Stoke City were absolutely exceptional but there was food for thought for boss too.
Stoke City legend Mike Pejic is waxing lyrical about the club’s first win under new head coach Narcis Pelach.
Two words to sum up Stoke City up to the 53rd minute on Wednesday night when they got their first win under Narcis Pelach: absolutely exceptional.
Right from the off it was possession with purpose, quick, forceful and entertaining. The attitude was think forward, play forward, move forward and everything was flowing. The approach was spot on. It was marvellous play. It wasn’t about making 790 passes from the back, it was one, two and three-touch play, positive forward thinking that produced momentum. Everyone was on the same hymn sheet and that’s what fans want to see. We don’t need to see an overload of passes, if it’s on play forward and that’s what it was without hesitancy.
We saw turns, we saw runs, we saw dribbles and that’s what excites the crowd – and players enjoy playing like that too. We cut through Portsmouth from the first to the last whistle of the first half. We had nine shots before we even scored in the 13th minute and we should have had a second when Sam Gallagher was wrongly ruled out for offside. Individual players were bossing their areas, whether it was defending or attacking.
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There was a nightmare 20-odd seconds soon after that goal was ruled out. We had an attacking free-kick but the set-up wasn’t there to regain if we lost possession. That should always be in place to deal with a counter-attack and that was an important lesson. Lewis Koumas did brilliantly to track back and put the player, Josh Murphy, under pressure on the break but it was poor defending from Enda Stevens. If he wasn’t going to dive in and win the ball he had to force him wide. We had been dominating but were suddenly level and on other nights it would have been costly.
But not this one. I always talk about units functioning and we started to see partnerships because everyone was thinking forwards. It looked like a balanced team. The work rate of Koumas and Bae Junho in the wide areas needs particular mention. Koumas with his direct running and positive movement really stretched the opposition on one side and Junho with his dribbling and control did likewise on the other.
That helped the likes of Tom Cannon, making runs in behind, Sam Gallagher pulling off short – that double act started to develop – and we saw Cannon being released, linking with Gallagher, and we saw the best of Wouter Burger with his passing ability in the attacking half.
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It wasn’t just the strike partnership but Gallagher linking with Andrew Moran and Burger. It was superb at times and a joy to watch. We saw the best of those six players and Portsmouth didn’t know how to handle us. Each one was playing to their strengths.
Those are your key principles when you have possession with purpose: having quick and creative players who created space and exploited space, the passing, movement and support was all there. The confidence was there because they made the confidence. Portsmouth just didn’t have a clue how to handle it.
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It’s some turnaround from Saturday at Middlesbrough and that’s because we were playing to the strength of players. The team was balanced, having all the elements you need from mid to the attacking third.
We had a back four which was there to win the ball first and foremost, which they did bar Stevens on that counter-attack. And because of the forward momentum we could keep the ball up the other end and keep the pressure in the attacking half. The defence was there just to tidy up. Stevens and Ben Wilmot supported Junho and Koumas, which is good. Players are in place to regain. The understanding was there.
If this can continue, you gradually get three units working together as a team. That’s the next step so it becomes functional play throughout the match. We started the second half with the same intent, the same intelligence.
