Can it be done on a rainy Wednesday night in Stoke?

[leckuno]

April

Stoke v Brentford

Its taken 2 seasons and 4 games but we have finally managed to beat Brentford and we made sure we did it convincingly

Arsenal v Stoke

We can't complain about this too much as we come up against a team in the Champions League spots and they were the better team on the day.

FA Cup Semi Final
Stoke v Birmingham

The joy of the FA Cup here as Birmingham ensure the take us all the way as we win on penalties to face Liverpool.

Stoke v Liverpool

A positive draw as we manage to keep a clean sheet against our opposition in the FA Cup final

Fulham v Stoke

A poor result here, but at least we didn't lose to the team bottom of the league

League

As long as we don't concede a crazy number of goals in our final 3 games then we should be able to finish in the top 10

May

We have our 3 final games in the league but we also have our first major final to play which will be our focus.​

 

[leckuno]

May

Blackburn v Stoke

Well this was an awful result. Blackburn ran us ragged after we went down to 10 men and we just couldn't get a foothold in the game.

Stoke v Man City

Its amazing how you go from losing to Blackburn to beating Man City but we dominate them and Campbell puts in a man of the match performance.

Stoke v Southampton

Another strong performance to see out the end of the season. The worrying thing is the two goals we conceded at the end as this has been a bit of a habit this season so we will need to improve the fitness going forward.

FA Cup Final
Stoke v Liverpool

This was tough to take as we had 1 hand on the trophy and as soon as Liverpool got the equalizer I knew it wasn't going to be our year. We can be proud of the fact we got here and we'll look to try and go one better next season.

League

We have a great season managing to finish in the top half. I'll be happy with that again next season

Budgets

A nice healthy budget for us next season and its going to be needed as we need a new RB, LB, RW, ST and hopefully and upgrade at CB as well so just a couple of players needed. We will also look to sell some players to help stretch out budget as far as we can.​

 

[leckuno]

Season 3

Transfer Out

Well we have managed to bring in over £90 million in this window with half of it coming from the sale of Joe Bursik to Leeds for £44.5m. It was a hard decision to make as he was young and a key player over the last 2 seasons but we needed to balance the books somehow and needed the money to improve the team elsewhere as well. Teh other big leavers were Adam Webster after a season along with Harry Souttar leaving after being a key player but I feel they had got as good as they were going to get so needed some fresh players in that can take the club to the next level.

Transfers In

We needed some big improvements for the season and we got off to a great start in the window by signing Max Aarons and Emanuel Vignato for down the right hand side. We also made an improvement in the GK department which was just as well with us selling Bursik in the end. We finally signed Ronaldo Camara and Pietro Pellegri after agreeing precontract deals with them in January. We also moved to improve our defence as well with Onguene, Tsimikas and Mepham who will all hopefully improve our defensive record. Finally we made a huge deal to sign Myron Boadu for £25m upfront followed by another £30m over the next 3 years. Its a lot of money but Campbell really struggled last season so we needed an improvement and hopefully thats him.

Expectations

Nothing to hard for us this season as I feel we should be looking for a top half finish this season rather than a mid-table one. Surely the FA Cup draw can't be as favourable for us this season either.

Tactic

I'll be sticking with the same formation as last season but we have a much stronger team and we can only go forward now.

Friendlies

Not the most challenging friendlies in the world apart from Valencia but we managed a good draw and ready for the season ahead.

August

Not the best way to start the season with City, Liverpool and then Chelsea but its also good to get three of them out the way early I guess​

 

[leckuno]

August

Stoke v Man City

A strong start to the season as we see Vignato get a debut goal and it also shows that we have made the right signings for the season ahead.

Liverpool v Stoke

We're brought back down to earth with this defeat but we saw Boadu grab a debut goal and hopefully it will be the first on many.

Caraboa Cup 2nd Round
Crewe v Stoke

We were able to rotate the squad a bit here which meant to we could give some of our youngsters a run out and we get the third debut goal in a row this time coming from 16 year old Tomas Williams as he becomes the youngest goalscorer in the competition history as well as in Stoke's history.

Stoke v Wolves

We struggled here but thankfully an early goal was enough to get us the three points.

Chelsea v Stoke

Its taken 5 games against Chelsea for us to finally keep a clean sheet against Chelsea and get a result so a draw is very positive here.

Stoke v Watford

We finish the month on a high as we put the Premier League new boys to the sword. Couldn't of got off to a better start if we had tried as Campbell was utilised down the right and he showed what he can do for us.

League

A good start to the season see's us perfectly positioned in 10th spot.

September

A nice short month thanks to internationals with the toughest game being against West Ham in my eyes.​

 

[leckuno]

September

Caraboa Cup 3rd round
Stoke v Nottingham Forest

A lot more difficult than it needed to be, especially since we had a strong team out but we managed to do enough in the first half to make it into the 4th round.

Newcastle v Stoke

We've always struggled against the teams at the bottom and this was no different as even though we got a really early goal they just shut shop and we really struggled to break them down after that.

West Ham v Stoke

West Ham were the surprise team last season finishing 7th and this year they are just as hard to play as both teams battle it out for a bore goalless draw.

Caraboa Cup 4th round
Stoke v Crystal Palace

We self imploded here after taking a very early lead. The one good thing from the match was that we managed to meet board expectations by getting this far so nobody is too disappointed with us going out here.

Burnley v Stoke

We took our eye off the ball here. We expected it to be a walk in the park but Burnley have improved since just missing out on relegation last season and to be fair the better team won here.



League

We move up to 8th spot but there already seems to be a bit of a gap opening between us and the teams above us and we need to try and stop it becoming any bigger than 4 points just now.

October

Apart from the Man Utd game then we should hopefully be able to pick up some points to keep on track for the season​

 

[leckuno]

October

Stoke v Leicester

We needed a reaction after the last 2 games and we got one here even if we were lucky to get off the mark from the penalty spot.

Manchester United v Stoke

Well it seems like there is still some distance between us and some of the leagues big hitters

Stoke v Everton

We scrape past Everton here which is quite remarkable as they completely dominated us here but we'll happily take the 3 points.

Stoke v Brighton

Brighton didn't cause us any trouble here and it was even better to see Boadu score his first goal in 7 games.

League

We hold onto 8th spot and we've closed the gap now on the couple of spots above us as well.

November/December

We have the world cup over the next couple of months so will roll it all into one but it gives us time to start looking at players to sign in January​

 

[leckuno]

November/December

Aston Villa v Stoke

A disappointing result here as I felt we were the better team but a reckless challenge in the box was enough for us to lose.

Southampton v Stoke

Our first game back after the World Cup(which Brazil won) and the majority of our players were fresh with not reaching later stages and we took full control of Southampton here from the off and just wouldn't give them a break.

Nottingham Forest v Stoke

We decided to rotate the squad as much as we could here and it nearly didn't work as Forest gave us a really tough game but we managed to hold on to make it to the 4th round.

League

We seem to be making 8th our spot just now but I really want to push on and try and get some sort of European football next season.

January

Thanks to the world cup the next few months are going to be busy so we'll just need to do what we can and rotate​

 

[leckuno]

January

Stoke v Blackburn

A nice comfortable win to give us an easy 3 points.

Tottenham v Stoke

What a game against Spurs as we completely dominated the game and they just couldn't get a shot away in the 2nd half which made our job a lot easier.

Stoke v Liverpool

What a game, we caught them on the counter attack for the goal but it was surprising that we managed to keep them out for the rest of the game.

FA Cup 4th Round
Stoke v Portsmouth

We rotated the squad a lot again here and it was close but we did enough and it was good to see other players get a run out here. Something seems to have just clicked after the World Cup but I'm not complaining.

Leeds v Stoke

We punish Leeds here which is nice as Burisk made the wrong choice in leaving us

Wolves v Stoke

Our winning run comes to an end as we just couldn't take our chances here and Wolves deserved the 3 points.

League

We've finally moved into the European spots and that would be huge for us next season regardless of what competition its for.

February

A lot of games here that we'll expect to take points from and they'll be needed for us to stay where we are.

Transfers

We had no incomings this month as there wasn't anybody that was going to improve the squad but we did agree a couple of pre-contract deals for the summer. There were two players leaving the club though.

First out the door was Kostas Tsimikas who joined Sheffield United for £13.25 million. He only joined us in the summer but had been poor when given a chance but we did make a £4.5m profit in just 6 months.

Finally the only other transfer was Nathan Collins leaving the club after his minimum release clause was activated by Liverpool. He moves for £38.5m and we wish him all the best and will keep an eye out for him being listed again in a couple of seasons if he doesn't get game time.​

 

[leckuno]

February

Stoke v Chelsea

On the 6th attempt we finally beat them and its made even sweeter with the fact we went down to 10 men with 8 minutes to go and then scored the winner with one of the final kicks of the ball

Watford v Stoke

I would really love to know whats happened between the World Cup and now as we just can't stop winning just now as we continue our run here against Watford.

Stoke v Crystal Palace

We were made to worry here after Palace got one back but the 3rd goal with 4 minutes to go made it a comfortable win.

Stoke v Newcastle

Boadu scores the fastest goal in the clubs history here putting us ahead after just 12 seconds.

Stoke v West Ham

4-0 up with 15 minutes to go and then a 7 minute double from West Ham had me scared that they could get back into the game but thankfully we were able to regroup and see out the game.

Leicester v Stoke

A terrible start for us but Boadu is showing why we signed him now and got us back into the game but after we got the equaliser the game fizzled out and not much happened.

League

We somehow sit on the cusp of a Champions League spot but in all honesty I'd be happy with a Europa Conference League spot.

March

We continue our journey in the FA Cup but we have 3 horrific games to see out the month as well​

 

[leckuno]

March

FA Cup 5th Round
Everton v Stoke

Of course we crash out of the FA Cup to the team sitting bottom of the league. We took the game for granted and it shows as we crash out of the FA Cup.

Stoke v Burnley

It was important to bounce back before the next league games and we did it in style with 3 goals from defence and midfield. Who needs a striker.

Stoke v Manchester United

We come up against the team top of the league and they make sure they show us that there is still a gap as they run us riot in the first half and we were lucky to go into the break only 2 behind thanks to our keeper.

Manchester City v Stoke

Another poor first half here and again its only thanks to our keeper that we kind of stayed in the game here.

Arsenal v Stoke

This was tough to take we really deserved at least a point here but we just couldn't take our chances as we fell to a penalty which was a poor decision from the ref considering we got the ban overturned.

League

We've dropped down to 6th here and the gap has opened up now with the Champions League spots but its looking very close for who's going to win the league.

April

A much easier month compared to this month and we will need to do well here or we may even fall out of the European spots if we don't get the points.

Youth Intake

Our superb youth facilities are paying off for a 2nd season as we get another great youth intake with 3 players who look like could make it into the first team one day.

All 3 play different positions as well which is a bonus and will certainly bolster our youth team going forward.

 

[leckuno]

April

Everton v Stoke

What an opening 4 minutes as Everton score twice at each end of the pitch. It was nice to beat them this time after they put us out the FA Cup. The win was also needed to get us out our slump after losing the last 3 games.

Stoke v Aston Villa

It was a lot more comfortable than it looked and we got the 3 points which is all that matters

Stoke v Southampton

We were lucky here. After the sending off we struggled and we were lucky that they couldn't hit the back of the net.

Stoke v Arsenal

After Arsenal got their 2nd in the 90th minute I thought they had beaten us again this season but a quick reply and we get a great point.

Brighton v Stoke

A poor result here, we need to be doing better against these teams.

Crystal Palace v Stoke

Our first win in 4 games and even that looked in doubt for most of the game but Vignato came on with 20 minutes to go and got the all important goal.

League

We're up to 5th spot and we're guaranteed a top 7 position now. We even still have a chance of a top 4 finish.

May

3 games to go. Lets get this season finished​

 

[leckuno]

May

Stoke v Leeds United

It was important to win this first game and I was worried after a quick fire double from Rodrigo just before half time but a strong 2nd half performance saw us going into the next game knowing a win would see us secure 5th.

Stoke v Tottenham

A big win for us over Spurs which see's us going into the Europa League group stages next season.

Blackburn v Stoke

With the it being the final day of the season we decided to rotate a bit and it paid off as we saw both of our Welsh centre backs score the goals.

League

We had a very strong 2nd half to the season which paid dividends for us as we managed to finish 5th. The challenge now will be trying to do the same next season with European football.

Budgets

A strong transfer budget, especially since we had £40m left over towards the end of last season and were able to spend that as well before the new budget was announced. The wage budget is still quite low but we'll do our best with it.​

 

[leckuno]

Season 4

Transfers Out

We have raised a lot of money this season which has in turn allowed us to spend a lot of money to improve the squad. The big surprise was that Sergio Gomez left as he has been a key player for us since we signed him from Dortmund for £2.2m. His contract was up at the end of next season and he was refusing to sign a new deal so it made sense to cash in on him while we could. The other big mover was Onguene as he joined Sassuolo for £30m, he had only been at the club for a season but again we make a big profit off of him. He didn't play as well as I was hoping last season so I was looking to improve my CB's again.

Transfers In

We've gone big this season to improve the squad to try and sneak into the top 4. Tymon has been a great LB for us but we needed an improvement so spent the remainder of last seasons budget on him. Sander Berge was the next big target to improve our midfield and I feel he's the missing piece of the puzzle. Ben White I'm hoping will complete our defence now as well. Finally Dele Alli comes in as we've decided to change formation and play a better style of football now that we have much improved squad. Pozo and Kluivert we signed on Pre-Contract deals in January and in all honesty they will play a bit part role and be back ups and then sold for a profit come the end of the season.

Expectations

We still have a wee bit of cash to spend but our dealings are over(We did sign somebody before this was taken but they'll appear in the next update). The board doesn't expect much from us again which is always good but I will be wanting to push for a top 4 position this season.

Tactic

Not a massive change for this season as we turn our DM into an AMC but I'm hoping this makes us more attacking for the season ahead.

Friendlies

We record 3 huge wins for the club but it is only preseason and they didn't play full strength teams but we'll take them.

August

I would rather of had an easier start but at least coming up against Chelsea in the first game we'll see where we are and then have 2 winnable games after that.​

 

[leckuno]

August

Transfers

I didn't want to do any more business if I didn't need to but the chance came to sign Karim Adeyemi who is the current Germany striker and will allow us to push Boadu to the left wing as well to replace Gomez. We signed him from Red Bull Salzburg for £28.5million

Chelsea v Stoke

What a start to the season against a team that up until last season found it really difficult to play against and we see two of our new signings pay off straight away.

Stoke v Southampton

We are brought straight back down to earth here. I thought we might of had a chance of pulling a goal back before half time but they parked the bus in the 2nd half and we couldn't break through.

Sheffield United v Stoke

A quick fire double on the edge of half time was enough and it was great to see Berge score a screamer from outside the box against his old club.

League

Only 3 games but Crystal Palace also managed to beat Chelsea so is it a sign of things to come for them this season?

Europa League

Not the easiest group in the world but I still expect us to get out of this and make it to the next round.

September

Our first game in Europe and its at home which is a bonus to get us started and we round the month off with a tough trip to Man City.

​

 

[leckuno]

September

Stoke v Norwich

A nice big win against one of the newly promoted sides.

Birmingham v Stoke

We followed it up with against one of the other promoted sides with another good win.

Europa League
Stoke v Lille

Our first game in Europe and it was a lot more difficult than it seems and we were lucky our keeper put in a man of the match performance.

Caraboa Cup 3rd Round
AFC Wimbledon v Stoke

We fully rotated the squad here to give players a rest and I was repaid by a very good performance and will give me something to think about going forward.

Man City v Stoke

A hard fought game but City were the better team here as we lose our 2nd game of the season.

League

Crystal Palace seem to be the surprise package so far after 7 games sitting 2nd

October

The European games will be my main focus here as we want to make sure we progress out the group​

 

[leckuno]

October

Europa League
Stoke v Real Sociedad

This was one of the games I was worried about but we came through it strong but I'm still worried about the return trip.

Stoke v West Ham

We got off to a flying start but got pegged back. Thankfully we came out strongest over the course of 90 minutes.

Stoke v Liverpool

Liverpool tore us to pieces here after we got the equalise and Collins came back to haunt us with the 3rd goal as well.

Europa League
Spartak Moscow v Stoke

We come out fighting here and we put in another great performance in Europe and are now on the cusp on qualifying after 3 games.

Leicester v Stoke

Hlozek was lucky not to be sold in the summer and he's showing us he can be a bit of an impact sub and will be continuing to come off the bench over the course of the summer.

League

We've dropped down to 8th spot but we've got a game in hand which could fire us straight back up the table.

November

I'm looking forward to the Crystal Palace match to see what we can do against them as they continue to sit in the top 4​

 

[leckuno]

December

Caraboa Cup 4th Round
Stoke v Norwich

A good win against Norwich see's us into the quarter finals now.

Leeds United v Stoke

Joe Bursik has certainly made the wrong decision in leaving us as he's now conceded 10 goals in the last 3 games against us.

Europa League
Stoke v Spartak Moscow

We made some rotations here due to the result last month but the stand out player was starting XI regular Dele Alli as he was consistent with his penalties

Stoke v Newcastle United

A game of two halves here as we were awful in the first and then a different team in the 2nd as Alli scored another brace from penalties again.

Crystal Palace v Stoke

Of course we lose to Palace as we never really got into the game here right until the end when it was too late.

Europa League
Lille v Stoke

We secure top spot with a game to go so fingers crossed it means we get a favourable draw for the next round

League

We move back up to 6th spot with a game in hand so we'll see how it goes.

December

Its getting busy as rotation is going to be key and this will be when we find out if we have enough depth at the club.

​

 

[leckuno]

December

Wolves v Stoke

A great win for us over the team sitting just below us at the moment

Stoke v Aston Villa

It looked like we were on course for a draw but we brought Hlozek on with 20 minutes to go and he made the difference.

Arsenal v Stoke

We struggled here as we just couldn't break the defence down at all.

Europa League
Real Sociedad v Stoke

We rotated some of the squad here and Sociedad had already qualified as well and we ran out well deserved winners here.

Stoke v Manchester United

A great result here as we got off to a quick start getting 2 up within 10 minutes and with that we then parked the bus and thankfully United could only pull one back

Caraboa Cup Quarter Final
Stoke v West Ham

Again we rotated the squad here as I wasn't bothered if we got through or not and we managed to get past West Ham and now have an additional 2 games next month

Brighton v Stoke

Josh Tymon pops up with his 2nd goal in 2 games to rescue us a point we can't afford to lose.

Stoke v Burnley

Burnley were never in with a chance here as Adeyemi returns from injury and scores an excellent brace.

League

6th spot at the half way point as we are above the board expectations and looking for European football again next season.

January

Another busy month as we have the Caraboa cup semi final against Spurs but we've got 9 games to get through so its not going to be easy.​

 

[leckuno]

January

Stoke v Chelsea

After so long of losing we just can't stop winning against Chelsea as we smash them to show them that we've replaced them in the big 6.

FA Cup 3rd Round
Rotherham v Stoke

We rotated the squad as much as we could and it worked as we destroyed Rotherham to march onto the 4th round.

Caraboa Cup Semi Final
Stoke v Tottenham

Scoring goals isn't a problem now as we've scored 15 goals in the last 3 games and that should be us into the final after this result

Southampton v Stoke

Getting off to a quick start really helps as Brooks is starting to kick on now he's been given a run in the first team.

Stoke v Sheffield United

A much tougher match at the hands of Sheffield United as we rely on midfield for both of the goals

Norwich v Stoke

I would of rather we got the 2nd goal a bit sooner but it was nice to win comfortably in the end

Stoke v Birmingham

We're back to scoring for fun here and Hlozek is starting to get noticed so its going to be tough to hold onto him for much longer.

FA Cup 4th Round
Stoke v Charlton

We were able to rotate here again to give players a rest and we get through as the FA Cup is always kind to us in the early stages.

Caraboa Cup Semi Final
Tottenham v Stoke

We nearly blew it here as we put out the same team that beat Charlton but a final minute goal was enough to stop the game going to extra time.

League

We're up to 3rd now and only 7 points off of top. Champions League football is the dream.

February

Finally a much shorter month to give our players a chance to rest but it does see us face Spurs twice in a row in the league.

Transfers

Leaving the club was only 1 player as Sean Longstaff moved to Brentford for £20.5million

We did sign two young players for £600,000 and that was all of our business

The first player was

Theo Mocanu is a very small striker and is sent straight out on loan.

Next was Oscar Lora who will be in the first team to replace Longstaff

 

[leckuno]

February

Tottenham v Stoke

The first of our double header this month and we get revenge for the last game as we run out well deserved winners and it was great to see Ali scoring against his old club.

Stoke v Tottenham

We win the 2nd game as well and of course its Ali who gets on the score sheet again against his former club.

Stoke v Man City

Our vast amount of games over the last couple of months has caught up with us as we just couldn't keep up with City late in the game.

West Ham v Stoke

We bounce back strongly though with a commanding win here as we score from two set pieces as well.

Stoke v Leicester

A nervy end to the month as we had to play the last 25 minutes with only a goal advantage and they looked the more likely to score as well.

League

It looks like we have made 3rd our own as we've opened a gap over Man Utd and we're even just 4 points off top.

March

We've got out 2nd Cup final along with the FA Cup and Europa League which will all be our focus rather than the league.​