Rival Lines
Match Preview
Stoke City v AFCB
21 October 2017
Blogger Interview: Nathan Hildicth ASKFans
I was finding it hard to find a Stoke City Blogger as the site I went to last season seems to have folded. I can't blame that on Stoke's game against Man City last weekend, but I got a few failures to reply to my invitation until I hit upon Nathan who like me writes for ASKFans who do match previews and reports for all the Premier League teams. Luckily Nathan was more than happy to share his views ahead of Bournemouth's visit to the Bet365 stadium, you can also catch his lively match report from the unbelievable 7-2 City game on ASKFans.
CC: Stoke were blown away last weekend by Man City, so I guess you'll be very pleased to be coming back to play a game at the Bet365 stadium?
NHAF: Our away form this season has been nothing short of pitiful, so in that sense – yes, I will definitely be glad to be back at the Bet365. Plenty of teams will take a good hiding at the Etihad this season, but with only a point to show for on the road this season, we are reliant on our strong home form at the minute.
CC: Has Mark Hughes delivered enough in his time at the club so far for the fans?
NHAF: No, is the short answer. His first couple of years were a huge success and pushed Stoke forwards to a level beyond what we were capable of prior. In the concurrent two years however, Stoke have stuttered and are now starting to head backwards. We are a million miles away from where we were two years ago, and I think many fans feel like his time should have been up at the end of last season. We are grateful for what he has done for the club, but he is stubborn in the face of change and we can’t stagnate forever.
CC: Has the departure of Marko Arnautovic been a blessing or a loss?
NHAF: I’d love to tell you it was a blessing in disguise but I can’t honestly say that. As West Ham are learning he is a very enigmatic and inconsistent performer, so we definitely got a good price for him. Choupo-Moting has equally showed flashes of brilliance in the early stages so maybe he is not a bad substitution. We haven’t really sufficiently replaced him though, he was our most influential player by far for the last two seasons and we are going to miss that.
CC: You've drawn with Man Utd and beaten Arsenal, so do you expect a stronger season than what was achieved last season?
NHAF: Possibly, we didn’t beat a team that finished above us last season, until the final day of the season. Failing to beat 11 of the top 12 teams was a very poor showing for us, so the results are already an improvement on that. As I said prior though, we are totally lost away from home at the moment, if we don’t arrest the situation it could derail our entire season. We can only hope to achieve Premier League survival at best relying entirely on home form.
NHAF: Definitely, he was actually our top scorer last year, despite not featuring heavily and is our top scorer again so far this year. He has a wealth of experience as a striker and continues to do the business for us almost every time we play him. With Saido struggling and neither Jese or Choupo-Moting commanding enough in that role, Crouch is a great solution. Diouf is making a pretty good case for himself of late as well though.
CC: What have you made of Kurt Zouma on loan from Chelsea?
NHAF: I was initially underwhelmed by the signing, especially as we needed attackers at the time, but he’s great. He is one of our best performers every week, he’s quick, disciplined and dedicated, everything you could ask of a defender. It’s a shame we almost certainly won’t get to hold onto him after his loan expires.
NHAF: No and no. Don’t believe everything you read, unless of course it’s my own Ask Fans match report. Fletcher is not good, I was not happy to sign him at all, given that it spelt the end for die-hard fan favourite Glenn Whelan. Fletcher is getting on a bit now and it shows, he’s been off the pace more than he’s been on it this season. He’s not mobile enough to get around the pitch well these days and he commits far too many errors. Joe Allen has done a spectacular job of picking up the slack in the middle this season but as it showed, when he didn’t play i.e. Bristol City and Manchester City we were way too permeable. Two defeats and nine goals conceded, he’s simply not cutting it at the minute and I’d like to see him dropped for Bournemouth.
CC: Has Xherdan Shaqiri lived up to his big name status in his time at Stoke and do you think he is capable of scoring more goals?
NHAF: He has not yet lived up to his billing, his sporadic brilliance makes it obvious why things never worked out for him at Bayern. On his day, he is unplayable and one of the most tricky wingers in the league, those days are all too rare though. Not only is he capable of more goals he really needs to start delivering those goals, especially in the absence of Arnie.
CC: Is there a Bournemouth player that you think could fit in well at Stoke City?
NHAF: Insert front line hear! We have actually seen signs of an upturn in goals in the early stages of this season but attack continues to be a problem for Stoke. Ricardo Fuller is still our most potent striker in Premier League history with 11 goals in our first season up. Everyone who has come since has failed to beat that fairly achievable bar. I’d happily take Josh King, Callum Wilson or even Jermain Defoe to boost our strike rate this season.
CC: How do you expect Stoke to line up against the Cherries?
NHAF: Business as usual I expect, as I said Hughes has an aversion to change so doubtful he’ll change his plan from our other home games. We’re still in the midst of a defensive crisis so late tests will have to confirm our back line.
Match Preview
Stoke City v AFCB
21 October 2017
Blogger Interview: Nathan Hildicth ASKFans
CC: Stoke were blown away last weekend by Man City, so I guess you'll be very pleased to be coming back to play a game at the Bet365 stadium?
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| The Bet365 stadium. |
CC: Has Mark Hughes delivered enough in his time at the club so far for the fans?
NHAF: No, is the short answer. His first couple of years were a huge success and pushed Stoke forwards to a level beyond what we were capable of prior. In the concurrent two years however, Stoke have stuttered and are now starting to head backwards. We are a million miles away from where we were two years ago, and I think many fans feel like his time should have been up at the end of last season. We are grateful for what he has done for the club, but he is stubborn in the face of change and we can’t stagnate forever.
CC: Has the departure of Marko Arnautovic been a blessing or a loss?
NHAF: I’d love to tell you it was a blessing in disguise but I can’t honestly say that. As West Ham are learning he is a very enigmatic and inconsistent performer, so we definitely got a good price for him. Choupo-Moting has equally showed flashes of brilliance in the early stages so maybe he is not a bad substitution. We haven’t really sufficiently replaced him though, he was our most influential player by far for the last two seasons and we are going to miss that.
CC: You've drawn with Man Utd and beaten Arsenal, so do you expect a stronger season than what was achieved last season?
NHAF: Possibly, we didn’t beat a team that finished above us last season, until the final day of the season. Failing to beat 11 of the top 12 teams was a very poor showing for us, so the results are already an improvement on that. As I said prior though, we are totally lost away from home at the moment, if we don’t arrest the situation it could derail our entire season. We can only hope to achieve Premier League survival at best relying entirely on home form.
 |
| Peter Crouch is becoming a bit of a super sub. |
CC: Is Peter Crouch proving that he might actually be the best striker at the club?
NHAF: Definitely, he was actually our top scorer last year, despite not featuring heavily and is our top scorer again so far this year. He has a wealth of experience as a striker and continues to do the business for us almost every time we play him. With Saido struggling and neither Jese or Choupo-Moting commanding enough in that role, Crouch is a great solution. Diouf is making a pretty good case for himself of late as well though.
CC: What have you made of Kurt Zouma on loan from Chelsea?
NHAF: I was initially underwhelmed by the signing, especially as we needed attackers at the time, but he’s great. He is one of our best performers every week, he’s quick, disciplined and dedicated, everything you could ask of a defender. It’s a shame we almost certainly won’t get to hold onto him after his loan expires.
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CC: Was the signing of Darren Fletcher a masterstroke and were you surprised to get him?
NHAF: No and no. Don’t believe everything you read, unless of course it’s my own Ask Fans match report. Fletcher is not good, I was not happy to sign him at all, given that it spelt the end for die-hard fan favourite Glenn Whelan. Fletcher is getting on a bit now and it shows, he’s been off the pace more than he’s been on it this season. He’s not mobile enough to get around the pitch well these days and he commits far too many errors. Joe Allen has done a spectacular job of picking up the slack in the middle this season but as it showed, when he didn’t play i.e. Bristol City and Manchester City we were way too permeable. Two defeats and nine goals conceded, he’s simply not cutting it at the minute and I’d like to see him dropped for Bournemouth.
 |
| Mr Shaqiri the balls right next to you! |
NHAF: He has not yet lived up to his billing, his sporadic brilliance makes it obvious why things never worked out for him at Bayern. On his day, he is unplayable and one of the most tricky wingers in the league, those days are all too rare though. Not only is he capable of more goals he really needs to start delivering those goals, especially in the absence of Arnie.
CC: Is there a Bournemouth player that you think could fit in well at Stoke City?
NHAF: Insert front line hear! We have actually seen signs of an upturn in goals in the early stages of this season but attack continues to be a problem for Stoke. Ricardo Fuller is still our most potent striker in Premier League history with 11 goals in our first season up. Everyone who has come since has failed to beat that fairly achievable bar. I’d happily take Josh King, Callum Wilson or even Jermain Defoe to boost our strike rate this season.
CC: How do you expect Stoke to line up against the Cherries?
NHAF: Business as usual I expect, as I said Hughes has an aversion to change so doubtful he’ll change his plan from our other home games. We’re still in the midst of a defensive crisis so late tests will have to confirm our back line.
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| Possible Stoke City line up from Natahan. |
CC: I may think Nathan might be a bit optimistic about how good AFCB's front line is looking at Bournemouth's record of goalscoring this year, but it's nice to hear an opposition fan that rates some of our players. Nathan gives some string opinions on who is not at the races in the Stoke City side and it's good to hear about a passionate fan that does not hold back. If you want to read more about Nathan's preview of the game head over to the Stoke City page on ASKFans where you can let him know if you agree with him. Thanks again Nathan - loved every minute of that!
Check out the Fans' verdict from last weekend's games including Cherry Chimes' verdict on the Spurs game at The Daily Mail online.
Southampton and Man Utd matches in December have been moved.
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