Stoke City

"I'm a little bit flat watching the game. The players are committed to trying to get a result but they just lack that little bit of guile in the final third."

BBC Radio Stoke's Lucas Yeoman and former Potters defender Ian Cranson review Stoke City's defeat at home by Sheffield United on Friday and discuss... can they stay up?

If you would like to listen to more on Stoke City, you can listen to the full episode and more on the A Cold, Wet Tuesday Night podcast.

Image source, Getty Images

Stoke boss Mark Robins looked to take the positives after his side's defeat by Sheffield United.

The Potters' 2-0 defeat means they remain in relegation danger, although results on Saturday could mean they are clear of trouble going into the final day next Saturday.

"I thought we played well. First of all, they've given all they can give," he told BBC Radio Stoke.

"We've had chances, there's no doubt. We've played some good football and tried to be on the front foot against a top three side.

"All you can ask is for them to give you everything and they've done that.

"When we got into good positions to cross we hit the first man and we were a bit slow in the build-up from time to time but generally we tried to move it quickly and get the ball through them, that was pleasing. It's just that last little bit."

He added: "It's still in our hands. We've got one game to play and we've got to go and win it. The only thing we can do is go and beat Derby County next week."

Image source, Getty Images

Stoke City boss Mark Robins says he is expecting a "better" performance from his side against third-placed Sheffield United after Monday's 6-0 drubbing against Leeds.

The heavy defeat has left the Potters just four points outside the relegation zone but a win on Friday evening (20:00 BST) against the Blades would guarantee them safety.

"We've got to be better than we were on Monday to get anything from any game - but we will be," Robins told BBC Radio Stoke.

"That's been the focus at the end of a game, quickly move on from a game you can no longer do anything about.

"It's at home, it's different. It's our final game at home this season and the support I'm sure will be really vocal, right behind us until the last, so we want to reciprocate."

While the loss to Leeds was a disappointing afternoon for the visiting fans, there was some brighter news in the return of club captain Ben Gibson.

The defender played his first 45 minutes since the 2-0 loss to Bristol City in February.

"It's good to have him around it again and in a headspace where he feels he can contribute," Robins added.

"You need everybody fit and available. He's the club captain so he plays a part in the dressing room as well as on the pitch."

Play-off bound Sheffield United make the trip to Stoke City on Friday (20:00 BST) as they look to build momentum going into May's knock-out rounds.

The Blades missed out on automatic promotion after losing to Burnley on Saturday, taking both the Clarets and Leeds United out of reach to battle amongst themselves for the title.

Though, while United have more work to do if they are to leave the Championship, Stoke's efforts will be focused on staying in the second tier.

The Potters' 6-0 humbling against Leeds ended their unbeaten run of five league games and kept them in danger of relegation, just four points clear with only two games left to go.

• Stoke City have lost their last two league meetings with Sheffield United, but have won their last two against them on home soil (1-0 in April 2022 and 3-1 in October 2022).

• Having won this season's reverse fixture (2-0), Sheffield United could do the league double over Stoke City for the first time since the 1996-97 campaign.

• Stoke City have won three of their last four home league matches (L1), as many victories as they managed in their previous 14 on home soil in the Championship (W3 D8 L3).

• Sheffield United have lost four of their five league games in April (L1); their most in a single month in the Championship since December 2017 (also 4).

• Sheffield United midfielder Sydie Peck has had more shots without scoring than any other player in the Championship this season (35).

Image source, PA Media

Stoke City boss Mark Robins says the side's devastating 6-0 loss to Leeds United is a "kick in the teeth" after a run of successful games.

Prior to the trip to Elland Road, the Potters had won their past two league games and had not lost in four.

But their good fortunes had run their course against the top side, with Stoke's shaky defensives being put on full display at Elland Road.

"We didn't compete. You can lose against anyone and especially to teams at the top of the league and will be in the Premier League next season but we gave them the freedom of the stadium. We didn't lay a glove on them," Robins told BBC Radio Stoke.

"We made mistakes without trying to do something right. We looked fearful to take part in a game that we looked like we didn't belong in.

"I'm not going to over-react. You don't get too high or too low. I don't have the luxury of dwelling on it, I have to make sure we are back on it on Friday.

"Anyone who thought we were home and dry that is a kick in the teeth.

"The performance wasn't befitting of anyone from any team let alone anyone from my Stoke City team."

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Stoke City boss Mark Robins said his side were good value for their 2-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday.

The Potters moved up to 50 points and have now won three of their past five games.

"We've still got three games to go and we still want to finish the season strongly," he told BBC Radio Stoke.

"I think from minute one to the hundredth minute we deserved the win. I thought we played some really good football, backed by a full house - my ears are still ringing.

"It was a really good day and really well-earned win on the back of a good first goal and a fortuitous second one, although when you need a goal to go in off someone's backside, there you go.

"We worked hard for it and were made to in the second half. They changed shape and personnel and they tried to lift the ball forward and put us under pressure aerially and we dealt with it."

Image source, Rex Features

Mark Robins hopes a capacity crowd can roar Stoke City on towards Championship safety when they host Sheffield Wednesday on Friday (15:00 BST).

The Potters sit four places and five points above the relegation zone with four games remaining after taking eight points from a four-match unbeaten run.

Robins' side are also unbeaten in their past four at home, beating Blackburn and QPR and drawing with Watford and Luton since their last home defeat in February, against Middlesbrough - which is their only loss on home turf since Boxing Day.

"There's some excitement again around how we're playing, the results that we are picking up and the belief that's starting to grow," Robins told BBC Radio Stoke.

"What we've got to do is go and put in a performance that keeps the fans coming back."

"It really is exciting," he added. "The noise level that we have experienced so far has been brilliant, so I'm really looking forward to them getting behind the players and hearing them in full voice and seeing the players reciprocate."

Wednesday have picked up just two points from their past five games, though Robins remains wary of the threat of Danny Rohl's side, who are unbeaten in four away games, earning eight points.

He said: "They'll be set-up to try and counter, to try and hurt us wherever they possibly can. They have got a strong squad and powerful players there and are coached really well."

One more win will get Mark Robins' Stoke City to the psychologically important 50 points barrier, which should mean they are safe from relegation.

The Owls have not won in the five games since back-to-back victories at Plymouth and Norwich but Danny Rohl's side are safely tucked in mid-table and can start thinking a little bit about next season.

The Potters need to improve on their record against Wednesday if they are to move closer to ending talk of going down once and for all.

• Stoke have won just two of their past 13 league games against Sheffield Wednesday (D6 L5) and are winless in three against the Owls (D1 L2).

• Sheffield Wednesday are looking for their first league double over Stoke since the 1952-53 top-flight campaign, having won 2-0 earlier this season.

• Stoke have won two of their past four league games on Good Friday (L2), one more than in their previous 23 such games (D7 L15).

• Sheffield Wednesday are winless in their past four league games on Good Friday (D3 L1), having won each of their previous four between 2002 and 2018.

• Stoke goalkeeper Viktor Johansson has prevented the most goals based on Opta's expected goals model in the Championship this season (15), while Sheffield Wednesday's Pierce Charles has the second-best goals prevented rate (1.47 – min. 360 minutes).

"Personally I think it means you can breathe and relax. Not only is the result in itself colossal - we have a good gap to the relegation zone to the point where it would take a mathematical disaster for us the get relegated."

Stoke fan Ben Rowley sums up the magnitude of the Potters' crucial 1-0 win at relegation-threatened Cardiff City on this week's episode of A Cold Wet Tuesday Night with BBC Radio Stoke's Lucas Yeomans.

Victory took Mark Robins' side five points clear of the bottom three with four games to play.

The pair look ahead to those matches, starting with Good Friday's home game with Sheffield Wednesday - where another win could all but seal their safety.

Mark Elliott
BBC Radio Stoke commentator

Stoke City fans feel a whole lot better about their team's survival prospects after the 1-0 win at fellow strugglers Cardiff, which sent them five points clear of the Bluebirds in the final relegation place in the Championship.

The Potters have hovered above the dotted line for much of the season, always threatening to pull away to safety before being dragged back into the pack, largely due to their own inconsistency.

Since Mark Robins joined at the turn of the year, improvement has come steadily in increments and coincided with the return to fitness of a number of key players.

The past eight games have yielded 12 points, better performances and just two defeats at Coventry and Millwall that probably could have gone another way.

Stoke will be confident they can get a positive result at home to Sheffield Wednesday where a win would take them up to 50 points and almost certainly guarantee a place in the second tier for next season. Even a draw would leave the teams below them with an awful lot to do to overhaul the Potters.

One slight concern is the presence of promotion-chasing Leeds and Sheffield United on the fixture list - two excellent sides with a need for points of their own.

The worst-case scenario for Stoke would see them heading into a final day clash at a Derby side also fighting the drop and needing points to stay up.

That's the kind of drama and tension every fanbase would rather avoid but that victory in South Wales gives Stoke every chance to have it all wrapped up with their supporters' fingernails still very much intact.

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Stoke City defender Ben Wilmot said every game between now and the end of the Championship season will be "nervy" but the Potters are playing well enough to stay up.

The 25-year-old's late deflected effort at relegation rivals Cardiff City, which went down as a Will Fish own goal, helped the Potters to a vital 1-0 victory in the race for survival.

Mark Robins' side moved five points clear of the drop zone following the win in Wales with four games remaining.

"It was obviously going to be a nervy game with the position they're in, all these games are now," Wilmot told BBC Radio Stoke.

"I think it would've been huge either way - win, lose or draw.

"It's in our hands, so we've just got to keep doing what we're doing, keep playing well and the results will come, and we'll be fine in the end."

Wilmot also said it is "nice" to be playing in a settled back four alongside Junior Tchamadeu, Ashley Phillips and Eric Junior Bocat, who have all started the past six games together.

"Me and Ash have got a good connection, I enjoy playing with Eric on my left, and I think Ash enjoys playing with Junior on his right," he added.

"We've been playing for a good number of games together now. I feel like we're improving with each other in every game and I feel nice and solid with the three of them."

Image source, Getty Images

Stoke City boss Mark Robins admits it was "job done" at Cardiff on Saturday - even if they left it late to snatch their winner.

Following the midweek draw with another of the Championship relegation battlers Luton Town, when Stoke themselves got stung, this was a classic response.

And the 85th-minute Will Fish own goal, coming on top of Lewis Baker's hugely deflected strike against Luton, did at least show that the Potters are getting the luck when it matters.

"We got what we needed," Robins told BBC Radio Stoke. "It was a scrappy game at the end of a three-game week again. But the players got themselves together and made sure we didn't concede again late on.

"We made that goal happen. We ended up with what we deserved really.

"What we ended up doing is galvanising ourselves after what happened against us on Tuesday."

Heading into the Easter programme of Sheffield Wednesday at home on Friday and then current table toppers Leeds United at Elland Road on Monday, Stoke have a five-point cushion over the bottom three.

"We're in control of it, so let's remain in control of it," he said. "Let's make sure we keep putting those performances in for our supporters and for ourselves because it is really important.

"It's something that we want to achieve this season without a shadow of a doubt, so let's finish the job off.

"Thankfully, we've taken a big step towards what we need in terms of the total. Whatever's going on, be present in that moment and make sure that we're not thinking of other things that may or may not happen."

Image source, Rex Features

Stoke City boss Mark Robins says he is trying to keep things calm going into Saturday's latest relegation crunch game at Cardiff City.

After being denied three points by an injury-time equaliser from 23rd-placed Luton Town at the Bet365 Stadium, Robins' Potters now take on 22nd-placed Cardiff City.

Cardiff are two points better off than Luton and a home win - coupled with Derby County winning at Portsmouth - would dump Stoke in the bottom three.

But Robins knows that it is down to him to talk positively, back his players and keep the nerves out of his dressing room.

"Unfortunately I've come into a situation when I knew this may be possible and it's proving that way," he said. "But I love the job and this is part of the job.

"I'm just trying to get us over the line this season and then we will look to what we can do in the future so that we don't see this happen anymore.

"There are good players, there really are. They have the talent which they can utilise to help benefit us for the rest of this season and beyond.

"There have been circumstances around this season that I don't want to see again. There have been too many players who have missed too much football for whatever reason. At the end of all this we have to make sure that those things don't happen. But it's the here and now that matters."

After Saturday's trip to South Wales, the Potters host Sheffield Wednesday on Good Friday before two games in five days against two of the top three - away to Leeds United on Easter Monday and a Friday night visit of Sheffield United - then the final-day trip to John Eustace's Derby.

There have probably not been many bigger meetings between Cardiff City and Stoke City.

A victory for the Welsh side could condemn the Potters to a place in the relegation zone, but Stoke also have the chance to put some breathing space between themselves and the bottom three.

• Cardiff are unbeaten across their past nine league games against Stoke (W3 D6), winning this fixture 2-1 at home last season.

• Stoke have failed to win any of their past six away league games against Cardiff (D3 L3) since a 1-0 victory in August 2007.

• Each of Cardiff's past three league games have been draws (1-1 v Sheffield Wednesday, 0-0 v QPR, 2-2 v Preston); the Bluebirds last drew four successive league games in December 2022, a run which included a 2-2 draw with Stoke.

• Stoke have managed to win just one of their past 13 away league matches (D4 L8), a 2-1 victory at Hull in February.

• Stoke's Lewis Baker has scored seven goals in the Championship this season; only in 2021-22 has he netted more in a single league campaign (8). Baker has five goals in his past eight league appearances, as many as his previous 52 beforehand.