Yahoo News Steven Schumacher promises Stoke City players a summer like no other as 'difficult' time predicted
Steven Schumacher has warned his players that they are in for a “difficult” pre-season. The Stoke City head coach engineered a run of 21 points from the Potters’ last 12 games to ensure they edged clear of the Championship relegation zone.
But he is in no mood to endure more struggles next term, and has told his players so. Asked about his pre-season plans during a wide-ranging interview posted on the Stoke City website, Schumacher said: “It's going to be a tough pre-season, and we've already spoken to the players about that. I would imagine it'll be one of the most difficult that they have experienced because of how we like to do it.
“We believe that our team has to be a fit team, a team that can play at high energy and can sustain intensity levels. I feel as though we've seen that towards the end of the season, we were scoring goals later on in games, and that is all stuff you can build on in pre-season. That's where you get your foundations.”
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Schumacher and his players are on course to kick-off pre-season at the start of July, but he revealed that work was already underway.
He explained: “Elliot Turner and the rest of the performance team will be working so hard on getting the players fit. Over the summer, they've all been given programmes to follow, and we have explained how important it is to follow them.
“If you don't come back in good shape and we start pre-season at the intensity we want, then you can break down, and no player wants to break down in pre-season because it can affect the rest of your campaign moving forward. So, yeah, it's going to be a tough one.”
With Schumacher arriving at Stoke mid-season, this will be the first time he has had an extended period to work with his players, and he explained why it is so important going into the new campaign.
He added: “It’s a bit of everything, really. As I said, getting them fit, but also figuring out how we are going to play tactically. Obviously, we’ve got the players in for a long time, six weeks of preparation before you get into the first game of the season.
“Sometimes in the Championship it can be difficult to work on too much detail, especially when there's three game weeks, but in the off-season you can spend as long as you want on that because you get them in pretty much every day, with a few days off here and there. It's a time to lay foundations, get organised and get ready to go.”
All that will be music to the ears of Stoke fans of a certain vintage raised on tales of Tony Pulis and Tony Waddington, arguably the club's greatest managers of the modern era, and their uncompromising attitude to pre-season.
