Hughes right to worry with Stoke stuck in a horrible rut

SOME statistics mean nothing but others can highlight underlying problems. One I read about Stoke this week falls firmly into the latter category. In the past 11 Premier League games, Stoke have conceded four goals on six separate occasions, the most recent coming at Crystal Palace last Sunday. In the previous 87 league games, that had happened to them only once. People will attempt to pinpoint Stoke’s current failings on the fact manager Mark Hughes is trying to implement a new brand of football but that isn’t true. They have been playing this way under him for the last two seasons and it took them to club record points hauls. Stoke are in a horrible rut. You can lose games when you are the dominant side, you can put some losses down to bad fortune but what will be worrying Hughes is that his team are having fewer shots, creating fewer chances and having less possession in matches. There is no clearer sign of a team being out of form than that. They are, of course, missing Jack Butland in goal but they need something to stop the rot setting in further, following their elimination from the EFL Cup against Hull. They need to beat West Brom today.