‘GIVE ME TIME TO IMPLEMENT PLAN’

Jones makes losing start to Stoke life, but sees some positives

NATHAN Jones has appealed to fans to stick patiently with his long-term goal to revive Stoke City’s fortunes.

His first game as Potters manager ended in a comprehensive 3-1 defeat at Brentford on Saturday, but he enjoyed a hearty send-off from travelling supporters after walking past them and applauding their backing.

And afterwards he admitted: “We are going to need the fans. We’ve changed certain things about how we play and it’s a learning curve, but as long as theplayers learn then it’s not just about improving now and a quick fix, it’s about building (for the long term).

“We need the crowd with us. I know they are a good crowd because I’ve seen them. We will give them a team they will be proud of, but it might take time.”

He acknowledged that patience could be key from everyone as he embarks on the long-term job of transforming a team arguably in decline for the past three years.

“It will come, so let’s not get too down at the minute and let’s try to grow and get better,” said the positive Welshman.

“I learned lots. I’ll debrief and look at it again, but we need to be more aggressive in terms of our press and how we play.

“You’re not going to get things right in two days, but I saw good things, I saw things that we are going to have to improve on, whether that’s on the training ground or improving the squad.

“I’m not going to get too down. I’m a person that doesn’t like losing, that’s my first defeat in a long time (October 13 in the league), but these things happen and as long as we learn from them and get better it will be a positive.”

Jones imposed his diamond formation from the start and said afterwards: “If I had just wanted to come and win today I might have gone a different way, but we have got to build something here.”

He did tinker with his formation at half-time, however, by bringing on Peter Etebo for Saido Berahino.

Jones, who is on the lookout for fresh faces in the January window, explained: “It was a tactical one and it was a bit harsh one on Saido because he wasn’t doing a lot wrong, but we weren’t able to impose ourselves and get him in the game.

“It was a choice between him and Benik (Afobe), but I just felt Benik was a bit more aggressive in what he did first half.

“So we had to change to get ourselves more of a platform and I felt we did that for long periods.

“But when we’ve conceded the third it’s really difficult to come back from that.

“It’s a start, not the best one, but we will build on that.”

Jones takes only his third training session with his new squad today before deciding how strong to go against League One Shrewsbury in tomorrow’s FA Cup third round replay (8pm) for the right to host Wolves in the fourth round.

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