First team coach Stuart Taylor has said that Paul Lambert’s tough spell at Aston Villa will serve Stoke City well during the run in.
With the international break in full force Taylor knows the pressure that everyone at the club will under over the next two months as we look to avoid the drop back into the Championship and with eight games remaining in the year we sit three points adrift of safety in 19th place in the table so it’s all to fight for.
Speaking to the Official Website this week Taylor spoke of the success that Lambert had at Villa Park in terms of keeping them in the division despite the constraints he was under, and having demonstrated what he can do under pressure he feels that will be a significant boost to our chances.
‘I think when you look at the job he did at Aston Villa, the immense pressure he was under there to try and keep them up season after season that will serve him well. He was very successful there in keeping them in the Premier league, so he has already shown that he can handle these sort of situations incredibly well.’
Taylor went on to say that obviously everyone reacts differently to pressure and people have different ways of dealing with it, but football exists inside a pressure bubble so you have to deal with it and thrive on it and despite the two one reverse to Everton in our last game, he felt the players had reacted well in training and shown they hadn’t let it effect their spirits.
‘The players all know what`s at stake! It`s drilled into them every day in training, it`s drilled into them before going into games. So they are made aware of the importance, but they already know that. The manager gives them the confidence to go and play – and I know that home or away the supporters will give them that confidence as well and be supportive, as they always have been, and that`s huge. Players get their confidence from supporters, the management team and each other, so there`s no concern about confidence and people not stepping up to the mark.’
He went on to explain.
‘The lads who have been in this week have been fantastic, they are still in good spirits and they are desperate to get back out there and pick up points. Games are there to be played and won and if it means going until the last game of the season then that`s what we will have to do.’
