Mark Holmes

Head of Sport and Gaming at LADbible Group. Also a husband, dad and Stoke City season ticket holder.

[Mark Holmes @Homzy]

@AdamHeath4 @Benjaminbloom Thanks mate!

[Mark Holmes @Homzy]

I've barely tweeted about Stoke this season (mainly because I don't want to jinx things!) so here I am talking about everything to @Benjaminbloom for anyone who cares!

Excuse the giddiness...

https://t.co/znDeFP0ru5

[Mark Holmes @Homzy]

@potter0075 @stokecity Back in the day you'd have called me a daft (insert insult here) and be done with it! 😂

Hope you're well, mate.

[Mark Holmes @Homzy]

When Stoke played 433 over the last several seasons, nobody was complaining we didn't have the players to play 352.

So what's the obsession with moaning that we only have the players for 352 now?

I don't even think it's true btw - Junho and Manhoef were our wide two pre-Sorba.

[Mark Holmes @Homzy]

Side note, but as I've seen it being discussed on the Oatcake, surely, SURELY we need to reinvent the Marc Muniesa chant for Luca Bombino?!

La-la-la-luca Bombino
La-la-la-luca Bombino
He plays for City, with...

Just need to find the two names we like most to finish that!

[Mark Holmes @Homzy]

@ricohjam I imagine we'll still see a fair bit of four at the back, but with no Sorba and no new winger it would be madness to regularly play it, otherwise we'll score even less!

I like two up front and think Cisse would do well there too, but we have several potential No.10s now too.

[Mark Holmes @Homzy]

I've kept my powder dry until it shut, and it's still too early to judge, but that was a very intriguing transfer window for Stoke.

We're clearly weaker on the wing and arguably weaker at CB too without Phillips, but we're much stronger at FB, even just in terms of numbers...

[Mark Holmes @Homzy]

@PitterPotter619 They were both awful last night! But Manhoef still delivered a reasonable number of goals/assists last season, and Junho is a good link player.

With more footballers around them, I'm hoping we'll see more out of Junho in particular. But we defo needed the competition.

[Mark Holmes @Homzy]

@eddiejettyboy We didn't get a direct replacement, but if we plan to play a different way, maybe we didn't need one?

Arguably better to change style than just get a worse Sorba and play the same way?

[Mark Holmes @Homzy]

As always, we now need to see how it all plays out on the pitch, but as I type I think that was a positive window.

We do, however, need to be much better than we were last night even so let's hope we can get everyone up to speed quickly, otherwise this season could be tough.

[Mark Holmes @Homzy]

And as good as Sorba was last season, we were much too reliant on a player whose output had regressed to the mean.

It's still a worry losing him - we need more from Junho and Manhoef, as well as the new players - but on paper at least we look less one-dimensional.

[Mark Holmes @Homzy]

@wizardsofdrivel You'll probably immediately point one out, but when did a manager last resign for a football reason? Won't happen.

Anyway, Galbraith's a decent player but didn't look it today. Same as every midfielder we sign. Why?!

I can't believe that's as good as we can get out of that lot

[Mark Holmes @Homzy]

@baltipiesmugglr Neither do I. But then I don't trust any manager to get a tune out of whatever variety of players we have either!

I just can't believe that performance is the best we can get out of that bunch - and it's so typical of so many of our performances.

[Mark Holmes @Homzy]

You don't want to overreact to the first game. Not with more new signings obviously on the way and before others have found their feet.

But, based on today's performance, it's hard to say we've improved a thing or that we're in for anything other than a tough watch this season.

[Mark Holmes @Homzy]

I like our new signings. I like our new kit. I like the new badge*.

Football's ace when you don't have to play any games.

*What I don't like is other football fans taking offence on our behalf without knowing it's based on an old badge and we bloody voted for it!

[Mark Holmes @Homzy]

@DGabrielliSmith @StokieHH Yeah, you could imagine only one of Rigo, Soumare and Ingelsson starting in some games. With a No.6 behind and No.10 in front.

But you could also imagine all three on at times.

Key thing is all have energy to get about the pitch. We've massively lacked that in midfield.

[Mark Holmes @Homzy]

Midfield was unquestionably the priority fix for this summer so fair play to Jon Walters and co. for getting two in this early.

As ever, the real judgement will come when we see them play, but we've certainly added some height, athleticism and physicality. And we needed that.