What’s wrong at Stoke?

Mark Hughes is under pressure at Stoke City with the Potters still without a win at the bottom of the Premier League. But where has it gone wrong? Adam Bate takes a look…

It’s not so long ago that Mark Hughes was being praised for his work in the Midlands. And rightly so. Having taken Stoke to their joint-best league finish in 40 years in his first season at the helm, he’s repeated it twice more. Three top-half finishes in the Premier League.

That Hughes had done so by overhauling Stoke’s style of play is a complete vindication of the decision to turn to the Welshman. Last season, his side recorded best ever numbers for short passes and passing accuracy. This was the improvement that many fans had craved.

Having already introduced players of the calibre of Xherdan Shaqiri, Bojan and Marko Arnautovic, the signings of Joe Allen and Wilfried Bony mean Stoke have arguably the strongest squad anyone can remember. It’s also coincided with their worst ever start.

Nothing changes the mood like results and Stoke’s have been abysmal. They have already conceded four goals in a game three times this season. Defeats to Manchester City and Tottenham can be explained away but losing 4-1 at Crystal Palace is a different matter.

Factor in the back end of last season and Stoke look to be a team in some disarray. Remarkably, they have conceded four times in a match in six of their last 11 Premier League games. That’s twice as many beatings as any other team has suffered in that time.

Six points from their last 12 games is the sort of sequence that harks back to Hughes’s miserable spell as Queens Park Rangers manager, a tale that ended in relegation. That too was a talented group of players that appeared to lose their way. It’s a warning from history.

Here in the present, it’s set-pieces that represent the most obvious indicator of Stoke’s problems. They have conceded more goals than any other side from dead-ball situations with Palace striking twice in this fashion last weekend.

Some of their difficulties can partially be explained by a clampdown on holding in the penalty box. It was this that led to Ryan Shawcross being punished for a shirt-tug on Nicolas Otamendi in the opening home game of the season against City.

“We are seriously thinking of changing our approach to set-plays,” said Hughes recently. “We have to consider zonal marking, which I have never done in my career.” So …

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