‘Obsessed machine’ Narcis Pelach lets Stoke City players know demands.
Stoke City players told they ‘are going to have to work really hard’ under new head coach Narcis Pelach with his reputation for detail, intensity and clarity.
Stoke City captain Ben Gibson has let his teammates know they are going to be worked exceptionally hard to get the outcomes they want under ‘obsessed machine’ Narcis Pelach.
Gibson worked with Pelach last season at Norwich as they reached the Championship play-offs. Pelach had been drafted in as a key part of David Wagner’s staff in May 2023 and made an impact on the squad with his planning and demands. That is what is now expected at Clayton Wood as Pelach oversees his first full week of training ahead of Gibson’s return to another of his old clubs,
“Detail, intensity, clarity,” said Gibson, when asked what was on the cards from the new head coach. “We’re going to have to work really hard. I know him and what he demands. No one will work harder than him, believe me. The guy’s obsessed, he’s a machine, and we’ll benefit from that.”
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Pelach joined Stoke last Wednesday, replacing Steven Schumacher, and had a quick turnaround before his first game in charge against Hull on Friday night. There were signs in the opening half
hour about a change in approach before Stoke ‘ran out of juice’ in the second half and slipped to a 3-1 defeat.Gibson said: “Obviously we’re doing different things, we’re being asked to do different things than this football club has done for a long time. We had the craziest week, loads of information to take on board and it’s going to be so different to how it has been for a long time. It’s going to be a rollercoaster, there will be peaks, there will be troughs, we have to be patient.
“I saw a lot of good things and a lot of things we can work on. In the first half we were really good, we made the opportunity to get a second, which we didn’t take, and then a couple of mistakes cost us in the second half. I think we ran out of juice, which cost us a bit. The emotions of the week, we’ve got a young team, which will have never been given this volume of information in such a short period, I think that showed.
“We have to get back into the meeting room be ready to learn, take more on board and look at changing our ways.”
