Just a thing that surprised me about Stoke City’s big call on Steven Schumacher

Just a thing that surprised me about Stoke City’s big call on Steven Schumacher

When word leaked out on Monday morning that Steven Schumacher had left Stoke City, I nearly choked on my manuka honey. We didn’t wake up to the news we had anticipated, and this marked the beginning of a busy week. That being said, the amazement quickly wore off. More than the choice, it was the timing that had taken me by surprise. Everything made sense when I reread what I had written on these pages following the West Brom game four weeks ago

On that particular day, the players and everyone else in the stadium were obviously perplexed. After using a 4-3-3 formation during the preseason, which had helped him achieve success towards the end of the previous campaign, Schumacher abruptly changed to wing-backs, with three center backs lining up to mark one striker.

The only outfield player who finished in the same position as he had started was Ben Gibson. Josh Laurent was one of the numerous in-game substitutions that left us exposed out wide.

From my experience over a career in football, that afternoon told me a million things. Sometimes you get a vibe, a feeling, that there are games at play other than the one on the pitch, especially when it was only a few days until the transfer deadline.

It might have highlighted weaknesses in the squad at a crucial time in the summer window but it rarely strengthens your position. Maybe I’m just being paranoid but either way it didn’t bode well.

That game followed a heartbreakingly poor second half at Watford, where Stoke’s delicate underbelly was teased and kicked. Ryan Shawcross had mentioned this needing attention after the game on Tuesday. Before the international break, the week had gone well, but it was worrying when Stoke defeated Oxford United.

We gave up a goal that baffled us. We neglected to handle the cross at all when we ought to have stopped the ball from crossing. Narcis Pelach has put fixing it close to the top of his list of priorities.

However, it didn’t look like we had a strategy for scoring either, and given the personnel changes that have occurred since June, you would expect to see better things soon.

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