Stoke City told to find ‘electric pace’ in transfer window as Steven Schumacher passes first test

This weekend, Stoke City will focus on the FA Cup as they prepare for a third-round match against Brighton and Hove Albion at the bet365 Stadium. In case Steven Schumacher, the recently appointed head coach, didn’t have a hectic enough first few months in the Potteries, the transfer window has also opened.

What are your first impressions of Steven Schumacher?

Jon Owen: When Alex Neil was sacked, I was hopeful the new man would be someone who’d ultimately set his team up to win games, be brave, and honest with supporters. Neil always seemed to have an element of distance between himself and the fans, someone you could never really take to (and we really did try!). He explained in depth about why we lost games, but nothing he did rectified the problem.

Time will tell with Steven Schumacher, and of course he’ll ultimately be judged on results. But so far he seems extremely likeable, I’m enjoying his interviews and in the two home games I’ve seen, we’ve had more willingness to attack in our play, and it has been a decent start.

Liam Hall: First impressions are good, finally we appear to have a manager from the “nu-wave”. He comes across as really down to earth and genuine. I’m hoping, unlike his predecessor, that while he talks the talk, he can actually walk the walk too (albeit it’s obviously early days). He’s got us playing on the front foot, pressing well and winning second balls. All three are basic things we’ve craved for a long time now as Stoke fans! I’m hopeful he can get us scoring goals before long at home and we can start looking up towards the top half of the table. I was particularly impressed at Birmingham where we seemed to flood players forwards from all positions and constantly looked like we could score every time we went forwards.

Richard James: Really positive. I always try to get behind every new manager when they arrive, even Joe Jordan and Nathan Jones despite many (many) reservations!

With our latest gaffer it’s seemed easy to like lots of what he says. He’s young, enthusiastic and wants to keep things simple. The recent interview with Junior Tchamadeu spoke volumes with the clear message of “pass the ball forwards and run hard” being music to many fan’s ears.

There’s nothing wrong with patient build up but when this means the ball is constantly being passed aimlessly between the keeper and centre backs before being launched anyway, we may as well try to be quicker with our passing and get at teams more.

I wish our new manager well, he’s got a good foundation to build on from his opening four games and he can rely on us to get behind him and his positive ideas which will hopefully see us climb the table steadily. Good luck, Gaffer!