Stoke City legend Mike Pejic reviews the last week at the bet365 Stadium ahead of a home match against West Bromwich Albion
If it is a conundrum to anyone why Stoke City can’t score more goals at home then the answer can probably be found by looking at why I’m jumping up and down during a game and going mad.
All through the Huddersfield match on Monday I was getting wound up by a persistent trait in our play. When you are in possession as a team, you work the ball to get into an area when you match the opposition man for man whether it’s one-on-one, two-on-two, three-on-three or four-on-four. But we were getting into these positions only to turn away and pass it back to a centre-back.
The players have to be able to better see these opportunities, know they have to take them and be prepared to do so. When you’re on the ball and there’s a teammate who is up against one man, play it into them and make them work. Play an angled ball for a runner or play into space with a soft or pacy pass. Play it short so they can drag a defender with them or be free to turn or dink it into space behind.
Players are panicked into trying to keep possession because their teammates might be marked tight or aren’t moving. But make them work. If Niall Ennis isn’t making a bursting sprint, tell him to get in that hole, make him run. You have to demand them to do it.
If you’re the man receiving, you have to create space to exploit space with your movement. Spin out, pull off, get across your marker, pin him. It doesn’t just happen for you, you have to make it happen.
