Stoke City’s verdicts on Narcis Pelach, midfield decision, and ‘expecting the Alamo’
Stoke City’s home draw against struggling Cardiff left them feeling frustrated, disappointed, and angry over their team’s performance.
Narcis Pelach’s side is winless in seven games, with a trip to Sheffield Wednesday next weekend and a tough triple-header against promotion contenders Leeds, Sunderland, and Burnley. The head coach’s post-match comments indicated he recognised the seriousness of the situation, but supporters have expressed their own sentiments.
Stoke have been unable to escape the Championship’s bottom half since relegation in 2018, and are presently 17th with 22 points from 21 games, five points above the bottom three and four points behind the top half. Pelach’s resilience in the present moment is put to the test.
John Washington:He needs assistance. He needs someone with a lot of experience in Championship Winter Football. He needs to realise that having a backup plan is essential. There’s also plan C. Sheffield Wednesday will face the same challenges as Luton. Three massive 6ft forwards with high balls raining into our penalty area, followed by big defenders who come up for corners. It will be the Alamo. The previous season at their location was the same.
Neil Kirkham suggests coaching defence, developing passing skills, and implementing a 4-4-2 formation as a starting point.
According to Gary O’Sullivan, there may be a hidden issue at the club that fans are unaware of. It’s impossible to have eight managers since 2018, and they’re all terrible.
There appears to be no plan, and if there is one, it is ripped up as soon as a manager loses and restarts with a new manager, new players, and a new system. I look at us and wonder, “What is our identity these days?” We don’t have one.
Unfortunately, it has crept into the stands. The crowd are so fed up that the atmosphere has devolved into absolute chaos.
According to Darren Williams, the majority of those who contribute to the toxic environment are those who believe we should compete for promotion each season. Every week, whether we win or lose, it says, ‘We are now xx points away from the top six!’
Obviously, those fans need to open their eyes and realise that we are neither a team or club that is good enough to go up, nor are we close to being good enough to believe that we only need to show up to beat certain teams! And that’s the one that really makes me sick.
According to Tim Jenks, using two midfielders might lead to overruns. It’s disheartening that he can’t see what 20,000 others see.
Anthony Clutton: We’ve had a couple tough games and don’t see any points going our way.
Chris Jones suggests that if Pelach remains in the position in January, he should continue to work on signings and demonstrate his expertise. It’s pointless to allow him bring in players just to fire him later, like we did with Schuey.
Avtar Devgon: Tough dilemma for the board.…do you remain with the current set-up and let him bring in his guys, or do you change it now? SJW was the hero last season, but he was on the same firing line as Scholes when things went wrong at Stoke! Most people did not anticipate us to be in this situation this season.
Mark Gilbert:Listen, Stoke City have ruined my Saturdays since 1972. The Cardiff game was Nathan Jones-esque, and I can understand the fury and disappointment with this much below-par performance. We can’t sustain this revolving door of management going around; it has to stop. Is Narcis a man? Not sure. The January window has arrived; in my opinion, we will see who he brings in, who he releases, and if he can improve outcomes, he will win, regardless of how scrappy or lucky he is. Meanwhile, as Stoke City fans, we must unite and support the squad.
Mark Whitter stated, “We were marginally outplayed by a poor team on our own turf.” They saved a point, ostensibly because their custodian was terrible. Is it not great? Hopefully, Lawal, Pearson, and Gallagher will contribute just enough to avoid relegation (again). The problem is that the majority of the other eligible managers who are currently unemployed have previously worked for us and been fired.
Here’s a frightening thought: from 1923 (Tom Mather) and 1977 (Waddo’s final game), Stoke had only THREE managerial hires — that’s over 54 years. We’ve had THIRTEEN (including caretakers) during the last six years, and we’re probably about to have fourteen more. It’s groundhog season.
Leave a Reply