Stoke's deserved win proves Potters carry real threat

When Jack McGlynn dummied to shoot, cut back inside around the attempted block from Edo Kayembe, and placed his shot inside the far post with his weaker right foot, Stoke took a lead their dominance deserved. At Watford they produced as good an away performance as we have seen from the Potters for some time, and Eric Bocat's low drive on the other side of the break wrapped the points up. At that point, it looked like Stoke could register a much bigger win than they eventually did, but despite fading as the second half wore on, they never looked anything other than in control. McGlynn, Justin Devenny and Ethan Galbraith have taken it in turns to provide goals and decisive attacking performances more generally over the past few games, and the latter was excellent again. But amongst the good performances from new signings there were reminders from those who have been around a little while longer that they still have something to offer. Lamine Cisse worked really hard up front, hit the bar and had two goals ruled out for offside, and Maksym Talovierov finally looks like the dominant centre-back Stoke thought they were signing when he joined last summer. Stoke still have work to do to achieve the capacity to maintain performance levels deeper into the second half of games, but when they are on it they look like a solid team that carries a real threat. If they can build on the past four games unbeaten and the three wins within that with another positive result against Sheffield United next week, they will have turned a shaky start to the season into a really good points return from the eight games before the first international break. Latest Stoke City news, analysis and fan views