Sambegou Bangoura and Mamady Sidibe were on the scoresheet last time Stoke won at Hillsborough, with Johan Boskamp’s men lifting themselves to seventh in the table in November 2005. A lot has happened since then for both clubs, but it’s taken The Owls to be in a particularly poor state for Stoke to break their poor run in this part of the Steel City.

Sheffield Wednesday will go down this season, that’s as close to certain as I can bet on anything in the ‘unpredictable’ world of the Championship – and no amount of heart, desire, whistling or Barry Bannan can change that. Wednesday have some decent Championship players still, but for their fans its about getting rid of Chansiri. Even if it seems there is some internal squabbling on how best to go about that. Stoke meanwhile, are on the up and up – cup (ahem) success midweek was followed up by a comfortable 3-0 win to add to the three bagged against Derby. Here once again is ‘the eye test’ with the key takeaways.

Thanks A Million

Let the praise be as loud as the disrespect. Million Manhoef is the best winger at the club. Sorba Thomas has hit the ground running and then some, but it’s the Dutchman who has that X factor. Working the defender with that ‘one weird trick’ to set Stoke on their way in the first minute as well as bundling in the third of the match. When I say Manhoef is our SkyBet Shaqiri, I mean that as a compliment. Very few in our squad can create a lot from a little – save perhaps Lewis Baker from 25 yards. Clubs pay a premium for Manhoef’s spark and the opening goal was a timely reminder of what should have been glaringly obvious at the end of last season – the lad is quality.

Tick tock, Vik rocks

If we sell Johansson, I still think relegation is a real possibility again. How’s that for optimism from a team at the top of the league? Viktor’s contributions at Hillsborough may not be held in as high esteem come the end of the season as, say, those at Blackburn last campaign, but they were an important reminder of his value to us. It wasn’t a 3-0 walkover, as Wednesday knocked at the door more than once, only to be repelled by the big Swede. So we play the waiting game hoping and praying that the Premier League clubs (and those in Europe, quite frankly) have completed all the keeper business they wanted to. He has to stay. One more year at least. Please.

Wilmot juste

A moment of appreciation for Ben Wilmot’s raking passes. He’s good at them and this is a large part of why I expect him to be the second name on Mark Robins’ team sheet going forward.

Are we back?

Sigh. The curious balancing act between ‘don’t get carried away’ (we’ve dispatched two poor teams) vs seeing the clearly positive stuff on the pitch. Top of the league is top of the league. So let’s enjoy it, but enjoy it by being fucking disciplined here. Take a point at Southampton? Yep me too.

Curious owls fans, stay fighting the good fight. No club deserves it, make your voices heard and absence felt.