I Love Stoke City

Stoke City manager Paul Lambert has revealed that Ramadan Sobhi has been excluded out of Premier League duties as he has to develop the defensive side of his game. The Potters are presently in a relegation scrap in 19th spot, and the Scot believes his side requires players, who are willing to put their body on the line for Premier League survival.

Ahead of the club’s game versus Manchester City, Lambert said:“I had to get him to grasp what I wanted him to do without the ball because I felt we were too open. He’s lightning quick, I think he’s strong, very strong, but he had to understand where I wanted him without the ball and that took a wee bit of time. But he’s definitely getting there. The biggest compliment I can give Ramadan is that he’s really unpredictable, which is a great asset to have.”
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Stoke City manager Paul Lambert has dismissed the prospect of selling veteran striker Peter Crouch during the winter transfer window. The 36-year-old has recently emerged as a shock target for Chelsea with their head coach in the search for a tall target man.

Crouch has started in just eight of his 22 appearances this campaign, but he has still remained influential towards the Potters’ season as he provides the physical absence with his height which enables him to win almost every ball in the air.
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Stoke City boss Mark Hughes has said that his side were made to pay for individual mistakes during Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at the hands of Crystal Palace. The Staffordshire outfit took the lead in the second-half with Xherdan Shaqiri, but they were pegged back just three minutes later with Ruben Loftus-Cheek restoring parity.

Eventually, Mamadou Sakho popped up with a 92nd-minute winner which handed the Eagles only their second Premier League win of the season – both of which have come at Selhurst Park. Following the game, Hughes was bitterly disappointed with the result as he felt Stoke should have won the match.
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Stoke City made a surprising decision to bring in Kurt Zouma from Chelsea on a loan deal, but only after deciding to pay a £ 7 million fee for the one-year loan spell.

Many clubs decided not to accept this decision, but Stoke City manager Mark Hughes says that the decision has already been profitable withZouma being able to offer great quality to the club. The club were able to get a first win in five matches after beating Southampton during the weekend. Even though the team are conceding a lot of goals, it could have been much worse had it not been for the presence of Kurt Zouma.

The Frenchman is only 22 years old and is valued at £ 40 million by the Stoke City manager. He has featured in six league matches this season. The 22-year-old suffered a major injury during the 2016-17 season and was on the sidelines for most of the campaign. As a result, Chelsea felt that he needed to be at the club were regular first-team football was offered in order to rediscover his former glory days. (more…)

Stoke City have been able to make a decent start to the league campaign with one win from their opening two matches.

The victory came in the home match against Arsenal. Manager Mark Hughes has also seen the positive impact made by summer signing Jesé Rodriguez, who scored on his debut against Arsenal. Stoke come the back of a disappointing season in which the club could only finish in the bottom half of the table. As a result, there is reasonable pressure on Hughes in order to get the club back into the top half and even challenge for the Europa League places.

Hughes says that he is delighted with the impact of Jese Rodriguez and the way he has been able to settle almost immediately since making the loan move from Paris St Germain. After the French outfit brought in Neymar, the competition for places became stiff at the Parc Des Princes. As a result, the former Real Madrid forward has decided to come to the Bet365 stadium. (more…)

Stoke City winger XherdanShaqiri has stated that he wants to win the Premier League as well as the Champions League while playing for Stoke City.

He believes that the club can do it if they invest in the club and that they already have the necessary foundation for success.

He was speaking after the club announced the signing of Darren Fletcher. The club made an interesting start to the season but their form dwindled during the campaign, and they ultimately finish 13th in the table.

XherdanShaqiri said that this time the club should be aiming for higher. He said that he will be doing his best to help the club finish higher in the table this season but that the club should also continue in purchasing quality players.

When asked whether Stoke City can replicate what Leicester City has done, he said that he is convinced that the club could achieve the same feat. He believes that there are some great players within the team and that they have the necessary experience to challenge for titles. (more…)

Stoke City manager Mark Hughes has told Jack Butland that he needs to prove himself with his club first before ever thinking of getting a place in the England national team.

This comes after the statement made by the goalkeeper that he wants to establish himself as the first team goalkeeper of the England national team.

Mark Hughes has told him that he needs to take each game one at a time and focus on ending the season well with Stoke City. The coach believes that it is only after this that he will be able to get a sustained run in the national team.

Jack Butland has only been back after a long absence following an injury, and Mark Hughes said that it is too early to be speaking about the national team. He believes that the goalkeeper should be focusing on his performance with the club and then after that considers his place in the England team.

Mark Hughes said that if he performs well with the club, it is natural that he will get a place in the national team and that he should not be worrying for this at this moment. Butland said that the player should focus on improving his performance with the team first and work on his fitness.

Jack Butland has been out for so long, and it is natural that he lacks match fitness. The manager wants him to work hard in training and get some playing time first before considering to be part of the national team. Mark Hughes said that you cannot represent your country if you are not playing well with your club. He said that he is the one to be pleased first before the player ever consider attracting the attention of the England manager.

A columnist for Birmingham Mail has condemned the sad story going around the media concerning the naming and shaming of Stoke City striker Saido Berahino.

The writer asked that the public stopped taking about the ban leaks but face the issue on ground which is the wrong doing of the professional player.

Berahino was not picked by the club as West Bromich Albion tried to cover his eight week ban by the Football Association for his use of “recreational drugs.”

Ross added that he suspected that the player was paid for even missing action due to his actions that brought shame to the club. He added that the actions of Berahino showed a lack of respect for the club that was spending a fortune of him. The player was reported to have come in late for training to the anger of his teammates.

Ross hinted that his anger that Stoke City would point fingers at the Albion for the leak of the news few days to when Berahino was supposed to line up against them in the Premier League. Ross advised that Stoke focus on chastising their player for his unprofessional conduct rather than complain. Ryan Shawcross also put West Brom on blast, accusing the club of having a hand in the leak as it made no sense that they covered it up very well but the news filtered just a few days to their clash.

Tony Pulis was scrutinized when he refused to play Berahino with the media not knowing that the club was trying to shield the scandal. Now the move seems justified though many still blame the club for going to those limits to protect the player. The club was likely avoiding the open blown scandal and PR issues.

West Brom defeated Stoke 1-0 as Berahino was booed throughout the match.

Stoke City manager Mark Hughes has revealed that he was disappointed with the leak of his latest acquisition Saido Berahino being banned for failing an out-of-competition drug test.

The striker only just joined Stoke after he completed a winter window transfer. Ahead of a meeting with his former club, there were numerous newspaper reports that said the player was banned for failing a drug test. The Baggies eventually won the match against the Potters 1-0 as the striker started from the bench.

“We knew at some point it would come out but it’s a disappointment. It’s probably disappointing for West Brom too because clearly they were able to keep the issue discreetly under wraps for six or seven months and, lo and behold, two days before a game against his new club it comes out.

“It’s a shame as people would suggest maybe West Brom had something to do with that. I’m not saying that, you can interpret it like that,” Hughes said.

Further development of the story reveals that Albion did all they could to contain the leak and that they fully briefed Stoke of the situation before the Potters paid for the player.

West Brom continued their good form this term as James Morrison’s goal was enough to separate both sides. Salomon Rondon had scored early in the encounter but it was flagged offside. Morrison’s goal was only few minutes apart as he connected with a pass from Nacer Chadli to score.

When Berahino came on in the second half, the fans booed at the player, though they started booing him when he first warmed up before the game started. Stoke tried to equalize but the home side stopped them. The loss see Stoke drop from the top half of the standings.

Mark Hughes reveals that his players who have come from other countries are taken aback by the fact that they are supposed to be at the practice ground on 25th of December as well in England, a day when the entire world has a break from work.

There are actually no games scheduled on 25th of December in the English League calendar, but, a number of games happen to be scheduled the day after that which is called the Boxing Day. And it’s only normal that the players go through a full-fledged practice session a day prior to the game, be it any game. So, those teams which have to take part in the Boxing Day matches have to practice on Christmas.

While it’s not such a big deal anymore for those who have come through the ranks in UK and have followed the English system or even for those who have settled in England for some time, the new boys are finding it weird because they haven’t seen it happen at the places they belong to.

In the other countries, the season is separated into two halves by a break in between and that break comes at the time of the Christmas and New Year so that everyone can go home and can have fun, but, in England no such official break comes in the middle of the season. It’s only the international break that halts the season for a bit, but, there is nothing like a holiday break.

As per Hughes, even if the English administrators think of providing any kind of break to the teams ever, it won’t be at this stage of the season; that is towards the end of December. It will probably be in the second or third week of January so that these festive matches continue taking place.