All seemed to be going well under the new management; a decent start to the season saw encouraging performances and the occasional victory that sparked mass optimism about what the future held for Stoke City. However with just four goals in eight league games, the Potters have the lowest goals total in the entire football league. A lack of goal scoring players has been a huge problem for Stoke over the last few years and the club has already faced strong criticism from fans over the failure to purchase someone who knows how to hit the back of the net. But who or what is at fault for this poor statistic?
Jonathan Walters, Peter Crouch and Kenwyne Jones are the only three strikers in the squad. The summer saw the exit of Cameron Jerome, the retirement of Michael Owen and the arrival of nobody for the forward positions apart from Marko Arnautovic, who was perhaps considered to be the answer but he has been more impressive on the flanks than he has been up top. January will see the arrival of young American forward Juan Agudelo; with 17 international caps to his name at just 20 years of age there are a few believing that he could be the answer. However with no experience of playing in Europe, and a fairly unimpressive goal scoring record he seems more of a sideways step. Hopefully the rumours of Mame Biram Diouf moving to Stoke continue to circulate as two strikers in is exactly what is needed in January – with ideally the exit of Peter Crouch.
It was made clear early on that Hughes’ budget wouldn’t be as generous as Pulis’ before him. Peter Coates may be a rich man, but too much cash was spent on sub-par players to the point where over the last few years Stoke have the third highest net spend in the Premiership. The summer saw very little spent but still a fairly successful window where many of the squad’s weak points were addressed – with the exception of the forward line. With seemingly a lack of options on the market due to the club not being willing to spend too much it was always going to be an uphill task with regards to bringing in an actual goal scorer, but the failure to address the issue has overshadowed what has been a decent start to Mark Hughes’ new job. Had the money been spent, maybe there would be less doom and gloom at the Britannia.
The issue however could be deeper than simply having strikers that aren’t very good. Without chances being created, goals won’t be scored, and in too many games this season Stoke haven’t come within a sniff of a chance. Steven N’Zonzi, Stephen Ireland, Marc Wilson and Charlie Adam have all failed to provide the strikers with the service they require. Hughes wants the team to adopt a possession-based game but this requires midfielders who can create chances – so far this campaign none of them have proven that they can do that. But with forwards that can’t finish either it wouldn’t make much difference if they could.
A solution to the problem lies in the transfer market. If a goal scorer can be brought in during the January window then all is good (provided the midfielders actually start creating something), someone like Diouf or even Jermain Defoe would be perfect. The issue is Peter Coates’ reluctance to pump yet more cash into the club as so much has been wasted over the last few seasons. It is perhaps Hughes’ biggest test since taking charge. The defence is fine, the style of football is improving and the signings have been good – but all of that is useless if the club can’t sort out the problems in front of goal.
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