Unlike other teams who have seen signs of improvement moving on from the Christmas period, it’s fair to say that Mark Hughes and his Stoke City side have done quite the opposite.
The Potters have been plagued this last mont;, their performances and determination have dropped and once where there was flare and creativity, now resides a bland side lacking any intent. Judging by the quality the team has, it’s hard to wonder how or why their form has dropped quite so badly as of recent weeks.
A familiar tale
Once more, the Potters failed to put on an impressive display over the 90 minutes as once again, mimicking the 3-0 loss to Manchester United mid-week, the home side went down within the opening minutes of play. A Romelu Lukaku penalty given after keeper Jack Butland brought down Tom Cleverley, doomed Mark Hughes’ side to another humiliating defeat.
With Everton obviously confident from their easy dispatch of Newcastle United mid-week, the travelling side amassed a trophy cabinet of shots on goal as 14 attempts were made on Jack Butland’s net with Seamus Coleman heading in a Cleverley corner and Aaron Lennon intercepting a pass to add to Lukaku’s goal.
There are signs of improvement for the home side however as they managed to retain a dominant spell of possession in the game. Nevertheless, for all their spell of possession, the Potter’s really struggled to create chances in this fixture and have failed to score in four consecutive Premier League games for the first time, their worst run in the top-flight since March 1985.
Mark Hughes' View
Hughes was once more incredibly disappointed with his side’s creative chances this game as Stoke “huffed and puffed but just could not create anything of note”. Their best chance of the game came from Glen Johnson whose shot outside the box was saved expertly by Everton goal keeper Joel Robles.
The Welshman has said he wants to forget the “disappointing day” and focus for Stoke's next clash against Bournemouth, where he hopes the side will ratify their “mistakes” and “return back to basics” in a bid to end their game-winning drought since beating Norwich on 13th January.
Disappointing debut
This match also showed the first glimpse of Stoke's new record signing Gianelli Imbula who arrived at the club for £18.3 million. The midfielder however, like the rest of his teammates, failed to make a strong enough impact on the game but Hughes believed his performance to be “ok” considering “the tough debut he had to come into”.
The Potters have gained just one point from 12 in the league, dropping from seventh to 11th place in the league and have scored just one goal in six games. Their luck must improve sometime soon and a trip to Eddie Howe’s Bournemouth who sit four places below Stoke looks a good place to make amends for their dismal performances of recent weeks.