Yahoo News Stoke City vs West Brom team news as Bae Junho verdict delivered
Bae Junho has looked sharp in training this week as he bids to make his first start of the season for Stoke City against West Brom (Saturday, 3pm).
The player of the year missed the end of pre-season and start of the real stuff due to a thigh injury, but he made his return to training late last week and got on the pitch as a substitute in the defeat at Watford. Now he is hoping to come back into Steven Schumacher’s thinking and kick start a campaign when so much is expected on an individual basis.
“He’s brilliant, a brilliant player and he was only 21 on Thursday as well, unbelievable,” said Schumacher. "It was good to get him back on the pitch at Watford and he played 25 minutes or half an hour. He’s trained this week and looked nice and sharp so, if selected, fingers crossed he has a good game.”
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Junho isn’t the only one hoping to break into the starting XI after last week’s defeat. Andrew Moran and Lewis Koumas both made their league debuts for Stoke from the bench too while Ash Phillips got his loan deal done in time to be available.
Schumacher said: “There have been a few good trainers this week. It’s been positive to have a couple of the lads back with us as well. Junho only trained on the Friday morning before Watford having had a light session on the Thursday. Having Andrew Moran this week has been good, seeing the qualities he’s going to bring. Lewis Koumas has impressed us in training this week too. He did well when he came onto the pitch last Saturday.
“So it’s been a really good week and the players are focused and ready to go for what will be a hard game.”
The head coach insists it has been a good response back at Clayton Wood to what was a difficult second half at Watford.
He said: “I think the training standards since we’ve been here have been good. What we try to do as a coaching staff here is analyse it and put it out there as plainly as we can and once it’s dealt with we move on and get planning for the next game.
“Players always train well and put in 100 per cent effort, which is what we demand. The environment we are trying to create here is one that doesn’t dwell too much on the past nor get too excited and think we’ve cracked it when we’ve had a good result.
“We try to put things to bed and get onto the next match because it comes around really quick and it’s always going to test you. We’ve spoken about West Brom since Monday afternoon. That’s what we’ve been focusing on to try to make sure we get a performance in that.”
Ryan Mmaee is likely to be in the squad after scoring for the under-21s in mid-week as he builds up sharpness following a knee injury. Andre Vidigal, who has complained of foot and ankle problems, could be back on the bench too.
Enda Stevens (calf), Sam Gallagher (calf), Michael Rose (ankle), Ben Pearson (hamstring) and Bosun Lawal (back) remain in the treatment room. Jack Bonham is recovering from a wrist injury but is on standby to strap up and play on in case of emergency.
