Hot Streak: In-form Crouch has Stoke dreaming of a European finish

When Mark Hughes succeeded Tony Pulis as Stoke City boss, a change in style was anticipated. Pulis had worked wonders to establish the Potters as a Premier League side, but the board felt a change in style was required for Stoke to push on. The direct approach that Pulis implemented became somewhat stagnant towards the end of his tenure, with the board hoping Hughes would bring in an aesthetically pleasing brand of football to ensure progression at the Bet365 Stadium. 

The signings of Mark Arnautovic, Xherdan Shaqiri and Bojan, among others, offered promise for good times ahead at Stoke as Hughes looked to bring the Potters forward. However, Stoke have finished ninth in all three of Hughes' full seasons in charge of the club. Despite heavy investment in all areas of the pitch, the club remain stuck in mid-table, unable to get any real ground of those challenging for a European finish. 

Coincidentally, a 3-1 win at Sunderland at the weekend leaves Stoke in ninth in the Premier League. They remain on course to match last season's feat, but the Potters are currently doing so using a type of striker that was synonymous with the style of football Stoke were associated with under Pulis - a brand of football Hughes has tried to move Stoke on from. Wilfried Bony’s loan move has been nothing short of a disaster having registered just six minutes of Premier League action since mid-November and with the Africa Cup of Nations up and running, it’s feasible to suggest his Stoke career is all but over. Hughes has used no fewer than five players as the focal point to the attack in the Premier League this season, with Peter Crouch the latest to stake a claim for a regular starting spot. 

The trip to Sunderland was Crouch’s fifth Premier League start of the season after being on the cusp of a move away from Stoke and he’s now firmly back at the forefront of Hughes’ thoughts. The 35-year-old’s performance at the Stadium of Light has seen him earn a WhoScored rating of 8.03 from starts alone this term, as he once again re-establishes himself for Stoke. Such has been his return to the fore that Crouch penned a new contract earlier this month after reports suggested he would be sold on once the transfer window reopened. 

And if his recent form is anything to go by, the experienced frontman is playing his way back into Hughes’ good books when it seemed as though his Stoke career was coming to a close. Three goals and one assist in his last three league starts is a impressive return for the striker, who before his current run hadn’t scored a Premier League goal since hitting the back of the net in a 6-1 win over Liverpool on the final day of the 2014/15 season. 

Indeed, his first half strike against Sunderland took him to 99 Premier League goals in his career and you wouldn’t bet against him joining the 100 club before the month is out with his performance against the Black Cats returning a perfect WhoScored rating of 10 and a place in this week’s Premier League team of the week. In the fixture at the Stadium of Light, Crouch won a whopping 19 of 22 contested aerial duels as he completely dominated the Sunderland starting centre-back pair of Papy Djilobodji and John O’Shea, who between them won just two of 11 headed battles. 

Considering he alone has contested 61 of Stoke’s 164 aerial duels in the last four Premier League games (37.2%) it suggests that Hughes is implementing a more direct approach with Stoke reverting to a previous philosophy to put points on the board. It’s not as though Hughes has been short of attacking options, up until the weekend win at Sunderland at least. Bojan looks to have fallen completely out of favour with Hughes, while it wasn’t until recently that Jon Walters succumbed to a knee injury that forced him under the knife. 

Even before then, though, Crouch was called on by Hughes more often than Bojan and Walters where a lone frontman was deployed, with the latter partnering Crouch in the 4-1 loss at Liverpool before being shifted wide for the 2-0 win over Watford. An average of 6.3 aerial duels won per game ranks third in England’s top tier this term and while previously thought of as a plan B when the going gets tough, Crouch has returned to the side with aplomb in a bid to provide an effective route to goal. 

It may not be easy on the eye, but Crouch’s recall to the first team fold has evidently benefitted Stoke, who have a better win ratio (40%) and score more goals per game (1.6) with the striker starting than when he does not (31.2% and 1.19) in the Premier League this season. Hughes will be keen to show the Stoke board some progression as he looks to improve upon three successive ninth-placed finishes and it could well be that Crouch is the short-term solution to his forward problem, particularly if his recent good form is anything to go by.