Two Stoke fans for you this week to give you the lo-down on QPR’s Saturday opposition — thanks to John Mothershaw and TalkSport’s Scott Richards for their time.
In hindsight, given the job he did at Stoke and his achievements at Palace, how do you view the departure of Tony Pulis? Do you wish you still had him?
Scott: Tony Pulis did a magnificent job during both stints at Stoke City. Many often forget that one of his greatest achievements was to keep us in the Championship. The fans are forever grateful for what he did for the club and the city but I feel that it was the right time for us to separate if we were ever going to get to the next level. We showed signs of doing that last season under Mark Hughes but time will tell if he is able to maintain his early success.
John: First and foremost Tony Pulis did a fantastic job. A job beyond belief given where we were when he took over. I was not one of those banging the drum for him to be sacked. I can't deny the fact though things went stale in the last year and a half. Given how we have improved since he left, this has softened the blow of his dismissal.
What did you make of the appointment of Mark Hughes at the time, given the appalling job he did at QPR?
John: I was waiting for you to ask about Mark Hughes. I won't deny he wasn't my first choice or, if truth be told, my second or third choice either. However the chairman and board deserved the benefit of the doubt given their previous appointment. So far they have been proved right.
Scott: I admit, at the time, I was worried, but then I wasn’t exactly keen on the other candidates: Gus Poyet, Rafa Benitez and Roberto di Matteo. You’ve got to give Sparky credit, though. His first season was brilliant and he hardly spent a penny.
How has he done so far? What's he done well? What are the main criticisms? Have Kia Joorbchian and/or Mike Rigg turned up yet?
Scott: Not yet. He guided Stoke to our highest ever league finish and made us exciting to watch. Last season we had flowing football and a style to be proud of. Gone were the days of direct football. It appears that his style of coaching means his clubs start poorly (that’s the excuse I’m using this year anyway) so hopefully we will start to pick up a few more points and stride away from safety.
John: You would have to say Hughes has done fantastically well, certainly since the second half of last season. He has gradually changed the playing style and bought more exciting and attacking players. His tactics have also impressed. He is also a brave manager in the fact he is not afraid to go for it against the big boys as last season’s wins of Chelsea, Man Utd and Arsenal proved. A criticism… maybe he can be guilty of leaving it too late to change things and make substitutions when things are not going well. I honestly have no idea if Kia Joorabchian or Mike Rigg have been anywhere near the Britannia Stadium.
Tell us about your summer transfer business (excluding Bojan). Who came in, who went out? Assess the business for us.
John: The first thing to notice about the summer transfers was how early they started to arrive. We are used to Pulis leaving it until deadline day. This year players were arriving almost as soon as last season ended. Steve Sidwell and Phil Bardsley are solid experienced Premier League players who will be good additions to the squad. Victor Moses and Oussama Assaidi will add pace and trickery to the side. Mama Biram Diouf looks good. He has pace, power and two good feet. There is also the marque signing of Bojan. A player with more than 150 Barcelona appearances - he has unbelievable ability.
Scott: Again — not much spent. Hughes has signed Phil Bardsley, Steve Sidwell, Mame Biram Diouf and Dionatan Teixeira all on frees while Victor Moses and Oussama Assaidi are in on season-long loans. On paper it looks like another shrewd summer for Stoke but time will tell whether they all gel. Matty Etherington, Michael Kightly and Cameron Jerome all departed the Brit with Brek Shea and Ryan Shotton also leaving on loan. Again, no real surprises here. All seemed surplus to requirements for a while. It was a shame to see Matty leave as he was a great servant to the club but it was the right call.
Specifically on Bojan, he looked like the signing of the summer to me, and he scored frequently in pre-season, but doesn't seem to have hit the ground running in the league - how's he doing? Is there a fear he may be one of the "too good to be true" foreign disasters Hughes specialised in at QPR?
Scott: Bojan had a good pre-season and picked up a couple of neat goals but he will take time to settle. It’s got to be one hell of a culture shock going from living in Milan, Barcelona and Rome to Stoke-on-Trent. Hughes has started him in our opening two home games but unfortunately we’ve had two very disappointing results which won’t help his morale. Sometimes foreign players take a while to settle in. Arnatouvic struggled at the star of last season but really took off at the turn of the year. Bojan obviously has the talent and you forget he’s only just turned 24 so I’m happy to give him time to adjust to the English game and lifestyle before judging him.
John: I've never seen a reaction from Stoke fans similar to that which greeted the Bojan signing. The buzz around his signing was unreal. It's fair to say he hasn't set the world on fire in his first few games but he has done ok, showing some neat touches, an eye for a pass and a dribble past his opponent. It's a bit of a culture shock not only coming from Barcelona to Stoke but also to the physical nature of the Premier League - especially given his size but David Silva has proved players of his size can cut it in this league. I'm sure it won't be long before we see the best out of Bojan.
Assess your start to the season for us.
John: It's been a strange start to the season. The expectancy all through the summer, mainly thanks to our form at the end of last season and the Bojan signing, was through the roof. Losing to Villa on the opening day left people a bit flat; a reality check if you like. That was followed by two chalk and cheese performances. At Hull we were dreadful, possibly our worst performance in many a year followed by probably our best performance in winning away at champions Man City. We got our tactics spot on and thoroughly deserved our win. I'm not overly concerned about the Leicester defeat on Saturday. We actually played very well and on another day would have won comfortably.
Scott: What a frustrating start Stoke City have had. Two home defeats to Aston Villa and Leicester City yet we go to the champions and win. I’ve got to admit, it’s not the start Stoke fans would have hoped for but it hasn’t been a disaster. Leicester came to Stoke with a great game-plan - probably identical to what we did at Man City, so fair play to them. As the home side it’s on us to break them down and get the win but we couldn’t finish our chances. We were poor against Hull and Aston Villa but I’m quietly confident that we will start to improve and pick up points; we just need to take our chances.
Where is the team strong and where is it weak?
Scott: We’re good on the break and now have pace up front with the addition of Diouf but we need to ensure that we take the opportunities to score. There will be a lot of pressure on Diouf so the likes of Arnatouvic, Ireland and Moses will have to chip in with their fair amount of goals. Losing Odemwingie was a big blow as he was a breath of fresh air when he arrived last January.
John: Our strengths are, as always, at the back. Robert Huth cannot even get back in the side thanks to the form of Marc Wilson. His centre half partner is our captain Ryan Shawcross - he is immense for us and somehow not a regular in the England squad. A fact that mystifies many Potters. We also have an excellent keeper in Asmir Begovic. I'm a little surprised - but happy - one of the big boys didn't come in for him in the summer. Our other main strength is on the wings where we have an array of talent. The weakness is as in previous seasons - the lack of goals. We have never been prolific scorers since promotion. I'd say we have our best squad now though since promotion especially going forward so I expect that to improve as the season goes on.
Realistic short, medium and long term aims for Stoke...
John: The short term aim is to avoid relegation. That is the first target for probably 12 out of the 20 Premier :eague clubs. Once we have the 40 points then we can build on that. I saw other Stoke fans at the start of the season predicting a finish in the Europa League places. I personally would bite your hand off for the same as last season’s ninth place finish. So I guess the mid-term aim is to continue to improve and if possible finish mid table. You have to improve in this league to match the previous year as every other team will improve. It's hard to predict a long term aim. The game has changed, unless you get a billionaire owner it's virtually impossible to break into the top six. So maybe in the future to finish seventh and maybe a cup victory would be beyond our wildest dreams, as would a return to the Europa League.
Scott: Short — replicate last season but win a major trophy. Medium — become a fixed mid-table side. Long — finish top ten and always compete for trophies.
The Twitter @loftforwords, @scottrichardss, @PottersJohn
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