Stoke City boss Alex Neil has said both Tyreece Campbell and Ben Wilmot will only make the team ‘even stronger’ when they return from injury.
Stoke City have endured a challenging season so far. As it stands, they sit in 14th place in the Championship table. They are currently five points off the play-off places.
On a positive note, the team are unbeaten in their last five league games. Although, the last two of those games have been goalless draws. That gives the team something to build on, and Neil feels the team will get even better when two players return from injury. Those two players are forward Campbell and centre-back Wilmot.
Speaking to Stoke on Trent Live, Neil said:
“Then, like any team, when you’re missing key players who can flip a game in your favour, you will be stronger as a squad when you get them back.
“We’ve still got Tye Campbell to come back, we’ve still got Ben Wilmot, who was our player of the season last year, to come back. We’ve still got bits and pieces to come back and make us even stronger.”
Campbell has been limited to only six appearances this season for Stoke. Wilmot has been out for over a month with a knee injury.
Excited by the challenge?
It could be easy for a manager to sound frustrated with injuries to key players, but that doesn’t seem to be the case with Stoke City boss Neil. Instead, he sounds excited that some notable absentees are set to return to the squad at some stage.
Once the injured players return, then it could provide the Potters with a platform to build upon when it comes to attempting to reach the top six of the Championship. It can be considered a promising sign that Neil’s side is on an unbeaten run, even if they might have liked to turn some of those draws into victories.
Injuries are obviously a problem for every team during a season, but it is always worse when key men are ruled out, like Campbell and Wilmot. Neil and everyone at Stoke City will be hopeful that when the duo return, the team can really push on for the rest of the season.
