Since Stoke City was unable to make any headway against Preston North End, Narcis Pelach acknowledges that possession alone is insufficient.

The closest Stoke got to ending the draw at the bet365 Stadium was when Wouter Burger’s attempt from a first-half corner struck the post, despite having 57% of the ball.

Even against a team that has a history of settling for 0-0 draws this season, the manager wanted to see more open play opportunities and more movement from his front players without the ball so that their teammates further back always had something to be happy about.

“We had a lot of ball possession but no shots,” he remarked. I believe we had twelve shots, but Tom only managed to get one on goal before Burger struck the post at a corner in the first half.

Our lack of speed, touch pass, and more movement without the ball prevented us from getting near enough to score goals. In order to provide the player on the ball more alternatives due to increased movement, we attempted to address that at halftime. This way, when the player glances up, he can see another player. The game put a lot of effort into it, but we never found the enthusiasm since it was too sloppy, slow, and motionless.

“We struggled to get back into form quickly from minutes 60 to 90, and we reacted slowly both with and without the ball, so maybe we were a little tired.