At the beginning of each season you pick your fantasy football team, and once you’ve used the majority of your budget on illustrious forwards and offensive-minded full-backs, you invariably try to snag a bargain from somewhere.
Prior to this season, The Britannia Stadium would have been a good place to look, with both Matthew Etherington and Jermain Pennant offering a useful flow of assists and the occasional goal for affordable prices.
That’s no longer such fertile ground.
Pennant’s use has finally expired, while Etherington’s contribution has flat-lined in 2012/13. In the last three seasons, the combined assists from those two players have totaled 14, 13, and in the current campaign 0. While Pennant’s lack of production is due to him only having played one game, Etherington’s drop-off is startling – and very worrying. Between the start of 2009/10 season and the end of the 2011/12 term, Etherington laid on 21 goals for his teammates. This season? Nothing. No goals, no assists, and a meagre 33 accurate crosses from 163 attempts.
There really isn’t a clearer demonstration of why Stoke have struggled this season.
Tony Pulis’ side are built on a strong defensive discipline and an ability to be physically competitive in the offensive third – that still holds true today. But, what made them successful in the Premier League, was their ability to combine those attributes with width. Yes, they dominated teams centrally, but they were also capable of craft in the channels, and of stretching the width of the pitch on an opponent.
That’s what’s gone this season – and that’s why they’ve developed a clunky, predictable feel to them.
The side’s poor performances this season have led to audible demands for Tony Pulis to adjust his approach to the game, and adapt to a more three-dimensional style, but that’s really not the cure for anything. Stoke’s system is fine, irrespective of its aesthetic value, it’s just missing some important components.
Stoke’s tenure in the Premier League is associated with a set of lazy assumptions: they were just a set-piece threat, and they scored all their goals from Rory Delap’s long throw-ins. It’s not really true – they were never Barcelona, but they were still capable of damaging a side in open play with the ball on the floor. They had some pace out-wide, and opposing sides weren’t just able to stuff the middle of the pitch against them.
That’s Pulis’ priority in the Summer: replace that old Pennant/Etherington axis, and breathe some life and verve into this side.
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