Yahoo News Steven Schumacher singles out 'what I liked' about Liverpool teen's Stoke City debut
Steven Schumacher took Lewis Koumas’s full league debut for Stoke City as a big positive to take from defeat to West Bromwich Albion.
Koumas, aged 18, led the line for Stoke in his first start at the bet365 Stadium, scoring once and hitting the post twice in a 2-1 loss. Stoke are still hoping to bring in another centre-forward but head coach Schumacher saw a potential match winner in his new loan signing from Liverpool.
"On another day he gets a hat-trick, he takes the match ball and we come away with all three points,” he said. “That's how close it is in this league, small margins determine the outcome of games.
REACTION: Recap and reaction from Stoke vs West Brom
"Lewis was great. He played as a single number nine, which he has done a few times but it's not his natural position. He looked really sharp for us. Their two centre-backs must have about 1,000 games in the Championship between them and it's Lewis's first start so you can't expect too much but what we did see was positive."
Koumas played wide on the left for Stoke in the Carabao Cup at Carlisle and it seems like he will be an asset in various roles this term.
Schumacher said: "He can play anywhere. When we got the reports on him we spoke to the lads at Liverpool who have worked with him for years in the academy and they said he can play anywhere across the front three, he's a talented lad. He's shown that. What I like from him in that position is that he's quick and willing to run behind and play on the shoulder. That creates space for the lads in front of them. That's how I like to play. It gives us an opportunity on transition to get in on one pass.
"A 9 who's fit, who's fast is ideal and he can do that. He's also really good on the sides, he can play in the wide areas and he gets himself into good positions where he can score goals. The two areas he got in today, especially for his first chance that hit the post, that's where he finds himself in the left channel opening up on his right foot so he played really well. It's a huge positive from that."
