Both sides will be keen to get a result from this one as Tottenham Hotspur make the journey up to Staffordshire to take on the Potters, neither side has looked truly convincing as the 2016/17 Premier League season got underway. This is the first fixture since transfer deadline day, Stoke and Spurs will look to include their new signings in their respective match day squads. Bruno Martins Indi of Porto has been brought in to add a solidity whilst Wilfried Bony and his tremendous goal scoring record should bring some much needed fire power at the other end. Pochettino’s squad will provide a stern test for Stoke as we continue the search for our first league win of the season.
Kick Off: Saturday 10/09 @ 15:00
Match Odds (as of the previous day): H: 15/4 – D: 11/4 – A: 5/6
There is no argument over the fact that injuries have plagued Stoke City over the last 18 months. Beginning with the injury to Ryan Shawcross’ back, the physio treatment room at Clayton Wood has always had a patient ever since. It appears that the injury curse is still lingering over the club, as key players have begun this season in the stands rather than on the pitch. Yet, it is the circumstances for all these injuries that have thrown fans and led to confusion and even in some cases anger.
The first to suffer a mysterious injury set back at the beginning of the season was Glen Johnson, arguably the best signing that Hughes has made at the club. He ended the 2015/16 on the sidelines with an injury suffered in the Bournemouth match that looked innocuous at worst. The club suggested that the final day of the season against West Ham would be the most likely return date, and unfortunately Johnson could not recover in time for this. Obviously this is normal and most fans would agree it was not worth the risk playing him in such a dead rubber.
Once more the start of a Stoke City season hasn’t provided much to write home about it, or has it? Let’s take a look and try to take a positive out of everything.
1. We have our 20 goal a season striker
Wilfried Bony scores goals. When he was given a starting position at Swansea he averaged just under a goal every two games. Diouf scores every four games, Walters every five games and Crouch every five too, for comparison. We will give him the run of games and consistency he needs and he will bang them in for us, I’m sure of it.
Oh I do hate the international break! A dull period with only momentary respite in the forms of international qualifiers that seem more early preseason than pinnacle of sporting accomplishment. With all the important insight about Stoke that is already on the blog I decided to have some fun and imagine which Pop stars some of our more prominent squad members would be. So let’s get into it (please excuse the awful photos, I think they’re funny).
The Premier League season has kicked off with referees and rule-changing being at the heart of Stoke’s campaign. Twice the Potters have been penalised for contact in the penalty area thanks to new referee enforcements, which don’t seem to be carried out consistently through the rest of the FA’s officials. The controversy was added this weekend with the release of Mark Halsey’s autobiography. He claims that officiating bodies have put him “under pressure” to change his decisions post match on whether he had seen incidents in a match and, in turn, allow the FA to proceed with retrospective punishments. The incident he refers to involves Stoke and therefore a lot of Potters fans have been made aware of this breaking news. There have been many interpretations to this story: some of which are true, some exaggerated and some completely false; it’s only fair that fans are painted the correct picture of the situation and not left angry or concerned about things that are non-existent.
Background
As mentioned earlier: former Premier League referee Mark Halsey released his autobiography recently and in it he writes a memoir regarding a certain situation concerning a match between Blackburn Rovers & Stoke City back in 2011. Playing for Rovers at the time was Steven N’Zonzi (who incidentally would join Stoke just months later) and in the game he was associated with two alleged incidents in which he elbowed two Stoke players. N’Zonzi was not punished by match official Halsey and was, controversially, not sent off for his actions. However, N’Zonzi was charged retrospectively by the FA for violent conduct and banned for three matches. The FA said that Halsey had not seen the incident and, looking back at video footage of the match, the governing body was able to enforce the ban on the Rovers midfielder.
So, another transfer window has come and gone and it’s been a rollercoaster ride for Stoke City fans. Excitement, patience, impatience, anger, joy: just some of the emotions that have been rattling around the fanbase for the last couple of months. Add in the mixed emotions caused by Stoke’s start to the Premier League season and it’s been a window which I’m more than happy to see the back of, even though it’s been one of the more entertaining in recent years. Fans have had their requirements, fans have had their desires but, at the end of the day, it’s down to the club and the manager as to who’s in or out at the club. Looking back at the last two months of madness, it’s been a bit more familiar than you probably think.
Under Mark Hughes our transfer deadline days have been an uneventful date on the football calendar with very little action other than wrapping up deals that had dragged out over the whole window. But this year we treated to the sheer mayhem, crisis briefing, red button pressing, Pulis-esque last minute deal bonanza. Before I start to look at how this went down on twitter, I’m going to start with sad note of Philipp Wollscheid’s and Joselu’s departures on loan, we’re only covering positive news tonight so, much like Mark Hughes first XI, these two will not feature; good luck in the future lads!
The day began with hope and trepidation as fans and pundits alike waited for news to begin to break.
Mark Hughes appears to be suffering from a lack of self-confidence and his recent squad selections and tactics have left a lot to be desired. But in the eat or be eaten nature of the Premier League is it time for Sparky to throw caution to the wind and finally leave his mark on the team. The best football we have seen in his 3 year tenure has come when players from the old regime have made way for those of Hughes’ choosing, and it is time again for Hughes to implement change.
Firstly let’s address the Peter Crouch issue. I was reluctant to see his name on the team sheet against Stevenage, as a good performance against a weak side may have forced Crouch into Sparky’s plans for Saturday. Lo and behold a hat trick ensured the Crouch’s name would be the first name on the team sheet for the trip to Goodison Park. His performance flatters to deceive against a poor League 2 side who would in no way play a similar way to Everton (if you disagree get on the blower to Coatesy to get Omar Bogle in). One Stoke fan with fantastic foresight (me) saw the issues that would arise after the performance on Tuesday night.
In what have admittedly been three tough opening fixtures, Stoke have once again taken to starting the season slowly, with no wins before the first international break. What will be more worrying to some is that two of those fixtures are games that we won last year. However, before the doom-mongers start to cry out relegation let’s take everything into our stride and go again after the international break. If we go more than the six games we went last year without a win then I’ll allow you to start worrying, deal?
With that being said, I’m supposed to be the pessimistic one around here, so let’s dissect where we went wrong shall we?
Stoke will be cursing their luck today as they fell to a 1-0 loss against Everton at Goodison Park this afternoon. Once again, Stoke were punished for for being seen as too aggressive in the penalty area and conceded a spot kick of the second game in a row, once that was neatly tucked home by Shay Given’s head. There were encouraging signals from today that Stoke might take a point with some good defending, but the luck didn’t side with the away team today and it leaves them rock bottom of the Premier League table after three games.
Jack Butland, Glen Johnson and Xherdan Shaqiri all weren’t fit enough to play the game on Merseyside and will have to wait until after the international break to play football again for Stoke. As expected: hat trick hero Peter Crouch made his second start in a row, in all competitions, for Stoke; forcing Mame Diouf out on the right wing and dropping Bojan to the bench. Geoff Cameron, who also kept a clean sheet on Tuesday against Shrewsbury, filled the vacancy left by Philipp Wollscheid. Reports suggest that the German defender was in his home country to be treated for an ear problem but, with rumours linking him with a return to the Bundesliga, it’s suspiciously suggesting that he’s preparing himself for a move away from the club before deadline day next week. There was still no place on the bench for Joselu as youngster Julien Ngoy managed to impress the manager enough to be within contention for some Premier League game time instead.
