The Barclays Premier League opener is the clash between Liverpool and Stoke City, who finished 7th and 13th respectively last season. Stoke City got the better of Liverpool last season with a 3-1 victory at the Britannia Stadium and also managed to steal a point in a 0-0 draw at Anfield.
It has been the summer of change at Stoke City. Out with the old and in with the new. Tony Pulis departed the club by ‘mutual consent’ after seven years in the job which saw the club transform from a mid-table Championship outfit to a hard-to-beat established Premiership club. Opinions are divided in the Stoke camp on the departure of Pulis, who towards the end of his tenure was the victim of his own success, with many Stoke fans losing patience with his direct approach. The fabled ’12th man’ had turned on its own and it was time for change.
Mark Hughes was not the first, second or third choice for many fans to replace Tony Pulis. The fact that his former club QPR had just been relegated in the same season that he’d been sacked did not help. Remember van-gate?
Vital Quotes:
Despite Hughes’ appointment being met with such disappointment, slowly but surely, Leslie(as he is now formally known to Stoke fans far and wide) is growing on the fans. The appointment of Erik Pieters, a real life left back hasn’t done any harm either. Add that to the fact that Hughes’ connections with Barcelona have helped us to land Spain under-21 youngster Marc Muniesa, and you can see why Leslie’s popularity is rising by the day. Not to mention the flock of youngsters we’ve been adding to the youth squad. You can really see the ‘change of direction’ taking place that Peter Coates had been talking about.
Onto Liverpool then, who have also embarked on a summer of change. So far this window they have replaced the retired Jamie Carragher with ageing journeyman Kolo Toure, and also brought in a variety of young faces such as Luis Alberto and Iago Aspas, from LA LIGA. The bigger talking points for Liverpool this summer are the transfers that have not happened.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s move to Borussia Dortmund underlines the declining appeal of a move to Liverpool Football Club in the last few years. Their pulling power has vanished. Then there’s the Luis Suarez transfer saga which is set to continue long after the transfer window closes on August 31st. The club needs a contingency plan in preparation for his departure as I have serious doubts of whether a frontline lead by Daniel Sturridge can seriously challenge for a top-four finish.
Both clubs have failed to land transfer targets this summer with Stoke missing out on Nelson Oliveira and any deal for Mama Biram Diouf hanging in the balance. Hanging onto your best players is the most important thing for a club and it is great to see the defensive trio of Asmir Begovic, Robert Huth and Ryan Shawcross all ready to kick start the new season for the Potters.
The match between Liverpool and Stoke City will be the first ever to air on BT sport. That’s a lot of faith to put into a fixture that has produced a total of four 0-0’s in the last five seasons. The move may have come about because of the fact that both of these teams are out to prove something this season. Liverpool want to prove that they are still serious contenders for a top-four finish and Stoke City need to prove that replacing Tony Pulis with Mark Hughes was the right decision.
Playing Styles
Last season some would have described these two teams as polar opposites. Liverpool were the pass and move tika-taka experts (of the Premier League) and Stoke City wee the hoof- ball, long throw, bully boys. So you thought. I am not exaggerating, honest.
Last season, Liverpool kept the ball a lot better than Stoke City, with a team pass accuracy of 84%, compared to Stoke’s 70%. It may come as a shock that the average pass distance of the two teams was very similar with Liverpool’s standing at 19metres, compared to Stoke’s 21metres.
With Mark Hughes at the helm, Stoke fans are expecting big changes in playing style. These changes can be seen in the pre-season games that have already been played. Under Tony Pulis, Stoke were a rigid team that was lob sided in its focus on defense over attack. Mark Hughes has already expressed his desire to play more attacking football. His new signing Erik Pieters has been acting as a wing back on the left hand side with Wilkinson and Cameron doing so on the right. The full backs/wing backs are being given the freedom to attack which they lacked under Pulis. Stoke City’s only goal vs FC Dallas came about after a key pass by Erik Pieters in the final third. The full backs being given such attacking freedom is something that was a rarity under Pulis.
The core of Stoke City’s style will remain unchanged. Hard work is the key for the system to work, and Mark Hughes himself has expressed his desire to continue and build on the hardworking mentality that Tony Pulis instilled into the players.
Stoke will look to exploit the wings and feed balls into the lone striker (see previous article). Personally, I believe that the strikers, although sometimes wasteful last season, were not the entire reason for the lack of goals. A lot of the blame can be shifted on to the wingers. Michael Kightly had a poor first season, Matthew Etherington’s confidence seemed to hit rock bottom, Brek Shea barely played a game and Jermaine Pennant was shipped out on loan, then made to rot in the reserves when he returned. (Super) Jonny Walters spent most of the season out on the wing in a role that ultimately isn’t his natural position; all the hard work in the world can’t fix that. Walters himself came under hard times during the Pulis regime. Being criticised for not scoring whilst being out on the wing is plain unfair; especially considering he ended the season as the club’s top goalscorer.
Expect to see Stoke try and match Liverpool’s possession game, whilst looking to supply the wings to provide crosses. The success of Stoke’s gameplan will hinge on whether Glen Johnson is feeling as attack minded as usual. Johnson often leaves gaping holes at the back and it will be the pace of Stoke City’s counter attacks that could decide this game.
I expect that it will be much of the same in terms of Liverpool’s paying style. Brendan Rodgers has implemented a short passing style throughout the whole team, starting from the back and passing long is prohibited. It will be interesting to see how well Simon Mignolet fits into this system. Pepe Reina struggled with the system that Rodgers had implemented and has since departed the club for finer pastures in Naples. Rodgers will look to make Stoke City’s team work hard and I expect Coutinho’s performance to be a decisive factor in this game. Since his arrival in England, Coutinho has adapted very quickly and provided 5 assists in just 12 Premier League starts. His importance as a Liverpool player is only set to increase, especially if Luis Suarez departs the club.
The main challenge for Liverpool will be splitting the evergreen partnership of Ryan Shawcross and Robert Huth, and without Suarez, I cannot see it being done so easily.
Liverpool Team News:
Luis Suarez is unavailable for Liverpool.
Player to watch: Phillippe Coutinho
It is not often that a player adapts so quickly to English football like Philippe Coutinho has. At the tender age of 21, his stock is only going to rise and his presence/importance in the Liverpool squad is only going to increase. If he is given too much space in this match, he will punish Stoke City.
Stoke City Team News:
Brek Shea is sidelined with a knee injury.
Player to watch: Asmir Begovic
Possibly the reason that Stoke City have been so tight-fisted in this summer’s transfer window. His proposed move to Liverpool never materialised and Saturday’s clash at Anfield could be a case of ‘Here’s what you could have won’.
In my opinion Begovic was the stand- out star last season and without his stellar performances I think that we’d have already witnessed our season opener (In the Championship). The difference between a thrashing and an upset lies in this man’s hands…and feet.
Match Facts & Stats
Steven N’Zonzi vs. Philippe Coutinho
No doubt it will be SNZ’s job to keep tabs on the nippy Brazilian. If Coutinho drops into those little pockets of space that appear then I can’t see him needing too much of an invitation to tear Stoke City apart. If N’Zonzi manages to stick to his task and keep Coutinho quiet then I think that a shock result is a definite possibility. (God forbid an optimistic Stoke fan).
Ref Watch:
Martin Atkinson takes charge at Anfield. During the 2012/2013 season he issued a total of 140 yellow cards and 1 red over 37 games.
Match Prediction:
Although Stoke City will look to match Liverpool in terms of possession, I cannot see that being a likely outcome. Liverpool will have more of the ball but that is not to say that Stoke City will be dominated.
In my opinion, this game hinges on whether Stoke can hit Liverpool on the counter attack quickly, whether Steven N’Zonzi can look after Coutinho and finally whether Stoke’s wingers can improve the service that they provide. If all three fall in Stoke’s favour, then my prediction could well come true…
Score: 1-2
Optimism is running high, Stoke to win 2-1, come on Leslie’s boys!
Next Fixtures:
Stoke face Crystal Palace in the first home game of the season on the 24th August.
