"If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits eighty-eight miles per hour… you’re gonna see some serious shit." Doc Brown's quote from the Back To The Future film will never apply to Stoke City as they have resembled a clapped-out Austin Allegro rather than the DeLorean under Mark Hughes but the Potters manager could learn plenty from the movie franchise as he needs to go back to a previous era if he is to avoid disaster.
Hughes was full of praise for the patience of Stoke City's owner, Peter Coates, last week but the manager is skating on thin ice after Stoke's 2-1 defeat at home to Bournemouth - their fifth defeat in six in all competitions - left them in seventeenth place in the Premier League table, with a crucial period for the club coming up.
Stoke play Watford, Leicester, Brighton and Crystal Palace in their next four league games and Hughes might have to go back to the future with his team selection.
The gangly frame of Peter Crouch couldn't be further removed from the diminutive figure of Michael Fox's movie hero Marty McFly but they are both similarly geeky and beloved in equal measure, with Crouch the man to steal the show for his club in the coming weeks - if given the chance. The 36-year-old may be getting on in years but he has still banged in three goals from four shots on target in all competitions this season and his aerial presence offers something different.
It was the introduction of Crouch from the bench that threatened to bring Stoke back into the game on Saturday as he was pushed up top, which allowed Jese Rodriguez to move to the left and the Spaniard arguably produced one of his better performances from that position. Jese has consistently been forced to plough a furrow in a more central role in attack but he was able to influence the game when coming in from the left and he could be one of several players to benefit from the presence of Crouch in the starting line-up.
The vastly underrated striker, who scored 22 goals in 42 appearances for his country, has long been a figure of fun thanks to his giraffe-like appearance and robotic dances but he is a player who can influence games, not only from the bench.
Mark Hughes has consistently tried to move Stoke's style of play away from the pragmatic, formulaic and entertainment-free era of Tony Pulis but it is fair to assume that a Pulis team would have had found a way to grind out a victory over a pretty but flaky Bournemouth side that had failed to pick up a single point on the road prior to their visit to The bet365 Stadium, where blustery, typically British conditions should have played into the hands of the hosts.
Hughes needs to go back to basics if his team are to move forward, starting by putting Crouch in his starting XI for the next four crucial games as the beanpole forward would allow Stoke to be more direct and his presence might also ease some of the pressure on a creaking defence that has leaked a bottom-clenching 20 league goals already. The Potters have made six defensive errors so far this term, with two leading to goals, suggesting that players are being asked to play a brand of football that they simply aren't comfortable with and the presence of Crouch would at least give them the option of the long 'out-ball'.
It won't be pretty but selecting the veteran figure of Crouch is a chance to go back to the future. In the words of Doc Brown, "Your future hasn’t been written yet. No one’s has. Your future is whatever you make it. So make it a good one." Hughes need to change something quickly if his future at Stoke City is to be a long one.
Stoke are next in Premier League action at Watford on Saturday 28th October (Kick Off 3.00pm BST).
