Marc Muniesa. Maarc Muniesa. M-m-m-marc Muniesa, he plays for City, with Bojan and Moha.

Yes, I just wasted 14 words writing out the Marc Muniesa song but I did it because I am worried. We are all worried.

Muniesa isn’t playing, and if he continues to not play, Muniesa will leave, forever. This cannot go on.

Football should operate as a meritocracy. When you play well, you deserve to keep your place in the team.

Once upon a time, it was a string on Mark Hughes’s bow. There were countless times in the past where a player was given another opportunity after a promising performance from the bench, or after a forced start through someone else’s injury. Stephen Ireland springs to mind as an example of that. I miss you Stephen.

Back to this season, where this meritocracy just does not seem to be fully operational. And I think this fact is the cause of much of our Mark Hughes frustrations.

Earlier in the season we saw Peter Crouch given an opportunity to come back into the side. An opportunity he grasped with both of his lanky hands – eventually moving past the 100-goal mark in the Premier League.

At the time, I voiced my discontent to starting Crouch, but at the same time I respected the fact that he was playing well and, as a result, he deserved his place as the spearhead of our attack.

But now. Now, I am discontented, I am extremely discontented. The same treatment is not being afforded to Marc Muniesa and I am discontented.

Many people have voiced how pleased they have been with the Spaniard’s performance so far this season. Whenever he is given an opportunity to perform, by God he does perform. The latest of which came against Hull City, in our solid, if at times nervy, 3-1 win over the Tigers.

Muniesa was part of the team and once again did nothing to sully his name of this the season which we have probably seen the best of him in a Stoke shirt. What does this solid performance mean for our awkward trip to South Wales? Oh, it means that Marc is dropped. WTF Mark?

It hasn’t just happened to Marc either, Ramadan Sobhi too. The player we were all getting excited about, dropped from the team and now making do with short appearances off the bench. WTF Mark?

I’m not going to even mention Imbula. WTF Mark?

I’ve been thinking about how that would feel in our world’s. To perform well and not get any recognition for it. To be fair that has probably happened to all of us at some point in our lives, but we’re not overpaid, talented, beautiful footballers so screw us.

But anyway, how it would feel in our worlds. Imagine Muniesa going into an exam hall, having the best exam of his life, and then discovering he got an F. The worst thing is that when Muniesa gets the F, Charlie Adam, without doing any revision and falling over as he walks into the exam hall, somehow gets an A. It just doesn’t make any sense. I was tempted to delve into this world of fake Stoke City player examinations, but I didn’t. I’ll get back to it another time, maybe.

We need to return to the meritocracy, where if a player performs well they get in the team. It just makes sense. It makes so much sense that 576 words into this article I am questioning why I have spent 588 words to get to saying that it just makes sense.

Muniesa played well in our Hull win, we lost when he wasn’t playing. Get him in the team.

Sobhi played well in numerous performances, most pertinently in the win before the four-loss slump against Middlesbrough. Get him in the team.

It’s that simple.