A BAD day at the office for Stoke City on Saturday as they lost 2-1 at home to Southampton. Potters blogger ROB DOOLAN looks at the main talking points from the Britannia Stadium encounter.
HE WHO SCORES FIRST, LAUGHS LAST AT THE BRITANNIA STADIUM
THIS was not a Stoke display entirely devoid of merit – the heart and ambition showcased after the interval brought a well-taken goal and threatened to produce more – but sadly the damage had been done by then.
Stoke were 2-0 down inside half an hour, this latest home reverse told a depressingly familiar tale, as Stoke again choked on their own toxic cocktail of ponderous, blunt approach play and defensive somnambulance.
In 16 of 18 league and cup games at the Brit this season, the team to score the opening goal has gone on to win.
Southampton were just the latest team to come to ST4, get men behind the ball and get themselves in front.
It's a strategy that is Kryptonite to this Stoke side. Like Watford and Crystal Palace before them, the Saints were able to close ranks, crowd out the creative players and pick Stoke off on the break.
IS IT TIME FOR TWO STRIKERS AT HOME?
SHANE Long was technically playing wide right in Southampton's 4-2-3-1, but in reality operated as a de facto partner for Graziano Pelle, continually finding space centrally against Stoke's high line to cause problems with his pace.
Pelle, meanwhile, made the most of his physical presence, monstering a number of defenders with his brawn and movement.
His first goal was a gift, his second was brilliant centre forward play that embarrassed Geoff Cameron and made it an unhappy return for Ryan Shawcross.
By contrast, Stoke's lone striker, Mame Diouf, was isolated, expected to work wonders against a hoard of green shirts whenever the ball came into the box. Maybe it's time he was given help.
A number of Stoke's strikers – Diouf, Crouch, Joselu – are better suited to a strike partnership, and packed defences would suddenly have twice as many predators to worry about.
It's a switch that would raise some awkward questions about who drops out of midfield to make way.
WHELAN LEAVES THE PARTY EARLY ON HIS BIG DAY
HUGHES did, in fact, introduce a second striker late in proceedings on Saturday; Crouch again thrown on as the search for an equaliser became increasingly desperate.
However, the decision to remove milestone man Glenn Whelan for the big striker, on his 300th appearance for the club, destabilised the team.
Frustrating though their build-up play could be, Stoke did actually create a few chances.
Arnautovic stabbed one home and then was denied a second by Fraser Forster, before Mame Diouf spurned a great opportunity to equalise.
Much of this attacking play started with Whelan, who always made himself available to play the simple ball and feed Imbula or one of the forward players or full backs, as they probed the Saints' rearguard.
When he went off, Stoke's dominance of possession was sacrificed in the name of repeatedly launching it long, which was all too easy for the impressive Virgil van Dijk, who won twice as many aerial duels as any other player.
Whelan's sponsors' man of the match award was written off by some as purely sentimental, but the hole he left when he went off said much about his influence. £500,000, 300 games, eight years later, he's still the glue.
IMBULA IS HARD TO STOP, EVEN ON AN 'OFF DAY'
AFTER a magnificent performance at Chelsea, the cat is well and truly out of the bag about Stoke's £18.3m man.
Southampton were ready for him, and during the first half we was allowed no time on the ball as he was engulfed every time he received a pass.
He lost the ball more than in any of his previous appearances.
Imbula is a force of nature however, and even when not at his best he is difficult to suppress. After the break he was revitalised, as Southampton energies were sapped in trying to contain him.
He had greater freedom to surge forward menacingly, and as his influence grew, Stoke were able to exert a grip on the game that lasted until Whelan's exit.
Even in his most wasteful display to date, he completed 20 more passes than the contest's next most consistent passer, he made more passes in the attacking third than any other player, and for the fifth time in six games since his debut, he dribbled past more players than anyone else.
In victory or defeat, he is a superstar in the making.
NOBODY HELPS A TEAM IN NEED LIKE STOKE CITY
THERE'S no question that Ronald Koeman's side were worthy victors. Southampton got their tactics spot on, neutralising Stoke's key men and targeting the weak links.
They will feel unlucky not to have added more goals to their tally, with Dusan Tadic missing a great chance before half-time to make it three and later denied a penalty when Butland felled him, and James Ward-Prowse smashing the crossbar with a free-kick.
In a season riven with indiscipline for the Saints, they are even likely to see Sadio Mane's red card rescinded.
Heading into this fixture however, they'd taken just one point from seven.
Graziano Pelle hadn't scored for 11 games. That both should reverse their fortunes against Stoke comes as no surprise.
Is there another team in England so generous to teams and players in strife?
This season alone, Stoke have become the first team to concede more than one first-half goal to LVG's Man United, the first Premier League team Troy Deeney scored against, the first team in a month to concede against Aston Villa, the team who ended Jamie Vardy's six-week barren spell.
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