Stoke City told what they must do to turn season around
Ryan Shawcross says Stoke City have got to find an ‘us against the world’ mentality to try to relieve pressure and haul themselves up the Championship table.
Stoke head to Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday (12.30pm) hoping to end a seven-match winless run that has seen tensions grow in the fanbase. The Potters are 17th going into this weekend, five points above the relegation zone and four short of the top half.
Shawcross is in charge of the under-21s these days but has been through enough good and tough times at the club over the last 17 years to appreciate what it will take in the changing room to turn the corner.
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He said: “You go out, you fight, you stick together. You have an ‘us against the world’ mentality and make sure you’re all in it as one. You have to do the basics, try to grind out a result and go from there.
“There is no point making any big predictions or massive statements, it’s just a case of going out and have little 10-minute slots to get through, play well, understand where you are in the league and understand what you need to do to get a little bit higher.
“Football has got an amazing way of turning around very quickly if you do the right things. So stick together, do the right things, have a massive team spirit going into each game and we’ve got some real quality players who, on any day, can beat any team.
“We’ve got to give ourselves a better chance to stay in games and that will hopefully result in an upturn in form and an upturn in results.”
Stoke’s under-21s signed off for the calendar year with a 1-0 Central League win at Bolton Wanderers on Wednesday afternoon, with Sol Sidibe scoring the winner.
Sidibe, Emre Tezgel, Freddie Anderson and Jaden Dixon have all had a taste of first team action this term and it can be a difficult balance between experiencing being around the senior squad and keeping ticking over the right amount of game time.
Shawcross said: “My role is to make sure that players like Sol, Emre, Nathan Lowe progress through the under-21s as quickly as possible to play first team football. The quicker they can get through this the better.
“It can be quite difficult and our 21s squad can be very young – probably a bit too young in the first half of this season, which might be why results haven’t been as good as they should be. We’ve been competitive but slightly too young. We’ll probably try to change that in the second half.
“But if a loan move comes around that we think is better than playing Premier League 2, I would rather have a weaker PL2 team and give that lad the right chance. I think myself, Gareth Owen and Jon Walters are all on the same page. It’s about the player rather than the team at this level.
“Of course we all want to win but the main thing is getting these players progressing through the system.
“It’s a massive selling point for Stoke. Would Dixon and Anderson have been playing under-21s football at 16 at any other club in the league? Probably not but they were getting chances last year and this year they’re captaining the team. There aren’t many 17-year-olds who captain the 21s.
“I love the fact you can see players develop. To look at Dixon when he was released by Spurs to what he is now and feel like I’ve played a part in that is great.”
