‘JACOB’S GOING TO TEST DEFENDERS’
O’neill praises goalscoring new boy’s impact and hails an impressive display against top flight Wolves
MICHAEL O’neill sees a dash of Adama Traore in Jacob Brown after his new signing earned a superb Carabao Cup win for Stoke City at Wolves.
The Potters, having made seven changes to the starting XI, had defended manfully before Brown came off the bench to score the only goal three minutes from time.
Brown had only joined from Barnsley last week and made a cameo appearance at Millwall on Saturday, but O’neill is excited about his potential.
The manager said: “He’s a player that straight away can make an impact. We knew we were getting lots of energy and real pace and power as well, he’s a strong boy, and I thought he took his goal very well. It was touch and go whether he was brought down for a penalty as well. That’s what Jacob’s going to do, he’s going to test defenders.
“We saw Adama Traore who is a terrific player and asks questions of defenders for the whole game. Jacob brings the same.”
Stoke had been huge underdogs to get a result against Wolves, who were well fancied for a long run in this competition. But now they have a home match against Gillingham next week to try to make the last 16.
O’neill said: “It was a great result for us against a very good team. It was a big challenge for us to come here but it was a really good game for us. You can come into these games without anything to lose really and I thought the boys handled it very well. We made seven changes to the team from Saturday and everyone who came in did very well, the young boys in particular. I was delighted with them. That creates competition for places, which is what we want.” He added: “It gives us the opportunity to integrate some players, look at some players and get players as fit as possible because we’re going to go into a very demanding schedule. We’ve got a big squad and players aren’t going to play every game.
“It’s important that when players do come in that they are ready and the boys showed that.”
Nathan Collins and Harry
Souttar starred in central defence as well as Bruno Martins Indi, who was captain for the night.
Josh Tymon, Jordan Thompson and Tashan Oakley-boothe made a very young central midfield but held their own against Premier League opposition.
O’neill said: “They were both good in defence and good on the ball as well and Bruno was a big part of that as an experienced player alongside them. There is a lot for us to be positive about.
“Sometimes it’s difficult to get young players in the team, particularly in that position, but they did very well.” He added: “We’ve got Jordan stepping up from League One and he handled the game very well and I thought Tashan Oakley-boothe and Josh Tymon alongside him were excellent with their energy in the middle of the pitch and quality as well in terms of getting on the ball and playing the right passes at the right time.
“It’s been a real positive season in particular for Josh, who’s had a very difficult time. It just shows you that he’s applied himself extremely well and he’s getting his reward now.”
There was no place in the squad for Jack Butland or Tom Ince.
O’neill would only say: “I can only pick 11 players.”