da prosport bet： If you’re a Stoke City supporter, the chances are you’ve been less than impressed with your side’s start to the new Premier League campaign.
da bet7： Their most recent defeat, a 4-1 loss to Crystal Palace, has really highlighted just how much trouble the Potters could be in if they don’t start to pick things up as soon as possible. They’re not scoring goals, they’re conceding too many and their summer signings just aren’t making the desired impact.
Despite the club reiterating their manager isn’t destined for the sack, he’s got a real job on his hand to turn around the form that sees his side sit bottom of the division with just one point from five games.
Largely, this side is the same one that finished ninth last season so what exactly is going wrong at Stoke City?
So with that in mind, here are three reasons why Stoke City are destined for the drop…
Team spirit is non-existant
If there is something that is clear after the defeat to Palace, it’s that morale in the Stoke City dressing room leaves a lot to be desired. Captain Ryan Shawcross spoke to the press after the game and said he can’t understand why things are so bad at the Britannia this time around and that is a serious worry.
Sometimes it’s easy why things aren’t going right on the pitch but for the Potters, many can’t put their finger on it. When there is no reason why things are going so badly, the dressing room takes a big hit and morale sinks lower and lower. Stoke City need to sort things out big time.
Summer signings failing to make an impact
In all fairness, Stoke City haven’t been the biggest spenders in this summers’ transfer window. Mark Hughes added just six players to his squad in the transfer window, with three (Wilfried Bony, Bruno Martins Indi and Lee Grant) being loan additions. That means the only permanent faces we’ll see at the Britannia Stadium are Joe Allen, youngster Ryan Sweeney and winger Ramadan Sobhi.
It all seems a little light and if the summer signings aren’t having an impact, it’s going to be a big problem for the Potters going forward.
Criticism is coming in from all angles
Whether it’s everyone’s favourite bad-boy Joey Barton or former defender Marc Wilson, there are plenty of people having a pop at the Potters. Barton has branded Mark Hughes as a terrible manager whilst former full-back Wilson has claimed that the club don’t practice defending.
Whether either claim is true is difficult to distinguish but it seems unlikely that someone like Marc Wilson would lie. He was a real stalwart for the club and played over 150 times in a spell of over six years and he can obviously see why frustrations are so high.
If there are former players having a go, the chances are something isn’t quite right.