The numbers don’t just say stick with Jones, they scream it. Ask any professional stats person, which I am in no way one of, and they will tell you that the rule of thumb is that you can control 50% of what goes on in a football match. This means the other 50% is up … Continue reading Things can only get better: Why Stoke should stick with Nathan Jones
(Editor's note: We are absolutely delighted to be hosting this new series from Martyn Cooke. Martyn is a Post Graduate Teaching Assistant at Manchester Metropolitan University and is a PhD student exploring the sporting history of Stoke-on-Trent. He's on twitter @cooke_martyn. In this series, Martyn uses his powers as a historian to profile the true … Continue reading Stoke City Legends: Eric Skeels
I really don't like the word 'content'. It feels like a cynical, throwaway word YouTubers use to talk about their job. "I'm a content creator", says a millionaire teenager who screams at a video game for a job. Good for you, but just say you make videos. 'Content' indeed. It's also such a mediocre way … Continue reading If only Stoke City FC had its fans’ creativity
Stoke have (had?) a problem. It was especially prevalent under Gary Rowett and presented significant problems to Nathan Jones in his first few months at the club. The problem was this: Stoke’s centre backs were not good enough passers to implement the possession-based style that both of the aforementioned managers attempted. It wasn’t that they … Continue reading Progressive Centre Backs, Stoke City, and Liam Lindsay
Memories and nostalgia are the lifeblood of a football fan. It tends to manifest during periods of hardship where immediate on-field footballing gratification is lacking and fans look for a reason to persist with their club. Just this season alone, we’ve witnessed the most successful English football club of all time, Manchester United, host a … Continue reading The double-edged sword of nostalgia
If you’re remotely clued into the Championship analytics world, you’ll have seen some truly excellent content looking into the full backs of the division. The two standouts have been the profiling every different fullback type in the league from Ram Srinivas and Matt Lawrence and a heap of radars from the always excellent Blades Analytics. … Continue reading The making of the Nathan Jones fullback
In a triple-swoop, Nathan Jones has made a more serious statement about his transfer policy than any amount of interviews ever could. In Lee Gregory, Nick Powell and Adam Davies, Jones has signalled the way forward for The Potters. Gone are the days of £10m gambles from the continent. Stoke are looking to be shrewd, … Continue reading Gregory, Powell and Davies: The Lowdown
The word “recruitment” has become something of a dirty word among Stoke fans in recent years. Following myriad catastrophes, it’s not really a surprise the transfer strategy employed by Stoke has come in for immense criticism from fans, media outlets and by far the saddest indictment, the playing squad. However, apportioning this blame is difficult … Continue reading How Stoke can fix their broken transfer strategy
There we go, five months of Nathan Jones and it was...well, it probably wasn’t everything we had all hoped it to be. Stoke stumbled to a 16th placed finish and results wise Jones failed to improve on Rowett’s abject failure. But for some reason I, and I believe a relatively significant proportion of the rest … Continue reading Jonesball Revisited
While results haven’t picked up much since Nathan Jones took charge of the Potters, there were certainly positives to take from the latter period of an overall dismal campaign. Much was expected of the senior international players at the club this season, but it has been the younger generation who have caught the attention in … Continue reading Can Thibaud Verlinden shine in Jones’ diamond?
