Despite their impressive 1-0 win at Goodison Park in Gameweek 5 and a midweek Carling Cup win at Chelsea, Newcastle continue to struggle in front of their own fans, with Stoke City’s second-half comeback condemning the Magpies to their second consecutive home defeat on Sunday. Having started the season with three straight losses, Tony Pulis’ are a team bang in form right now; they have picked up 7 points from their last 3 league games and progressed to the 4th round of the Carling Cup.
Key to Stoke’s recent success has been the enigmatic Kenwyne Jones. There has never been any doubt Jones has talent- it’s his temperament and application that have infuriated his managers time and again. However, with a goal in each of his last four games, Jones’ physical nature has fitted seamlessly into the Stoke starting XI, with his performances showing signs that he and Stoke may just be the perfect fit.
As the above average position map from Sunday shows, Jones (number 9) was pretty much a one-man attack for the Potters and his ability to win key battles and bring team mates into play is fundamental to Stoke’s chances of winning games. Our OPTA Members Stats show Jones has the highest percentage of Duels Won of all forwards (his 55% beats Andy Carroll’s 49% into second place) and is only second, behind Carroll, in terms of percentage of Aerial Duels Won.
Jones never really produced this kind of form over a sustained period at former club Sunderland, as Steve Bruce admitted on Jones’ departure from the club:
“There has always been a frustration with me, and I think with supporters who have watched Kenwyne, that you see an abundance of talent but it has not come out often enough for us for whatever reason. In management you get paid to make some important decisions sometimes. Stoke have been badgering me for a year. Everyone knows they love a big, traditional centre-forward and he might go and suit them.”
The big centre forward seems to work best on his own and Tony Pulis’ tactics merely play to his strengths. The chalkboard below left shows Thomas Sorenson’s passing in the recent home win against Aston Villa; practically all his distribution was aimed at Jones, as Stoke’s route one approach leans heavily on him when launching attacks. The chalkboard below right, from the same game, shows Jone’s tackles/duels; he was involved in an incredible twenty four of Stoke’s team total of seventy.
Stoke are geared up towards getting the ball to Jones in front of goal, too. As the chalkboards below show, he had 7 shots against Aston Villa -six inside the box- which was a third of all the team’s shots. On Sunday, in particular, he showed his value to the cause- Stoke had just 9 shots all game, with Jones getting 5 of them, hitting the woodwork twice in addition to scoring.
Despite playing just 80 minutes in Stoke’s first three games due to injury, Jones has 16 Shots at Goal, the joint seventh-highest amount in the league, which is the same as the likes of Carlos Tevez, and just two less than Didier Drogba. Given that Pulis’ side have had just 56 Shots in total, it’s a fair indication just how vital Kenwyne Jones has become to Stoke in such a short space of time.
Stoke’s style of play is hardly easy on the eye but there’s no doubt it has proved effective in the Premier League season after season now. They have yet to record a clean sheet in the league this term, but for as long as Tony Pulis is in charge, there is no chance of their tactics changing, and with Jones putting opponents to the sword at the other end of the pitch. Pulis seems to have found the perfect battering-ram to spearhead the Potteries physical approach as they look to push on from last season’s eleventh place finish.
In Fantasy terms, Jones continues to climb on our Watchlist and, with fixtures improving for Stoke from Gameweek 11 onwards, we could yet see significant investment coming his way – particularly if the likes of Andy Carroll, Carlos Tevez and Dimitar Berbatov fail to produce in the coming weeks.