5 years at the club. has this been his best season or season he's proven to be most influential/important?
Geoff, I have your back. Great game by our guy, I'm going MOTM by a mile. He was great. All over the place, Whelan stayed back so Geoff got forward a lot. Won so many balls in the midfield, tons of tackles, every header, and tracked his runners every single time. On the ball, he was smooth as silk. Great touches and possession, pushed the ball forward a lot and some nice entry passes. One bad touch off a throw in, and a shank-o-rama after a beautiful first touch in on goal. Almost had a goal, went up for header on corner and looked to be own goal instead, but he was right there. And then on the second he was crucial, 2 or 3 quick passes in the middle, then gets it on the wing for a floater cross that falls for Diouff. Played critical part of that.
He was sort of feelin' it. He even tried a rabona at one point. It came off the defender for a throw. It wasn't all candy canes and roses though. Maybe he could have went into over-drive and caught up to Gradle on that 2nd Bournemouth goal after Cameron had pressured a little higher up and got bypassed there. He took a couple bad angles to allow crosses in. Shooter steered around him for a half-chance. And of course there was the shot attempt of his own which was badly botched. After he gets in that position he probably should have scored a 1/3 of the time. He at least should have forced a tough save. But he did get into position as an 8, and it would have been myopic to allow that to obscure the overall performance. The best aspects of it were his break-ups, harassment, quick and efficient passing to start counters, and the occasional dribble through the Bournemouth defense to help Stoke link-up. And as a bonus he played a part in both Stoke goals. The 2nd more than the 1st. He tried to take credit on the 1st, but really he deserved the assist on the 2nd. His cross, albeit loopy, found Arnie's head right in front of the keeper. Arnie was somebody who wasn't feeling it on the morn.
Geoff is the highest rated of all Stoke players on Whoscored, and is getting a fair amount of respect actually from the die-hard supporters. His dmc rating is the highest at a very strong 7.39 in 6 appearances. His cm rating is a tenth above his average at 7.08. Really those ratings along the back line, where he's been classified as mediocre, are the only thing preventing him from being head and shoulders above the rest. https://www.whoscored.com/Teams/96/Show/England-Stoke https://www.whoscored.com/Players/38772/Show/Geoff-Cameron It's too bad in the end he'll only have played a half season, otherwise I think he'd be favorite for their POY, who if I'd have to guess goes to Ryan Shawcross. Joe Allen and Bruno Martins Indi have shots, but it helps for these things to be tenured, let's face it.
Cameron is a rather divisive player on Oatcakes. They either love him, or hate him, and the latter outnumber the former. Check here & ff.: http://oatcakefanzine.proboards.com/thread/267905/bournemouth-stoke-city?page=18
Stoke are way too old and slow as a team. They can't close the ball down collectively, especially against someone who moves it as quickly as Arsenal. Cameron was a spectator the first 30 minutes. He was putting half pressure on the ball, but he had little help. Whelan is one of the aforementioned slow players who can't take advantage of a reroute or even tip away. Then Cameron turned it up a little and was getting more involved. He had a few takeaway individually, made a nice turn and layoff into the box, plus nearly had an assist off a 2nd ball from a corner. Arsenal took a 2-0 lead, neither of which Cameron was involved in. That was a cue for him to turn it up some more though. He was one of the sparks of the comeback (attempt). On Stoke's goal he won a determined battle for the ball to gain possession up field. After winning some more balls and making outlets, Arsenal ruthlessly answered to make it 3-1, and then 4-1. Cameron wasn't really involved in those either. Cameron didn't quit, trying to make it respectable, and salvage his own individual performance. Continued to fight for some balls to win possession and actually made a really nice volley attempt which forced an outstanding save out of Cech or it would have been a rare goal for our man. In the end, I'd assess he was solid again. Had to fight through his team's poor performance and some struggles with his touch and sometimes over-aggressiveness, as I think he felt pressure because of the rarity of he and his team getting on the ball, especially early on. Again, still the highest rated player on the team. Stoke don't need a Cameron replacement. It's one of the last things they need. They need a better/younger partner for him, someone at the most advanced cm spot to be able to advance the ball off the dribble (or just play one of them they have there), better/younger fb's, and by God a CF who isn't allergic to scoring. Whelan, Johnson, Pieters, and Diouf aren't starting caliber players at this point. And if Allen is, it's not in the Affelay role. But some will no doubt throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Stoke is half-arsing it too. They're going nowhere: not to Europa, not to relegation. At some point in April they realize they're going nowhere, start half-arsing it, and finish around #13 or #14 --although sometimes they manage to get a couple of good games before the end, climbing to right the middle of the table. Next season will be the same. And the same after that.
Geoff bless his heart didn't get the memo. You are right though, this team played maybe six real matches per year. Early against the top 6 and everyone thinks stoke city baby! Then they say, oh, stoke.
Poor 1st half for Geoff, effort and touch was sorely lacking. Stepped it up bigly in the 2nd but something looked off. Touch wasn't good but did put a rip into that volley, would've been a beauty. Played 3 CDM's practically and sat back most of the game. Loved the last half of the 2nd, Mike Dean let the play go which turned it into a great game to watch in the end. Overall, not his best game, recovered nicely from a putrid 1st half.
Beauty cross from GC to Crouch for the goal. Yank assist Moved to RB in 4 man back for the 2nd half. Sloppy clearances in the 1st half. Crouch teams leading scorer.
Given that Stoke-upon-Trent can't be more than 50 sq miles and is in the heart of the West Midlands, it is truly not too shabby to have a relatively drama-free perennial Premier League team. I think they'd be good bet to be considered the most stable "small market" EPL team?