Steven Schumacher is preparing Stoke City for a return to action in the Championship and a trip to Oxford United
Stoke City are back on the road this weekend as they take on Oxford United in the Championship.
Steven Schumacher is welcoming players back from international break and weighing up how many changes he should or has to make to the starting XI that won 1-0 at Plymouth Argyle a fortnight ago.
There will be at least one on Saturday (12.30pm), with Ryan Mmaee having since left to join Rapid Vienna – where he is hoping to make his debut this weekend against Wolfsberg – but there are five players who are hoping to come back into the squad this time around, including deadline day signings Tom Cannon and Tatsuki Seko. Jordan Thompson, Enda Stevens and Michael Rose have all been stepping up training too.
Cannon is likely to be at the front of the queue to come in and lead the attack. The 21-year-old has joined on a season-long loan from Leicester and been handed the number 9 shirt, wooed amid furious summer-long competition and determined to come in and show he can score regularly at this level.
There are interesting calls for Schumacher to make in a couple of other areas, particularly given players’ differing schedules over the last few days. Lewis Koumas, the 18-year-old forward on loan from Liverpool, has just made his first senior competitive start for Wales and played in pretty horrendous conditions in Montenegro. Sol Sidibe impressed from the bench at Plymouth in central midfield and has since been on England under-18s duty in France. Ashley Phillips has been in the England under-20s camp after taking Ben Gibson’s place at centre-half last time out. Andrew Moran, Viktor Johansson and Million Manhoef have also been away on international duty.
The Stoke boss is scheduled to give an update this afternoon on how everyone has arrived back at Clayton Wood this week and he will also have to take into consideration that this is the start of a three-game week. It’s Fleetwood up next at home on Tuesday (7.30pm) in the Carabao Cup and Hull in the league at the bet365 Stadium on the Friday (8pm). It will be a week to use the squad and give players opportunities to stake claims for starting roles.
Stoke predicted starting XI vs Oxford: Johansson, Tchamadeu, Bocat, Wilmot, Phillips, Burger, Moran, Junho, Koumas, Manhoef, Cannon.
