Last season Stoke were arguably
one of the surprise packages, with nobody expecting them to make any movements
or evolve from the Tony Pulis era. Stoke made sure they did by appointing
experienced manager Mark Hughes and finishing in the top half of the table,
something even the most optimistic of Stoke fans did not envisage.
Transfers
Last season, Stoke had a great
summer window. Their first bargain of the summer came in the form of Left-Back
Erik Pieters, who arrived for £3million from PSV and featured heavily in Stoke’s
successful campaign, playing a total of 39 games. Their second arrival was
ex-Barcelona player Muniesa who struggled to really make a name for himself
last season, but this season will hope to tie down a first team place. Their
third and final arrival was also a bargain, Marko Arnautovic arrived for a tiny
fee of £2million from Werder Bremen and proved vital for Stoke last year,
putting in fantastic performances and even netting 4 goals towards the end of
the season.
This season has been no
different for Stoke. They have managed to capture free agents Phil Bardsley,
Steve Sidwell and ex-Man United player Mame Biram Diouf, while also securing
the signature of once Barcelona wonderkid, Bojan. With these signings, Stoke
have set themselves up for another successful season.
Predicted Lineup
Stoke actually have a
surprisingly good side. They have an extremely solid defence, with attacking
full backs and tough tackling centre backs, a solid midfield with the calmness
of N’Zonzi and the passing range of Arnautovic and a decent forward line with
Bojan and Diouf, both of whom are expected to score plenty of goals this
season.
Squad Depth
Squad depth is a downfall for
Stoke. The truth is Stoke don’t really have good squad depth and unless Mark
Hughes is comfortable playing the likes of Brek Shea, then I thoroughly expect
they will continue to invest in players during the course of the summer.
Final Predicted Finish: 8th.
With the quality of this Stoke
side, there is no reason they can’t come in the top half again this season and
possibly even challenge for Europe. However, with the lack of real quality
squad depth I can see Stoke being just outside of European places again and
finishing a comfortable 8th.
Predicted Key Player: Bojan.
The ex-Barcelona starlet is
expected to get his career back on track here at Stoke and no doubt playing
under an experienced manager like Mark Hughes will help him. Due to this, I
think Bojan will be key for Stoke and his goals could secure them an even
higher finish than expected.
By @nathan_said
good
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