O’neill can release the shackles in win quest
IT feels like we are in the depths of winter, not just because we’ve had snow, sleet and wind to make us feel chilly and arctic, but because Stoke are not exactly warming our cockles right now.
Saturday’s performance against Reading was solid, neat, precise. Professional. Lots to praise on that front.
But it all felt a bit perfunctory.
At least the Royals had the off-the-cuff talent of Ovie Ejari, who could jink and create space down City’s right and came into the game in the last 20 minutes, creating chances for the visitors where up until then they had had none.
City brought on Jordan Cousins on 87 minutes.
You can’t knock a point against a team in the Championship play-off places, really, but you also have to say that Stoke didn’t quite do enough to earn a win.
Our best chance was when Steven Fletcher found the back of the net, but was, rightly, given offside just as James Mcclean headed back Jack Clarke’s deep cross and Fletch bicycle kicked it home from six yards.
But he had strayed just off and City only forced Reading keeper Cabral Barbosa into an actual save right at the death through Cousins’ header.
Though we may be solid at the back, there just isn’t the spark up front without both Tyrese Campbell and Nick Powell,
pictured.
No excitement, little flair just now. At least Michael O’neill has resolved the seasons-old issue at the back.
But now Stoke are not conceding stupid goals regularly, he does have a far more difficult conundrum to solve.
Especially given the resources available to him at the moment.
Powell may be available for Norwich next Saturday, but if not then we should see him return for the back-to-back home games against Sheffield Wednesday and Luton Town in the week after that.
Both of those are eminently winnable matches, but to do so City are going to have to score goals.
The really frustrating thing is that somehow, despite not winning for ten games now, Stoke are only six points off the play-off places.
It’s so close we can touch it, and you can clearly see that with the talent of both Campbell and Powell dovetailing with Fletcher City’s attack would deliver, as they did against the same opponents we found ourselves bluntly bashing our heads against on Saturday when we won 3-0 at the Madejski Stadium earlier this season in a performance that was a breath of
fresh air. We’re not going to go down, so surely O’neill can loosen the reins off now and allow some more flair, some pizzazz in our attack? He has that latitude from our league position if he chooses to do so.
Maybe we’ll see that when Stoke return to the bet365 Stadium, because at Norwich it will be completely understandable if we circle the wagons and park the team coach to try to get a result.
Mind you, the Canaries aren’t exactly in scintillating form.
They haven’t scored in their last four games, that’s 401 minutes since they last found the back of the net.
In their last 400 minutes on the pitch, Stoke have scored six times, despite how it feels we are shot shy.
Don’t expect a free-scoring classic at Carrow Road next Saturday afternoon then.
Hunker down, put the fire on and break out your slanket.
This long winter, both actual and metaphoric when it comes to Stoke’s points and goals tally, could continue for another week or so yet.