When Stoke City made it clear their expectation was to compete for a play-off place this season, they will have known they would have to significantly close the gap in quality to teams like Wolves in order to succeed.
Individual errors were a major factor behind the size of the defeat at Molineux on Saturday, but a 4–1 scoreline was a chastening reminder of how much work they still have to do to compete with the best teams in the division. Much of that work will have to be done quickly if they are going to achieve their aim.
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Stoke scored a great early goal through Sam Gallagher, and Sorba Thomas missed a couple of good chances, including one that could have made it 2-0, but familiar issues undid the Potters.
In each of their three league games so far this season, they have made errors at both ends of the pitch, faded significantly late in the game and seen substitutes struggle to make an impact despite having periods where they have looked competitive.
In the final days of the transfer window, they will need to add more quality and jettison some players who cannot contribute enough, while also trying to prepare for two huge home games in five days.
Those games need to return points and provide evidence Stoke are strong enough to perform consistently across an entire game and are learning from their mistakes.
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Nobody is expecting them to show they are as good as Wolves in terms of squad depth and quality over the next week, but they do need to improve so that stated target does not look totally unrealistic by the end of game five.
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