Notes from Steven Schumacher’s pre-match press conference as Stoke City prepare for a Championship match at Southampton
Steven Schumacher is acutely aware that he is yet to win back-to-back games at Stoke City. In fairness, it is just not something that Stoke City have done regularly over the last eight years and he’s only been in the hot seat for four months.
But for a manager who had been so used to winning – including six in a row to finish last season to make sure Plymouth were crowned League One champions – you can understand that it is something he wants to fix.
The big question is how – and he has two answers. The first is conceptual, the second is based on data he has in his files. That’s data that he can use to point to improvements and to improvements that still need to be made.
“It’s about consistency,” he said ahead of the final away game of the season, at Southampton, looking for a repeat of last weekend’s win at home against Plymouth. “It’s going to need a team to play with the energy we showed every week.
“The energy we played with against Plymouth was outstanding. The running stats were excellent. That was one of our better performances from a data point. We need to replicate that week in, week out. The Championship is a long season, 46 games and every game is competitive. There’s not one easy game. You need a whole squad who can physically do it.
“If you can physically do it, you’ll build momentum and get back-to-back results. That’ll be the message for the future.”
