Alex Neil wants to eliminate the “little grey areas” that have been keeping Stoke City’s results from being successful.
When reflecting on their first seven Championship games of the year, Stoke may feel like they deserved more than their seven points. Neil has said that they shouldn’t have easily won at Huddersfield and lost at Norwich in the past week alone, but they only have one point to show for their efforts.
Underlying performances, dominating the field, and especially at Huddersfield, meaningful opportunities being created, can give the manager hope. But he is aware that the outcome will depend on doing it right in both boxes.
Prior to Sunday’s game against Hull, he stated in a press conference: “In terms of performance (against Huddersfield), there are a large number of positives in terms of how we used the ball and how many opportunities we created in the game. We anticipated a different atmosphere because the departure of the manager meant so much to them. Specifically, I believe that against Huddersfield, they will go man for man throughout the field, press the ball, and attempt to play an end-to-end, high-tempo transition game. We took all of that away from them by passing the ball, and whenever they jumped out, we played around and through them.
“We ought to have easily won the game. When you rewatch the game, I believe it is pretty evident, however at the moment, there are a few small gray areas that are making it difficult for us to achieve the desired objectives.
