The progress that Stoke City has made under the guidance of Mark Hughes over the last two years has been well documented as he has significantly improved the overall talent pool despite the limited money he has available to spend. Hughes has made some impressive adds during his reign and after a ninth place finish in the Premier League this past season, there is plenty of reason to be optimistic about the team’s immediate future. Here is a look at four important things we learned from Stoke City this past season.
Mark Hughes Is A Stellar Manager
Hughes didn’t have a ton of money to spend and yet still he managed to put together a squad that finished just behind Liverpool, Southampton and Swansea City in the Premier League table. Overall, they finished in eighth place with 56 points. Hughes has done an excellent job not only bringing in capable talent but putting them in the best possible position to succeed as well. He has more than lived up to expectations since taking over for Tony Pulis and there is no doubt at this point about his ability as a manager and how important it is
The Striker Pool Is Loaded
Hughes has done a wonderful job amassing talent on his roster and Stoke City is absolutely stacked up front in particular with three forwards that scored at least eight goals or more and another that would have hit that mark (Bojan Krkic) if he had been able to stay healthy. Mame Diouf, Jonathan Walters and Peter Crouch combined for 27 goals last season and they have an excellent chemistry between them. Diouf and Walters set the pace on the ground and Crouch dominates through the air. He now has 47 Premier League goals scored from headers in his career to match Alan Shearer for the most all-time. While the pool is loaded, this team will need a little more out of them as they aim to climb in the standings. They finished with 46 goals on the season, which actually tied them for 11th in the EPL.
Charlie Adam Is A Star
Even the casual soccer fan will acknowledge the presence of Charlie Adam on this team and anybody that saw his goal versus Chelsea will vouch for his potential to be an absolute star. Adam scored seven goals and helped create many more from the midfield position. His ability to score from so far out will be a dangerous weapon Stoke City can bank on moving forward. Bojan certainly would have had more tallies as the Potters’ best player if he had avoided that devastating knee injury but in his absence, it was Adam that stepped up as the biggest star for Stoke City this past season.
Stoke City Is On The Rise
The Potters finished with more wins and more points last season than they had ever recorded in a previous year, yet there was still considerable room for them to be better – especially had it not been for a major injury to Bojan and a pair of three-game losing streaks. Stoke City showed its potential with wins over Liverpool, Manchester City, Arsenal and Tottenham and even with the injury to Bojan and their inconsistent play, they still managed to finish just six points back of Southampton for seventh in the table. They’ll need to find a way to trim down the goals allowed if they are to climb higher in the standings. 49 isn’t a bad number (in 38 games) but it’s worth noting that the average goals allowed of the top seven teams ahead of them was 39.6.
But if they can correct that, Hughes’ continued development of his young team combined with the fact that the team will have more money to spend as a result of the Premier League’s new television deal is even more reason to believe that this Stoke City team in on the rise.
