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 … Continue reading The eye test: Sheffield Wednesday (A)
As Mark Robins emphasised post-game: "It's one game. It's one game. It's one game." Football is a game of emotion and it's only natural that the serotonin hit of Divin Mubama's 96th-minute header has fuelled a sense of optimism not seen since last year's opening day victory over Coventry, or the tonking of Rotherham the … Continue reading The eye test: Derby (H)
“Meet the new boss, same as the old boss” Stoke didn’t really reset during pre-season as much as they remained on standby. After four opening games in which criticism of Michael O’Neill intensified on the airwaves, terraces and social media cesspits, the verdict for the season is already in with 42 games to go. We’re … Continue reading Meet Stoke City, a club failing to hit ‘reset’
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
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
I’d like to start with a moan. Could Frank Lampard’s Derby County politely piss off into oblivion. ‘Oooo don’t they play good football. Oooo they gave Chelsea (‘s reserves) a good game. I bet Stoke fans wish they didn’t have Rowett.’ Piss off. (If any Derby fans are reading this yes, I’m rattled). Put bluntly, … Continue reading Shithouse? What Shithouse?
A Week In Red, White & Purple September 22nd, 2018 4:30pm. We reach my dad’s car in one of the industrial car parks outside the Bet365, having opted to leave on 70 mins whilst Stoke trailed Blackburn by 3 goals. I check my phone, it’s 3-2. We pull away from the ground, messages fly in, … Continue reading Embrace The Chaos
This was supposed to be about Joe Allen. I had a series of gifs with some proper MNF lines and circles going on them, but I’ve revaluated mine and Joe’s relationship and decided it is a toxic one and it only gets worse the more I feed it; so this isn’t going to be about … Continue reading A Clean (International) Break: How Rowett Can Fix Stoke
Sheffield Wednesday Pre-season record: P3 W1 D0 L2 GF3 GA5 Last season finish: 15th Wednesday are the first side that Stoke will come up against who are subject to financial troubles. Due to this the Owls have not brought in one player this season and are going to have to rely on youth players to … Continue reading Championship Preview – Part 2
“Optimism. Noun: hopefulness and confidence about the future or the success of something” Ten years in the Premier League have come and gone for Stoke City. It wasn’t a shock departure either, instead it was a slow deterioration which began when Mark Hughes’ Stoke side were knocked out of the League Cup semi-final by Liverpool, … Continue reading The Optimism Paradox
The Wizards of Drivel Podcast 