Buoyed by the arrival of (a) nice passing football and (b) the old New Lionel Messi in new boy Bojan, Stoke fans had every right to enter the season with a spring in their collective step.
Confidence in Mark Hughes sat at a respectable 79% pre-season, and confidence in his glossy squad at 84%. After the dark ages of Tony Pulis, this campaign was expected to yield goals and happier times. But the best laid plans and all that.
By September 23, defeat to Leicester at home had seen confidence in the squad drop to a season (so far) low of 63% (65% for Hughes). A run of four wins saw confidence return (Hughes back up to 78%, the squad back up to 82%), but the Potters have been consistently inconsistent (LDWLDWLWLDW).
Despite beating Tottenham away, taking Stoke up to ninth in the table, confidence in the squad is down to 68%, while for Hughes it’s dropped to a worrying 58%.
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