Mark Robins sinking his teeth into Stoke City job as he heads into key triple-header
Mark Robins might admit that there's a lot of work to do at Stoke City but he is clearly enjoying getting stuck into it.
Robins takes Stoke to Portsmouth tonight (7.45pm) at the start of a triple-header against teams around them in the wrong half of the Championship table. It's Oxford United at home up after this before a trip to Hull City.
It is an important little period for the manager, who was appointed on New Year's Day, and he can signs for encouragement in what he and assistants Paul Nevin and James Rowberry are asking from players on and off the ball.
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“I can’t believe it’s three weeks,” he said. “It’s flown by. There’s lots to do. It’s been fantastic, great, a brilliant club, I’ve been really welcomed on board and I’m looking forward to what we can do moving forward. Initially, I’m really pleased with the effort and commitment of the players.
“They’ve put some decent performances in. Certainly out of possession they’ve been really good and receptive to work and if you’ve got that, you’ve got a platform to build from. We need more of the same but to build into being a really good team in possession as well. There are signs of that, signs of it in training and signs of it in the game. Games have been coming pretty thick and fast and will continue to do so. There’s plenty to do.”
Portsmouth are two points behind Stoke before this evening's game but have turned around their home form over the last couple of months, winning five and drawing one of the last six at Fratton Park.
Robins said: “They’ve done really well at home. Away from home they’ve been a little bit up and down but performances have been good and they’ve got some good players, good, honest players and they’ve done well on the back of a promotion. It’s a tough division and this year things are a bit tighter than they’ve been in previous seasons and nobody’s cut adrift.
“Usually what tends to happen is that teams at the bottom start to pick up points and they did that on Saturday. I think that’s something that generally always happens. They’ll be in a positive and confident mood. They’ve had some good results at home recently and they’ll be looking forward to the game as much as we are.”
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