[themaclad]

STOKE CITY BET 365 STADIUM
26/11/2024 19.45 HRS

Oh so lucky last season missed both the home and away games but will be there tomorrow freezing to death on the stadium on the hill and in new area of the grond as they have moved the away support.

https://www.stokecityfc.com/

MANAGER



Narcís Pèlach Nadal (born 5 September 1988), sometimes known as Chicho, is a Spanish football coach and former player who is the head coach of EFL Championship club Stoke City.

Immediately after joining Figueres, Pèlach started working as a coach of their Juvenil B team, being named in charge of the Juvenil A side on 28 July 2015.[9] On 17 May 2016, after retiring, he was presented as manager of the first team.[8]

On 4 January 2018, Pèlach was presented as Peralada-Girona B manager, with the farm team of Girona, playing in Segunda División B.[10] On 6 June 2018, after leading the side to a ninth place finish, he renewed his contract until 2020.[11]

In June 2019, after Peralada's relegation and their affiliation with Girona ended, Pèlach was named Juan Carlos Unzué's assistant at Girona's first team.[12] In October, after Unzué was sacked and José Luis Martí was named the new manager, he and fellow assistant Juan Carlos Moreno were fired from the club.[13]

On 24 July 2020, Pèlach moved abroad for the first time in his career and joined Carlos Corberán's staff at English club Huddersfield Town.[14] He was appointed interim head coach in September 2022,[15] winning his only game in charge, before Mark Fotheringham took over.[16] Pèlach was again named interim manager of Huddersfield in February 2023, replacing Fotheringham.[17][18] His spell lasted six days, as the club appointed Neil Warnock.[19]

In May 2023, Pèlach joined Norwich City as a first-team coach.[20]

In September 2024, Pèlach was linked in the media to the vacant Stoke City manager job,[21][22] and was announced as Stoke's new head coach on 18 September 2024, signing a three-year contract.[23]

LAST TIME OUT





FORM GUIDE

STOKE 11 PNE 4

Nice unbeaten run for the Potters

HOT OR NOT



Tommy firing on all cylinders at the moment hope he looks kindly on his old club

NEW




PREVIOUS



CULTURAL STUFF



Stoke Minster is the Minster church of St Peter ad Vincula and main church in Stoke-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, England. It is now the main church of the wider city of Stoke-on-Trent.

Name and dedication
The dedication to St Peter ad Vincula means "Saint Peter in Chains". It is derived from the Basilica of San Pietro in Vincoli in Rome. The church was formally renamed Stoke Minster in 2005 in recognition of its role in the civic life of Stoke-on-Trent and North Staffordshire. The title "minster" is an honorific, sharing a common etymology with "monastery".[1]

History
The first church on the site was built of timber in 670. It was replaced with a stone building in 805 which was extended over the centuries. The remains of this Anglo-Saxon and former collegiate church survive in the churchyard. The re-erected arches date from the 13th century when the chancel was rebuilt. Saxon evidence survives in the baptismal font rescued from use as a garden ornament and restored in 1932 for baptismal use in the church.[2]

The church is the burial place of several generations of Josiah Spode's family, as well as Josiah Wedgwood, who is also commemorated inside the church by a marble memorial tablet commissioned by his sons.[3]

The title of "Stoke Minster" was conferred on the church by The Rt Revd Jonathan Gledhill, Bishop of Lichfield, at a ceremony on 17 May 2005.[citation needed]

OTHER CHAMPIONSHIP STUFF

[themaclad]

The Fitness Test
Paul Heckingbottom will provide a team news update in his pre-match press conference.

The Potters


Sitting 12th in the table, Stoke City have made themselves hard to beat in recent weeks, having lost just once in their previous nine outings.

Within that run have been victories over Derby County, Blackburn Rovers, and notably a 6-1 home win over Portsmouth.

Former PNE loan striker Tom Cannon scored four goals that night, contributing to his season tally of eight – all of which have come since the appointment of head coach Narcís Pèlach.

The Officials

Referee: Matthew Donohue
Assistant Referees: Robert Hyde and Richard Woodward
Fourth Official: Andy Davies

Matthew Donohue will referee PNE for the second time this season on Tuesday night, with the previous game being the 0-0 draw at home to Blackburn Rovers, when Sam Greenwood and Owen Beck were both sent off.

Donohue has refereed PNE vs Stoke City three times before. The most recent of those was the 2-0 victory at the bet365 last season, courtesy of a Will Keane brace.

So far this season, Donohue has refereed ten matches, showing 45 yellow cards and two reds in that period.


THE HECK

Paul Heckingbottom is looking for his North End team to get it right in both boxes as they get straight back to action with a trip to Stoke.

The manager has spoken very positively in recent weeks about his side’s performances but has been left frustrated that many of them haven’t resulted in three points.

On Tuesday night, PNE will take on a Stoke City side sat 12th in the table and with just one defeat in their last nine. An interesting statistic, though, which might interest the Lilywhites is that only one side in the division have faced more shots than the Potters.



Asked if that’s something to potentially take advantage of, Hecky said: “It is, but then look at that same table and we've conceded the fourth least. That’s my frustration at the minute.

“There’s so many things that the team have done well, but again there were only five shots at the weekend against and only one on target, yet we've drawn the game again. That's been the frustration of late.

“Bristol City, Norwich, Plymouth. All these games where we've given very, very little away yet conceded a hell of a lot of goals. At the minute our defensive record and our league position’s not reflecting those numbers.

“That’s up to us to put right. I've said before that both boxes will always determine how well you do in terms of results. The bit in between, yeah it can give you control of the game, but you need to be really clinical in one end and you need to put your body on the line at the other. At the minute we've not been getting those little bits right.”

The team have been boosted in the last week with the return to action of Milutin Osmajić and Will Keane, who had been missing through suspension and injury respectively.


Liam Lindsay has missed the past two games through injury and has a chance of being involved against his former side, Stoke City.

Hecky said: “We want everyone back and up to speed. The ones who've been out a long time, it takes that while to come back.

“Obviously, we've had Milly training, but we need to get him sharper again. Keano's been out quite a while. Liam should be fine now. He’s only missed two weeks really with the international break.

“Robbie [Brady], we'll have to see how he is when he comes back, because when you've been out that length of time, it's sometimes a little bit different.

“When we get the whole squad back, it's where you want to be. People say it makes the decisions tougher, but I'd much rather have them decisions.”

North End are looking to register their first away victory of the season in the Potteries, however the record on the road isn’t the sole focus for the manager. He’s just looking for his side to turn performances – whether at home or away – into three points.

Hecky said: “My frustrations have been that we haven't picked up enough wins and it puts pressure on other parts of your game then when you're performing well.

“We've not turned them dominant performances into three points and then that puts pressure on you when you don't perform well and you're second best and you come away with nothing.

“Those have been my frustrations. The fact you're home or away, you only get three points for a win. I’m not bothered where they come, just the three points.”

Hopefully will find something actually write about unlike Saturday, personally I have a unique record at this ground, more about that in the after match blurb, good test this they have improved but when you buy 30 a season it does take time to gell, also changing managers basically every six months doesn't work either

[themaclad]

Stoke City 0 Preston North End 0



Attendance: 19,805 (873 PNE fans).

Referee: Mr M Donohue

That was not the crowd, quite a few didn't attend but hey season tickets

Can they do t on a cold November Tuesday night in Stoke, not quite, a useful points all the same and with the draw my 100 % winning run at te Bet 365 comes to an end although in the seven visits there have only seen us conceded one goal a 40 yard worldie by Rhys Wilmot.

Luckily it was dark when we got there always great have the City covered in darkness, can only imagine the misery of it's poor citizens.
Abandoned in a car park milles from the ground, to some a five minute walk is miles from the ground is miles away. Three changes from Saturday's less than entertaining games. The first half was a pretty low key affair, we started better, then a period of 15 minutes where they looked likely to score mainly from corners as the hapless Woodman flapped and crapped every time a ball was lobbed into the six yard box, like at Portsmouth a weak punch nearly led to a goal at the back post, only good defensivve work stop us from going one down.
Better from us towards half time Osmajic should probably have scored, free at the back post only succeeded into forcing Johannsson into a save.
Stoke were on a prettydecent run of results although in truth didn't look to be anything special, Bae started well but gradually faded from the game.
Second period more open game, of the two we looked the more likelier to win it, only two Stoke efforts of notes, header from Burger which deflected off Whatmough and just dribbled the wrong side of the post and a overhead attempt by Wilmot.
Whiteman had two defelected efforts, the excellent Phillips blocked a Potts effort, on another day might have sneaked it but we still came as close as you can to self destructing late on, ball over the top defenders left it to Woodman, who left it to Tom Cannon to try and steal the ball, Woodman goes down and handles outside his area to stop Cannon going through on goal. He wasn't even close to being in his area, clueless utterly clueless, kind of summed up his night, he had already been booked but got a straight red for basically being an idiot. On came Cornell, didn't have anything to do as we pushed down the other end.
Take the point, better ish performance Boing Boing boys next and we rarely beat them at home

What the Heck

Paul Heckingbottom felt his side put in a “pretty strong” performance in the goalless draw against Stoke City.

Both teams had big chances to break the deadlock in the first half, with Wouter Burger hitting the post for the Potters, before Milutin Osmajić was denied from just a few yards out.

North End then had further opportunities in the second half while limiting the hosts to very little, although there was late drama as Freddie Woodman was sent off.


Asked about the team’s performance, Hecky said: “Pretty strong. In the first half, we were good without the ball. We restricted Stoke all game to almost nothing, but we weren't good enough with the ball in the first half.

“We were a little bit loose. We were loose in the second half as well at moments but we didn't put enough demands on ourselves to get on the ball in the first half. We showed when we did that in the second half, we controlled long periods.

“But then for that possession, for those corners, those set plays, when we had them pinned in around their box – they'll say they defended their box well, but we'll always look at what we do. We didn't do enough to create enough chances.

“I’m pleased with the point, pleased with the effort, pleased with the energy. I thought second half we were the better team.”

There were a few chances in the second 45 where the ball just didn’t drop right for the Lilywhites, as Ben Whiteman and Brad Potts both had efforts deflected just wide, when on another day they may have ricocheted in.


Hecky said: “No, it's not [going our way], but players in real confidence when we're performing really, really well – we will make sure that we make that happen. We’ll make that go in.

“At the minute, it's not quite going our way, but it's something we've improved on over the weeks. Teams are treating us a little bit differently, which is a good sign for us, and we don't mind that. If we want to get up to the top end of the league, listen we'll do it gradually, but if we want to get up to the top end of the league, we need to be able to break defiant teams down as well.

“I'll take the point. I'm pleased with the performance and pleased with the mentality of the players and pleased with the way that we affected the game positively as it went on.”

Stoke City head coach Narcis Pelach told BBC Radio Stoke:

"This was not our best performance. We can perform much better.

"They are a competitive side. Set plays, second balls, full of experienced players.

"We had a sloppy game, I'm not okay with that. We didn't find the rhythm that we want to implement in games. We had some ball possession but, without depth and finding the verticality that we want

[themaclad]