BENIK GETS ROWETT’S BACKING
Stoke manager says there is a lot more to come from his striker
BENIK Afobe retains Gary Rowett’s backing as Stoke head towards the busy festive period on the back of Saturday’s home win over bottom club Ipswich.
Afobe struggled to make an impression on goal at the bet365, but Rowett said it would be unfair to put the heat on him after a largely sluggish all-round performance.
“I don’t think you could single him out,” said the Stoke boss. “I felt he didn’t have an awful lot of opportunities to score.
“I think as a collective we can do better than that and Benik is one of those players, but I don’t think you can single him out necessarily.
“He’s been working hard and we know there’s a lot more to come from someone like him, as there is with other players.
“He needs service, and he needs to create his own service at times, that’s just the life of a striker.
“We didn’t pass the ball well enough and didn’t have enough energy to get enough support to the strikers.
“That would be my criticism of the team, but we have won the game and sometimes you win it from a different position than your strikers.
“At the moment, all that frontline is contributing in different ways in different games and that’s encouraging for me, rather than focussing on one person.”
Rowett says he will assess his training schedule after going easy on his players last week following a hectic run of fixtures, but then curiously hearing many complain they lacked energy.
“A few of the lads were complaining that their legs were really heavy, and in training (Friday), so we’ll have to look at the reasons why.
“We just did a few different things and maybe that’s why. Quite a few of the lads were saying their legs were heavy and sore.
“Sometimes there’s no obvious reason, but when a lot of them say the same thing and a lot of them perform with a lack of energy at times, you know there’s probably a bigger picture, rather than just one or two poor performances.
“Certainly in midfield, whilst that’s usually a real strength of ours, we didn’t quite have the same energy and composure we normally would.”
Rowett acknowledged some frustration among the home support, even when Stoke were winning, observing: “I understand that. I was getting frustrated at times, so I cannot fault them for it.
“But I would say we were 1-0 up at home and the players need a bit of help and booing the players at that point doesn’t necessarily help. But I understand it.”
Opposite number Paul Lambert, who thought Ipswich were the better team, thanked Stoke supporters for their generous reception on his first return since last May’s sacking following relegation.
“I loved my time here,” he stated. “Brilliant club, great fan base. As a club, it will always remain close to me.
“We were a penalty (missed by Charlie Adam against Brighton) away from staying up.”
Stoke city
MATCH REPORT AND REACTION: PAGES 44 TO 47