Stoke City were right to reject Wouter Burger transfer bid and this is why
Stoke City were right to reject Wouter Burger transfer bid and this is why
City followed up what, for me, was their biggest win of the season with a quiet deadline day
and I didn’t expect anything different.
Never mind whether or not they were prevented from doing business by Financial Fair Play constraints,
I have kept saying this season that the players are already there and, with the right manager,
we will now look like a different team without having to go into the transfer market.
I thought in the first half in particular against West Bromwich Albion that we were organised and
compact in and out of possession. That was a good sign.
We then had a blip at Portsmouth and drew at home to Oxford when we were expected to do better.
To then go down early against Hull was a real test of character.
You only have to look at the league table to see it was a huge win.
But I could see in the way that Stoke lined up in that match that Robins had faith
in what he had been seeing on the training ground.
If you are panicked, you send a side out to keep things tight and not give anything away
but Robins pretty much went 4-4-2, with two up top and two in central midfield.
That screams that he’s got confidence in his players. He spoke afterwards about letting off the handbrake.
It won’t have taken him long to size up his squad. There are ways to organise training to have a good look at the capabilities of the players in particular areas and he’ll be able to sound out the opinions of the two coaches he’s brought with him as well as Ryan Shawcross and Jon Walters, who will know them all well and understand strengths and weaknesses. You can soon pick out the ones you can trust for what you need.
There will be players to come back – and I’m especially thinking about Sam Gallagher and Million Manhoef – to give the manager different options and forward players like Lewis Koumas, who I really like, Bae Junho, Ali Al-Hamadi, Nathan Lowe, Emre Tezgel and Andrew Moran will give him decent competition, which is what you need. Stoke will have had to make a decision on Ryan Mmaee one way or another in the summer, so at least Robins will get a headstart on that. If he gets back fit with the right hunger and application then it’s a bonus.
The big transfer decision that I’m glad Stoke made is to turn down an offer from FC Midtjylland for Wouter Burger. I like Burger and, as a coach, I think I could get a lot more out of him. He gets a lot of criticism but I think he’s being judged on something he’s not.
People expect him to make crunching tackles and win headers and be a forceful, physical player but that’s not him. You want him to get a toe in and intercept but I don’t want him to go clattering into players. He’s a passer and he just has to be able to create a yard of space for himself.
What he really needs – and what I think he will get sooner or later under Robins – is the right balance around him. He needs a ball winner in that area with him like Ben Pearson or Tatsuki Seko or maybe Bosun Lawal, who can get it early and give it to him.
Consider the different midfields he has played in over the last 18 months, let alone the different starting XIs and systems as a whole under four different managers. He’s played next to Jordan Thompson, Sol Sidibe, Moran, Seko, Lewis Baker, Daniel Johnson, Josh Laurent and Luke Cundle. Give the lad a chance. He’s ended up trying to do the jobs of others when we need him to stick in that central spot.
He’s got that passing ability and should be the one who everyone is looking to link the two end thirds, receiving from defenders and wide men. He should be the main man. He’s got the vision and talent to switch play and thread balls, and he needs a settled midfield and a settled team around it so he can understand the runs of Junho and Lowe, Al-Hamadi and the rest.
You don’t change the engine in your car every week, so it gives me hope that midfielders at Coventry under Robins – like Liam Kelly, Callum O’Hare and Ben Sheaf – racked up a hundred-plus appearances. He kept that department consistent.
If Robins can lay down that same platform here we’ll see the best of Burger and if we get that right, we’ll see the best of plenty of other players too.
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