Stoke & Staffordshire

Image source, Rex Features

Stoke City fan George Weaver, also known as Potterlytics, has been speaking to Lucas Yeomans on the BBC's A Cold Wet Tuesday Night podcast about the appointment of Mark Robins and his first game in charge.

The Potters drew 0-0 with bottom side Plymouth on Saturday, three days after Robins joined on New Year's Day.

Potterlytics said: "In a vacuum, the Mark Robins appointment in terms of who is available, I'm pretty excited by it. The work he did at Coventry was incredible.

"I don't think Mark Robins was part of any long-term plans at Stoke prior to the issues with Narcis Pelach and how poorly that went.

"I feel Robins has come in to implement some of his own long-term plans and that's fine, but it's more of a return to rolling the dice.

"On the positive side, this is a dice roll that's more likely to work out. I think he suits the club, I think he suits what we're looking for at this point in time but it's still a dice roll.

"There's no way this is what Stoke were looking to do when they brought in Pelach, when they brought in Jon Walters, when they brought in [Steven] Schumacher in the first place.

"Robins is a pretty decent fit and probably more likely to come off than some of the previous ones."

On the performance against Plymouth, Potterlytics added: "The big takeaway was that the vast majority of that starting XI were absolutely knackered after 45 to 50 minutes.

"The way they worked in the Burnley and Sunderland games, that was inevitable. He [Robins] said afterwards we've not got a great depth of squad to work with at the minute.

"So it very much makes sense that it was a bit of a tired performance. But I don't think there is too much we can take out of it in terms of what Robins is going to be like in the long-term."

Listen to A Cold Wet Tuesday Night podcast on BBC Sounds.

At least one new era will begin at the Bet365 Stadium on Saturday (12:30 GMT) when Mark Robins takes charge of his first game since being installed as Potters boss, having watched their 0-0 draw at Burnley from the stands on New Year's Day.

It will be Plymouth's second match since parting ways with Wayne Rooney, with Kevin Nancekivell and Joe Edwards having taken charge of the dramatic 2-2 draw against Bristol City to kick-off 2025.

Argyle remain bottom, effectively five points from safety, but City are too close for comfort, seven points ahead of Plymouth, but having played a game more.

• Stoke City have won their last two league meetings with Plymouth Argyle, last winning three in a row against the Pilgrims between March 1963 and October 1987 (four in a row).

• Plymouth have never won away to Stoke City in the Football League in 20 previous attempts (D6 L14); among current EFL fixtures, the only teams to go away to an opponent more often without earning a single victory are Mansfield (25 v Reading), Coventry (23 v Preston) and Blackburn (22 v Luton).

• Three of Stoke City's four home wins in the Championship this season have seen them net the winning goal in the final 15 minutes – the Potters could win back-to-back home matches for the first time this season.

• Plymouth have conceded more goals (35) and scored the joint-fewest goals (3) of any team away from home in England's top four tiers this season – the Pilgrims (2.69A, 0.23F) are currently only the second team in English league history to average more than 2.50 goals conceded per game and average fewer than 0.25 goals per game in an away campaign after Gainsborough Trinity in 1901-02 (3.23A 0.24F).

• For the third year in a row, Stoke City will have a different manager in the dugout for their first home match of the year (Alex Neil in 2023, Steven Schumacher in 2024).

Image source, Getty Images

Mark Robins' first press conference since being appointed as new head coach of Stoke City produced several interesting moments.

The 55-year-old takes charge of the Potters for the first time on Saturday in their home clash with Plymouth Argyle after Ryan Shawcross' impressive short tenure as interim boss came to an end.

And he was buoyant about his chances in guiding the club back to the Premier League after a six-and-a-half-year absence - here's the key points of his interview.

• Robins confirmed he would "really like to to manage in the Premier League" before he retires.

• The former Coventry boss stated he had a shortlist of clubs he would like to manage and Stoke City was one of them.

• Robins emphasised he is "all in" at Stoke now, despite having obvious affiliations to Coventry due to his seven-year spell at the CBS Arena where he was, at the time, the longest-serving manager in the EFL.

• Believes Stoke are "a really good fit" for him.

• There is not a set blueprint to turn around Stoke's fortunes but he will not simply try to replicate his work at Coventry.

• Robins thinks Stoke owner John Coates and sporting director Jon Walters are "very good football people" and "die-hard Stoke City supporters" and told BBC Radio Stoke he is really excited to work for them.

• Recognises he needs to understand the identity of the club and promised to try and align the club with Stoke's motto- "United strength is stronger".