How Mark Robins can guarantee a thunderous support at Stoke City
Hello and good luck to Mark Robins as he takes on the big job at Stoke City.
He’s been around, comes with a load of experience and will be backed to the hilt to get it right. If he can bring common sense and pick a balanced team that plays with purpose, he’ll have a thunderous support behind him.
We will get to know the style he wants to go with soon enough and, as a former Manchester United player, that’s a good starting point. Stoke, at their best, have always been a close knit to Man Utd, at their best, at least in terms of approach.
READ MORE: Ryan Shawcross delivers Mark Robins verdict and reveals why new Stoke City boss wasn't at Turf Moor
Both sets of fans demand all-action and quick football from players who give 100 per cent commitment and show drive and passion. We want skill too and wingers who can embarrass a full-back on their way to the by-line and we like centre-backs who like defending and full-backs who can link in with attacks.
I think he inherits a squad that is better than they have looked for much of the last month and they showed it in two games under Ryan Shawcross. These are players who suit a 4-3-3 or a 4-4-1-1 or 4-2-3-1 without having to put square pegs in round holes.
The key, as ever, will be to remember the big three principles of how to win football matches. You’ve got to be able to go over teams, around teams or through them. You want a player who can attack space in behind when it’s there to exploit, like Stoke have in Tom Cannon, and you want wide players like Bae Junho and Lewis Koumas who can help you spread the opponents wide. Once you spread them wide, you can find space in the middle for quick and clever play from someone like Andrew Moran or for Wouter Burger to feed passes into the final third.
You’ve got to take control of that mid-third area. There can be a decent balance with Burger deeper, Moran advanced and Tatsuki Seko doing a bit of both either sitting or joining in going forward. Lynden Gooch and Junior Tchamadeu played well at Burnley, pushing on and underlapping or overlapping when the chances came and Ashley Phillips and Ben Wilmot were just able to defend first and foremost. If they can do anything extra that’s all well and good but don’t compromise that top priority.
Robins also gets a goalkeeper who has been excellent in these last few games. I thought he saved us from embarrassment against Leeds, he takes responsibilities, he’s brave and he makes saves.
So hopefully Robins, by doing things sensibly and consistently, can take us in the right direction and it will be interesting to see what he will try to add in January. He can largely keep the same team that Shawcross has played, with one or two others ready to come in and challenge, like Enda Stevens, Sam Gallagher and possibly Bosun Lawal.
It had frustrated me as Pelach’s time went on and he started to fiddle and overthink things. One minute he was playing Moran as a number 10 and then he was wide right, next as sitting player. You start to question the plan and that’s just with one player. They changed from a back four to a five and against Leeds we had three centre-backs marking one forward then Burger and Sol Sidibe in midfield against their three.
We were giving up ground straight away and then got pushed back more and more because we were outnumbered in that key area and couldn’t break forward. There was no support for Cannon and we were asking for trouble all over the pitch.
I could see it and you could see it too I’m sure. Shawcross definitely will have seen it and went straight in able to immediately fix mistakes. He knows what’s needed and could instil the drive while getting players in their right positions. He knows all the players, knows what’s coming through next and who’s behind that. The performances against Sunderland and Burnley were his DNA coming through, showing the importance of hard work and craft. He wanted to take the game to the opposition and every player gave it their all.
You’re governed as a manager by what players you have in the changing room but the players are a lot better than they’ve been used. I’m glad that Robins has had the chance to see that and fingers crossed he can take that and run with it.
