Stoke City supporters took to Twitter during their Premier League draw with Manchester United.
Fans of Stoke City had their say on their team’s performance and 1-1 draw at Old Trafford on social media outlet Twitter – where Mark Hughes and Wilfried Bony came in for criticism, yet there was praise for stand-in goalkeeper Lee Grant and worship for Joe Allen.
A strong first half from the home side was cause for concern for Stoke supporters; who remained jovial throughout the early exchanges as they nostalgically celebrated one of their former centre forwards while simultaneously poking fun at Manchester United’s world-record signing Paul Pogba.
Before long, Stoke fans were becoming frustrated with their side’s showing at Old Trafford and began to turn on under pressure manager Mark Hughes and loanee forward Wilfried Bony.
Throughout the game the Ivorian striker continued his struggles to regain the form, fitness and firepower which prompted Manchester City to pay £28 million for the former Swansea City talisman in 2015. Ultimately, Bony was substituted during the second half to put an end to his disappointing showing.
Due to first-choice Jack Butland’s ongoing injury, former Derby County second choice Lee Grant took the gloves in preference to veteran Shay Given. Grant, at 33 years of age, was making his second Premier League appearance and made a series of stunning stops to deny the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Marcus Rashford and Pogba.
Twitter stood up and acknowledged Grant’s stand-out performance.
As the first half drew to a close, Stoke City fans revealed their highlight from the first 45 on Twitter – the mercurial Xherdan Shaqiri offering a skilful distraction from his side’s contribution to a relatively poor spectacle offered up by both teams thus far.
Back in 2012, Stoke central defender Ryan Shawcross won his only England cap to date, as a substitute against Sweden. His cameo is remembered as the night Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored four goals – three of which coming after Shawcross’ introduction. The Stoke captain has not played for his country since, but at least one Stoke fan on Twitter attributed Shawcross, who played twice for Manchester United in 2006, with a performance worthy of redemption against his Swedish nemesis.
Manchester United’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic was kept at bay by Stoke City’s Ryan Shawcross
Stoke’s footing in the game gradually improved during the second half, much to the relief and encouragement of their representatives on Twitter. However, despite their apparent upturns in performance, Stoke conceded the game’s opening goal shortly after a double-substitution from Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho. After displaying his abilities in the first half, Shaqiri failed to complete the simpler tasks of the game, leading to Anthony Martial’s clinical finish to put the Red Devils ahead.
Considering Mark Hughes’ recent set of results and increasing sense of delusion amongst Stoke City’s supporters, it was little shock that Twitter began to question Hughes yet again.
Stoke City’s Joe Allen scores the equaliser
However, the ex-Manchester United striker may find some internal solace in the fact that is was his maligned introduction of Jonathan Walters off the bench that produced the assist for Joe Allen’s equaliser in the last ten minutes of the match. Allen, a key signing from Liverpool, has continued his fine form for Wales at the summer’s European Championships for Stoke – and today was no exception. Alongside man-of-the-match Lee Grant, Joe Allen grabbed much of the Twitter spotlight from a Stoke City perspective.
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