Potteries Preview and shifting the frauds by Franny Potter
Before I go onto look at the Stoke game, I feel I should give a brief nod to what I feel was a successful transfer window, which didn’t so much as “slam shut” at Finch Farm, yet close gently.
Numbers wise, we are down on what we had, but who in their right mind is not going to be happy with the deadwood we have shifted? Tom Cleverley who I feel offered absolutely nothing apart from hard work and Darron Gibson an absolute fraud who stole a wage for a start.
Then we have Bryan Oviedo, everyone liked him, and it’s a great quality to have, being likeable, but he is just not the quality we want going forward and never the same after his leg break. My daughter is likeable, so is my dog, but they are also s*it left backs.
We also saw Deulofeu leave on loan, a decision which seems to be about fifty-fifty with the fanbase but we have to trust the manager and as it’s a loan there is always the possibility he could turn it around and forge a career with us. I doubt it though; he doesn’t seem to settle anywhere he’s been and just doesn’t seem fit enough to play in the Premier League.
We also saw Conor McAleny leave, a kid who seems to have been around since about 1878 but was never going to make it with us at this late stage, may as well let him go and push on somewhere else. Good luck to him.
The only disappointment was not getting rid of Kone, although its nailed on he’s going in the Summer, along with probably Jagielka, Lennon and one of the keepers I reckon. The few we got in I have to say I’m happy with, Schneiderlein will be a starter soon enough and Lookman looks lively in his brief appearances to date. It was also good to see the U23’s strengthened with the German kid Donkor and the surprising return of Jose Baxter. Quality not quantity seems to have been the mantra and it bodes well wages wise now for Summer recruitment.
So, onto tonight’s game. Stoke under Mark Hughes are a different prospect to what they were under Tony Pulis. Pulis liked to fill his team with 8 foot grocks and launch high balls in via the moon or get Rory Delap to take throw in’s from the Stoke half right into the opposition keeper’s face. Not pleasant to watch, likewise Ryan Shawcross given carte blanche to kick lumps out of opposition players. This Stoke team are a different beast and in my opinion a lot easier team to face “on a wet Wednesday night in Stoke”.
Since Mark Hughes has taken over he has transformed the team to a degree bringing in the likes of Arnautovic, Bojan and the South American songstress Shakira. Now if I was a professional footballer, which I’m not, but definitely could be, I would rather be facing Hughes’ team than Pulis’.
As for the Toffees, well more of the same please. I’m a big advocate of not changing a winning team and I really like the shape and formation we have shown in the last two games.
Robles is getting a decent run now it seems and the back three (five?) are picking themselves.
Perhaps we will see a change at the weekend in the middle of the park with two games in three days being a push for Gareth Barry but what a nice problem we now have when the decision to replace him will be to play either Schneiderlin or Gueye. Personally, Gueye and Davies is the dream ticket for me and bodes well for the long term future but for now I’ll trust Ronald to make the big decisions. It’s not so long ago we played Heitinga and Neville centre midfield FFS!
Perhaps the other position up for grabs so to speak is the one supporting Lukaku. Mirallas has put a good shift in the last couple of games and what with Del leaving and Kone being about as much use as Anne Franks drum-kit perhaps his only real competition now is Enner Valencia. We could see Barkley pushed further forward to shoehorn another CM in but I think that would be foolish as Ross is really starting to hit form and I wouldn’t want that jeopardised.
A win tonight and we can really kick on with some (on paper) winnable games on the horizon. At the time of writing we are only six points behind Liverpool and if we can keep this run going there is no reason they can’t be caught. That has got to give us something to aim at for the rest of the season.
I shouldn’t really bring that lot up in an Everton Stoke preview but I can’t help but think about all the “season over in January” messages I received a few weeks ago, shortly before the wheels fell off and banter merchant Jurgen turned out not to be The Messiah after all. Although, if you listen to them, the return of Sadio Mane from the AFCON is akin to a Lionel Messi/Cristiano Ronaldo hybrid pitching up at Melwood. The melts.
So come on lads, three points tonight and keep this run going, let’s reel the whoppers in.
NSNO.
Franny Porter