Over the years, Stoke City had a reputation for being a team who was considered boring and consistently “parked the bus” to play counterattacking soccer. This style of play was introduced by Tony Pulis, who used that to get Stoke from the Championship to the Premier League in 2008 and make them into a Premier League mainstay to this day.
Now, Mark Hughes, in his third season as manager, has slowly moved Stoke away from that pragmatic style into what is being referred to “Sexy sexy Stoke” and “Stokelona” because of the players he has brought in and a more direct, entertaining style of play. Considering where Stoke is in the standings, is that really the best strategy or should the consider going back to being boring?
First of all, there’s no doubt this team has changed. In the Pulis days, Peter Crouch was the focal point of the attack. It made sense because the gameplan consisted of “parking the bus” and cross the ball into the tall Crouch to head the ball into the goal. This season, because the team is keeping the ball on the ground more often and are less reliant on crosses and set pieces, Crouch just now made his first Premier League appearance of the season this past Saturday after six games.
To continue reading this article by Phillip Bupp at Bloguin, click here.
