Stoke City boss picks out 'the worst part' of defeat as strange stat emerges
Stoke City suffered a case of painful déjà vu as they followed up a 2-1 defeat at Sunderland with a 2-1 loss at Luton. Here are the talking points from Kenilworth Road as they prepare for a home game against Cardiff this weekend.
Context means everything
These were two tough away games, no matter that Sunderland had drawn five of their previous six and Luton have underperformed pre-season expectations. Stoke went level into the dying stages of both but came out with nothing.
READ MORE: Rob Edwards reveals superior quality that caused Stoke City loss to Luton Town
READ MORE: Narcis Pelach calls for calm after Stoke City defeat and reveals dressing room reaction
There was more aggression in the middle this time – Stoke made 31 tackles to Luton’s 17 – but Stoke have been reminded time and again over the last few years that what happens in a handful of seconds can render everything else in the 90 minutes irrelevant.
The big thing is probably what happened previously. If they had done this on the back of wins over Queens Park Rangers and Preston, this would have been easier to take on the chin. But when it’s six games without a win regardless of the fixtures, pressure builds.
There is clearly some frustration and several seasons’ worth of anger in the fan base and Narcis Pelach knows he needs to clock up points more frequently to ensure the buy-in he needs in the here and now to see through what is obviously a long-term project.
He said: “There have been results that haven’t been positive for us but Millwall with the decision that happened, QPR with the decision that happened there… things that could have helped us to be on 24 points or 25 points but look, I don’t want excuses. I want my team to make steps every day. I’m pleased with (a lot of aspects from) today considering we were very young, we were very solid, very organised but there are actions that are unavoidable and when we had our chances we didn’t score another goal.”
Hats off to the long distance Potters
A sell-out away end for a Tuesday night at Luton to follow the 900-odd who had made it to Sunderland amid the storms at the weekend. Days and nights like these are hard but probably make wins like the one at Blackburn all the more sweet.
Still, Pelach could see the disappointment on fans’ faces as he made his way to the tunnel.
“It’s the worst part,” he said. “Our fans have been really good with us, a lot of support. They come here, they are loud, they support the team, we feel it. It’s disappointing. The other day they made that long trip to Sunderland in those conditions and today they came here to Luton on a weeknight. We are really grateful. I just want to give a win to them soon.”
A core of a squad to build on
Mark Elliott was back on Radio Stoke duty at Luton and it was eye-opening pre-match to see who was still in the Stoke starting XI from when he had commentated on the team in 2022/23. One player: Ben Wilmot. There was Jack Bonham on the bench too and Jordan Thompson.
Luton, with Jacob Brown, Victor Moses and Alfie Doughty, have as many Stoke players pre-2023 as Stoke do.
There are four loan players who are playing regularly under Pelach but there is hope that there are others who will stay around for a while. There’s Johansson, Wilmot, Bocat, Seko, Manhoef and Junho for starters.
The point was made at the weekend that although Sunderland were even younger than Stoke, they had benefited from keeping a group together for a couple of years. This is the kind of jam tomorrow argument that is quite irritating but it does feel like Stoke will go nowhere until they can find players to trust for beyond a few months and there is faith in that group here – if they can find the right additions around them to pull up standards and push them onwards and upwards.
They could do with some extra physicality and aggression, extra height perhaps. Sam Gallagher and Bosun Lawal should help before they get to January.
