Narcis Pelach reveals Stoke City issues he saw v Preston | OneFootball

The Potters have tended to struggle in forward areas this season.

Narcis Pelach described his Stoke City side's performance in their 0-0 draw against Preston North End as "sloppy", saying that they need to make better use of their possession.

The two bottom half of the table Championship sides didn't put on a classic at the bet365 Stadium in midweek. There were just four shots on target in the game, with the hosts slightly edging the quality of the chances, in terms of their expected goals (xG).

Stoke had more of the ball but fashioned just a quarter of the total attempts on goal on Tuesday evening. Their Spanish boss knows that his side have to be more effective with the ball when they have it, rather than having possession for possession's sake.

Narcis Pelach on Stoke City problem vs Preston

Pelach has reiterated the point that his players must use their control in games like the one against the Lilywhites to full effect.

Stoke don't usually dominate the ball in games - they average 47.9% possession per game, which ranks them 15th in the league - but they also aren't the best at coming up with opportunities. They have created 29 big chances in 17 games this season, as per Sofascore; the joint-14th most in the Championship.

"We had a lot of ball possession but without shots," Pelach said after his City side's draw with Preston, via the Stoke Sentinel. "I think we had 12 shots but only one on target from Tom (Cannon) and then the post that (Wouter) Burger hit in the first half at a corner.

"We were not close enough to score goals and we lacked pace, we lacked speed, touch pass, touch pass and more movement without the ball. We tried to fix that at half-time and get more options for the player on the ball because of more movement, so when the player looks up he can see a player, see a player, see a player.

"Too sloppy, too slow, no movement and the game went into it and we never found the energy.

"Maybe we were a little bit tired because from minute 60 to 90 we struggled to come back in shape quick, our reactions were slow with and without the ball."

Stoke need to find more ways to score goals

City don't have a problem with finishing. They have only slightly underperformed their xG by 0.4 at this stage of the season, as per FBref. However, if they continue to both create and concede chances at their current rate, then they could face some problems.

The Potters have a pretty normal mid-table goal difference of -1. But, if you go by their expected goal difference (xGD) - their xG minus their expected goals allowed (xGA) - according to FBref, it's -7.1; the fifth-lowest in the division.

Goalkeeper Viktor Johansson is the biggest reason why Stoke aren't in a worse position in the league. He has prevented 8.5 goals more from going in than would be expected of him, based on the calibre of shots that he has faced this season, according to Sofascore.

He has proven year-on-year for Rotherham United and now the Potters that he is capable of producing these levels of performances across a whole season, but Stoke would surely rather not bank on his brilliance too much. Becoming more effective at the other end of the pitch would certainly take some of the load off of the Swedish international.