Stoke City finished outside the top half of the Premier League table for the first time under Mark Hughes following an underwhelming campaign that saw them struggle for consistency throughout the season.
Stoke had finished ninth in each of Hughes' three seasons in charge of the club and were hoping to kick on and challenge for a European qualification spot after the Stoke coach was once again backed in the transfer market as he brought in Joe Allen and Ramadan Sobhi while also signing Bruno Martins Indi and Wilfried Bony on loans. However with Jack Butland suffering a serious injury even before the season kicked off, Hughes was forced into chopping and changing the lineup as they were poor both defensively as well as in the attack in the opening weeks of the season.
Hughes finally settled on Lee Grant as his first choice, with the on-loan keeper putting up a number of good displays, but it was at the other end of the field that problems continued to mount for Hughes.
Bony struggled to make an impact and Hughes time and again overlooked Peter Crouch despite the striker ending the campaign as the top scorer with seven goals from 13 starts.
Stoke once again spent big in the January transfer window, bringing in Saido Berahino but the striker too was not poor and failed to score a single goal in 13 games. With Xherdan Shaqiri and Marko Arnautovic also struggling for consistency, injuries hampering a settled pairing in the center of the midfield and the club already announcing that there will not be any spending spree in the transfer window, Hughes has a big challenge on hand in the summer if they are to improve on a 13th place finish next season.
