This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

It has been a very frustrating season for Stoke City so far in the Championship.

The Potters currently sit 17th in the table, just two points above the relegation zone and six from the play-offs. After a number of mid-table finishes in recent seasons, it looks as though it will be another season of mediocrity this time around.

Michael O'Neill was sacked in August and there was plenty of optimism when the club appointed Sunderland boss Alex Neil as his replacement. The 41-year-old had just got the Black Cats promoted through the play-offs in League One, but he has not been able to inspire a turnaround in fortunes so far at the bet365 Stadium, with just five wins from his 15 games in charge.

The problem for this season has been inconsistency, they have only won back-to-back games once and Neil has not been able to rectify this.

Stoke recruited a number of players in the summer, including Aden Flint, Josh Laurent, Harry Clarke and Liam Delap, but the truth is that none of the new additions have really made a significant impact.

Perhaps their most notable summer signing is the one who has disappointed the most. Dwight Gayle arrived from Newcastle United with an excellent track record in the second tier, including 23 league goals in each of his last two seasons at the level with the Magpies and West Bromwich Albion respectively.

Gayle is yet to get off the mark for the Potters though and FLW's Stoke City fan pundit Ben Rowley admits he expected more.

"I've been really disappointed that Dwight Gayle hasn't scored yet," Ben said.

"He's had about half a dozen goals wrongly ruled out and it's not for a lack of trying.

"His team mates aren't helping him out and Stoke have always ruined strikers, but I did think that we would get a tune out of him.

"If anything, it has shown that Stoke don't suit most typical strikers, they have always suited industrial strikers.

"As much as Dwight Gayle has adapted in this Stoke team, he's clearly not one of those.

"It looks like we will never have a true bagsman."

The verdict

It is difficult to argue that Gayle has been anything other than underwhelming in his time at Stoke so far.

The 33-year-old arrived in the Potteries with a big reputation and the hope that he would be the prolific finisher the club had been missing.

It seems as though Gayle's effort and commitment cannot be questioned and perhaps when Gayle does finally get off the mark, the goals will come for him as he has not lost the ability that made him so dangerous at this level previously.

But the issue is that Gayle is playing in a very inconsistent Stoke team. As Ben says, his team mates have not helped him out and when you have a goalscorer like Gayle, you need to provide him with opportunities.

Neil needs to find a way to get his main striker firing if he is not to join the list of strikers such as Lee Gregory, Scott Hogan and Steven Fletcher who have succeeded elsewhere but failed at Stoke.

Fans will be hoping that the best of Gayle is yet to come.