Mark Robins tells Stoke City man to ‘forget about’ the issue that is holding him back
Mark Robins tells Stoke City man to ‘forget about’ the issue that is holding him back
Mark Robins has told Ali Al-Hamadi to put his injury worries behind him and ‘concentrate on being as sharp as he can’ during Stoke City’s relegation battle.
The striker joined on loan from Ipswich Town in the January transfer window and did so having not started in the Premier League in the first half of the season.
Since then he has begun eight of ten Stoke matches for which he has been available. However, he his yet to finish a game having been taken off in each one – replaced by Sam Gallagher against Millwall last time out.
He has scored two goals in the process, including the winner against Blackburn on Wednesday evening. However, at the New Den he looked as though he would last only ten minutes when he received treatment to his leg and Gallagher started warming up.
The 23-year-old managed to last 63 minutes and is now away on international duty with Iraq who play Kuwait and Palestine.
Reflecting on his fitness Robins said: “You could see that he wasn’t as sharp as he is normally. Ali’s fighting against the tide really, if you’ve not played for that length of time, 90 minutes, you’ve got to try and build it up and I think that’s in his head.
“He needs to just forget about that and just concentrate on being as sharp as he possibly can in the games, for as long as he possibly can, which will then lead to really good 90 minute performances eventually.
“He’s gone away, so he’s obviously away with Iraq and I’m hoping that he’s OK, but I will speak to the staff, the medical department.”
Robins also admitted he substituted Al-Hamadi after an hour to manage the amount of minutes he has been playing.
“There is an element of that because ultimately it was going to be at the ten minute mark and that would have been a blow, it’s a blow at any point.
“You want to try and keep him on the pitch, but keep him on the pitch at full tilt so he can go full tilt and give you as much as he can with his output.
“That was the reason he came off, but also knowing that he’s had this issue in the first half and then he’s got to go away on international duty. So I don’t want to kill him, but we’ve got to try and win football matches and have players in there that are, I suppose capable of being at it for 90 minutes.
“This is where Ali’s ‘working towards’, sometimes he’s absolutely phenomenal with his performances and sometimes he’s just below that because of the amount of games and the minutes that he’s been playing of late.”
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