Stoke City roar to top of Championship fitness table as Narcis Pelach starts changes
Stoke City have quickly become the hardest-running team in the Championship in Narcis Pelach’s first six games as head coach as he insists that fitness is the all-important base layer for anything else he will demand.
Pelach has been trying to turn a youthful Stoke squad into a heavy-pressing team since taking the reins five weeks ago and the physical stats have been going through the roof while they have built up a little four-game unbeaten run.
He has been working on a six-week plan to instil the basics for his approach and style of play, ready to then work on the next phase and add further tactical and technical detail, but behind all that has been a focus on getting players as fit as possible.
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This team has been posting the highest figures for a Stoke side since relegation and now tops the charts for the division over the last six matches.
Pelach, who takes his team to Sheffield United this weekend (Saturday, 3pm), said: “In all the metrics: the team that has run the most, the team with the biggest sprint distance, the team with, I think except Norwich, most high speed running. It’s impressive. The fitness coaches are impressed with that. It sends a message to all of us that we’re on the right path. We are now the team that is running the most in the Championship and hopefully our fans will appreciate that as well.
“It’s what we want to be, a hard-working club, a hard-working team that knows that when we go into games win, lose or draw, the effort is non-negotiable. We have seen that in six games and we now have to sustain it.”
He added: “The team is believing, the levels of energy were exceptional against Bristol City. We are the team who in the last six games in the Championship have run the most in all the metrics, which shows how much we care. That’s the beginning for me and without it you cannot talk about tactics. We are on the right path. There are still lots of things to improve and lots of things to build.”
Stoke have drawn their last three games following a thumping win over Portsmouth but Pelach knows they will face perhaps the toughest assignment of his time in charge at Bramall Lane.
He admits that it would have been ideal to work on his approach during pre-season rather than mid-season but he said: “Life happens as it happens. It’s not a moment for excuses. I am pleased with what I’ve seen so far and now we go to a tough, tough place but there have been positives with six points out of the last 12. If you can get 50 per cent of the points in the Championship then you’ll be in a top position come the end of the season – it could be seventh, eighth or ninth or maybe even sixth depending on the season. But it’s not about that, it’s about building something and making sure the style is there.
“We lost the first two games, they came quickly, and we go to Sheffield United knowing it will be tough. But I want to see the team fighting and getting it right and making it awkward for them, making sure Sheffield don’t have an easy game. I want to be a very, very hard team to beat. That’s what I said in my first press conference and we are going towards that but I want much more.”