Alex Neil addressed the media after Stoke City's 1-0 defeat to Everton at the bet365 Stadium this afternoon.
The Potters were seemingly holding out for a 0-0 draw before Amadou Onana broke the deadlock in the final seconds of stoppage time.
Neil, in his first pre-season as Stoke boss, has overlooked a dramatic summer overhaul in Staffordshire, seeing ten new signings come through the door at the time of writing.
-
Quotes
On new arrivals
Nine of Stoke's ten summer signings featured against Everton today, but boss Neil is adamant that they still require time to settle in.
Four of the new arrivals are yet to play in the Championship, including latest arrival and multi-million pound man Ryan Mmaee.
"I don’t think any club is really going to find themselves in that situation too often. We are in a unique situation where we need a reset, and this is an opportunity to reset.
"We can’t play at it, we have to be bold and commit to it to make sure we get up and running with it as quickly as we can.
"I’ve said this one a couple of occasions, we just need a little bit of patience, especially for the foreign lads. It’s a new culture, a new environment, a new level of football, some of them would have moved away from their family for the first time.
"We just need to be patient with these boys, allow them to bed themselves in and then they can show what they can do."
On today's game
Stoke started the game the stronger of the two sides this afternoon, but failed to create any significant chance until the 53rd minute.
Towards the latter stages of the game, Everton had taken control, allowing Bournemouth loanee Mark Travers to prove his worth in the Potters net.
"I thought there were some really good bits in it. We need to keep in mind we played a Premier League team, you can see the athleticism and power they had, but I think we controlled most of the first half.
"I thought we created a couple of chances, nicked the ball high up the pitch and the press was good. We never really allowed Everton to get into a rhythm.
"Again, I thought the final ball wasn’t quite there. We had two really good set plays that Michael [Rose] gets on the end of but we didn’t win the seconds. I thought there were a lot of encouraging signs."
On versatility within the squad
With the number of new arrivals at the bet365 Stadium, it is inevitable that players will be tried and tested in different positions over the course of the season.
Neil did tinker with the tactics during the second half of today's game, and revealed why he switched Mmaee and Daniel Johnson.
"When I changed the team, I brought Ryan off the left and their right back started to bomb on a little bit, so I changed it and put DJ [Daniel Johnson] on the left and moved Ryan inside.
"I started [Andre] Vidigal on the right and then moved him to the left. I wanted to get Sol [Sidibe] on the pitch as well because he’s done really well, I thought he was good again when he came on today.
"There was a lot of mix and match, trying to get people minutes and trying to get an idea of what people look like playing at this level and in this environment."
On Wesley
After suffering a season-ending injury in early 2020 while at Aston Villa, striker Wesley has finally made his return to English football.
Neil spoke on what attracted Stoke to make a move for the Brazilian forward.
"We’ve lacked a target man since I’ve been here. The difficulty you have with target men is the fact they come at a premium in terms of cost, their wages and transfer fee.
"To get Wesley who is a good player, suffered a bad injury, but has had three loans since then. Last season was the most minutes he’s played, he’s in really good shape, his body fat is really low. He can get around the pitch much more than maybe he has done in the two years previously.
"We’ve got him on a one-year contract so we can have a proper look at him. It gives him an opportunity playing at a lower level than what he has done previously been used to.
"You don’t get bought for £22 million if you’re not a good player. He will give us that target that we require so I think it’s a good bit of business."