Thump down to earth leaves Stoke City with transfer questions to answer in rush to deadline day
Stoke City were well beaten at Watford as two quickfire goals at the start of the second half taking the game away from their control. Here are the talking points from Vicarage Road
No one had even been really getting carried away, Stoke had just had a decent opening day win against a good side on the back of a strong finish to last season. They even had an encouraging first half against Watford.
But the start of the second-half was a wallop. If Stoke are not at the top of their game, if they’re not organised and disciplined, then they can get eaten up, spat out and wiped on the shoe of a Championship side in goal-hungry mood.
The first was a poor one to concede and there was no urgent call to arms after that to make sure the game didn’t slip away. Instead for a few minutes they looked punch drunk. It was three and could have been a lot more. Watford had 17 shots after the break and they were good chances too, not pot shots from distance.
There will be an inquest into what went wrong and Stoke cannot afford many afternoons – or even 20-minute spells – like this over the course of a season.
Andrew Moran and Bosun Lawal have been added to midfield this week. There might be one going – and perhaps there would be space for another arrival if another one left – but it is looking like it has a decent balance at the moment.
Jordan Thompson, Wouter Burger and Josh Laurent started at Watford while Moran, Lewis Baker, Daniel Johnson and Sol Sidibe were on the bench. Lawal remains in the treatment room for now but can play as a 6 or an 8, and Moran can slot in as an 8 or further forward.
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