Mark Hughes and Stoke signed Giannelli Imbula for £18m, but rather than this just being a one-off big money purchase, it could be the sign of things to come, fitting into the growing spending trend in the Premier League. We do have good cover in this position already, with lots of different options too. However: the club may look to recruit some long term cover and competition for Glenn Whelan; plus bearing in mind that some of the current players may look to be getting more game time at a different club this Summer and, especially with the majority of our central players (besides Imbula and Bojan) creeping up towards 30 years of age, it might be nice to see another young, up and coming talent in the Stoke midfield.
One (For the Money): Axel Witsel
Witsel is a 27 year old Belgian from Zenit St. Petersburg. He has played 36 times for his club this season and has five goals and five assists. He also has 60 caps for his country. Witsel is known for his good passing ability and general forward play as well as being able to mix in his physicality to help out his defence. Stoke moved for Witsel in January, offering around £12m for his services, but were unsuccessful. It seems the player might want to move onto a bigger club should he leave Russia, however an expiring contract and a lack of bids from other teams might force Zenit’s hand to sell. One thing to bear in mind is that Witsel is already entering the prime stages of his career and, even though not as experienced as others currently in the Stoke squad, Stoke may look for a younger face.
So the season is coming to a close and it’s that time of year (perhaps too readily) begin to think about that changes in playing staff that might be made over the Summer and what they might have to look forward to next season. At the moment, the size of the squad is considerably bigger than the amount of players that Hughes uses on a regular basis. Not that that is a bad thing (mainly for the sake of injuries) or something that isn’t a regular occurrence in other Premier League clubs, but it does give reason for some of the fringe players to consider their futures at their club and Stoke is no exception. There have been a few players in the Potteries who either haven’t signed new deals, will be injured looking into the next season, are looking to get more game time or are looking to move towards ‘bigger’ and ‘better’ things. It’s almost inevitable that some players will leave and therefore Hughes will want to make some more signings to replenish his squad; whether they be hurled straight into the first team or are assigned a more ‘squad player’ type of role. There have been faint whispers of transfer rumours running for the last few weeks and months, some of them are included in the review below, along with some other intriguing alternatives that the Potters could realistically look into.
Defenders
Mark Hughes could look to bolster his defence this Summer, after seeing many of his current squad sidelined for significant periods of time this season and, therefore, relying on an inconsistent back-line. Along with that, the fact that other clubs may be mooting around for our players and that some of our defenders are ageing, here are some targets that hughes could well be bringing in.
In Brazil, football is a sport that almost all people love. With me it is no different, I love football. But my love for football is much greater than some game. I love beautiful football, flashy football. No doubt English football is one of the most beautiful and most exciting in the world. My love for Stoke is great, I love this team. But as I say, it is not easy to support Stoke in Brazil. We do not have support, information and much less publicly known. I know very few fans of Stoke City in Brazil. So it’s not easy to find information, trivia, facts, images, and video available. I’m not good at English (You may have noticed that), so it is quite hard to find the information I seek. It makes my love for Stoke no smaller, I love this club, so I go to the background behind content on my social profiles.
For our past seven halves of football we have conceded, on average, two goals per half, this is truly appalling form, especially for a team with such high targets of European football. Another concerning figure is that during this run starting from half time against Swansea to today we have only managed to score twice in over 5 hours of football. But after letting the anger/violence/depression these matches have caused ebb away I have been trying to think of some positives to take from these results.
Obviously there is nothing to take from some truly awful performances; the gigantic injury list has taken another star player with Afellay being ruled out for nine months with a snapped ACL; and there has been little sign that Mark Hughes is willing to make tactical changes to try and stop the rut. But one thing that the club can certainly take from these games, is how it has exposed some of the hidden frailties (some quite significant) that an average run to the end of the season would have left hidden, ready to hurt us at some point in the future.
Stoke conceded four goals for the third consecutive game as Manchester City cruised to a 4-0 win on Saturday afternoon in Manchester. There was little evidence of an upturn in form for the Potters after crushing defeats to Liverpool and Spurs in the build up to this game as Stoke couldn’t force another shock win (or goal) against City; meanwhile Fernando, Sergio Aguero from the penalty spot and two goals from Kelechi Iheanacho sealed another defensive nightmare. To compile the defeat further, before the game news broke that Ibrahim Afellay would be out until the end of 2016 with a knee ligament injury that occurred in Friday’s training, while Shay Given had to be substituted at half time with Haugaard coming in his place.
Stoke were forced into changes for their starting lineup once again as Geoff Cameron moved into the midfield for the injured Afellay as Bardsley came in, Mame Diouf came in the for the injured Xherdan Shaqiri and Joselu replaced compatriot Bojan.
Changing our stadium name; its not all doom and gloom. Stoke City’s announcement that confirmed the name change of the Britannia Stadium to the Bet365 Stadium as of August later this year has been widely criticised across social media. Understandably, the fans do not want to surrender the short history associated with the Britannia Stadium, but its worth remembering this;
There’s no embargo on the name ‘Britannia Stadium’. As far as the fans are concerned, you can call it whatever you like. Effectively the only place it will be referred to as the ‘Bet365 stadium’ is in official paperwork and broadcasts. As we saw with St James Park and The Sports Direct Arena, the decision has been made purely to benefit the club financially and not to upset the majority of its loyal fanbase.
Tottenham match? What Tottenham match? If like most Stokies you haven’t been able to wipe the last 225 minutes of football (second half Swansea to Monday’s dreadful performance) from your memory you will still have questions that need to be answered. In this period we have conceded 10 goals scoring only 1 in reply, yep it’s genuinely that bad, and there is a requirement for change. So what can we actually do prior to the end of the season to try and reclaim some decent form?
One suggestion is to change our playing style. Our stronger performances throughout this season have come playing a German style counter attack with the team sitting deep and hitting hard and fast in attack. This has been lost from the squad ever since we played Chelsea at Stamford Bridge where Hughes moved the back four much higher up the pitch in an effort to retain possession and pressure on the opposition’s midfield and defence.
Fan-favourite and general all round legend Jon Walters has built up a bit of a reputation as a funny-man for his antics on Twitter. Here are some of his best bits since he first manned the social media banter-cannon back in February 2015.
Having had a really good think about it I’m still not sure…
When the team sheet was announced I have to admit that I was amongst a large number of Stoke fans who were cautiously optimistic for our chances in this match. Unlike the Liverpool game, you could argue that this was an incredibly strong side we put out. Every player on our side is playing in a position that they’re either a natural at or as in Cameron’s case, has an entire season’s experience playing there.
So what went wrong? How did a team with such quality, with such experience, crumble so badly at the hands of a very good and young Spurs side?
Before the game, on my Twitter, I predicted a 4-1 win for Spurs. I don’t call myself the pessimistic Stokie for nothing. But never did I think that my prediction would be too generous to us. Conceding 4 goals in two games straight is embarrassing and there are some serious issues with our team…. Let’s take a look at them.
Issue 1: The Players are on holiday
I said it yesterday and I’ll say it again, every single player on that pitch (With the exception of Shay Given, who was left helpless by our defence, and Afellay who was the only outfield player to maintain some dignity) was playing as if their heads are on the beach. The team have nothing left to fight for and it has been showing for the past three or four weeks now.
“Outplayed”. “On holiday”. “T*ss”. Just a couple of the many angry views from disappointed Stoke fans on social media after this game.
Stoke conceded four goals for the second time in just over a week as they slumped to a sorry 4-0 loss against a magnificent Tottenham Hotspur on Monday night. Daring flashes up front were too few and far between for Stoke to challenge the Spurs goal, meanwhile Harry Kane and Dele Alli both bagged braces. Neutrals will admire the magnificent attitude, wonderful flair and defensive solidarity of the away team, but those connected to Stoke must worry about another terrible display from a team that look impotent, dejected and didn’t give any indication that there will be an upturn in form any time soon.
There were changes aplenty to the team that started at Anfield last weekend: Shay Given (happy 40th Birthday in advance) came in for Haugaard, Muniesa for the suspended Pieters and fit again duo Whelan and Arnautovic replaced Bardsley and Crouch, Bojan moving into the false nine role and Cameron to right back. It looked like an eleven who would be certain of solving the problems that surrounded Stoke against Liverpool and could cause Spurs an upset in their title charge.
