CITY’S TOTAL IMPACT
O’neill delighted to see Norrington-davies and Norton make key contributions
MICHAEL O’neill was encouraged by the Rhys Norrington-davies experiment as he played his loan defender in a new role against Preston.
Norrington-davies has been switching between left-back and wing-back since joining Stoke from Sheffield United in January.
But he played as a roaming third centre-back in a goalless draw against Preston, popping up in advanced position and showing an eye for a dangerous pass.
“I thought he was really good,” said O’neill.
“At 20 years of age, he had real aggression in terms of stepping into the game and he’ll get better.
“He’s a little bit small as a centreback so he has to gauge when he can step around people and possibly gauge when the onus is on the centre-forward to deal with the ball, maybe you can get too tight.
“I thought in terms of what he gave us, we probably haven’t had this season, particularly since Morgan Fox was unavailable.
“It’s good because he can play wing-back, left-back and left centre-back in a back three so there are a lot of positives from that.”
Christian Norton also impressed on his first start for Stoke, a reward for the 19-year-old’s lively cameos since breaking into the first-team fold.
“I’m very pleased for him,” said O’neill. “I thought he did well. He showed what he’s about. He’s got good energy, good pace, he’s a strong boy as well.
“You can see him in that third and it was a good contest between a young centre-back and a young striker, having played against each other on a lot of occasions.
“It’s a big step up to the Championship. The boy has only been at the club for less than a season, he came in during preseason possibly even after, and the step having not had a loan is a big jump for a young player.
“Look at Tyrese Campbell, for example, who went to Shrewsbury before coming through and being able to make his stamp on the team, so yes, I’m pleased for him.”
Harry Souttar will miss Stoke’s midweek match against Coventry after being sent off for a professional foul as Alan Browne raced through in the closing minutes of the 0-0 draw.
O’neill, who thought Norton was unlucky not to have an early penalty, was bemused that referee James Linington had not also shown a red card to Brad Potts for a bad foul on Nick Powell that instead went completely unpunished.
The manager said: “The Nick Powell one is a red card, it’s a poor
challenge. He followed through, his studs are up. The referee got that one wrong.
“The Souttar one, it’s a red card. There is not a lot of contact. Browne is very clever, it’s a great run from him from midfield, and because he cuts across Harry, his right leg and Harry’s left leg make contact. He goes down. By the rules and the letter of the law, the referee got that one right.
“It was a poor challenge, it was a red card. It wouldn’t have been a red card 10 years ago, but it’s a red card now.
“As opposed to us playing against 10 men for the last few minutes of the game, we were playing with 10 men once Harry went off.”