Bojan Krkic- Changing the Premier League’s perception of Stoke
The Tony Pulis way of getting the ball forward quickly and loading the box may well be over. Pulis was one for playing the percentages, keeping his side in the Premier League but only achieving this through a rather ugly style of play. No one enjoyed watching Stoke play and many have and still do think of Stoke as a rugby team. Since Hughes has come in though he has changed this style and focused more on playing a patient game which has led to much acclaim and ultimately last season led to them finishing in their highest league position for years. Their new boss also bought in the ex-Barcelona man Bojan for an incredibly small fee of £3million and he has flourished. He has never quite been able to live up to the hype that was originally given to him when at Barcelona but at Stoke he is changing the Stoke stereotype and proving that he is a super talent.
Bojan was established as the next up and coming superstar when he made it through Barcelona’s youth ranks to become a first team player for one of the greatest club sides in the history of football. Guardiola took his time to eventually build a squad that was one of the greatest we’ve ever seen and Bojan was slightly before this. He was talked of in such high regard that he was compared to Lionel Messi. He was his successor; the man could do no wrong at this point. However during his time at Barcelona he was always a rotation option, he was firmly behind attacking greats such as Messi, Henry, Villa and Eto’o and never really established himself as a regular starter. To try and gain himself some first team football he was loaned to Roma for two seasons with an option for the Italian club to finalise the deal in 2013. Instead they chose not to and he was transferred back to Barca. He was then loaned again immediately to Ajax and although his time with the Dutch champions was full of trophies, his performances were remarkably inconsistent and they decided they didn’t want him permanently and it turns out neither did Barcelona. At this moment in time his career had gone from fruitful and promising to almost on the brink of nothing. Stoke pounced and bought him for a fee of 3 million. This surprised all the British media as well as football observers. Not only was the fee cheap but it was surprising that a player of such undoubted quality would want to join Stoke. This clearly is an example of the influence Hughes has had at Stoke football club since his arrival.
It was a step down no doubt but a step down that has revitalised his career and done wonders for not only himself but his new team. Having made his name at Barcelona a side known for their patient passing approach he has bought this experience with him to the Premier league and improved the way in which Stoke play. In a recent FA cup tie with Rochdale he sustained an injury that would rule him out of for the rest of the season and this will majorly affect the way in which Stoke have been playing recently. Everything good they do goes through him and he is the focal point of all attacking play from the Potters. Hughes tend to play more of a 4-2-3-1 under Hughes with N’Zonzi and Whelan normally as holding midfielders and one of either Diouf, Moses or Arnautovic out wide. Bojan normally is played in the number 10 role behind the lone striker and it is a role that he excels in. In this role he is able to move wherever he wants and drift into wide areas to support attacks. The two holding midfielders and wide men look to play the ball into Bojan whenever possible and he dictates the play. He not only has brilliant vision and a good footballing brain but he is a brilliant dribbler and in some contexts it is understandable to see why at one point he was compared to the great Lionel Messi.
The project that Hughes has undertaken in trying to turn Tony Pulis’ direct play into a more simple and effective one will take time but with Bojan in the side it looked like Stoke might finally be able to break free from the type of football that we tend to associate them with. Long balls and the genuinely ‘ugly’ tactics that Pulis deployed will take some time to vanish. With games against Arsenal for example they still tend to deploy rough-house tactics that look to stop the gunners playing with brute force and dodgy tackles. With wonderful footballers like Bojan at their disposal though, it might be time for these tactics to go out of the window. Bojan’s injury has put a halt to Hughes’ Stoke project this season and he will be deeply missed. He is such a key piece in their attack and he has proven just what a fantastic footballer he is.
