I assume there aren’t many Stokies heeding the lessons from last season? Some of the over-dramatic, drama-queen, hyperbole nonsense posted on this board in recent weeks has reached unprecedented levels of complete and utter arse gravy. It never ceases to amaze me just how fickle some fans can be. I’d imagine there’s a section of West Ham fans that were calling for Sam’s big fat head not too long ago. The very same fans that now bow down at his feet and hail him as the second coming. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a similar thing happen to Pardew now that they’ve turned the corner too, with 3 wins on the bounce.
Last season we had people calling for Hughes’ head before he’d even had chance to get going, others falling over themselves to tell us Arnie was absolutely useless and a whole host of other nonsense about loss of identity and that we were on a one way road to epic failure. Those who chose to display just the smallest bit of patience were eventually vindicated with our highest league finish for over 40 years, with a final finish of 9th, and some blistering football in the process.
There’s no doubting we’re stuttering this season but it isn’t half as bad as some are making out. We currently have 11 points from the first 9 games of the campaign. Last season we didn’t manage to amass that many points with an additional 2 matches under our belt (10 points from 11). It could be better of course, but it isn’t the end of the world by any stretch of the imagination.
The fact we have some already overly criticising the likes of Arnie (again) and Bojan Is absolutely laughable. Is it so difficult to have a bit of faith in the Management team that delivered the goods, in a massive way, not too long ago? Is it too much to allow a bit of breathing space and have confidence in a player (Arnie) to regain the form he emphatically displayed just a few months ago, when he was head and shoulders above every other player in the squad??
Hughes has proven he knows what he’s doing at this level. Last year was the 5th top 10 Premier League finish he has delivered in his career, all of which came at clubs you wouldn’t necessarily put in that bracket (3 with Blackburn, 1 with Fulham, 1 with Stoke). It wasn’t a fluke, nor was it luck or chance. His track record speaks for itself.
I’m not saying there aren’t any reasons for concern at the moment but that doesn’t mean we have to start waving the white flag and get carried away in our criticisms of certain individuals or the manager. We’ve got a decent crop of players and a Manager that knows his onions. It’s only a matter of time before it clicks and our attacking players move through the gears. We’ll be fine this season and I predict we’ll be in the hunt for the top 10 again, when the tail end of the season is upon us.
Have a little faith. It isn't time to panic just yet.