There is white smoke rising from them. On the right, the charred field reaches right up to the boundary of some houses

  18. Jess O'Riley who has close cropped blonde hair and is wearing a dark off-the-shoulder top is next to an image of a brown donkey grazing on some grass, with gold sports socks on, with a black wolf logo on it - next to an image of Seb Parker from Droitwich Spa Lido who is wearing a blue shirt and blue sunglasses

  19. Coton Green FC training

  20. An under-construction City Class Type 26 frigate HMS Glasgow is seen in the dock.

  21. Twenty-five ambulances waiting outside Royal Stoke University Hospital.

  22. A generic photo of a Home Office immigration enforcement van, which is mainly white in the top half and yellow, black and blue in the bottom half. Parts of buildings and cars are in the background.

  23. Stoke fans have not seen best of me yet - Cisse

    Stoke City winger Lamine Cisse says the fans have not seen his full potential yet.

    The 23-year-old scored three goals and provided three assists in 34 Championship appearances last season in his first campaign in English football after arriving from French side SC Bastia.

    But the Frenchman believes there is more to come after "learning a lot" and adapting to the intensity of the league.

    "Now I'm more ready for what's going to happen in the game, so now I don't have an excuse, I'm just ready to play," Cisse told BBC Radio Stoke.

    "I don't think they [the supporters] have seen all of my quality. So I want to show more for the fans and to make them happy. I'm excited to show this.

    "I just have to work hard and keep going to develop my play style. And if the gaffer gives me his confidence, I have to give him [something] back. That's my job."

    The Potters started the 2025-26 Championship season in promising form with nine wins from their opening 17 games and were second in November.

    But a poor run of just six wins from their remaining 29 matches meant Stoke slumped to a 17th-place finish - something which Cisse is keen for the team to put right this time around.

    "We want to start like last season and keep this intensity and keep the feeling of victory," he added.

    "We learned a lot from last season because we started pretty well, but by December, it was a little bit hard.

    "And now we have to learn from this and to be better this season."

    Listen to Lamine Cisse's full interview above or on BBC sounds here - and don't forget to subscribe to get each episode into your My Sounds feed.

    Explore more Stoke City content on BBC Sounds

  24. Smoke and dirt explode into the air on a site filled with sand and grass.