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Two Storylines for Stoke City Heading Into Rotherham Match

By Jeff Brantley

STOKE ON TRENT, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 18: Tyrese Campbell of Stoke City runs past Cameron Humphreys-Grant of Rotherham United during the Sky Bet Championship between Stoke City and Rotherham United at Bet365 Stadium on October 18, 2022 in Stoke on Trent, England. (Photo by Nathan Stirk/Getty Images)
STOKE ON TRENT, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 18: Tyrese Campbell of Stoke City runs past Cameron Humphreys-Grant of Rotherham United during the Sky Bet Championship between Stoke City and Rotherham United at Bet365 Stadium on October 18, 2022 in Stoke on Trent, England. (Photo by Nathan Stirk/Getty Images) /
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When Stoke City head to New York Stadium on Monday, the club will have two general key storylines to watch going into the match. One obviously being the club’s position on the table in comparison to Rotherham United, and the other being how the team reacts coming off of a win.

Here are the top two things to watch for going into Monday’s Rotherham road match for The Potters…

1. Never mind promotion at the moment for Stoke City, focus on getting some distance from the relegation zone first:

Every fan, coach, and media member for Stoke City wants to see the club gain promotion this season. But at the end of the day, the ultimate failed season for Stoke City would mean relegation. And for Stoke City, they’re definitely far from out of the woods in terms of relegation position.

The Potters as of right now sit at 17th on the table with 29 points. That gives the club just a five point cushion from the relegation zone at 24 points right now (both Blackpool and Wigan have 24 points). Furthermore, Stoke City’s upcoming opponent Rotherham come into Monday’s match at 19th on the table with 26 points.

As always points in the Championship on Monday will be at a premium, but a win or draw on Monday gives Stoke City a little more breathing room from the relegation zone on the table. Plus, a win for The Potters on Monday would mean pushing Rotherham farther down the table, and Stoke City farther up the table.

2. Can The Potters String Together Results?

A lot of times you can truly judge a team by how they bounce back from results. This includes bad results and good results for a team. In this case, Stoke City are coming off of a good result after beating Bristol City this past weekend.

So how does Stoke City react to that good result? Do they come into the match riding too high and drop points? Or do they use Saturday’s Bristol win to motivate themselves to start a winning streak?

This will be a massive storyline for Stoke City this upcoming Monday and for other matches heading into January. So far this season Stoke City have shown a poor ability to bounce back from wins and losses in a positive way.

If Stoke City can start to have less let down games, the club could hit a big stride in the second-half of the season — It all starts with reacting well to wins and losses though (in this game it’s reacting well coming off of a win).