It’s been another deeply frustrating season for Stoke, who are yet to manage a top half league finish since relegation back to the Championship in 2018 and this time have lost 11 home games — we spoke to the Every Step Along The Way Podcast and George from Potterlytics on what holds back what should be one of the league’s better sides.

How's Stoke's season gone overall?

Every Step: Bit of a non-event to be honest: never had a terrible run, never really had a great run, just consistently inconsistent. We’ve only won back to back games twice and have lost 11 at home but have one of the best away records in the division.

Potterlytics: Pretty depressing, to be honest. Most Stoke fans were just hoping for a season that wasn’t over by February, and thanks to a fantastic run of games in March, we managed to just about hit that mark. Unfortunately, though, a season of too many silly mistakes and too many poor results has left us looking at our worst finishing position since relegation. Six weeks of great performances, as good as they were, haven’t really been enough for many of us to be too optimistic.

Stoke’s league results so far…
Millwall 2-0 Stoke Cresswell 12, 65
Stoke 2-0 Blackpool Clarke 33, Brown 75
Huddersfield 3-1 Stoke Nakayama 40, Ward 77, Rhodes 86 — Baker 56
Stoke 2-2 Middlesbrough Brown 19, Wright-Phillips 90 — Watmore 38, Jagielka og 63
Stoke 0-1 Sunderland Stewart 45
Blackburn 0-1 Stoke Baker 27
Stoke 1-1 Swansea Campbell 90 — Piroe 6
Reading 2-1 Stoke Joao 2, pen 57 — Wilmot 40
Hull 0-3 Stoke Baker 25, 64, Wilmot 45
QPR 0-0 Stoke
Stoke 0-4 Watford Sarr 12, Sema 64, Davis 78, Bayo 84
Burnley 1-1 Stoke Roberts 54 — Clarke 87
Stoke 3-1 Sheff Utd Wilmot 4, Jagielka 45, Delap 90 — Brewster 48
Preston 0-2 Stoke Smallbone 58, Campbell 66
Stoke 0-1 Rotherham Rathbone 6
Stoke 0-2 Coventry Allen 51, Hamer 65
Norwich 3-1 Stoke Ramsey 38, 71, Sara 77 — Powell 90
Wigan 0-1 Stoke Tymon 62
Stoke 1-2 Birmingham Baker pen 75 — Hogan 13, Dean 67
Stoke 2-0 Luton Powell 3, Lockyer og 13
West Brom 2-0 Stoke Bartley 39, Thomas-Asante 50
Stoke 2-2 Cardiff Campbell 11, Delap 18 — Wintle 6, Robinson 58
Bristol City 1-2 Stoke Wells 33 — Delap 45, Brown 57
Rotherham 2-2 Stoke Thompson og 45, Washington 71 — Campbell 61, Peltier og 80
Stoke 0-1 Burnley Cullen 61
Stoke 0-1 Preston Evans 90
Sheff Utd 3-1 Stoke Ndiaye 9, Bogle 33, 90 — Powell 45
Stoke 4-0 Reading Smallbone 11, Campbell 57, Brown 80, Gayle 83
Luton 1-0 Stoke Ruddock 6
Stoke 0-0 Hull
Stoke 3-0 Huddersfield Jagielka 13, Brown 73, Baker pen 90
Blackpool 1-0 Stoke Poveda 7
Swansea 1-3 Stoke Whittaker 2 — Laurent 15, 20, Baker 90
Stoke 0-1 Millwall Flemming 9
Sunderland 1-5 Stoke Pritchard 62 — Laurent 41, Campbell 53, 57, Gayle 68, 76
Stoke 3-2 Blackburn Hoever 24, 43, Campbell 75 — Brereton 86, Gallagher 90
Boro 1-1 Stoke Akpom 23 — Hoever 45
Stoke 0-0 Norwich
Coventry 0-4 Stoke Brown 6, Campbell 40, Smallbone 71, Hoever 77
Stoke 1-2 Bristol City Powell 36 — Vyner 72, Mehmeti 85
Birmingham 0-0 Stoke
Stoke 1-2 West Brom Brown 30 — Molumby 59, 69
Stoke 0-1 Wigan Keane 54
Cardiff 1-1 Stoke Kaba 29 — Laurent 16

Alex Neil, felt like an odd thing to do to jump from Sunderland to you guys when he did, and looking at the respective seasons that seems to be the case. What have you made of him? How's he done? What's he changed?

Every Step: For some fans there’s not been enough change but for me I think there are positive moments and if we can give him the next two windows hopefully he can build a squad more familiar with what he wants from his players and that can only be a good thing.

Potterlytics: It’s been a strange season for him, prior to March I think a good portion of Stoke fans weren’t on side, but that six weeks’ worth of a good run of form, based off a clear tactical plan, seems to have at least given him some credit with fans with regards to the summer. Most recognise that he’s had to deal with a team with lots of loanees and very little squad depth, but start poorly next season and I think there’ll be a return of the frustration.

I always think Stoke's team on paper should do a lot better than it actually does in practice, what's holding it back?

Every Step: If only we knew. It’s been a long five years of seemingly underachieving, yet to even finish in the top half since we were relegated in 2018. We have been hamstrung with FFP latterly which has led to a lot of young loanees and the odd sale to keep us within the limits but we are reliably informed that we are in a far better position this summer and going forward on that front.

Potterlytics: Three months ago I’d have said individual errors were a huge issue, and as a result we turned to more basic, long ball tactics that compounded the issue. Then, having made a few shrewd loan signings, we found a better way of playing that kicked us into dreams of the playoffs. Since April though, a lack of depth and a return of some big individual errors has been a major issue. A big injury to Wilmot has meant playing either 40-year-old Phil Jagielka or left back Fox at centre back, and an injury to Jacob Brown means a choice between starting a full back on the wing or switching to a seemingly less effective 352.

Summer Ins >>> Liam McCarron, 21, LB, Leeds, Undisclosed >>> Josh Laurent, 27, CM, Reading, Free >>> Aden Flint (I refuse to believe this guy hasn’t played for Stoke before), 32, CB, Cardiff, Free >>> Dwight Gayle, 32, CF, Newcastle, Free >>> Will Smallbone (stop it), 22, CM, Southampton, Loan >>> Gavin ‘Oh My God You’ Kilkenny, 22, CM, Bournemouth, Loan >>> Harry Clarke, 21, CB, Arsenal, Loan >>> Tariqe Fosu, 26, LW, Brentford, Loan >>> Liam Delap, 19, CF, Man City, Loan >>> Dujon Sterling, 22, RB, Chelsea, Loan

Winter Outs >>> Harry Souttar, 24, CB, Leicester, £12m >>> Josef Burcic, 22, GK, Club Brugge, Undisclosed >>> Mario Vrancic, 33, AM, HNK (Croatia), Free >>> Aden Flint, 33, CB, Sheff Wed, Loan >>> D’Margio Wright Phillips, 21, RW, Northampton, Loan

No wins in five, three home defeats in a row, are they on the beach? What can we expect this Saturday?

Every Step: Yeah we had our only good run of the season and went five unbeaten to go within touching distance of the top half, beating Sunderland 5-1 away and also winning at Coventry 4-0, and then immediately extinguished any hopes of a late play-off push. It seems ever since that defeat to Bristol City five games ago we are on the beach. We have a load of players out of contract and seven on loan and you do wonder whether they are thinking ‘why do I need to risk a serious injury here?’

Potterlytics: Home form has been a huge problem this season, and a return to the habit of not capitalising on good periods of pressure has been unwelcome in recent weeks. Adding in a lack of depth, fatigue, and teams figuring out how to counter our high-tempo, high-pressing style, has led to a fairly major drop off in performances and results alike. There’s a chance we could roll back the weeks and blow QPR away on Saturday, but there’s also a good chance we could be in for a long old afternoon. Unfortunately at the minute, the pendulum seems to be swinging towards pessimism.

Player of the season candidates?

Every Step: Ben Wilmot has been Mr Consistent at the back and has won our player of the season award but unfortunately fractured his back in a controversial incident versus West Brom a couple of games ago. Since the World Cup Will Smallbone and Tyrese Campbell have been the only consistent attacking outlets whilst Josh Laurent has been in good form recently in midfield.

Potterlytics: Laurent and Campbell have been exceptional in the recent run of form, and have showed good signs all season, but for me the most consistent performer has been the recently injured Ben Wilmot. A quality defender who isn’t afraid to try and bring the ball out with passing or carrying. Could be one to watch next season if he returns well from his back injury.

Weak links in the side?

Every Step: Taking the lead. We’ve given up three leads in the last five matches but one major problem is that when teams sit in against us we have no plan to break them down and open them up so have lost ten of those 11 home defeats by one goal.

Potterlytics: The squad depth. It’ll be interesting to see whether Neil goes with his preferred 433 and keeps the at-best-uncertain pair of Fox and Jagielka at centre back, or whether he sticks with last week’s 352 that covers the area’s deficiencies a bit more, at the expense of some attacking quality. Goalkeeper Jack Bonham has also been much derided this season, and has one of the worst Prevented Goals p90 stats in the league, but he helped redeem his image slightly with a fantastic penalty save last weekend at Cardiff.

What needs to happen to make next season better?

Every Step: He’s got the opportunity to massively overhaul the squad come the summer, I think we only have 8 players contracted past June, so the manager can bring in players who will press high and hard and also get some width and flair in the side.

Potterlytics: A big, big summer window lies ahead for us. At time of writing it’s looking like 11 senior squad members are contracted for next season, and two of them have not started a league game for Stoke this season. Improvements are needed all across the park, but with a good base of quality players in Laurent, Campbell, Tymon, Wilmot and Brown, there is a foundation to build upon. Big changes in squads are risky, but there’s unfortunately not much option for Stoke, even if they manage to tie down some of the current loanees as reported. More holistically, we need a season where we can hope. No top half finish since relegation is frankly a travesty given the squads we’ve had, and next season we’re all praying for a rebuild that actually works.

Links >>> Bircham for mayor — History >>> Doughty in charge — Referee >>> Stoke City official website >>> Stoke Sentinel — Local press >>> The Oatcake — Message Board >>> The Wizards of Drivel — Podcast >>> Every Step Along The Way — Podcast

The Twitter @loftorwords @everystep @Potterlytics

Pictures — Ian Randall Photography

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TacticalR added 14:22 - Apr 29 Thanks to Every Step and George. It sounds to me like no manager is going to transform Stoke overnight, particularly if Stoke are now hampered by FFP. I wonder what it was that got Stoke going in the middle of the season before they went backwards? Was it just a random blip?
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