2 weeks Ago By [email protected] (Mike Pejic)
Watching Stoke City at Leeds on Monday and they looked like a team who had hit 50 points, thought they were ok and could sail in calm waters through to the summer. Well, they’ve found themselves in stormy seas again. Even if they were camped in mid-table, fans are still paying their money to come and watch you every week and you play to win.
Nothing short of that is acceptable and if the man next to you isn’t meeting expectations, tell them. We just seem to accept things sometimes. It’s too easy come, easy go and that game was sad to watch.
Every match you play in the league, every match you play for Stoke City, you’ve got a badge on your shirt that you must wear with pride. It demands you perform to the best of your ability for every second. Concentrate for every second.
Don’t let anyone shirk responsibility. If you concede one it’s a blow but make sure you don’t concede again. If you concede two, make sure you don’t let in a third come hell or high water.
Mark Robins will have been making mental notes about which players he can truly rely on and, even if he will need one or two of them in the next couple of matches or even next season, they will have to go a long way to proving he can properly trust them now. It all comes down to three sides of the game when the ball is in play: defending, in possession and on the counter-attack – and then, when the ball is dead, set plays. No one is excused from any of those requirements.
If you’re a twinkle-toed winger or a thick set number 9 you still have to be able to defend in the attacking third because that’s where you can get a quick break and score a goal with five passes or less. If you can’t get the ball back that high up the pitch, you defend from the half-way line, and then the back third. If it comes to the 18-yard box then you should try to become a brick wall and every yard from that point is priceless.
Do not fold and drop automatically and join your goalkeeper in the six-yard box, defend every step. There is a mountain of work for Stoke to do on the defensive side and getting an understanding of where they defend, what to do and when to do it. It involves every player, it doesn’t matter who you are or how big your ego.
Attacking wise, we’ve not produced enough from either possession play or on the counter-attack this season, even if it’s improved a little under Robins. You must have purpose to your play and not just pass for passing’s sake. You have to understand when to pass it slow, when to pass it quick and understand why you are moving the ball around in the first place.
The whole point is to get into a two-on-two situation, for example, but when we get there too often the movement is static or the player doesn’t realise the opportunity and turns to pass safely sideways or backwards. That’s not just a Stoke disease but it’s a brain fog that corrupts modern football, which has made the means are more important than the objective. We have to see more consistent levels of play so that we’re seeing performance levels hitting sevens and eights out of 10 in every match.
There will be a load of work in the summer to try to get to that point, with three key areas in the squad to consider: your own players, your loan players and your academy players. The changing room has to be fully loaded with understanding of the game. But before all that we have a huge last home game and it will be difficult.
Sheffield United, having been stung by results recently, will be getting geed up by Chris Wilder ready for the play-offs. He will see this as a dress rehearsal and players will be fighting for a shirt in what lies ahead. Do not take this fixture lightly.
Stoke have got to be at it. Hold nothing back. Go out and wear that shirt with pride, see where you are and get yourselves out of trouble.
Don’t give anything away. Fight for every cause. If the man next to you isn’t doing it, drag him up and get him going.
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