'Chop Crouch's legs off', jokes Swansea's Monk

Monk, who led Swansea to a 3-0 south Wales derby victory in his first game in charge on Saturday, takes his side to the Britannia Stadium on Wednesday.

The 34-year-old admitted to being wary of 6ft 7in forward Crouch, who has scored three goals against Swansea on their last two visits to Stoke, and came up with a number of novel ideas to deal with the threat.

"Get a ladder. Chop his legs off. Kick him," joked Monk, as reported by WalesOnline.

"He’s been an international player at the very highest level and he's made a long career in the Premier League.

"Of course he is a threat. There's a number of players with massive experience in this league and that's what you come up against week in and week out.

"The players have to realise exactly what they're up against and how tough it's going to be and try and impose ourselves on them rather than worrying too much about them.

"You have to respect their strengths and we'll let the players know what strengths they've got but again I always talk about our strengths and try and promote that to our boys and if we can get that right you've got a chance.

"You can worry about other teams but if you're not right yourself, you've got no chance anyway."