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I'm relieved that Stoke City boss is not just trying to wave a magic wand
There are things that Narcis Pelach is doing at the moment as Stoke City head coach that makes it look easy. But it’s the keeping it simple and staying consistent that I’m probably most pleased about as he gets his feet under the table at the club.
Managers don’t half make it hard work sometimes. We have seen players put in unusual positions over recent years at Stoke and the coach has expected some kind of magical result. Not every week needs a reinvention of the wheel.
What I can see, as I’ve mentioned previously, is a framework taking shape and players who are starting to get a clear understanding of what they are being asked to do and what they can expect of their teammates around them too. Partnerships, units and patterns on and off the ball can develop when there isn’t a whirlwind of changes every three or four days.
READ MORE:I was really hard with Tom Cannon and I was surprised with how well he handled it
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You need players in the wide roles who can dribble and cross and link in-field. You’ve got Wouter Burger with his passing in central midfield and Andrew Moran supporting the forward.
If Moran is sitting deeper, you’ll miss him doing that, just like we have missed Sam Gallagher when he was linking play – so it’s been good to see Tatsuki Seko come in and allow him to push higher up the pitch and get closer to Tom Cannon. Whether you’re playing with a front player who comes off or a midfielder who gets high, you always need that player and that balance.
Recruitment and management is all about balance and a clear message. We’ve got Cannon and Lewis Koumas who can get behind defences so you need players around them to complement their strengths. They all feed off one another.
We are starting to put the foundations in place so now we can build the squad to suit the roles we need. We have to make sure that there is a second choice in each position so that if Player A is injured or suspended we don’t have to rip up the plan.
You can bring in a new first choice if you can find someone better or you can develop someone to come through from our own A-class academy. We have to develop because there’s nothing like your own. You can look at your squad list and see where you need to improve, where you need more strength in depth and you can say to your youth coaches, you can say to your scouts, ‘This is the player we need, these are the attributes they must have, let’s get him!’
Four of the starting XI at the moment – Cannon, Moran, Koumas and Ashley Phillips – are only on loan too and we should be planning now to make sure that we’re not relying on another club’s players next season. We can see what impact players with their skillsets have so we have to find them for ourselves to work with, improve and keep.
We have had two good results in the last seven days and it would hit the jackpot to get a third today at home against Millwall.
I’m hoping that Viktor Johansson can have a quiet afternoon but it’s good to see Stoke have a goalkeeper who can make saves. That long highlights reel from the win at Blackburn in mid-week all comes from having a keeper who gives himself a chance thanks to his positional sense and decision making. He’s constantly working his yardage, he’s never still. He has to concentrate for the whole period and command the defence in front of him like a puppeteer.
You can see he is building a stronger relationship particularly the two centre-backs who are closest to him – at least barring that own goal against Derby last weekend. They have to have a good understanding about distancing and compactness – and those two centre-halves have to work well with each other too. Your two full-backs offer support. They have to block crosses and the opposite one gives cover. If the full-backs are letting opponents do things too easily, Johansson has to have a verbal relationship with them as well. He will do, I’m sure.
We are letting teams have too many shots against us at the moment and it’s up to players to fill gaps and fill spaces and make sure they get their positional sense right. You don’t want your wide men coming back to man mark players, for example, but they have to be in the right space to contribute defensively and be ready to counter. You have to know how to fill gaps and when to pass a runner on. Think about your defensive ploys and be ready to quickly hit attacking space. Everyone always has a job to do.
Cannon’s job is to score goals and don’t underestimate goals from penalties. They are pressure finishes and it looks like he likes stepping up to take responsibility. Good on him and let’s hope we see him find the net again today, however he pleases.
If you have a balanced team you will make chances one way or another and you will keep clean sheets. Keep it going.
