Stoke City boss determined to take 'big chance' starting with Swansea City
Stoke City return home this weekend for a chance for Mark Robins to try to make the bet365 Stadium, well, feel like home.
The Potters welcome Swansea (Saturday, 3pm) for the first of four out of six games back at headquarters – on the back of the EFL fixture schedulers having sent them away for four of the five previous league games, including long mid-week trips to Portsmouth and Bristol City as well as an FA Cup jaunt to Sunderland.
Robins has only had two home league games since taking over on New Year’s Day – goalless draws with Plymouth and Oxford – and he wants to take the chance to get shots in the net, points on the board and build the relationship with Stoke supporters that he knows will be central to anything and everything that happens next. 'United strength is stronger' is the club motto he has kept repeating.
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“It is exciting to be at home and not travelling and everyone is in their own environment,” he said. “For us it’s a big chance. We’ve only played three at home since I came in, including one in the cup, and it’s not enough. You want to play at home, you want to try to bed in as quickly as you possibly can do and this gives us a chance to do it.
“I’ve just looked at the fixture board in my office and three out of the next four are at home, we’ve got Norwich away next week obviously, but it’s a big chance to pick up some points on the back of good and better performances.
“But again, when you look at the fixture list and teams you play, they are all very difficult and I think the 120 minutes in the cup against Cardiff doesn’t help going into a game whether it’s Tuesday or Wednesday evening. They’ve given everything, the players have given everything in terms of energy and effort and sometimes the thinking side of the game lacks from time to time and you can see that connections haven’t been formed properly yet. That’s a consequence of having the squad make-up we’ve got at the moment and some of the inexperience that’s in there, new players coming in, changing of the players a lot. We’ve not been really consistent in what we’ve been able to do because of that. It does have an impact.
“I’m looking forward to getting a really settled squad together that we can keep on the grass for a long period of time and build momentum with but that being said, that’s an ideal world and we don’t live in it. And on the flip side of all that, the young players that we have, have a load of energy, there’s no baggage really with them yet and we can try to free them up to go and deliver what they can because they are good players, there’s no doubt.”
Swansea won at Bristol City last weekend but have lost the other five of their last six since the turn of the year. Boss Luke Williams is trying to make changes to how they play, particularly after losing his captain Matt Grimes in January, to stop them being sucked into the battle behind them at the bottom of the Championship.
They arrive in the Potteries sitting 17th, five points ahead of Stoke having played one game more.
Robins said: “They’ve changed a little bit. They’ve lost Matt Grimes, who is a huge loss for them, he’s a top player and he’s gone to Coventry. That changes their dynamic because he was not only a really good player but he was their captain. They’ll feel that but they’ve brought in Lewis O’Brien from Nottingham Forest on loan, who is a different type of player but he’s dynamic.
“They’ve changed slightly from what they were doing before but Luke Williams is a really, really good coach, a good guy who understands the game and how to go about things. I think the players really like him there and they always play in a really good way. It’s nice to watch, good rotations, and they’ll still have those but they’ve gone a little bit more direct of late.
“It’ll be interesting to see what they do. We’ll prepare for every eventuality because they’ll mix things up, I’m sure, and it’ll come down to us and what we can do. On the back of the support we’re going to get, we’ve got to give them something. I really want them to bring the energy so we can try to kick on and get a result. It’s a really important game.”
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