Stoke City played out a goalless draw with Watford to maintain a five-point gap from the Championship drop zone. Here are the talking points from the bet365 Stadium.
The most important thing in the here and now was probably to produce a reaction to what had happened on Tuesday and the accusations that followed. Stoke had been weak and lacked intent and intensity against Middlesbrough, which will never be accepted by fans, and they needed to come out and face the music here and show some they were up for it.
Big tackles from Junior Tchamadeu and Ben Pearson were the kind of thing to get supporters on their side even when a side isn’t in top gear. Everything seemed a little more urgent, they came through a spell of pressure by being ready to defend and they might even have won it in the end.
No one would have taken one point from three games over eight days but a fighting draw as it panned out can set the minimum standard for what’s expected.
Why Mark Robins took off Ali Al-Hamadi
It was a boost to have Ali Al-Hamadi back leading the line and he was prepared to play through injury, using his power and mobility to be a real nuisance for defenders. It seemed like everyone was looking forward to seeing him next to Sam Gallagher when Gallagher was stripped and ready to enter the fray on the hour mark but instead up went his own number. Even he looked disappointed.
But Mark Robins said: “Ali is carrying an injury as everyone knows so I’ve got to be really careful with him. That’s why he came off because he was doing all right, there was no other reason. He’d just started to slow down and when you start to tire there’s a risk of re-injury and you have to be careful with that.
“Also it gives other players a chance to get up to speed a little bit more. That’s not the reason for the change but it does that on the back of it.”
Stoke hoping for injury boost through clear week
Wouter Burger almost made the bench this time but should be available for the trip to Coventry next weekend. Million Manhoef was only passed fit on Saturday morning after a virus and Lewis Baker missed out through illness, which funnily enough Norwich were complaining about the previous Saturday so perhaps it’s going around the Championship.
Ben Pearson has already come back – this was his first full run out in more than a year – while Jordan Thompson started again after his hernia operation. Ben Wilmot, who had been out since January, was back at centre-half after a trying night at right-back on Tuesday.
Robins pointed to Enda Stevens’ experience too as he prepares to go a long way to clearing the treatment room over the next few days.
He said: “The whole of that (experience) is really important. Then you’ve got (Tatsuki) Seko to come on as a substitute and the energy he brought was really important at that time as well. They know the game, they know the Championship and that’s important – and also the importance of getting everyone available.
“Now we’ve got a week working into the next game and hopefully we’ll get players back who have been out for a little while which then reduces the number out to just a couple. Hopefully we can get a really good week’s work into them.”
Ben Gibson, Lynden Gooch, Ryan Mmaee, Sol Sidibe and Josh Wilson-Esbrand were the other missing men. Andre Vidigal had played for the under-21s on Friday.
Robins will have to win fans around on short goal-kicks
“Why don’t we just get the ball in their half?” asked Mike Pejic, looking between his fingers, as Viktor Johansson nudged it five yards to Ben Wilmot only to quickly get it back again under pressure and invariably one or the other would soon hurriedly kick it further.
Stoke fans evidently appreciated upticks in a lot of respects in this game but there was still bafflement at times when their side kept on playing short goal-kicks, which seems nearer one end of the risk-reward spectrum.
Robins is having to find a way to make not just more chances but better chances with the players he currently has in his squad. Everything will evolve but he will have to win around spectators on this one.
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