Mark Robins watches Day One training to give Stoke City progress report
Mark Robins can see the benefits of an FA Cup run beyond the glamour, adventure and glory it might bring somewhere down the line.
Robins won the cup as a player back with Manchester United at the start of his career and he reached the semi-final with Coventry last year, denied victory by a hugely controversial if not scandalous late VAR call at Wembley against Man Utd.
Now he is preparing Stoke City for a fourth-round home tie against Cardiff that probably won’t be the subject of the national media’s attention but it’s an important game in the competition and in the process he is overseeing at the club.
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Stoke head into this game on the back of a massive 2-1 win at Hull in the Championship last weekend and there is a chance to reach the last 16, a chance for forwards like Emre Tezgel to make an impression as cup-tied Nathan Lowe and Ali Al-Hamadi watch from the stands, and a chance to build positive momentum.
Robins said: “I think it’s difficult to say but winning football matches breeds confidence in any case but it also gives people opportunities. It throws up an opportunity for other people this weekend because we have some cup-tied players.
“That in itself means that one or two are going to get opportunities but they have to earn them as well and the very fact that we’re getting players back – slowly but surely we’re getting players back and hopefully we don’t lose any more or too many more or for too long a time – means that the levels of training go up and the competitive edge comes back into it, the drive and challenge for places in the team goes up and we’ve got a situation where that then pushes people on.
“Levels have gone up markedly. I watched training back from the first session that we did and players are aware that levels have gone up and that can be a motivating factor as well. I just want those things to stay.
“They’re a really good set, a really good group of people and players and they’re trying to take everything on board and are then trying to execute that in training and games.”
Stoke are in a battle at the wrong end of the Championship but this match isn’t necessarily being seen as a useful distraction.
Robins said: “Normally you can make (the build up to an FA Cup tie) different so it feels different. This week I’m trying to keep that momentum going, trying to build momentum and it’s difficult to do that if you keep chopping and changing. Our mindset has got to be on the game and the performance as well as any other game this time around but we know there aren’t three points on it, just another game in the last 16 that could mean we’re playing against whoever, one of the top teams in the country or someone else, someone from our division.
“In any case you’re always playing a difficult tie. This one’s at home, which is welcome, against a side that will be wounded from last week. Sometimes that is what can happen against Leeds United at this stage, they’re flying and, for me, they’re the best team in the division. It can happen but, like I say, Cardiff will be wounded and will come here trying to put that right.
“That’s great, it’s what we’re after. We want a really competitive game of football and we’ll look forward to it.”
Robins is without Lowe and Al-Hamadi and also has to consider a quick turnaround heading into an away league game at Bristol City (Wednesday, February 12) as he names his team to take on Cardiff.
“Yeah but then you’ve got to have players available to be able to do it,” he added.
“You’re looking at who can handle the load and who can get through without breaking. That’s a challenge and when games are put in and rearranged and you get through in the Cup – we were due to play Middlesbrough tonight (Friday) and that’s now been moved to mid-week, which then means you have another three-game week. Games get moved to accommodate TV and sometimes that impacts things and it impacts support but it is what it is and we have to be ready for whenever we’re asked to perform.”
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