Opposition Preview - Stoke City

Blog written by ad_wilkin
Published: 11th August 2023 11:15

The new pitch at Portman Road will welcome a Stoke City side managed by a familiar rival on 12th August.

Former Norwich manager Alex Neil has rebuilt his reputation after being sacked by the Canaries in 2017 with relatively successful spells at Preston North End and Sunderland.

The Scot was the man who finally ended the Black Cats exile in League One with a 2-0 play-off final victory over Wycombe in 2022 before leaving for the Potteries. His first season at Stoke saw a lower mid-table 16th-place finish.

It will be a new look Stoke side this coming season however with seven players having been released and eight loans ending. The loans alone accounted for 10,958 of playing minutes, although some of those players have now returned.

Their pre-season saw mixed results from their five games, quite a low number compared to lots of teams. A 5-1 win against Notts County was followed by a 1-1 draw with Levante, a 3-0 defeat to Derby, a 1-0 win over Burton and a 1-0 defeat to Everton.

They kicked-off the league season last Saturday with an impressive 4-1 win over Rotherham and then a fairly strong Stoke side beat West Bromwich Albion 2-1 in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night, creating a lot of optimism for a good season.

<h1>Last 20 league matches </h1>

Neil has favoured a 4-2-3-1 formation which sets up very similarly to Town’s. But it’s the right-back that pushed forward and the left-back that tucks into centre-half.

They’ll look to dominate possession and work the ball into the box either from wide areas using the right wing-back or their skilled dribblers on either wing.

The Potters certainly aren't goal shy in that formation, scoring close to two goals a game and averaging 10 shots inside the box. So who fits into each of those positions?

<h1>Goalkeeper </h1>

Jack Bonham came into this pre-season as Stoke’s number one keeper, mainly due to lack of other options.

Former number one Josef Bursik left for Club Brugge in January 2022 and Matija Sarkic has returned to Wolves following his loan spell.

Bonham has spent most of his career in League One in spells at Gillingham and Bristol Rovers. He was on the winning side the last time he faced Town when Gillingham beat Paul Cook’s Ipswich 3-1 on 3rd June 2021

It was that season that he left the Gills to join Stoke and since then he has racked up 44 appearances. In that time he has only kept 13 clean sheets.

Bonham now has company in the shape of Mark Travers, who has joined on loan from Bournemouth. The Irish international started 11 games in the Premier League last season, conceding a whopping 32 goals. Nine of which came in the thrashing by Liverpool shortly before Scott Parker lost his job.

Brazilian international Neto took the number one spot off of him after that and he was reduced to sitting on the bench with a couple of cup appearances from then onwards.

Whilst last season was tough for him, in the Championship season before Travers excelled, keeping 20 clean sheets in 45 games and that wasn’t because he wasn’t busy either as he averaged 2.6 saves a game, which is a lot higher that Bonham’s 1.9 from last season.

<h1>Defence </h1>

The only remaining main starters from last year's Stoke defence are Ben Wilmot and Josh Tymon. Wilmot was one of Stoke's best players last season making more blocks and interceptions than any of his other teammates.

Still only 24 ,Wilmot has notched up 120 Championship appearances across spells at Stoke, Watford and Swansea. He has also played in the Italian first tier, making five appearances for Udinese.

Tymon has the unlucky honour of being relegated in back-to-back seasons with different clubs (Hull in 2016/17 and Stoke 2017/18) although in fairness he was still a youngster and didn’t play many games in either of those campaigns.

Loans spells at MK Dons and Familicao followed before he finally broke into the Stoke team in the 2020/21 season. He is a versatile player, able to play left-back or left midfield and even fill in as a defensive midfielder if needed.

This makes him an important part of Stoke's versatile formation as he enables them to quickly switch from a back three to a back four depending on the situation of the game.

Stoke have looked to add to these with experienced additions on free transfers. Michael Rose comes in having been released by Coventry. He notched up 116 appearances in his time at the Sky Blues so has a solid amount of Championship appearances but slipped out of the side and didn’t feature in their last 10 games (including play-offs).

Also joining is 33-year-old Irishman Enda Stevens. A key fixture in Sheffield United's promotion and surprise excellence in the Premier League the following season under Chris Wilder, Stevens will be looking to recapture that form and provide reliable support to Tymon in the left-back role.

Perhaps the biggest signing in defence, however, is the return of Ki-Jana Hoever, once again on loan from Wolves. He excelled last season having joined in January, scoring four goals and providing an athletic attacking threat down the right-hand side and will look to continue that in a place where he feels settled and is playing his best football. Hoever has already started the season on fire scoring the first goal against Rotherham with a lovely side-footed finish.

The latest addition to the defence is Luke McNally. McNally was apparently on Town’s list as they looked for a centre-half to compete with Luke Woolfenden, Cameron Burgess and George Edmundson but the Blues were rumoured to want a permanent deal.

The Irishman joins Stoke on a loan deal having impressed last season on loan at Coventry. He joined them in January and made 19 starts as the Sky Blues kept eight clean sheets in that time. He’ll be familiar with Rose from their time together there and provide more depth in what is shaping up to be a solid back line.

<h1>Midfield </h1>

Stoke currently have three central midfielder who started a decent number of minutes last season plus the returning Peter Etebo, who spent last season on loan at Aris Saloniki.

In Josh Laurent, Jordan Thompson and Lewis Baker they have three versatile midfielders. Laurent is the most combative of the trio with 1.3 interceptions and 1.7 tackles per game and managed to also chip in with four goals last season. Now 28, Laurent has three full seasons of Championship experience, last year with Stoke and the previous two with Reading.

Thompson is a Stoke stalwart having now spent three and a half years at the club after joining from Blackpool. Last season he wasn’t a regular starter but was often brought off of the bench to help see out games

The most advanced of the three central midfielders is Baker, who was signed from Chelsea in January of 2022 after a staggering eight loan spells. He brings both creative and goalscoring threat from midfield with 16 goals and seven assists in his 69 appearances at Stoke.

Sides will have to close him down quickly and watch out for his shooting from range with five of his seven goals last season having come from outside the box. However, Town probably won’t have to deal with that threat as he has picked up an injury in pre-season that looks to be keeping him out until mid-October. There are also questions about where he fits into manager Neil's structure and he could be a player who ends up getting moved on.

In terms of incoming transfers, the main one is the return of Ben Pearson, this time on a permanent deal following a successful loan spell from Bournemouth last season. Like Hoever, Pearson recaptured some of his best form at the Potteries and will be looking to continue that into the new season as the deepest of the midfield.

Where all of those players lack is that creativity and killer passing, Neil has turned to a familiar face in that aspect, reuniting with Daniel Johnson, who he spent time with at Preston. Johnson was Preston’s most creative player last season averaging 1.2 key passes a game and will bring a balance to the midfield that was lacking a supply line through to the front three.

A prospect to keep an eye on is Sol Sidibe who came on against Rotherham to become the second-youngest player to make an appearance for Stoke and started the cup game against West Brom. Only 16 years old, he made 23 appearances for the U18s last year and is someone who Stoke have high hopes for.

<h1>Forwards </h1>

I’m grouping the next three players into a forwards category as all can play as out and out strikers in a front two but Jacob Brown and Tyrese Campbell were more often than not played on either side of front three last season. Whichever set-up they played in, the pair were Stoke's main goal threat with 16 goals between them.

Scotland international Brown, who was signed from Barnsley for £2.2 million in September 2020, joined Luton Town on Thursday.

Campbell is a Stoke youth product and has also made 140 appearances for Stoke. His nine goals last season equalled his best tally for a campaign and has attracted rumoured interest from Premier League teams.

The only remaining forward on the books at the end of last season was Dwight Gayle. Now 33, the former Crystal Palace, Newcastle and West Brom striker started most of Stoke’s games in the central striker role but didn’t hit anywhere near his record goal tallies of the 2016/17 and 2018/19 seasons in which he scored 23 goals.

Last season he was 20 short, only scoring three. That could be partly due to the fact that he was playing a slightly different role in this Stoke side more focused on creating chances for Campbell and Brown. With the raft of new attacking additions, Gayle could find game time limited this season.

Stoke have added a number of forward options in the transfer window, firstly enhancing those homegrown talents with two Portuguese imports.

Winger Chiquinho arrives on loan from Wolves. The 23-year-old looked close to breaking into the Wolves team at the end of 2022 starting three games in a row and getting two assists against Chelsea, but new signings and a change of manager then saw his path blocked. With quick feet, the ability to play on either wing and deliver some wicked crosses, Chiquinho will bring something a bit different to the other forwards already in the squad.

He is joined by Andre Vidigal who has signed on a permanent transfer from Maritimo. Vidigal netted eight goals in Liga Portugal last season but also missed seven big chances. Like Chiquinho, he is comfortable on either the left or right wing but played the majority on the left for Maritimo. Looking to use his quick feet and dribbling ability to take on his man and get a cross into the box, he also looks to have a poacher's instinct to be in the right place at the right time to gobble up rebounds.

Vidigal has started the season well, netting a brace against Rotherham and scoring the winner against West Brom. He is Stoke’s man to watch in this one.

If that wasn’t enough talent, they have also added 6ft 2in tall Brazilian Wesley Moraes from Aston Villa. The 26-year-old scored five goals in 21 appearance for Villa after signing in the 2019/20 season but then disappeared off the radar and was loaned out to Club Brugge (from where Villa had signed him), Internacional and most recently Levante.

Wesley only netted three goals in 15 starts in La Liga 2 but will bring a physical presence that is able to hold up the ball for the other players in that front three, which is something Stoke don’t really have elsewhere.

Their final signing up top is Moroccan, Ryan Mmaee (I’m glad this is written rather than a podcast as I've heard his name pronounced at least five different ways). Mmaee joins from Ferencvaros where he scored 13 goals in 24 appearances. He can play off the left or behind the central striker and has a similar profile to both Chiquinho and Vidigal.

Mmaee started against Rotherham but didn’t impress so may be switched out for this one. With all of this addition of wing talent, it’s likely that Campbell will play mainly as the central striker this season or potentially be sold.

<h1>The Teams </h1>

For Town, I'm going for an unchanged team from Sunderland. The only argument that could be made is Harry Clarke back in for Janoi Donacien, but the latter handled Jack Clarke excellently and will come up against a player of a similar profile in Vidigal in this one. That and the fact that Clarke is still getting his fitness back gives him the edge for me.

For Stoke I'm predicting just two changes from their win against Rotherham. Mmaee didn’t impress in that one and Chiquinho had a good pre-season as well as a decent game in the Carabao Cup, so I can see him coming in for this one. This would see Wesley lead the line and the press and Chiquinho link up with Wolves teammate Hoever on the right-hand side.

Initially I had the now-departed Brown in instead of Wesley, who will feel unlucky not to have already scored for his new club, his shot going down as an unfortunate own goal having bounced back in off the goalkeeper on Tuesday night.

<h1>Key action areas </h1>

A big area to watch in this one will be the middle of the park with the Stoke pairing of Pearson and Laurent having a very similar profile to Sam Morsy and Massimo Luongo. Winning that midfield battle will be crucial to getting on top in terms of possession.

Leif Davis, who led the press a lot down the left-hand side against Sunderland, will likely be asked to perform a similar role and will be taking on Hoever, who is Stoke’s attacking threat from full-back. He got forward so much against Rotherham he was playing as a winger a lot of the time.

If Donacien can deal with Vidigal on his own it will also allow Wes Burns a full run at Stevens. With Clarke potentially coming on later in the game, the pace of Town’s right side could really test Stoke.

This one is a tough one to call as I really think Stoke will have a very good season and have been impressed with what I've seen so far. But with a packed Portman Road and confidence coming from wins against Sunderland and Bristol Rovers, I'm going for a 1-0 win for Town.

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