3 issues Narcis Pelach must fix at Stoke City | OneFootball

The Spainard has been appointed as the Potters' head-coach on a three-year contract

Spanish coach Narcis Pelach has been appointed as the new Stoke City head-coach after the Potters caused a stir with their sacking of Steven Schumacher earlier this week.

The 37-year-old has been given his first opportunity as a head-coach in English football by Stoke, and has left his position as first-team coach at Norwich City after 16 months to take the top job at the bet365 Stadium.

Sporting director Jonathan Walters relieved Schumacher of his duties on Monday, just five games into the new campaign, and the decision to sack the 40-year-old came as a shock to many in English football, but the club have commendably moved swiftly to bring in a replacement this week.

Pelach's only previous experiences as a number one in the dugout came when he was the boss of Spanish lower-league outfit Figueres from 2016 to 2018, and then when he managed Girona's feeder club, Peralada, for the 2018/19 campaign.

He has been an assistant at Girona, Huddersfield Town and the Canaries in the years since, while also taking charge of the Terriers twice on an interim basis in 2022 and 2023.

The Spainard has a real task on his hands to take the reins at Stoke and prove that he is the man for the job instead of Schumacher, and Football League World have picked out three issues that he must fix immediately now that he is in charge of the club.

Restore balance between defence and attack

Schumacher's set-up was some of the most attacking and exciting football that Stoke fans have watched their team play in years gone by, but he could be easily criticised for going too far with his attacking style, in doing so causing his team to lose heavily on numerous occasions and damage their defensive record.

Stoke lost by three or more goals on four occasions in the nine months that he was in charge, with a 5-0 defeat at home to Leicester City in February followed up by 3-0 losses against Norwich City and Swansea City last season, and then another 3-0 defeat at Watford in the first league away trip of this campaign.

You have to go back as far as January 2021, when Stoke were beaten 4-0 in the FA Cup by Leicester, to find four more defeats by three goals or more prior to his appointment, so it is clear that he made his team too easy to beat, and too vulnerable when they were a goal or two down.

On the flip side to that, the 40-year-old did oversee some big wins in his time at the club, with a 4-0 win against his old team Plymouth and a 3-0 victory over Bristol City at the end of 2023/24, and then a 5-0 cup win over Middlesbrough last month some of the highlights in his time in charge, but those thrashings were too few and far-between to prove that his attack at all costs method was working on the whole.

Stoke's midweek draw against Fleetwood Town in the EFL Cup was the first time they had been level at the end of a 90-minute game of any kind, including friendlies, since another 1-1 against Sheffield Wednesday back in April, 17 games ago, so it is clear that some parity needs to be restored in their play going forward.

Pelach must be able to strike the balance between wanting to attack to win a game, but also being able to sit back and rest on a lead when needed, and has to get that idea into the players' minds as quickly as possible.

Schumacher was seemingly given the keys to pretty much do what he wanted with Stoke's squad over the summer, and he made some key decisions that have never really been fully explained to supporters, such as the curious treatment of Andre Vidigal.

Winger Vidigal started last season brilliantly under Alex Neil after making the move to Stoke from Portuguese side Maritimo, but lost form under Schumacher and was gradually eased out of the side towards the end of the campaign as other players stepped up to keep Stoke in the Championship.

It came as a surprise to many that he stayed at the club this summer, given the new additions in attack, and he was reportedly offered a way out towards the end of the window, but decided to stay in the Potteries to seemingly win his place in the squad back.

The 26-year-old did pick up a knock in training that kept him out for a few weeks at the start of the season, but with Stoke largely struggling for goals in the league in the early stages of the campaign, he has not even made the bench since being fit and will probably be glad to see the back of his now ex-boss.

As well as Vidigal, Ryan Mmaee is another player contracted to the Potters that could benefit in the long-term from a change of head-coach, but will have to at least see the next few months out with Rapid Vienna after he joined the Austrian giants on loan earlier this month.

Mmaee had a well-documented fall-out with Schumacher earlier this year which resulted in him being banished from the first-team squad for a month, and he has barely featured in many games since for Stoke, and so made the move abroad.

The Moroccan international likely has a much better chance of becoming a regular for the Potters under Pelach, as it is a clean slate for him at the club, and he could return in the January window if Stoke look to change up the dynamics of their attack.

As for Vidigal, he has to be given the chance to prove himself under Pelach, and take it if he is, or face at least another three months out in the cold before he can seek a move away.

Figure out his best starting XI

Stoke have had their fair share of injuries so far this season, and it was tough for Schumacher to retain a similar team game-by-game, but he still had the tendency to tinker with the starting XI when more consistency was probably needed to see results.

The former Plymouth boss very rarely went into a game with his team unchanged from the previous outing, and even when he did it usually backfired, like against Watford last month when Stoke succumbed to a 3-0 defeat.

He was certainly prone to some strange decisions when picking his side too, which is maybe easy to say in hindsight, but it is understandable that playing Lynden Gooch, a versatile player but a right-back by trade, at attacking midfield, as he did in what turned out to be his last game in charge against Oxford United, was bound to raise some eyebrows.

Notable absentees from the eleven that started at the Kassam Stadium included loanees Ashley Phillips and Lewis Koumas, who had both played well in previous starts in wins against Middlesbrough and Plymouth, but were dropped for what can definitely be perceived as safer options in Gooch and Ben Gibson.

One thing Pelach must address now that he is in charge is getting his preferred starting XI nailed down as soon as possible, and while teams do usually change week-by-week based off the opposition in front of them, he must get to know his squad quickly to figure out their best positions and which teammates they are suited to playing alongside.