Stoke City players told to improve fitness as Narcis Pelach makes ‘through the roof’ claim
Stoke City players are still getting to grips with what new boss Narcis Pelach is asking of them
Narcis Pelach intends to steadily improve the fitness levels of his inherited Stoke City squad in the coming weeks and months in order to ensure the players are fully capable of carrying out exactly what his approach to matches demands. Pelach took over from Steven Schumacher last month and has collected five points from his first five games.
Still getting to know the personnel at his disposal, both personally and in a footballing sense, Pelach recognises that he possesses a youthful group as a result of the recruitment drive overseen in the summer by the club, which secured loan moves for four promising players, all of whom are contracted to Premier League clubs.
Stoke took on Norwich on Saturday and produced an energetic showing as they battled their way to a 1-1 draw. Tonight, against Bristol City, they’ll face a task similar in the sense that the opposition arriving at the Bet365 Stadium generally like having the ball and they’ll test the Potters’ intense pressing game.
For that to be rolled out on a consistent basis, and for players to be able to go again and again in the midst of a testing schedule, Pelach will work with the staff at the club and the players themselves in a multitude of areas – from work on the training pitch to the nutritional side of a footballer’s preparation – to maximise their capabilities.
“I don’t look at what happened before I came, because I don’t think I’m in a position to talk – and I respect a lot my colleagues, Steven and his staff,” Pelach said of what he’d inherited. “I respect all of the coaches, we play in a different way, we do different things depending on our backgrounds and the way we feel the game.
