Does Stokes' recent battering make it harder for the Cherries?

It's not that often that Bournemouth get to play a team after they have been literally torn apart by another team. But Stoke City will claim that they did not have a bad day, they just ran into an exceptional side on the day that played amazingly well. They could be right. Mark Hughes wants that to be the verdict as he wants a reaction in this next game and if he could have picked a team to play, Bournemouth would probably been high up on that list.

Stoke City will be glad to get back to a home match.

Mark Hughes admitted that his game plan didn't work. I'm not sure what his plan was but he soon found out that his team was getting overwhelmed. AFCB have been in that position before with some heavy defeats and if anything it only stiffens the resolve not to get beaten in the next game. But Bournemouth themselves have been on a poor run and need to go into this game with an attack-minded sense of aggression and energy to try and get on top early against this Stoke side.

If Stoke are allowed to dominate and get shots away and feel comfortable against Bournemouth, they will soon forget the battering they had up at the Etihad. Bournemouth need to make them feel that they are still in a sticky situation whenever Stoke set foot on the pitch and gets some doubt running through their mind. If Bournemouth can stand up to the physical battle and start to influence the game with strong wing play then this might be the game that AFCB away fans have been waiting for in terms of points.

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Mark Hughes believes he can lift his players. But Stoke did make mistakes against Man City and AFCB have to put pressure on Stoke by getting them to turn and defend their goal as much as they can. Jack Butland will not be expecting to have a barrage of shots to save, but he won't be confident of keeping a clean sheet either. It won't be an easy game for AFCB but their is a glimmer of hope that Stoke will not be as confident as usual. Bournemouth have been lacking the scoring power to hurt sides and if they can find that before Stoke wake up from the trauma of Man City then Eddie Howe could finally be savouring an away win as well as sucking Stoke nearer to the relegation zone.

Rival Lines: AskFans' Stoke City supporter

Rival Lines: "Hughes' time should have been up last season!"

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?

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.

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!

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.

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.

What has happened to Stoke City since Christmas?

It's all gone a bit haywire for Mark Hughes at Stoke City since the New Year and he is fast losing his grip on the good work that his team has pout in over the first half of the season. It was a similar picture to when the two sides last met with Stoke City unable to win at home and AFCB's defeat at the Britannia started their season. Now Mark Hughes is looking to pick up some confidence in his side's performances which was completely shot by defeat in the Capital One Cup semi-final and has not recovered since.

Stoke City have not won away in the Premier League since 28 December when they were ninth in the table. Four points from their next six games is not the kind of form that might have been expected, but they are now facing sides that are fighting to stay in the league with important games for them against AFCB, Newcastle, Aston Villa and Chelsea. They dare not come away without points in these types of games, but Mark Hughes is aware that his side is lacking something and is desperate to have a good week in the build up to the game at Dean Court which is likely to be pivotal to their season in which direction it goes.

When Ryan Shawcross plays for  Stoke City side
the stats say the Potters are harder to beat - but he's out!

The back injury to Ryan Shawcross in late January against Leicester City has certainly not helped Stoke City, but if losing one player makes that much difference then they have major problems. Charlie Adams, Jonathan Walters, Mark Wilson and Geoff Caermon have also been out in recent weeks. Shawcross hoped to be back to face AFCB, but he is not going to travel. However, Bojan Krkic has boosted their team's spirit though by signing four-and-a-half year a contract that will keep him at Britannia until 2020.

Stoke City also have to work out how they can quickly integrate new £18.3m signing Giannelli Imbula into their attack without taking away from Marko Arnautovic, Xherdan Shaqiri and Ibrahim Afellay. The balance was probably not right in their last defeat against Everton and you never know we could even see Peter Odemwingie and Peter Crouch get a game. It appears  that Mark Hughes is looking for his strikers to be more aggressive with their passing in the last third rather than taking too many safe pass options near the box.

AFCB will certainly be looking to restrict Stoke's chances in front of goal which appear low at the moment with only two shots on target against Leicester, none against Man Utd and three against Everton. Already out of the FA Cup, Stoke fans may not want to watch much of the rest of this season if they lose at Dean Court.

Stoke City Away Form
DWLLL

AFCB Home Form
WDLWL

Probable AFCB team: 4-5-1 Boruc, Smith, Francis, Cook, Daniels, Stanislas, Surman, Arter, Gosling, Pugh, Afobe

Bench: Federici, Distin, Iturbe, Grabban, Ritchie, Murray, King

Score Prediction
Send in your predicted score for #AFCB v #Arsenal to @peterbell19 on Twitter. Please make your score clear to understand.

If you have a correct score prediction you are in with a chance of winning the Cherry Chimes prize which is a pair of AFCB sweat bands this week. If two or more people have the correct score the winner will be picked out of the hat. Good luck!

Thanks again to Cherry Chimes Sponsors for this season Broomhill Garden Buildings, Natterjacks Vets and AltamiraDeco.

Howe is more than getting his message across

The starting line up against Sunderland was a shelling of players that had stumbled at Norwich City. While some of those players will come back into the team at some point it demonstrated that Eddie Howe can't afford to have sub-par performances if he is to bring more success to the south coast. It is great credit to those that came in that they stormed to victory in the first 10 minutes of the game against Sunderland and did not get a chance to show any nerves, but the real victory was Eddie Howe's decision to have a clear out and sharpen up players' minds as to what they need to do to get the points. The mindset was right last weekend. Eddie Howe got what he demanded from his team and that bodes really well for the rest of the season. 

Eddie enjoys the challenge of winning games and will have
got his message over to the AFCB players as they take on Stoke City today.

In comparison Dick Advocaat did not get a response from his players. They may have been on the pitch and were trying to take the game to the Cherries but they could not shackle Callum Wilson and Kaboul was the main one to suffer from that. I would not say that Sunderland's head's went down but they seemed incapable of being able to lift their game. There was no such feeling about the Cherries who seemed to have several gears to go between. We saw good game management and Eddie Howe seems to be getting his message through to his players.

While it is not great to have setbacks, AFCB are showing that they can pick themselves up and that when they have performed poorly they can up their game. More importantly, they trust Eddie Howe and that strength is what should see the team head towards safety in good time.

Today's game will see Mark Hughes in the home dugout and he will be on edge about the outcome of this match as another home game without a win will increase pressure on him. He has a full squad to pick from this week, apart from Ryan Shawcross and perhaps Mark Wilson if he fails a late fitness test. There will be no hiding if he does not get it right, so I feel that the Stoke players are the ones that have most to fear in this game, but it will need AFCB to be first to the ball in the first 15-20 minutes and to get Stoke to start doubting themselves. I read a stat that the Cherries had run the furthest so far of any team in the Premier League at 697km and if Stoke are fragile when it comes to lasting 90 minutes, as we saw against Leicester City, it will be Eddie Howe's management prowess that pundits will talking about again.

See you at the game today - safe trip everyone! UTCIAD!

Have Stoke City just been unlucky?

Stoke City are not perennial strugglers in the Premier league so it is a little surprising that they are sitting in the bottom three with three points from six games and no win under their belt yet. The Cherries have to try and keep it that way with their visit to the Britannia Stadium on Saturday. But have Mark Hughes' side been unlucky or just slightly off of their game?

Bringing in a batch of new players can sometimes work for clubs straight away but with others more time is needed and I believe this is what has happened at Stoke City. They have certainly spent over the summer on the likes of  Xherdan Shaqiri while Ibrahim Afellay was signed from Barcelona. With players like Glen Johnson and Shay Given joining the squad they also have Premier League experience, but the loan signings have perhaps taken away some of the solidity that the side had last year rather than simply increasing the competitiveness of the side. Bojan is certainly a player that looks on top of his game in their side and he will be the player that Eddie Howe is likely to pick out to be especially aware of as his movement is excellent as shown against Leicester City in their last game.

Eddie has some selection ideas to help AFCB to get a result at Stoke City.

Stoke have only conceded five goals so far, but were ahead in games against Leicester and Norwich only to come away with draws. They have made mistakes by letting teams back into games and that is a sign of a shortness of confidence. So hanging on to leads has not been their strong point, while they did well to come back from 2-0 down against Tottenham. 

Mark Hughes may feel his side has been well in games but they have not been dominating. They had just 11 attempts at goal against Leicester and four were on target. The balance is probably not quite right in their team yet and it is may be good fortune for AFCB fans that Eddie Howe may well have come across the right balance to his team from what we saw in the Cherries' last game.

Mark Hughes says he has some players to comeback so he may choose a slightly amended side for the visit of AFCB.

My predicted AFCB XI - unchanged
Boruc (GK), Francis (RD), Cook (CD), Distin (CD), Daniels (LD), Ritchie (RM), Gosling (CM), Surman (CM), Pugh (LM), Tomlin (FW), Wilson (FW) 


Stoke City Home Form
LDL

AFCB Away Form
LWL

Rival Lines: 4231 Stoke - Butland best keeper in Europe!

Rival Lines
Match Preview
Stoke City v AFCB
Blogger Interview: Four, Two,Three, One Stoke
Twitter: @4231Stoke

This week I had a talk with Four, Two, Three, One Stoke blog, ahead of the Cherries next match. While Stoke have not managed to win at home yet and Mark Hughes is still looking to get the best from his new summer signings, I was wondering if the mood of the Potters was still optimistic for the season. Sam was kind enough to give AFCB fans a detailed insight into what is going on at the Britannia.

CC: How much are you enjoying the Mark Hughes style of play after the Pulis years?

4321S: We get asked this question a lot, the style under Hughes has much more fluidity but lacks that enjoyable comfort that we used to get from knowing that we could hold onto a lead if needed. If we could blend the two you'd probably have the perfect manager. One of the most refreshing aspects under Hughes is that we can clearly see how the players can be improved to take the club further and really challenge for those European fringe places.

CC: Stoke City have made some amazing signings this summer, especially Xherdan Shaqiri, so have your expectations higher this season despite the slow start?

4321S: We've started off slowly but that's no real surprise. It's been a theme under Hughes in all of his seasons here and also at previous clubs. Expectations are currently rock bottom among many fans (we must have the most bi-polar fans in the league). A few wins and people will be putting forwards as candidates to break into the top six again though, at 4231 we like to think we're fairly level-headed and as long as we keep ourselves within that mid-table mini-league we're fairly happy.

CC: How much has the team missed Ryan Shawcross and Bojan Krkic?

4321S:  We've missed Shawcross massively, purely on the fact that the team has barely trained without him being the centrepiece of the defence for at least five years. He's an irreplaceable player for us, and far more valuable than anyone could -or would- pay for him. Bojan has also been a miss, as shown by his almost immediate impact against Leicester. While we do have a lot of adequate replacements in the attacking areas of the pitch it's very hard to replace his almost psychic ability to find space in a tight game.

CC: With Begovic moving on in the summer, have you been impressed with Jack Butland?

4321S: Good lord yes! There were concerns from a lot of fans after his previous performances that he'd struggle to command his box but he's been exceptional. It's hard to think of a goalkeeper in Europe, let alone England who's in better form than him right now.

CC: Is it important for Stoke City to sort out this new contract with Jon Walters or do you expect him to be off in January?

4321S: For me it's a very important thing but I really wouldn't be surprised if he were to move on in January or the summer. I love the bloke, but everything will depend on how much playing time he can get between now and January 1st. He started last season off in a similar position behind a few players but after scoring against Swansea he never looked back and saw off all comers to be one of our most important players. Him and Bojan are telepathic and just one of those strike partnerships that work (think Quinn & Phillips, Bergkamp & Henry, Crouch & Defoe).

CC: Why do you think haven't Stoke City had a win yet - too many mistakes or unlucky?

4321S: A mixture of both really. We were unfortunate not to win against Liverpool we were by far the better team and against Spurs and Norwich we could've run out winners with the right stroke of luck. West Brom was a catastrophe and Arsenal away is a given thumping for us, we never perform there. We've lost a solid spine in N'Zonzi and Shawcross that would've made up for a lot, but without them our midfield is practically useless defensively and we don't really have the players in the squad to fix it. It's certainly making people appreciate the defensive work that N'Zonzi did alongside Whelan.

CC: Has Stoke City got many young players that could play in the cup competitions this season and who are very near to getting in the first team?

4321S: Ollie Shenton is the major starlet in the youth teams. He's 17 and made his league debut as a sub against Manchester City last season, he's also played in a few cup fixtures last year. There are strong rumours that he might be heading out on loan to the Championship so it will be a good opportunity to gauge his ability. He was very impressive in preseason. Other than that we recruited heavily for our U21's with Moha from Barca B, Sergi Molina - the Real Madrid C team captain and two Blackpool youngsters (Telford & Waddington) both of who impressed in the first team there. The real area of talent though is our U18's group, there are a number of very good players there.

CC: What can we look forward to seeing on our visit to the Britannia stadium?

4321S: The incinerator? It's not the greatest area for a stadium, there's very little surrounding it. Sorry. There's a couple of nice pubs nearby and all are pretty friendly for away fans.

CC: What do you make of AFC Bournemouth and their rise up the leagues?

4321S: We've enjoyed it and to join the media love-in we have loved watching Eddie Howe's progress. The recent run of 'surprise' teams to get promoted is far more fun to watch than a stale boring repeat of the same two sets of teams each year when relegated teams get straight back up. I guess in a way we kind of started that trend. It's also good to see a club like Bournemouth fight back to success from the financial ruins left by Redknapp (once again). That said, I don't like Harry Arter, had a disagreement with him on twitter over Scott Parker and he doesn't seem the brightest.

CC: What is your score prediction for the match?

4321S: I've got to go with a home win. Feeling a 2-1, a close game. We'll probably start fast and take a two goal lead again, we'll concede around the 70 minute mark and it'll be a nervy finish.

CC: Superb Sam! I really enjoyed that - especially the Harry Arter comment! He is very close to his brother-in-law so I am not surprised if he defended him, but we love Harry at AFCB as he always gives 100%. Sadly he had a bit of a setback this week but we hope to see him play again soon as he will add something to the Premier League. As an England fan I am keen to know that you rate Jack Butland so highly. I just hope that he is kept extremely busy on Saturday against a team that sure likes to attack. I can understand that you you predict a home win - good to see Stoke fans in good cheer. I am hoping that Peter Crouch does get a game, perhaps from the subs bench and am just glad none of our players have ponytails that he can pull on! 

AFCB fans make sure you wrap up warm when visiting the Britannia - I've heard it can get chilly up there. You can always warm up on local knowledge though about Stoke City FC and you'll find that at Four, Two,Three, One Stoke