The 24-year-old midfielder sat out of Stoke’s trip to Norwich on Saturday after taking a jolt on the knee in the previous weekend’s victory over Swansea. He’s returned to training and is hoping to give Mark Robins the green light that he can be involved on Tuesday (7.45pm).
Robins said: “He’s all right, he’s on the grass, he’s training. He just felt a bit uncomfortable and we can’t take any risks with him, I wouldn’t want to do that. We’re just relying on Wouter telling us that he’s ready to go again.”
Burger’s Netherlands youth international teammate Million Manhoef has returned to action after two months out with a knee injury of his own. The winger, aged 23, has been used as a sub in the last two games and Robins has been impressed by his impact while knowing he has to be sensible in how he is reintroduced.
Robins said: “He’s talented, a really talented player, we know that. He’s somebody who can light things up and that sort of cameo and the game the previous week showed the ability he has.
“We’re talking about players who have been out for a period of time and it takes time to get them up to speed. Those are the things we’re now waiting for and while it can be frustrating for everyone and you want to try to push as hard as you can, you’re at the mercy of the medical team and the players themselves to demonstrate how much they can do.”
Sam Gallagher is also back after a month-and-a-half out with a hamstring problem, making a sub appearance at Norwich for the first time since Robins’ first game in charge back on January 4.
The 29-year-old striker’s season so far has been derailed by near consecutive injuries and Stoke have been looking how he can make tweaks to try to stay available for the next couple of months and beyond.
Robins said: “I think from a physical perspective he’s a really, really strong, powerful player that has still got to learn how to use his strength and power to get the maximum benefit for himself and for us. There are still movements we can work on with him, still elements of the game we can work with him on to improve his total output both in and out of possession when he’s challenging for the ball, how he’s landing, how he’s running, where he’s running, movements that he makes, the speed he runs at…
“He’s an all-action player who throws himself into everything but there has to be an element of control about how he moves. That’s easier said than done because it’s hard wired into him the way that he plays. It’s just something he does. Maybe if we can change that focus slightly we can alter how he impacts our team.
“In his mind I think he’s ready to go and desperate to get going and he’s said that for a bit because it’s been a stop-start time for him. He’s a really intelligent guy and hopefully we can use that to everyone’s benefit and keep him on the pitch because we need him. He’s got a lot of talent there that we want to demonstrate and he wants to put out in front of the supporters week in, week out.”
Stoke go into this game in hand sitting 19th in the Championship, hoping to extend a five-point gap between themselves and the relegation zone and start hunting down the teams in mid-table.
Robins said: “It’s a good opportunity, game 34 in the season and we’re playing catch up a little bit. We’re only five points from below us but only three points from climbing the table a little bit and catching teams above us. We have to focus on that. If we win this game we catch the teams above us and we can start to move into areas where we can start to challenge.
“People talk about mid-table obscurity and I’d take that at the minute. I think we’ve got to build and start from somewhere and this is obviously a season when we have to make sure we’ve got some really good building blocks in place to move forward. This is the most important game of our season because it’s the next one.”
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