Saturday 15th March 2014
15:00
Britannia Stadium
Stoke City vs West Ham United
Analysis
Does anyone remember how this works? It feels like such a long time since we took on Everton, that I can hardly remember who we are or what we do.
Before the long break, we had been in good form and have conceded just two goals in our last six games, and have only lost the one game - a one nil defeat against the Toffees last time out.
But what of Stoke?
It's a bit of a transition season for the Potters, with lovable Welshman Tony Pulis making way for the ever popular Welshman, Mark Hughes.
Key Player
Stoke aren't the sort of side that have an array of talents that could hurt the opposition - their creative hub continues to be Glenn Whelan in the middle of the park.
But they do have one unpredictable talent in their ranks, in the form of Austrian winger Marko Arnautovic. The man who was (apparently) close to joining West Ham last summer, has been an inconsistent box of tricks out on the left for Stoke, offering a one track mind in attack.
In his 21 league appearances this season, Arnautovic has attempted 29 shots on goal, 50 take ons, created 29 chances, and, equally impressively, has attempted 58 tackles.
The Austrian is given license to roam from the wing, whilst also remaining defensively responsible. The image below shows his heat map from Stoke's last game out against Norwich City. As you see, Arnautovic comes inside often, popping up in the middle of the park, and tracking back frequently.
http://epl.squawka.com/norwich-city-vs-stoke-city/
The Austrian is given license to roam from the wing, whilst also remaining defensively responsible. The image below shows his heat map from Stoke's last game out against Norwich City. As you see, Arnautovic comes inside often, popping up in the middle of the park, and tracking back frequently.
And this freedom is reflected in the locations where Arnautovic created chances, as shown below. He's created almost equal proportions of chances from both the left and right flanks, whilst also creating a significant chunk from the centre of the pitch.
Arnautovic seems to represent the way Mark Hughes wants to get his side playing - a side to press high up the pitch and be comfortable on the ball and is the man West Ham need to be most keep an eye on.
How do you stop them?
The key to stopping Stoke these days seems to be to press high up the field.
As Mark Hughes has tried to change their style of play into a more possession based game, his defenders have needed to get used to time on the ball. Under Pulis, defenders like Ryan Shawcross and Geoff Cameron were often encouraged to get the ball forward quickly, but Hughes seems to want his side to play out from the back.
This had led to a large number of defensive errors from the Stoke players. Only 4 teams have made more defensive errors leading to shots on goal this season than Stoke, and no outfield player has made more mistakes than skipper Shawcross (5).
A good example of how to disrupt Stoke's new approach can be seen in the two different performances from Sunderland this season. Back in November, Stoke beat Sunderland 2-0. In this game, the entire Sunderland side attempted just 12 tackles, shown in the image below.
http://epl.squawka.com/stoke-city-vs-sunderland/
How do you stop them?
The key to stopping Stoke these days seems to be to press high up the field.
As Mark Hughes has tried to change their style of play into a more possession based game, his defenders have needed to get used to time on the ball. Under Pulis, defenders like Ryan Shawcross and Geoff Cameron were often encouraged to get the ball forward quickly, but Hughes seems to want his side to play out from the back.
This had led to a large number of defensive errors from the Stoke players. Only 4 teams have made more defensive errors leading to shots on goal this season than Stoke, and no outfield player has made more mistakes than skipper Shawcross (5).
A good example of how to disrupt Stoke's new approach can be seen in the two different performances from Sunderland this season. Back in November, Stoke beat Sunderland 2-0. In this game, the entire Sunderland side attempted just 12 tackles, shown in the image below.
Compare this to the reverse fixture in January, where Sunderland claimed a one nil win. During that game the Black Cats put in 41 tackles. Although just 20 were successful, the pressing and hassling affected Stoke's game.
So the key to beating Stoke these days is to stop them trying to play out of defence. The players they have at the back aren't particularly used to this new style of play, and they certainly have mistakes in them when pressured.
Weakest Link
The weakest links in the side are really the defenders, as mentioned above. In my opinion, the weakest link is probably fullback Geoff Cameron.
The American rightback has been okay this season, but doesn't really suit the new style of play. Cameron has just a 71% pass completion this season, one of the worst rates of all Stoke players, has registered just a 44% tackle success rate, has committed 28 fouls, and has been dribbled around by an attacker on 39 separate occasions.
Against Norwich, the fullback attempted 7 tackles, but was successful with just two of them. And as you can see below, all of of those attempted tackles were in dangerous areas. By failing to stop the Norwich winger (Nathan Redmond), Cameron allowed the opposition to progress into dangerous areas with frequency.
So the keys to beating Stoke, are to keep Marko Arnautovic quiet, hassle and harry their defence - particularly Ryan Shawcross and Asmir Begovic, and try and get Matt Jarvis onto the ball to take on Geoff Cameron as often as possible.
Away to Stoke is never easy, but we've been in good form, so we should definitely be targeting a positive result in the Potteries.
Head to Head
36% Head to Head Win % 40%
32 Won 36
21 Drawn 21
36 Lost 32
103 Goals Scored 128
128 Goals Conceded 103
Recent Form
W D D L W D Last 6 D W W W W L
7 Goals Scored 9
6 Goals Conceded 2
D W L W D W Home/Away Form L L W D W L
10 Goals Scored 4
9 Goals Conceded 12
Form Player (excl. GK)
(Last 6 League)
Glenn Whelan - James Tomkins
6 Appearances 6
503 Minutes Played 540
68 Sum Squawka Performance Score 186
11 Average Squawka Performance Rating 31
221 Passes Attempted 81
170 Completed 65
77% Success Rate 80%
5 Chances Created 0
0 Assists 0
3 Attempts on Goal 3
2 On Target 1
0 Goals 0
0 Take Ons Attempted 0
0 Successful Take Ons 0
0% Success Rate 50%
25 Tackles Made 13
11 Successful Tackles 7
44% Success Rate 54%
7 Interceptions 11
17 Clearances 59
4 Blocks 5
5 Defensive Actions Per Game 13
14 Aerial Duels 22
7 Won 15
50% Success Rate 68%
1 Defensive Errors 0
0 Leading to a Goal 0
Last Meeting
31 August 2013
0-1 Jermaine Pennant 82'
4-2-3-1 Starting Formation 4-2-3-1
Jussi Jääskeläinen - Asmir Begovic
Guy Demel - Geoff Cameron
James Collins - Ryan Shawcross
Winston Reid - Robert Huth
Joey O'Brien - Erik Pieters
(84') Mark Noble - Marc Wilson
(88') Mohamed Diamé - Steven N'Zonzi
(64') Stewart Downing - Jonathan Walters
Kevin Nolan - Charlie Adam (76')
Matt Jarvis - Matthew Etherington (76')
Modibo Maïga - Kenwyne Jones
Subs
Adrián - Thomas Sorenson
James Tomkins - Marc Muniesa
Rǎzvan Raţ - Glenn Whelan (76')
(84') Jack Collison - Jermaine Pennant (76')
Matthew Taylor - Oussama Assaidi
(64') Ravel Morrison - Peter Crouch
(88') Elliot Lee - Cameron Jerome
Absentees
Injured/Doubtful
Stoke City: Robert Huth, Oussama Assaidi
West Ham United: Joey O'Brien, Ricardo Vâz Te, Marco Borriello
Suspensions
Stoke City: Jonathan Walters
West Ham United: n/a
Opposition Last Time Out (League)
vs Norwich City
Goals Scored: 1
Goals Conceded: 1
Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1
Asmir Begovic
Geoff Cameron Ryan Shawcross Marc Wilson Erik Pieters
Steven N'Zonzi Glenn Whelan
Peter Odemwingie (63') Jonathan Walters (78') Marko Arnautovic (74')
Peter Crouch
subs:
Thomas Sorenson
Marc Muniesa
Any Wilkinson
Wilson Palacios
Stephen Ireland (80')
Matthew Etherington (74')
John Guidetti (63') (80')
Best Player: Steven N'Zonzi
Squawka Rating: 29
Worst Player: Geoff Cameron
Squawka Rating: -41
Top 5's (Min 5 Apps)
Goals Scored
Peter Crouch 6 - 7 Kevin Nolan
Charlie Adam 6 - 6 Carlton Cole
Jonathan Walters 4 - 3 Joe Cole
Oussama Assaidi 3 - 3 Ravel Morrison*
Stephen Ireland 2 - 3 Mohamed Diamé
Assists
Marko Arnautovic 4 - 5 Kevin Nolan
Peter Crouch 4 - 3 Andy Carroll
Charlie Adam 3 - 3 Matt Jarvis
Jonathan Walters 2 - 2 Mohamed Diamé
Stephen Ireland 1 - 2 Stewart Downing
Passing Accuracy
Oussama Assaidi 89% - 83% Mark Noble
Wilson Palacios 86% - 82% Stewart Downing
Steven N'Zonzi 86% - 81% Jack Collison
Glenn Whelan 85% - 80% Joe Cole
Matthew Etherington 83% - 79% Joey O'Brien
Chances Created per game
Marko Arnautovic 1.4 - 1.8 Stewart Downing
Charlie Adam 1.2 - 1.6 Mark Noble
Matthew Etherington 1.1 - 1.1 Matt Jarvis
Oussama Assaidi 1.1 - 1 Kevin Nolan
Peter Crouch 0.9 - 1 Andy Carroll
Successful Dribbles per game
Peter Odemwingie 2.2 - 1.8 Mohamed Diamé
Geoff Cameron 1.3 - 1.2 Mark Noble
Marko Arnautovic 1.1 - 0.8 Stewart Downing
Oussama Assaidi 1 - 0.8 Guy Demel
Marc Muniesa 1 - 0.6 Matt Jarvis
Tackles per game
Erik Pieters 3.6 - 2.8 Mark Noble
Geoff Cameron 3 - 2.4 Mohamed Diamé
Marc Wilson 2.3 - 2.1 James Collins
Peter Odemwingie 2.2 - 1.9 Matthew Taylor
Glenn Whelan 2.2 - 1.8 Kevin Nolan
Aerial Duels Won per game
Peter Crouch 8 - 6 Andy Carroll
Ryan Shawcross 4.1 - 4 James Tomkins
Robert Huth 3.3 - 3.5 James Collins
Jonathan Walters 3.3 - 2.7 Carlton Cole
Erik Pieters 2.3 - 2.4 Winston Reid
Manager
Mark Hughes - Sam Allardyce
28.5% Current Club Win % 41.2%
10 Won 52
11 Drawn 32
14 Lost 42
38.0% Managerial Career Win % 39.9%
157 Won 346
110 Drawn 231
146 Lost 289
6 Sides Managed 7
0 League Titles 2
0 Cup Wins 0
Wales First Managerial Role Preston North End
03/08/1999 Start Date 30/09/1992
14y 224d Experience 21y 165d
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