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Steven Schumacher offers Stoke City insight as Narcis Pelach makes good start to 'key month'
Steven Schumacher knew how important it was for Stoke City to find a way to win against Derby County at the start of what could be a pivotal month.
Stoke have had a tougher start to the season than they would have liked – with a change of head coach from Schumacher to Narcis Pelach thrown into the mix for good measure – and had won three of their 12 opening games before beating Derby on Saturday.
But the Championship is extremely tight and the Potters are 16th, just six points adrift of the top six and three above the bottom three in the knowledge that they want to attach themselves at the right end as the season kicks on.
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This is the third successive three-game week for Pelach, who is now preparing for an away trip to Blackburn Rovers on Wednesday (7.45pm) before hosting Millwall on Saturday (12.30pm) to go into the next international break.
Stoke then return with matches against Queens Park Rangers, Preston North End and Burnley with hope that they can find some positive momentum.
Schumacher, watching the win over Derby on Sky Sports duty, said: “As it proves every year, this division is so tight. That’s a big result for Stoke. They needed to win that game. It will have been a fixture they looked at and thought that three points were a minimum. They’re going into a good run of fixtures where they will feel they can get going and try to build some momentum. This month, November, is one they can probably feel they can go and attack. It’s a good result for them and will probably give them a bit of confidence as well.
“It wasn’t an easy start to the season, a lot of games away from home, the new manager coming in and will have taken a bit of time to get his ideas across. This month is going to be key for them and that result was a big one. It wasn’t a brilliant performance from either team, I don’t feel, there wasn’t loads and loads of quality in it but Stoke found a way to win.”
