We were like animals’ – Every word from Narcis Pelach ahead of Stoke City’s trip to Sheffield United
Narcis Pelach discusses everything from fitness to outperforming the first man at corners as Stoke City gets ready for Sheffield United on the road.
When Stoke City travels to Championship promotion contender Sheffield United this weekend (Saturday, 3pm), they hope to build on three straight draws. Narcis Pelach has paused his training ground preparations to give a sneak peek at the match.
A quick turnaround to head into a game at Sheffield United.
This is likely to be the most significant challenge we have ever faced as a team. Even though I’ve only been on the job for five weeks, things have moved swiftly. Usually, after this length of time, you would be discussing the need to complete preseason and how we would be learning everything in a different setting while playing friendly games where you can make mistakes without losing points. It’s merely mediocre in the league.
This is yet another significant test, arguably the most difficult one to date. However, I am full of energy and positive energy for Sheffield United. I think we can accomplish something.
The fact that Sheffield is a tough game and that Bramall Lane is a challenging place to visit—I know this because I’ve been there before and we defeated Huddersfield in 21/22—makes me not want to travel there.With great confidence and bravery, we will go to compete, play our game, and challenge them because I know we can succeed.
In a perfect world, these lessons would be taught in a different setting. We must find a solution in the middle of the competition. In a preseason game, if you are winning 2-0 and suddenly lose control, these are all challenging to handle, but they are trainable.
We should have managed the game much better. Of course it’s easy to do it with a laptop the day after the game but our duty is to find solutions. It doesn’t mean that it won’t happen again because it’s a process but at least we’re conscious about what is to come in that game as well as in the Hull City one.
This is not a recent occurrence; Stoke City has experienced it before. This week, players have brought up the topic
with me, stating that it has occurred to them in the past and that they feel like they need to improve their mentality
management since they sometimes lose control. I’m here to assist them in doing so. I anticipate that the next time we
find ourselves in this situation, we will handle it much better. Since this is the game, we won’t know precisely what
will happen, but we will be more mindful of the actions we have discussed thus far. It offers us hope that we can
perform better the next time we find ourselves in this situation.
There were some positives as well. We scored two goals, which is important for us and for the team. We need to be scoring goals. It’s something I talk about a lot to them. I’m happy that in 15 minutes we scored two goals. I’m not going to say that I prefer a 2-2 than a 0-0 but if I had to choose something now I would. I want the team to feel we can score.
We are working on our finishing and how we can get into the final third more times so we can have more end product. If we want to connect with the fans it’s important to score.
The first 15 minutes were exceptional. The second half was not good but we got a draw. I know I did something very unpopular: I put a back five at home. But this is my job. I’m going to make the best decisions I can for the team and make decisions I think can get us points. Now that point is valuable, it’s four unbeaten and although I knew it was difficult to see at that moment but I told the team that if you cannot win, at least we don’t need to lose.
We got a point, we move onto the next one. The Championship is about getting points. In a difficult league where teams are very equal, every point is very valuable.
That kind of game management problem has happened since before this season, it’s happened since relegation. How can you fix it?
The players brought that in this week to me. They say, ‘Boss, this is not just something that is happening now, it’s come from the past. It has happened to us that we lose control sometimes.’
We had a meeting just for that, talking about how we can manage these situations better. What can we do in that kind of scenario to slow the game down and try to manage it? Now we have a plan. It doesn’t mean that because we have a plan it will never happen again because this is a process. We need to change it slowly from a tactical point of view, from the management point of view and from the mental point of view.
But at least we are conscious. We know we have a problem there and we are going to try to solve it with as much positivity as we can have. I’m looking forward to going into the next challenge and trying to avoid these situations in the future as much as possible.
You said that you needed to take Lewis Koumas off on Tuesday because he was running out of energy. When you look at the forwards you currently have considering current injuries, are you worried about strength in depth?
We will need to strengthen the team at some point because the Championship is very demanding and you always
need more options. There are three-game weeks and it’s a very busy calendar and the more players we have available
the better. Now we have some injuries that mean we have fewer options. Of course we need to strengthen the squad
as much as possible.
Lewis was running out of energy and I cannot risk an injury to such a big important player for us. Lewis is giving so
much to our attack, to our press. I felt that the responsible thing was to change him. Of course it’s an unpopular
decision but I’m not here just to make decisions that please everyone, I have to make decisions that are for the best
interest of the football club and the team.
The team doesn’t seem to be able to press as well without Sam Gallagher. Is that going to be a problem?
We pressed a lot the other day but they also didn’t allow us to press and played over us. If you play short, short, short like Norwich you can press but if you play over, play long, you need to come back. We tried to adapt at half-time. We said they didn’t want to press because they saw we want to press with a lot of energy, like animals, and they wanted to play over us. But we scored the second goal because we pressed high, forced them into a long ball, we won the second ball and we score.
If we master our style of play it’s about us. I still feel we score a goal from the high press, which is really important
for us, because that’s what we want to be – then if the other team changes their style because of us it’s a good sign.
Bristol City is a team that plays through and wants to push the game inside, they want to be a ball possession side.
Then in the second half they started to play through our midfield line, which is something we know we have to be
much more solid going into Sheffield United and the games we will play.
But this is about adapting and mastering the style of play, which covers it all. The players are learning but it’s just
five weeks. When we do one thing, then another thing is not great, when we focus on that then we see we have to
focus on something else. But this is what it is, it’s a process, there are a lot of things to teach and coach but in general
I am positive about what I have seen so far.
The team is believing, the levels of energy were exceptional against Bristol City. We are the team who in the last six
games in the Championship have run the most in all the metrics, which shows how much we care. That’s the
beginning for me and without it you cannot talk about tactics.
We are on the right path. There are still lots of things to improve and lots of things to build.
Do you get very frustrated when corners don’t beat the first man?
Yes, when we don’t beat the first man it’s something I don’t like and we push players to deliver better. We still had
two big chances with Ben Gibson across the front which could have been a goal but we have to tidy up errors as well
and we have to tidy up the delivery.
We have Million Manhoef, Junho, Moran, Seko, Enda Stevens, they all can deliver set plays and we have to try to do
it much better and to add more goals from set plays. We scored against Hull from a set play and the free-kick from
Tom Cannon (against Portsmouth) and we had a chance with a wide free-kick at Middlesbrough with Junior
(Tchamadeu) but I want much more than that. We have to work more.
Are you planning to freshen the team up against Sheffield United?
Today is an important day for us to decide. We have freshened up the players in the last two training sessions and
today is the third day we have seen each other so we will see what we really decide.
There are a lot of games in the Championship and there’s a big trip in the cup on Tuesday away to Southampton. We
will need to freshen up at some point. If it’s not at the weekend it will need to be against Southampton.
But the team did really well in the last rounds in the cup with young players and it will probably be a chance for them
to show what they are capable of. We need to be very clever in the line-ups we do because we cannot risk injuries, we
have to try to keep the squad as healthy as we can. At the moment the most important thing for us is the
Championship and we need to make steps in the Championship.
Sheffield United will be relentless and you will have to work on your concentration as well as playing?
No one has won at Bramall Lane so far this season. They have a great squad, great coach, experience and it’s a
difficult place to go but I believe. I’m not going to go there and think we just need to compete and stay in the game
and think that is enough.I don’t think that way. This is not the type of guy I am. I want each game to be as valuable as
possible. We arrive at Bramall Lane with the belief that we can win the game and that we must put up the best fight
we can. It will undoubtedly be extremely difficult, but we should be proud of the fact that we will have 3,000
supporters standing next to us. I would want to express my gratitude for your tremendous assistance. I feel like I’m
not worthy of that. We squandered a two-goal lead to end up 2-2 the other day, but both the players and I thought
they were fantastic at the end of the game. With any luck, we’ll be able to visit Sheffield and deliver something.
How is Wouter Burger?
He will train separately from the group today, and we will be able to assess his ability to handle the session we have planned for him. Following this, we will determine if he is unable to play and we must wait because the risk is too great, or whether he is healthy and feels capable of playing and we may start him off the bench. Since we need to wait until the training session to see, I am not in a position to say anything at this time.
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