Mark Robins got to see Stoke City's worst traits at Portsmouth and fix isn't easy
Stoke City have serious work to do to pull away from the relegation pack after a 3-1 defeat at Portsmouth. Here are the talking points from Fratton Park.
A bad night for Stoke City
A tough and experienced side like Portsmouth are becoming at home, where they have taken 19 points from the last 21 available, was always going to be a challenge for this Stoke side, which we have seen work hard at Burnley, West Brom and Sunderland but can be not very street wise.
READ MORE: Portsmouth boss responds to Stoke City 'dark arts' claim
READ MORE: Mark Robins gives blunt verdict on Stoke City side too easily bullied by Portsmouth
Some of their worst traits came out at Fratton Park as they were too soft and too panicked in those opening stages that decided the match. They actually got back into the game as the first half went on but never recovered from a bad start to the second.
They will have to find a solution pretty quickly because Gary Rowett will surely try to do the same thing with Oxford on Saturday.
Stoke can’t wait for games that suit them to get the wins they need. They have to find the answers to the challenges in front of them and, in this case, it’s manning up.
A bad decision to start a bad night
Stoke had needed to find a way through the first 20 minutes or so by hook or by crook and go from there against a team that is full of confidence at home. It almost immediately didn’t look like they would manage it but the first goal was still baffling.
There was a crowd appeal for a penalty when Callum Lang went down next to Josh Wilson-Esbrand in the box early on but not many can really have expected Josh Smith to point the spot. It was very, very soft. A Stoke player going down like that would be told to get on with it.
That is not to say that no one of a Stoke persuasion will complain too much about football’s dark arts – they probably want their team to be a lot better at it – but that was a bad decision and emphasised the momentum that was going Portsmouth’s way.
Josh Wilson-Esbrand thrown straight in
Unveiled at 11am and straight on the teamsheet for a re-introduction to Championship referees within the first four minutes of his debut.
Wilson-Esbrand kept his head after that in his first league appearance since a loan spell at Cardiff in April last season. He showed he can swing in a decent cross, with none better than the one which set up Ben Wilmot’s goal.
Enda Stevens brings a calmness with him when he plays that probably makes him one of the first names on the teamsheet when he’s fit and available – perhaps he could dovetail with Wilson-Esbrand down the left at times – but Stoke can’t rely on him to play every minute and, with Eric Bocat in the treatment room for a while yet, there will be a chance to show everyone what he can do.
Transfer market focus
Stoke’s Financial Fair Play situation and having only one loan spot left to play with means there is no choice but to focus on quality rather than quantity before deadline day on Monday, February 3.
There will hopefully be help returning from the treatment room too. Ben Pearson will bring aggression, Bosun Lawal is big and strong and Sam Gallagher likewise. But these players have barely played this season and bodies are fragile coming back from longer-term injuries.
And there are more challenges, like Ben Wilmot having to be helped off the pitch and being sent for an X-ray. This hadn’t been Wilmot’s best defensive performance but he had been building a decent partnership with Ashley Phillips recently.
Whatever comes next won’t be easy and Stoke, in every department, will have to rise to it.
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