Stoke regressed in 2016-17 to finish 13th in the Premier League. Is the pressure starting to mount on manager Mark Hughes?
INS: Josh Tymon (free, Hull), Kurt Zouma (loan, Chelsea), Darren Fletcher (free, West Brom)
OUTS: Marko Arnautovic (£20 million, West Ham), Jonathan Walters (£3 million, Burnley), Glenn Whelan (£1.5 million, Aston Villa), Phil Bardsley (undisclosed, Burnley), Bruno Martins Indi (end of loan, Porto)
THE STORY: Same story, different season. Stoke will be in their 10th consecutive season in the Premier League in 2017-18, and the questions facing the side are largely the same as they were back in 2008-09. How does a mid-table side become something more?
The Potters have finished between ninth and 14th in all nine of their top flight seasons since getting promoted in 2007-08 under Tony Pulis. When results started to slip under Pulis, Mark Hughes came in not only to steady the ship, but also to introduce a more attractive brand of soccer.
It seemed to be working. Players like Marko Arnautovic, Bojan Krkic and Xherdan Shaqiri were brought in, the quality of play improved and Hughes led the side to a club-record ninth-place finish. And then another. And then another. But after a season of regression — the Potters were 13th in the league in 2016-17 and dumped out of both domestic cups early on — the pressure is now mounting on Hughes.
The summer hasn’t been a major success either. Not only have the Potters failed to significantly strengthen in one of their biggest areas of need, central midfield (a 33-year-old Darren Fletcher isn’t exactly a long-term solution), they’ve also lost their two best players from last season, Arnautovic and Bruno Martins Indi.
The squad is still good enough for a mid-table finish. Jack Butland is one of the league’s most promising young keepers, Ryan Shawcross remains the reliable presence he’s always been and Kurt Zouma, on loan from Chelsea, should make for a good partner. Fletcher, though he’s not getting any younger, is still an excellent player and could form the base of a strong midfield with Joe Allen.
In attack, Shaqiri, Bojan (after a strange year in which he was sent on loan midseason), Mame Diouf, Ramadan Sobhi, Saido Berahino and Peter Crouch should be able to combine for enough goals to keep the Potters clear of the drop. Sobhi, in particular, will be interesting to watch. The young Egyptian showed a lot of promise last season and could be in for a bigger role after Arnautovic’s exit.
Perhaps the player whose progress will have the biggest role in determining whether Stoke can climb above the mid-table mire is Berahino, who scored zero goals in 13 appearances last season after making his long-awaited move from West Brom in January. You’d be forgiven for having forgotten, but there was a point in time when Berahino seemed like he could become a viable 20-goal-a-season striker. He’s still 23, so we shouldn’t give up on him yet. If he can rediscover the form he showed for the Baggies in 2014-15 (14 goals in 38 games as a 21-year-old), Stoke immediately become a lot more interesting.
The biggest areas of weakness are full-back, where Erik Pieters and Glen Johnson aren’t aging gracefully, and central midfield, where the options behind Fletcher and Allen are 31-year-old Charlie Adam, 32-year-old Geoff Cameron and club-record signing Gianelli Imbula, who’s barely played since arriving from Porto in 2016.
But again, these aren’t huge weaknesses, and the Potters have proven Premier League talent across the pitch. Something extreme will have to happen for the club to get dragged into a relegation scrap. Then again, something extreme will have to happen for them to make a run at eighth place, too. The question, as always: how long will that be enough?
KEY PLAYER: With the loss of Arnautovic, the onus will be on Shaqiri to provide the team with the attacking spark they often lack. Shaqiri has struggled to stay fit since arriving from Inter Milan in 2015 — he’s yet to crack 30 league matches in a season — but he seems to be the one player capable of inspiring this team to something more than mediocrity.
Shaqiri’s job will be a lot easier if Stoke can improve the transition between midfield and attack. That responsibility will fall to Fletcher and Joe Allen. The latter had promising first season, but was generally played as a number 10, which isn’t his natural position. If Fletcher and Allen are played together consistently at the base of midfield, the Potters’ attack should benefit.
Finally, Butland, who missed most of last season with an injury, will start the season in goal. The 24-year-old has emerged as one of England’s most promising keepers, and will be desperate to get back on track after a difficult year. With a spot in Gareth Southgate’s World Cup squad on the line at the end of the season, his performances are worth keeping an eye on.
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MANAGER: Hughes took the reins at Stoke ahead of the 2013-14 campaign, and immediately led them to their best-ever Premier League finish, while also introducing the sort of attacking players to the lineup the club were crying out for under Tony Pulis.
However, with arguably Stoke’s best squad ever, Hughes faltered last season. The signings of Allen and Imbula were supposed to continue the development of a more expansive style, but Hughes ended up relying on the likes of Glenn Whelan and Adam. His reluctance to give younger, more exciting players a chance led Stoke into something of a rut, in which they seemed to be stuck all season.
But there’s something to be said for mid-table stability, and as uninspiring as Hughes’ side were last season, they were never really at risk of getting relegated. To remove the Welshman would be a big risk, but another season of directionless, lower-mid-table soccer may force the club’s hand.
BEST CASE: Hughes embraces his attacking players more, Stoke make a run at the Europa League spots and go on a decent cup run.
WORST CASE: The club falter coming out the gate, Hughes gets sacked and they spend the season battling relegation.