Stoke City

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Stoke City striker Ryan Mmaee could soon be back in the first team fold after 'clear the air' talks with head coach Steven Schumacher.

The Moroccan forward hasn't featured for the Potters since a substitute appearance at Sunderland in January and was sent to train with the fitness coaches following poor discipline in training.

Ahead of Tuesday's trip to Leeds United, head coach Steven Schumacher revealed the 26-year-old, who is recovering from injury, could be welcomed back to the senior squad:

"We had good conversation, I explained the situation and he apologised for how he was behaving and we sort of cleared the air. It's over to him now.

"He's got to go and prove it with his training performances and the way he is and he wants to be part of it, he tells me that he does.

"He's a good player and we need good players in the squad."

Ahead of Tuesday's trip to Leeds United, Stoke City's head coach Steven Schumacher believes his team can take confidence from Saturday's 2-0 win over Middlesbrough.

Speaking to BBC Radio Stoke at Monday's press conference Schumacher explained there is plenty to be positive about, despite being in the relegation zone:

"The result was great, the way we played and the atmosphere in the stadium was excellent, but it was just three points and we can't get carried away with it. You've got to understand what you did well, there were a couple of moments that Middlesbrough had and we should've defended better, so we have to try and tighten up on those issues."

Schumacher said the message was: "Get on with the next game, it was good [against Middlesbrough] but we've obviously got 11 games to go and we have to be as good again."

The Potters head coach knows his Stoke side face a difficult task going to a Leeds United, a promotion chasing side that have won nine of their last 10 league games.

"Everyone did their job at the weekend and that's what it's going to take on Tuesday. We're going to Elland Road where Leeds have been so strong all season.

"The crowd play a huge part in the game and we need to make sure we manage it well and compete and try and be positive, because we've seen this week teams from the bottom half of the division going up against the big sides away from home and getting wins. So we have to try and have that mindset that nothing is impossible."

Listen to the pre-match build up here.

Are you optimistic Stoke can win at Leeds?

After Steve Schumacher's side beat Middlesbrough on Saturday the Potters next go to Leeds United on Tuesday night.

Does Schumacher keep a winning team or does the head coach make changes for their three game week?

Can Stoke City make it back to back league wins for the first time since October?

Lucas Yeomans returns with Praise and Grumble tonight on BBC Radio Stoke, 18:00 GMT Monday.

Call Lucas on 0800 121 8080 and listen to Praise and Grumble here.

As Stoke City prepare to host Middlesbrough, BBC Radio Stoke commentator Sohail Sahi has named the squad that he would most like to see start the game at the Bet365 Stadium.

The Potters will be without Enda Stevens, Luke McNally and Junior Tchamadeu due to injury, alongside Jordan Thompson who is suspended for two matches.

What would be your best eleven if you had the choice? Let us know here.

After the recent call to arms from Stoke City's interim technical director Jonathan Walters, Melvyn Downes has followed in the former striker's footsteps to deliver a message of his own to the club's fanbase ahead of Saturday's game vs Middlesbrough.

The Potters supporter and former star of SAS: Who Dares Wins told BBC Radio Stoke:

"We can boo, cheer or unleash our frustration. We can shatter their confidence, break their spirit and watch them crumble, but what victory lies in that? Or we can rise. We can be the relentless force that defies the odds. Every pass, every tackle, every shot. We cheer, we lift them up when they stumble and we roar when they soar. Our love for this team transcends wins and losses. It's about resilience, loyalty and pride.

"To those with no love in their hearts, I say this. Stay away, watch the EFL highlights, dissect every mistake and moan until your heart is content, but leave the Bet365 to those who bleed red and white. We are the ones who know that football isn't just about points, it's about passion. It's about standing shoulder to shoulder, singing our hearts out and believing when the odds are stacked against us. My fellow Potters, the moment is upon us.

"This Saturday, we reclaim our identity. We step into the arena, scarves held high, voices raised, we are the 12th man. The heartbeat, the lifeline. Our team needs us, not as critics but as warriors. We play our part and they play theirs. Together we can turn the rollercoaster right back on track."

• Stoke City are looking to complete a league double over Middlesbrough this weekend for the first time since the 1993-94 season.

• Michael Carrick's side have won two of their last 19 Championship visits to the Bet365 Stadium (D7, L10), winning 2-1 in 1998 and 2-0 in 2020.

• The Potters have won one of their previous 10 home games in the second tier (D4, L5), scoring a total of just three goals across these matches.

• Boro have kept just two clean sheets in their last 41 away league games – in the four away fixtures prior to this run, they didn’t concede a single goal.

• Only Rotherham United (2) have earned fewer points in the division so far in 2024 than Steven Schumacher's team (7).

With Stoke City preparing to face Middlesbrough on Saturday, we asked you to send in your score predictions and thoughts on how the game could turn out.

Here are some of the responses that we received:

Simon: Saturday will bring a new dawn. SJW has galvanised/shamed the supporters in equal measure and they WILL respond. This in turn will motivate the players to achieve a positive result, playing the attacking front foot football that has been promised. Goals will suddenly start to flow and Stoke will run out 3-0 winners.

Gary: Schumacher needs to pick a team that will run and compete for over 90 mins. A team that will tackle, compete and support their team members. I fear the present squad, mainly organised by Martin, are great individuals with skill but cannot perform in a tense Championship challenge and are not suited to this, lacking Stoke DNA. A draw tomorrow.

David: Always optimistic, but once again we will be the "nearly boys". 3-1 loss I'm afraid.

Mick: Stoke 2 Boro 0. Time has come to stand up and be counted.

Barbs: We will win, we must win. 1 nil would do it, wouldn't it?

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Previewing Saturday's showdown vs Middlesbrough, BBC Radio Stoke's Lucas Yeomans has been speaking to a member of their Supporters' Forum, Caroline Walker, to discuss which visiting players are likely to pose the biggest threat at the Bet365 Stadium.

"Hopefully Emmanuel Latte Lath, the number nine, he will be fully back from injury. Hayden Hackney and Jonny Howson in midfield, you won't be seeing them unfortunately because they are both out long-term.

"Sam Silvera and Riley McGree, on their day, they can be great. Finn Azaz, he's shown that he really can perform. Although he was poor against Plymouth, we've seen flashes of what he can do.

"It just depends with Middlesbrough. It'll either all come together and it'll be a good performance, or we'll just roll over and Stoke will say thank you very much, we needed those three points."

When asked for her score prediction, she added: "Every time I say a prediction, I get it hopelessly wrong. I'm going to say 2-1 Boro."

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Speaking to BBC Radio Norfolk's Rob Butler in a new interview, Stoke City's former manager Alex Neil has publicly opened up on his spell at the club for the first time since his departure.

"Obviously the last few games was disappointing. Strangely before that, I think we kept five clean sheets on the bounce. We went out in one week and beat Middlesbrough, Leeds and Sunderland which at Championship level is excellent form. We drew with Coventry, we drew with Cardiff and then we lost four games."

Addressing why he feels he should have been given longer in the job, Neil added: "I just felt that with the January window coming up, we had a few positions that we needed to fix because we'd done so much in the summer.

"I genuinely feel if it went longer, we would have improved, we would have fixed those areas, but as we unfortunately know in football nowadays, time is a commodity that is sometimes not granted to us. That decision was made and we move on."

Ahead of Stoke City's upcoming home game against Middlesbrough on Saturday, Steven Schumacher has been speaking to the media at his pre-match press conference to discuss a variety of different topics.

On the opponents: "Middlesbrough had a tough result at the weekend against Plymouth, but only a couple of games ago beat Leicester City, so they are a team who have got real talent and we need to make sure that we are ready for that. They'll understand that we are not in brilliant form, but they'll know that we've been doing okay in certain aspects of the games and I'm sure they won't take the game lightly either."

Team news: "Tough situations gives opportunities to other people so we've got to get through it. It's not easy. Jordan [Thompson] being suspended is not ideal. Junior [Tchamadeu] hurt his ankle last week in a game just before half-time. Enda [Stevens] has been out for pretty much all of it since we've been here, so it's difficult, but you've just got to get through it and find a way. We've got other people that can play in them areas and we'll survive."

Jonathan Walters: "The support is hugely appreciated. We have a really good relationship with John Coates. He's been there and speaking to us and saying 'Look, come on, what do you need? Let's stay positive' and that's reassurance for you which is great, but I understand where we're at. I understood how big this challenge was going to be. The results we wish would have gone better and I take all that pressure on me as the head coach."

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Stoke City are set to welcome Middlesbrough to the Bet365 Stadium on Saturday as they look to climb out of the relegation zone by securing a much-needed three points.

The Potters are in danger of dropping down to League One, but do they have enough in their squad to retain their status as a Championship club?

Get involved by sending us your score predictions for the game and thoughts ahead of the visit of Michael Carrick's side using the online form below.

Have your say here!

Following the departure of Ricky Martin, Stoke City recently appointed Jonathan Walters as their new technical director on an interim basis.

Speaking to BBC Radio Stoke, the club's former striker admitted that he's been impressed by Steven Schumacher and has urged supporters to get behind the team from the very first minute against Middlesbrough.

"When the chips are down, we stick up for each other. The people of the area, I class as my people. We've got a young team, a lot of players come from different parts of the world that don't know what this place is like. They need you.

"You've got a very very very good, young head coach, one of the best in the country in my opinion, needs you, doesn't know what this place is like when it's rocking. I need you.

"I'll say this is a call to arms really. Let's get this place, for the first ten minutes, rocking. Let's sing Delilah until your heart bleeds, let's get every song out there for ten minutes, give me ten minutes.

"I need you to do that on Saturday and then it's up to the players to take that on. Let them feel what it's like here as an atmosphere. That's my message and what I feel we need this weekend."

You can listen to the full interview here.

Ahead of Stoke City's upcoming home game vs Middlesbrough on Saturday, Ben Rowley from 'The YYY Files' believes that the club's supporters will continue to get behind the team regardless of their poor run of form at the Bet365 Stadium.

"We've got nothing to worry about [with] the atmosphere on Saturday because this draws parallels with 2018. I can't remember the exact time, but at a point where we knew we'd got a genuine possibility of going down, like everybody knew. This has brought a bit of concreteness that I think the fans will get behind the players out of desperation if nothing else."

On how the atmosphere could change for the worse, he added: "There will be frustration and the toxicity will probably return if we go a goal down, but it's not as if we are going to be sat there complaining, there's a desperation to do well this weekend.

"Whether there's belief, whether there's hope, it doesn't matter. We've got to put our voice forward, but everybody knows that really on this occasion."

You can discover more from Ben here, external.

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Stoke City's U17s have missed out on a place in the last two of the Premier League cup after suffering a 2-1 semi-final defeat to Wolves at Clayton Wood on Tuesday.

The Old Gold took the lead through Daniel Angel in the first half, before Freddie Anderson found the equaliser for the hosts with his glancing header after the break.

With nothing to separate the two sides from there on in, the visitors capitalised on a straight red card for Dean Adekoya to get the winner in injury time through a tap-in from Minkyu Ji.

Interim technical director Jonathan Walters, U21s coach Ryan Shawcross and Nathan Lowe were all in attendance to show their support by watching on from the sidelines.

Image source, Getty Images

Carl Dickinson on the club's chances of surviving relegation

With Stoke City having entered the Championship relegation zone, former defender Carl Dickinson has been speaking to BBC Radio Stoke's Lucas Yeomans to deliver his verdict on whether the squad have enough to avoid the drop.

"When you are down, struggling a little bit, it is difficult to see where your next win is going to come from, but it's just a case of sticking together and making sure you are doing the hard yards in being hard to beat and putting your body on the line.

"Stopping crosses, blocking shots, making sure everybody is held accountable and that's all they've got to do. The players, for me, have still got to keep believing in that and keep trusting that if they keep doing those hard yards, that results will come and there's no bigger game than the one on Saturday", he said.

Talking about how the club move forward, Dickinson added: "There does need to be a bit of a rebuild in terms of the type of player that is brought into the club and what the identity of Stoke City should be and what's got them results in the past and what that's been built on.

"There is some tough games coming up, but I do think there's enough in there to go and get the results that are needed."

Stoke City's under-17's are one game away from reaching the Premier League Cup final.

The Potters take on Wolves under-17's tonight at Clayton Wood (18.30 GMT) for a place in the last two against either Chelsea or Manchester City.

Academy coach Dave Hibbert says the players have done brilliantly to get this far:

"We came through a group stage with Man City, Liverpool and Derby so it was a tough group to get through but the lads qualified quite comfortably in the end.

"Then the quarter-final against Aston Villa was a different challenge, some of these clubs have got six times our budget and we're able to compete with them which is brilliant."

The Stoke City hour on BBC Radio Stoke returns at 1800 GMT Tuesday.

Lucas Yeomans will be asking you what you think is going to happen over the final 12 games of the season plus he'll be speaking to former defender Carl Dickinson and Ben Rowley from the 'YYY Files' podcast., external

Click to listen at 1800

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'Might Just Stay Up'

As Stoke prepare for a home game against Middlesbrough, you've been getting in touch with how you feel about the team and club:

Dave- Lazy blaming John Coates and co, they’ve backed every manager and we’ve been let down on the pitch. The players and management have to deliver on the pitch, players have to show more pride in wearing the shirt.

Sam - As much as I like the man, Schumacher was just not the right appointment. Some of the tactics against Cardiff were all wrong, full-backs need to hug the touch-line to offer support down the wings but instead were coming into central midfield leaving us so open when we lost possession.

Chris - I'm beginning to think that Schumacher was brought in for his experience of getting out of League One.

Andrew - Problem is the owners and directors think Stoke are better than what they really are. Get back to what the great Tony Waddington did, by bringing in five or six tried and tested older players and mix them with home grown youth.

Duncan - We complain because we care which is what the players should be doing, but obviously not. The club is a total disgrace and should be honest and admit they have made too many mistakes since 2018.

Kev - The players and manager are probably good enough, to be honest. Unfortunately the fans expect an overnight improvement with each new player and/or manager. It's just not realistic, particularly with a side that have been struggling for some time. I'd rather back them than slate them at the moment. Might just stay up.

What do you think? Let us know here.

After losing 2-1 at Cardiff City at the weekend, Stoke City are in the bottom thee of the Championship and deep in a relegation battle. Supporters have got in touch with us and had their say on the situation:

David - No ambition, no hope. At least it will be cheaper to watch games once we are relegated.

Richard - A team of average Championship players which normally should ensure they remain safe in this league if they all perform to 100%+ of their ability. Unfortunately there seems to be a lack of cohesion, teamwork and belief in their performances, this is not good now that they are in a relegation situation, only seven points from the rest of the season

Vinnie - Typical Stoke. I'm trying to be positive, to be fair, we're travelling all over the country and it just gets a bit tiresome, I haven't been like this for a while.

Kevin - Absolutely shocking performance to be honest with you and it breaks my heart to say that this club is going to get relegated and I'm sorry to say it.

Hugo - It's all gone wrong really and I think bringing Schumacher in was a really brave thing to do but I just feel like it's not worked, I think for me it was the wrong man to bring in.

Sam - There is one sole issue at this club, there's got to be and it all points at John Coates.

What do you think? Send us your comments here.

Stoke City are interested in a move to sign Manchester United defender Will Fish this summer, according to a report that has emerged.

The Red Devils centre-back, who is currently on loan at Hibernian, is also being monitored by Ipswich Town, Middlesbrough, Sheffield United, Hull City, Sunderland and Blackburn Rovers.

The Scottish Premiership side are keen to buy the 21-year-old on a permanent basis, but that is currently looking like a difficult task to complete. (HITC, external)