Are Stoke a poor team or a mid-table team?

Paul Lambert may have been wondering how good a side Mark Hughes left behind when he took up the Stoke manager's position in January. He has a number of top international players at the Bet 365 stadium like Xherdan Shaquiri, Jack Butland and Joe Allen, but they have been dabbling with relegation and it's not yet clear if their recent home win against Huddersfield was a one off.

Stoke players may have a new manager but are they are revitalised team?

In mid-week Stoke city signed Badou Nidaye from Galatasaray for 15m. The Senegal midfielder may not quite know what he is in for but Paul Lambert has shelled out an awful lot of money for the Senegalese-man who only cost £6.6m last summer. That is a price Stoke are willing to pay for Premier League survival, but are they really among the worst clubs in the Premier League?

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It looks like Mark Hughes lost his way with the team and the performances were not a true reflection of the talent at the club. In the games for Lambert so far Stoke have been more impressive and have carried a goal threat that gave them a massive three point swing against Huddersfield. But this week they found it difficult to breakdown Watford and only managed just 11 shots at home. That's okay if you are making the keeper work for most of the shots, but the four shots they did get on target did not produce a goal. Diouf, Shaqiri and Choupo-Moting can go missing in front of goal and Berhino has been a bit of a last minute extra. The once inform Peter Crouch has now fund he is back on the bench and it seems while Stoke have improved at the back they are not yet doing enough going forward.

Now they face Bournemouth in another huge game and I suppose Howe has a small advantage not only at being at home, but in knowing his players extremely well. Lambert has to hope the new manager factor helps his team, but if the shine wears off for him in games like this he could suddenly find that Stoke City are really not a mid-table team anymore.

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T-Shirt Competition
If you did not win the Cherry Chimes' T-shirt last game here is another chance. Just guess the minute of the first goal between AFC Bournemouth v Stoke City. If two or more fans get the correct minute we will draw the winner from a hat. Tweet your answer to @Cherry Chimes before 9am on Saturday morning. Good luck!