The bet365 Stadium reacts to Stoke City’s 3-0 home loss to Norwich in the Championship.
Stoke City’s home performance and outcome were poor as they were thoroughly outclassed by Norwich. During his news conference following the game, head coach Steven Schumacher had to face the cameras.
Schumacher: You mean we didn’t give up any more goals? Maybe in that case. They had a couple more chances, most likely. Because they were superior to us and we were insufficient in too many areas of the game, we lost.
We didn’t do what we have been doing well in the last couple of games. I felt we were a little bit too passive. It took us 78 minutes to make a tackle and that’s not going to get you any results against a team as good as Norwich.
We weren’t close enough, we weren’t aggressive enough and when we did have the ball we gave it away too cheaply as well.
No, not for sure yet. I thought he was doing ok again but again he becomes unavailable. It did play a part in the game. I felt we just didn’t get to grips with it quick enough when he went off. The spaces were too open in midfield, then they went through us too easily and scored the goals so that was a turning point.
But once we conceded the goal we just don’t see any sort of reaction from the lads. It’s like we freeze, everyone goes in their shell and that just can’t happen. Even if you go a goal down you have to respond and do something about it.
We speak about it all the time. It’s something we’re aware about. We say all the time that you’ve got to show courage, you’ve got to be brave and someone has to stand up and be a leader in those moments. Set-backs happen in football, you can’t have it your own way all the time.
We nearly scored the first goal today and we were doing ok up until the first goal but all of a sudden it gets away from us and it’s happened too often. I keep saying all the time, ‘Show bravery, take the ball, make angles for each other, be positive.’
So what if you make a mistake? It’s worse if you don’t show and someone just has to boot the ball up the pitch. That does my head in, I can’t get my head around it.
Thus, we must attempt to score the opening goal. You won’t make any significant changes in the eight games left. We have to improve when we give up the first goal, which is inevitable during those eight games. We can’t allow it to significantly lower our confidence, but with this bunch, it does appear to.
That’s different. You’re not having to chase the game. We were still in the game and a point away from home would have been fine. I thought we played well last week, we have been playing well, but today was the worst performance of the last four games – probably the worst performance since I’ve been here in general. It was a bad day.
We’ve had a clear week, so I don’t think fatigue or anything like should have been a factor. We faced a superior team that was physically stronger than us, more adept at the game, and clearly in the top six, while we were fighting for our lives. The difference between the two squads today was evident.
That hasn’t generally been the case throughout the past few games. We’ve performed better when playing against clubs that are higher up in the league, but today we were completely outmatched and they deserved to win.
Yes but we need to know a short-term answer straight away. There are eight games to go, not long left. Long-term we will deal with it when we get an opportunity but in the immediate reflection of that game we have to address what keeps happening and try to do something about it in the next game.
We consider it in its entirety. We had four games left before the international break after the Cardiff match, and we needed to attempt and reach a certain number of points. We’ve accomplished more. We are about to go on another run of games against a very strong squad in Hull and a few surrounding teams. That needs to be examined, and we need to tackle it as a team.
After our victory last week away from home, we can’t go too happy or too low this week. We simply weren’t playing the game at the time.
It’ll be a bit of both. There are loads of lads away with internationals. There will be a bit of training next week and then there will be a few days off to rest and recover and go again then we get the lads returning from international duty ready to prepare for the game at Hull.
Huge, but prior to this game, things were always going to be that way. If we had prevailed, I would still be stating that there are eight important games left. We simply need to keep plugging along.
