Yahoo News Stoke City forgotten man handed second chance under new boss
Andre Vidigal appears to have been handed a second life at Stoke City thanks to the change of head coach.
Vidigal had been out in the cold, rather than on the naughty step, under Steven Schumacher, who was believed to have been frustrated with the 26-year-old forward’s conditioning when he returned for pre-season, as well as what could diplomatically be described as a low threshold for requiring in-game treatment.
He has been happy at least on the surface around the camp, however, and turned down opportunities to leave Stoke in the summer transfer window even if he knew he was not going to be Schumacher’s plans. Perhaps he thought they wouldn’t be Schumacher’s plans to make for long, which would have seemed like a leap but turned out to be true.
Anyway, whatever has happened in the last nine months, or a frustrating couple before that under Alex Neil, he has been brought back into contention by Narcis Pelach. He had only even been an unused sub in one match – the opening day win over Coventry – before he was named on the bench at Middlesbrough and sent on for the last 11 minutes.
He looked a little rusty – there was one swing and miss with his left foot from close range and a pot shot from distance that pretty much landed in the Tees – but there was encouragement to take from him being in positions to take those opportunities on. Sam Gallagher made his debut too after recovering from a calf injury picked up in pre-season.
“This is good for the team, more and more options, two players who I expect to give a lot,” said Pelach. “Hopefully they will get fitter and understand the ideas soon and we can use them. I'm very happy to have them of course.”
Vidigal, at his best in his opening month under Neil, did have a propensity for ghosting into positions where he could change games. He scored twice on his debut and three more times in his next five appearances. It was a major blow when he was crocked by a hard but fair challenge at Millwall, when he was actually looking a real threat without scoring.
He comes back into a forward department which has been less than the sum of its parts over the last few weeks. Bae Junho, Million Manhoef and Tom Cannon, plus Lewis Koumas, have shown or been spoken about having great potential at this level. Gallagher gives another dimension, Emre Tezgel has been a regular scorer through the youth ranks.
Stoke have only scored four goals in seven league games so far this term and not more than one in any match. The club and Pelach needs one, two or three of that group to stand up and really be counted, starting with this massive home match against Portsmouth tomorrow (7.45pm).
