Stoke City Fan View: Problems in attack won't go away

Awful game, great result.

A win in this game was crucial for Stoke, having gone on a six game unbeaten streak before the Bournemouth game it was vital that we got something at Vicarage road. The game itself was a drab affair, with us dominating for long parts of it picking Watford off well on the counter. Mark Hughes

Watford’s only spell of the game came quite late and even then you though Stoke looked the more likely team to score. The reasons for the poor flow of the game has to be to the aggression of both sides, with 38 fouls in the match there was never going to be a constant pace to the game as referee Bobby Madley was very quick to blow his whistle and disrupt the flow.

It was typical of the game that the only goal would be that of a calamitous error from Watford’s keeper Heurelho Gomes, who managed to fumble the ball in after hitting the post with the ball seemingly not going goal bound.

Bruno Martins Indi is top class.

With Shawcross unfortunately getting injured in the training session before the game, Bruno really needed to step up and lead the defence in his absence. He did that remarkably well as him and Marc Muniesa halted most Watford attacks and dealt with a dangerous Deeney tremendously.

After signing on loan on the last day a few Stoke fans were quite sceptical of the signing. Having not made waves in a leagues supposedly a lot weaker than the Prem, he’s made the step up with absolute ease. His physical play suits the league very well not only that but his ball playing is also excellent, as he continues to combine well with the midfield.

With the January transfer window coming up I will certainly be hoping Stoke get the permanent signing over the line, with a £7 million clause coming into play we need to act quick before the other top clubs start to sniff around.

What can we do to solve our goal scoring drought?

Sunday’s game exploited to the rest of fans across the league the lack of the penetration we have in the final third. Whoever we play upfront, they hardly look like scoring. In all fairness to Jon Walters he did well and kept the Watford back 3 occupied throughout, but didn’t offer a goal threat that we need.

Our goals often come down to a bit of luck (as shown this weekend) or a bit of magic from more often than not Xherdan Shaqiri or Marko Arnautovic. I think during the month period in between now and the transfer window we should play Marko up front.

The reason this is that we can add another creative force out wide in Ramadan and use probably the best finisher we have in Arnautovic up front. With Ramadan in the team we could be very effective on the counter also, with the fluid movement of that front three many defences would struggle to track all the movement.

Special shout out to Mame Diouf

Mame Diouf is often the subject of criticism from myself and other Stoke fans with his technicality ability often in question. One thing I can say about the man though his commitment and willingness is incredibly admirable.

At times he was even slotting in at right back to help out the cause and offered a decent attacking threat down the right side throughout. His performance does really give Mark Hughes a selection as it would be very harsh to drop him after such a fine display.