Hello again! Its time for the third post in my ‘Stoke City – A New club culture’ FM24 series. If you missed the last post then please catch up here or if you’re new to this, here is a link to the intro.
We left off at the end of August, the transfer window had just shut and the first 7 league games of the season had been played. In my quest for Stoke City’s first top half finish since relegation from the Premier League in 2018 we found ourselves 6th after a promising start. By the turn of the year, that start had got even better…
Despite all the changes in the summer the side hadn’t taken long to click and were comfortably exceeding expectations. It shows that having the right personalities in the building can make a big difference, a definite nod of approval to the culture I’m in the process of instilling at the club.
We continued our League Cup run but only briefly, a big defeat away at League One side Derby County ending it. The only real negative on a great start to my time at Stoke, I played a strong side but we were way off it, disappointing when a place in the Quarter Finals was at stake.
I want to talk more about the squad now, having been in charge for half a season I’d got a better view of who was in my plans moving forward and where changes needed to be made, some change had already been made which I’ll come onto shortly.
Bailey Peacock-Farrell won the battle to be my number one, Liam Roberts started the season in goal and did well, 7 starts and 3 clean sheets, with 7 goals conceded. In the interest of fairness, I then decided to give Bailey the same amount of games and he kept 5 clean sheets, only conceding 1. He’s started every league game since. His stats are now 22 games played, 15 conceded and 11 clean sheets. Long term I still need someone better than him but his current form has given me more time to find the right man between the sticks for years to come.
We have the best defensive record in the division, Lascelles has been a rock and been a real threat from set pieces as I expected, contributing 3 goals. Where I feel I need to do some forward planning is at left back. Josh Wilson-Esbrand has done really well but is only on loan from Man City, back up is Enda Stevens who is 34 and declining, he will leave at the end of the season when his contract expires.
I highlighted in the last post that I was concerned by how many goals we’d get from midfield and my concerns materialised. Using a CM attack I want that role to be filled by someone who will hit double figures each season. Gustavo Sangaré made a slow start so I started looking at options quite early on. I got a trialist in who I thought would have no interest in joining us as its a player who is known around the world. Having had no club for a few months and being desperate to get back in, by mid December I was able to sign them as their wage demands had significantly dropped.
Donny Van de Beek signs a 4 year deal on just £14,500 per week. His nightmare at Old Trafford is over but can we get his career back on track? The scout report convinced me we can, there was nothing negative about his personality, he just needs an arm around the shoulder and some game time.
Josh Laurent has played well as my box to box midfielder but damaged his Achilles tendon ending his season. His contract is up at the end of June and pre injury he refused to put pen to paper on a new one, sadly it looks like he’s played his last game for the club and we’ll lose him on a free in the summer. Contract demands from some of the players I inherited have been quite staggering, I won’t keep anyone unless it is the right deal for the club. I’m comfortable we have enough in central midfield for the remainder of the campaign following the acquisition of Donny but we’ll have to revisit this in the summer, Laurent may have even changed his mind by then.
On the wing is an area where we’ve really excelled, all of my options chipping in with goals and assists. The only problem has been that on a few occasions, multiple wingers have had little niggles meaning we’ve been low on numbers. Matías Lacava has just signed on a free adding to that quality and providing more competition. I mentioned I had a South American joining us in the last post, this was a deal I arranged in the summer. He looks a real bargain and a player that will excite the crowd, I love that he has the ‘tries tricks’ trait. I want my players to be brave on the ball, it certainly suggests he will. As I’d deregistered Laurent following his injury and replaced him with van de Beek, I still had one empty slot in the squad which Lacava fills so we now have 25 players which brings the squad to the size I like to work with.
Finally up top Ryan Mmaee has been in a league of his own, 23 goals in 23 starts in all competitions. I envisaged Tyrese Campbell being my number 9 when I first came in but he’s had to settle for a bit part although has still contributed 7 goals.
The key areas I need to focus on then are finding my long term number one and 2 new options for left back, ready for next season. Unfortunately I have no prospects in either of these positions but in other areas I do have players that I’m committed on promoting to the first team when a position becomes available.
Up top Emre Tezgel and Nathan Lowe are having really good loan spells further down the pyramid. I will ensure that once they are ready, they will get a shot in the first team. At the back Freddie Anderson is on loan at Harrogate and also developing nicely. I feel that he should be ready to compete in the first team in around 18 months.
In terms of spending money, the board have rewarded our excellent start by making £10m available to spend.
Slightly wreckless considering the debt we have although its all money owed to the chairman which illustrates how the money is there, we just can’t spend what the owners have due to FFP.
During January I looked at a few goalkeepers and left backs but there were non that I felt were value for money and I didn’t want to spend money for the sake of spending. The window shut with no new signings coming in or any first team players leaving. I did recall young striker Nathan Lowe from his loan at National League side Southend where he had been excellent in the first half of the season but I sent him straight back out again, this time to League One Reading, a sign of just how well he was developing.
After the window had shut I did make one signing, Josh Wilson-Esbrand has played really well since joining on loan from Man City in the summer. He will join permanently in the summer for £2.4m, at 22 he’s already a staple of my first 11 and is only going to get better.
Into the second half of the season and despite our 5 point lead, I felt it was only a matter of time before Leeds or Wolves caught us. Their squads were just to strong for ours. Leeds’ in particular, who had had Eric Dier at centre back, Alex Scott on loan from Bournemouth in midfield and Gabriel Vidović on loan from Bayern playing in the 10 role, just to name a few.
By the end of January Leeds were past us but Wolves never really came close to getting near us. We battled it out with Leeds for the title but could never quite catch them back up, we finished in 2nd place just 2 points behind them. I’d been aiming for a top half finish so it was still a really good season, we’d overachieved massively having rebuilt the squad in the summer without spending a penny.
I’m now going to take a quick look at what we did well this season and where we can improve. When I started this save I outlined how I believed a Stoke side should play:
- Move the ball from back to front quickly
- Play at a high tempo
- Make the most of set pieces
- Be aggressive and in the face of the opposition, pressing from the front
Its all about being brave in and out of possession, taking the game to the opposition. If you look at the below graphic it shows that we attempt a much higher number of dribbles per game than other sides in our division which is exactly where I want us to be. Our passing could be better but I’m not wanting to build a team that dominates possession, we want to move the ball forward quickly, not from side to side.
Pressing is a huge part of what we do and as you can see below, we do it a lot better than any other side in the division. Maintaining this will be a huge challenge in the Premier League, continuing to play how we do currently may leave us open to being cut apart by the elite. I’m going to have to have a think about how we stick to our principles without playing into the hands of the opposition.
And below you can some general performance stats, one thing we need to work on is our shot accuracy, we have a lot of shots but we need more to be on target.
In terms of individual performance, Ryan Mmaee won the golden boot. His strike rate slowed down in the second half of the season but he still got an exceptional 25 league goals, out scoring the likes of Matheus Cunha and Anthony Martial.
Left back Josh Wilson-Esbrand won more tackles than anyone else in the division, despite not playing as many games as other players.
Bailey Peacock-Farrell kept the most clean sheets in the division, again despite not playing as many games as other players in the division. He has had a good season but I still believe I need a new number 1 next season. Whilst Bailey deserves credit, I do think a lot of this is to do with how we defend from the front and the outfield players have definitely played their part.
In terms of a player of the season, for me it was between MMaee and Wilson-Esbrand, you could make an argument for either but Mmaee probably edges it as goals win games.
Thanks for taking the time to read another one of my posts. You may be wondering why I haven’t mentioned the FA Cup? Well we were drawn away at Man City in the third round, so I’ll let you make your own mind up about what happened there. Next time you’ll find out how we take to life in the Premier League, will we sink or will we swim?
Cheers,
The Last Throw.
The FM Boot Room 
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