Five Things learnt from Stoke/Manchester City
Stoke stun league-leaders with brilliant display
Stoke City hosted Manchester City in the Premier League’s early kick-off today, and much to the surprise, they picked up all three points thanks to a Marko Arnautovic brace.
The Austrian international stunned City by netting twice in the first-half, and Manuel Pellegrini‘s men failed to get back into the game in what were blustery conditions at the Britannia Stadium.
So with Stoke picking up an impressive three points, what were the Five Things SillySeason learnt from their victory?
Here are our five highlights from the game.
5) No Kompany, No Party
We all know City are a better team when Vincent Kompany is fit, but today proved it even more so.
City’s back-line were all over the place, with Martin Demichelis and Nicolas Otamendi both enduring nightmare games with Xherdan Shaqiri and Bojan troubling them all game.
If City want to win the title this season, they have to have the Belgian fit, otherwise they can kiss their chances goodbye.
This stat proves it. Eight games with Kompany, seven clean-sheets. Seven games without Kompany, no clean-sheets.
Keep him fit and injury-free and they should be fine.
4) Raheem Sterling Struggling?
Apart from his hat-trick against AFC Bournemouth, what has Raheem Sterling really added to Manchester City?
They spent £50million on him over the summer and he really hasn’t proved that he’s worth even half of that.
So many times he got the ball down the wing, especially in the second-half, but he just failed to do anything with it.
His pace is frightening, but his final ball is truly shocking.
3) Stoke City Are On The Up
When Stoke City sacked Tony Pulis, everyone thought they’d go into a decline. How wrong they were.
Pulis did a great job getting Stoke in the Premier League and cementing them as a top-flight club, but Mark Hughes has taken them to the next level.
Ambitious signings, exciting signings and finally exciting football at the Britannia Stadium.
No more are they a Rory Delap long-throw-in team, they can actually play attractive and flowing football.
They tore City apart in the first-half and they actually look like an exciting club.
How far can they go? Who knows, but they’ve certainly improved in recent years.
2) England’s Number-One?
The Stoke fans were chanting it all game, and maybe they have a point. Maybe Jack Butland has overtaken Joe Hart?
Another solid display from the goalkeeper and another clean-sheet for him, whilst his counterpart conceded two and only really picked the ball out of his net.
Butland has been one of the stand-out performers this season and maybe, just maybe he is set to replace Hart as England’s number-one.
1) Xherdan Shaqiri and Bojan Can Do It In Stoke
Can Lionel Messi do it on a cold day in Stoke? We’re still not sure, but two players who can are Xherdan Shaqiri and Bojan.
The eccentric duo tore Manchester City apart, especially in the first-half, and it was two assists from the Swiss that set up Marko Arnautovic for his two goals.
The duo embarrassed Nicolas Otamendi and Martin Demichelis and put on a real clinic for the Britannia faithful.
More performances like this from these two, and who knows how high Stoke can finish.
Europa League maybe?
So there are our Five Things learnt from Stoke’s win over Manchester City.
What did you take from the game?
Written by Alex Batt – @AlexBatt