The Aztexan

The English Premier League season is 38 games long, and at this point most of the teams have played 10. That's about a quarter of the way into the season, so I thought I'd post a quick, "how are Stoke City doing?" post. If you already follow The Potters and attend watching parties with Chantico's Army at Cuatro's, none of this will be news to you. This is a simple summary of their season to date.

For a newly promoted team, Stoke City are doing okay, but not great. They're currently 15th (in the table of 20), with 10 points. Though since the positions are still pretty bunched up — there are 4 teams that have 12 points — you could almost say they're 9th out of 12. I know, I know, ties on points are broken by goal differential, etc., but I think it's worth pointing that out, especially this early in the season.

The Potters have been loitering close to or in the relegation zone the better part of the season. Of the newly promoted teams, they're tied on points with West Bromwich Albion, but not doing nearly as well as Hull City. (Then again, Manchester United's not even doing as well as Hull City at this point, The Tigers are so hot.) The commentary I've heard and read seems to hold the belief that Stoke will have a hard time staying up. This comment from Soccer By Ives' EPL correspondent James Tyler, following Stoke's 3-0 loss to Manchester City, is typical.

Manchester City 3, Stoke City 0
The Potters will definitely be relegated this season, but who's going with them? Robinho scored a hat-trick for the home side, and they could easily have scored 3 or 4 more.

However, it's certainly not all gloom, and there are lots of games left to play. This week saw them get their 3rd win at home, a 1-0 victory over Sunderland, that pulled them up and out of the bottom three. And though it was a draw, their 0-0 result against Liverpool — at Anfield — was a team victory.

And Liam Lawrence, the midfielder named as their player of the season last season, is expected to come off the injury list in November. He's been out for a month after tripping on his Labrador:

"It was in the middle of the night, the dog lies on the stairs and I didn't see him.

"I trod on him, realised what I'd done, tried to go to the next step but went over on my ankle and fell down the stairs.

"The dog is fine. I could have killed him at the time but he is intact.

If nothing else, they don't look like this year's Derby County, which won only a single game after their promotion last year, finishing the 38-game season with a mere 12 points.

They've also advanced to the fourth round of the Carling Cup (the "sweet sixteen", if you will). They will face Rotherham United on Nov. 10 in that competition.

Their next match is Saturday, when Arsenal play them at home, Britannia Stadium.

So that's where they stand. I'll post another catch-up after another 9 or 10 games, and see where things stand at that point. In the meantime, here's an old joke I came across recently.

A man is sitting in a pub with his jack russell dog one Sunday afternoon. The football results are coming up on the television in the corner: "Stoke City 2, Tottenham Hotspur 1," reads the announcer. Suddenly the jack russell jumps up and shouts out, "Oh, no, not again!" The shocked landlord says, "That's amazing. Why did he say that when it was announced that Tottenham lost?" "Because he's a Spurs supporter," the dog's owner replies. The landlord then asks what the dog says when Tottenham win a match, to which the man replies, "I don't know. I've only had him six months."

Labels: Stoke City