Incredibly varied. Many supporters believed we might have found a formula after a couple of really convincing wins over Rotherham and a thrilling battle to defeat Watford at home. However, a familiar return to defensive blunders and significant injury layoffs left us two points out of the bottom three in October. We’ve climbed back up the table after three straight wins against strong opposition, but there are serious doubts about the sustainability of at least one of those victories and two goalless draws. The run isn’t sustainable as it is, according to the underlying statistics, and the team’s 3-0 loss to Blackburn over the weekend seemed concerning.
I believe that everyone was dissatisfied with the season before the last five games, in which we have scored eleven points. As you point out, there’s still something very Stoke about it all. A few significant injuries to important players have made things difficult, and the small comeback in recent weeks has muted a lot of the criticism. The issue has been defence for the first two or three games of the current season.
Over the course of a month, four or five different goals of the same kind—players being given the freedom to turn into the box unopposed and shoot—occurred. Currently, the other end of the pitch is the problem after four straight clean sheets. Up until now, it has proven difficult to find a way to make all those new signings click on both ends.
The board undoubtedly supports him, and barring a ridiculous relegation scare, I’d bet my house (sorry, landlord) that he will play for the entire season. It would be insane to fire him before he’s had a long tenure because their manager-led model has forced them into this situation. I’ll save my thoughts about whether or not that’s a good model to use when running a club for another time. Although his recent run of success seems to have bought him some time with the fans, there are still serious concerns about the calibre of the players available and whether he can truly get the most out of these exciting newcomers.
André Vidigal was first the successful person. A relatively unknown winger who paid half a million dollars to join from a Portuguese team that had been demoted scored some important goals and appeared to have a knack for scoring goals. That ended early due to an injury, and he hasn’t been able to return to that level of performance yet. Since then, Luke McNally has been, in my opinion, the biggest success. a centre half who is strong, self-assured, and progressive who has demonstrated a great deal of maturity in recent weeks.
It’s difficult to identify the failures because there have been so many signings and many of them haven’t actually played enough to be assessed. Pearson and Johnson are the two players I have been most disappointed with thus far. Pearson seems far more prone to the stupid fouls and petty moments of the game, and he hasn’t quite regained the assured, solid confidence that made him shine in last March’s run. Additionally, Johnson has been acting like a bitch in recent weeks. He puts in a lot of effort and supports the media, but far too many attacks seem to fall apart before they even get to him.
Similar to the previous year, the outcome of this question hinges on which Stoke shows up. Due to their tenacious defence and fighting spirit from the five games played before the weekend, Stoke has kept four straight clean sheets. Then we fell to Blackburn 3-0. Undoubtedly, there is still an error there.
In the future, there will always be weaknesses. We’re only managing to get more than one xG in one out of the last seven games, and we’re averaging less than one xG per game. There is now less of a threat from the attack as a result of the shift to trying to stop giving in.
Maybe, but probably not, is how I would characterise the collective PTSD of all those who have helped Stoke over the past eight or ten years. Over the past six years, Stoke has frequently appeared to turn a corner only to come up with fanciful new ways to discard progress. Although we’ve been putting in a great effort lately to achieve those results, and perhaps this is the first step towards building the team to get those full 90 performances, the underlying statistics as of right now don’t look good for sustainability.
A top half finish would satisfy me, as would ideally some sort of flirtation with being at least outsiders in the postseason. As usual, the problem lies in how to get there. A season that only has one or two strong runs lasting a few weeks won’t be remembered, but what matters most is that the performances inspire optimism for the upcoming season; that’s the standard to strive for.
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