Time for next step - Stoke boss Pelach

Narcis Pelach first came to English football as a coach with Huddersfield Town

Stoke City head coach Narcis Pelach believes it is time to move to phase two of his plans for the team despite only one win in his six games in charge so far.

Pelach joined the Potters from Norwich City's coaching staff last month and saw them beat Portsmouth 6-1 in only his third match in charge.

They have only managed three points from the other five matches, but the Spaniard believes the players have already taken his initial ideas on board.

"So far we have seen a style of play that is very easy to identify. We did a good job in the first five weeks in order to try to put that in place that quick," Pelach told BBC Radio Stoke.

"We had a reflection meeting and they (the team) are very clear in what we want to do. Now is the time for the next step with the coaches, which I planned before I came.

"I wanted to do this after eight weeks but I think I will start to do this after six weeks. There are things that we can do from the tactical point of view that will help us from here."

Stoke are in their seventh successive season in the Championship following relegation from the Premier League in 2018.

And Pelach is their sixth appointment as manager or head coach in that time.

The Potters are currently 17th in the table ahead of Saturday's game at Sheffield United, seven points adrift of the top six, and only three clear of the relegation places.

Apart from the six goals against Portsmouth - four of them from striker Tom Cannon, his entire tally for the season so far - they have only managed seven in the other 10 league games.

"I came here with a plan, I didn't come here to observe and see and then create a plan," said Pelach.

"In terms of methodology and principles of a style of play, of course the whole idea of how we want to play the game was made for them.

"Now we are five weeks into it, it is time to go more into details and maybe follow the plan but go quicker into another piece (of it) without losing the perspective of the basics - until May I think we have to be very focused on the basics and the general approach to the game."

The 36-year-old believes Stoke supporters must be realistic in their expectations for the team in the short term.

"It's a process, not something we can do in three days, because it's a young squad that we have," he said.

"But they are listening and learning a lot, how to prevent, for example, the goal we conceded against Bristol (City) from a quick corner - we could have avoided it very easily. If you have an older squad this doesn't happen.

"I don't say that I want an older squad, but if you compare this to Norwich's squad, players manage this by themselves, they have played enough games. This is not the case here and we will lose some points along the way."