Mark Robins is reviewing how best to manage Stoke City’s fitness levels in the short and long-term after seeing players go down with cramp at the weekend.
Robins has been using a tight first team squad since taking over on New Year’s Day because several potential starters have been sidelined through injury – and there was evident fatigue with some as they played 120 minutes in the FA Cup at home against Cardiff on Saturday.
The Stoke boss has had to weigh up a quick turnaround for a league trip to Bristol City on Wednesday (7.45pm) plus the hoped-for return of some senior men over the next week or so to help share the burden.
Stoke’s fitness planning and muscle injuries are believed to have been a hot topic behind the scenes last year and it is already guaranteed that the next pre-season will be overseen by a different team than it was in 2024. But that doesn’t necessarily help in the here and now as Stoke try to win games under Robins to haul themselves up the Championship table and away from danger.
Robins said: “It’s something that’s a little bit strange, to be fair, when people get cramp or what have you. You have to look at what they take in in terms of electrolytes and all of those things, but there’s also nothing like good old-fashioned running.
“When the demand is there to run, sometimes if they’ve not been used to doing that or with the same intensity then it takes it out of you a lot quicker.
“Those are things that we’ve got to change over time as well. We’ve got to get through the games now but it’s disappointing that so many players are going down with cramp. Is the pitch heavy? Can we try to tailor training? How is the pitch at the training ground in comparison to the stadium? It’s all up for debate but cramp shouldn’t happen really.”
Stoke welcome back cup-tied duo Nathan Lowe and Ali Al-Hamadi for the match at Ashton Gate but Robins, his coaching staff and the sports science department have had to think about how best to use the short time in between games.
Robins said: “The whole thing is about recovery and tactical working, things like that. The biggest thing coming out of Saturday is to recover from that game and make sure we still have everyone available plus the others that were missing.”
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