As Stoke City struggle towards the bottom of the Championship, with 3 games remaining to retain their Championship status, the BBC’s national Sports station, Radio 5 Live, dealt a damning indictment of City under their current manager Steven Schumacher.
On their Saturday sports programme they reviewed the clubs that are currently struggling at the bottom of the Championship, dismissing Stoke City in despairing tones as follows: “Stoke have plummeted and plummeted under Steven Schumacher!”
To some this might be a shock. Even Moorlands Radio has reported seeing signs of improvement particularly in attitude and playing style under Schumacher, who took over from floundering Alex Neil before Christmas. But subsequent results, particularly at home, have at times been dire, resulting in the club fighting a tight relegation battle instead (as the owner’s no doubt had hoped) of rubbing shoulders with the playoffs.
And Schumacher is now far from being new to the Stoke job, taking into account the longevity of a Championship manager’s career. In the League Table of how-long-each-current-Championship-manager-has-been-in-the-job, Steven is no longer the newbie in 24th position (that position is held by Steve Evans at Rotherham who’s been in the job a whole 3 days!). Schumacher is almost mid-table in 14th spot after a lengthy 4 months in charge!
Comparing Schumacher with his predecessor makes sobering reading:
- Alex Neil’s 20 league games this season gained 21 points (W6-D3-L11, Goals 19-28),
- Schumacher’s first 20 league games have gained 23 points (W6-D5-L9, Goals 19-29).
Both have won 6 league games, with goals for/against almost exactly the same!!
But have the player’s individual performances improved under Schumacher? Well, using the average player ratings (out of 10) from The Sentinel’s ever-wise reporter Pete Smith, it’s not great news.
Comparing the player’s ratings under Alex Neil (in the first half of the season) with those under Steven Schumacher (in the second half), it’s pretty clear that there is some evidence to support BBC Radio 5’s gloomy summarisation:
| Under Alex Neil: | Post Alex Neil: | |||||
| Name | Starts/sub* | Total | Name | Starts/sub* | Total | |
| Travers | 14 | 6.79 | Burger | 20 | 6.57 | |
| Campbell | 7 | 6.56 | Baker | 13 | 6.49 | |
| Vidigal | 10 | 6.55 | Bonham | 8 | 6.38 | |
| Haksabanovic | 5 | 6.49 | Million Manh | 6 | 6.35 | |
| Pearson | 19 | 6.47 | Hoever | 19 | 6.33 | |
| Burger | 13 | 6.47 | Mmaee | 10 | 6.32 | |
| Thompson | 7 | 6.45 | Iversen | 16 | 6.31 | |
| Johnson | 16 | 6.31 | Laurent | 13 | 6.29 | |
| Junho Bae | 7 | 6.25 | Junho Bae | 17 | 6.24 | |
| Wesley | 7 | 6.23 | Gooch | 12 | 6.11 | |
| Wilmot | 13 | 6.23 | Haksabanovic | 7 | 6.07 | |
| Leris | 14 | 6.22 | Rose | 23 | 6.04 | |
| Hoever | 17 | 6.22 | Thompson | 15 | 6.01 | |
| McNally | 17 | 6.19 | Leris | 7 | 5.86 | |
| Laurent | 16 | 6.16 | Vidigal | 8 | 5.81 | |
| Stevens | 12 | 6.08 | Ennis | 7 | 5.80 | |
| Mmaee | 9 | 6.06 | Junior Tch | 7 | 5.79 | |
| Bonham | 8 | 6.00 | McNally | 17 | 5.67 | |
| Rose | 15 | 5.97 | Cundle | 8 | 5.58 | |
| Gayle | 4 | 5.88 | Johnson | 5 | 5.58 | |
| Gooch | 8 | 5.65 | Campbell | 5 | 5.39 | |
| Wilmot | 11 | 5.28 | ||||
| Less than 3 | Starts: | Pearson | 5 | 5.20 | ||
| Brown | 1 | 8.00 | ||||
| Junior Tch | 2 | 7.38 | Less than 3 | Starts: | ||
| Lowe | 2 | 7.10 | Stevens | 3 | 6.80 | |
| Sidibe | 1 | 6.75 | Sidibe | 0 | 6.00 | |
| Tymon | 3 | 6.13 | McCarron | 0 | 6.00 | |
| Chiquinho | 2 | 6.13 | Wesley | 1 | 5.90 | |
| Jojic | 0 | 6.00 | Lowe | 1 | 5.86 | |
| Simkin | 1 | 6.00 | ||||
| Clark | 3 | 5.67 | ||||
| Baker | 0 | 5.00 |
* [Note: Figures do take into account substitution appearances and subsequent scores.]
Players like Tyrese Campbell, Ben Wilmot and Ben Pearson have certainly not impressed under the new manager, with their numbers plummeting dramatically. Andre Vidigal and DJ Johnson’s ratings have also fallen away badly, along with fringe players Junior Tchamadeu and Nathan Lowe.
However, there have been improvements (albeit slight) in some players, such as Wouter Burger, Lynden Gooch, Ryan Mmaee, Jack Bonham and Enda Stevens, but these rises are hardly as dramatic as the falling numbers. On the positive side, Lewis Baker certainly does look a better player under Schumacher now he’s back from injury, and Million Manhoef is the new boy that impresses the most.
But it’s not just the dramatic drop in the player ratings. Most telling is the large number of players attaining poorer scores under Schumacher compared to those making any improvement (however slight).Even taking into account Stoke’s drop in form, poor results and precarious league position, you would expect to see more players improving under Schumacher, with a select number showing significant improvement. But it’s just not happening, and the national media are not slow to notice and comment on this.
So, although the BBC may seem harsh with their analysis of what is happening at Stoke, figures seem to offer a modicum of support to their views. However, “plummeting” is hardly accurate.
When I asked Steven Schumacher this week about the harshness of the national press he wisely dismissed them saying “I don’t read too many National Press [articles]. It doesn’t affect me coz I don’t listen to it. I understand the situation that we’re in. What we can control right now is getting the points that we need to stay in this division and then to improve from there on.”
As for player-of-the-season from the player ratings, it is perhaps ironic that it’s former loan keeper Mark Travers that seems to have it all wrapped up with 6.79 (out of 10) for his 14 starts (before being recalled by Bournemouth), with Burger clinging on to second place so far. But more on that in 3 games time!
