Ali Al-Hamadi latest as Mark Robins delivers Stoke City injury news ahead of QPR test
Mark Robins has overseen a major turnaround in availability over the last few weeks at Stoke City, who return to Championship action this weekend against Queens Park Rangers
Mark Robins has about as full a squad as he has had since becoming Stoke City manager, almost a full squad in fact, as he heads into eight final crucial matches.
Ali Al-Hamadi is back in training ahead of Saturday’s home match against Queens Park Rangers (3pm) after limping out of Stoke’s last game, at Millwall, and having to subsequently pull out of international duty with Iraq.
It is some turnaround from Robins’ first few weeks in charge at the start of the New Year when he was missing Ben Pearson, Wouter Burger, Jordan Thompson, Million Manhoef, Sam Gallagher, Lynden Gooch and Eric Bocat, as well as Ryan Mmaee, who was sent back from a loan spell at Rapid Vienna while nursing a hamstring problem.
Robins said: “It’s been good. The grass is growing, there’s more grass coverage on the pitch and that’s fantastic. I expect that’ll be boring for everyone else but it makes a difference to us.
“They had a few days off after Millwall, worked the middle of the week, had the end of the weekend off and then came back in this week and worked all week.
“We had eight players away, seven of which are in the squad, and Ali came back injured but he’s back training with us and that’s huge for us.
“I’m hoping that everyone is good and okay. The work we did was varied because we had those people away. Tactically it was less work than physical stuff.
“They did some really good stuff and this week they’ve been training properly – and when I say properly I mean they always train properly but the levels have gone up. That’s not surprising because of the availability of the players I have now.
“While it takes time because of the time players have been out with injuries, it takes time for them to get up to speed, there are really good signs going into these last remaining fixtures.
“I’m really looking forward to playing again tomorrow in front of our own supporters. There are eight games left, 36 days left of the season and we’ve got to really enjoy it, embrace it with no fear and really attack this last period.”
