Narcis Pelach tries to keep Viktor Johansson humble after Stoke keeper’s heroics

Posted Thursday, November 07, 2024 by PA

Stoke boss Narcis Pelach praised Viktor Johansson after his stand-out performance in the Potters’ 2-0 win at Blackburn but has told the Swedish goalkeeper he still wants more from him.

Second-half goals from Million Manhoef and Tom Cannon delivered Stoke’s first away league win since August, but Johansson was the man of the match after making a string of superb second-half saves, highlighted by stops to deny Tyrhys Dolan and Andreas Weimann in quick succession.

“He’s very ambitious,” Pelach said of his goalkeeper. “After the game I said, ‘Viktor, a great performance, but I want more’. He needs to make sure he stays humble. He can do more, he can grow more, there are more things he can do.

“Don’t get too high on this. It is just a win. We have another game on Saturday and we need to make sure we are at the maximum level…

“His character is very honest, very humble, very ambitious. But every day is a test and you need to make sure you show it every day. He performed really well but I want him to think like that to make sure he’s there for the team again.”

Stoke had to soak up pressure throughout the first half and then again after going ahead through Manhoef just before the hour, but did enough to earn a second consecutive win that moves them up to 14th in the table.

“It’s very important that we have strikers scoring goals and a goalkeeper saving shots,” Pelach added. “I have the feeling the team dominated the box. You have to make sure you stay in the game in the Championship and dominate in the box.

“I have the feeling today that in the opposition box we killed it and in our box we stopped it.”

Blackburn had 25 attempts at goal and came away wondering how they had failed to score for what is now a fourth straight game.

Johansson’s excellence was only part of the story with Makhtar Gueye guilty of a glaring miss late on.

But though admitting his players were “devastated”, manager John Eustace wanted to focus on the positive of having created so many opportunities.

“I thought we were excellent, one of the best performances since I’ve been here,” he said.

“We’re disappointed not to score any of the chances we had and we’ve got to defend better for the two goals but I thought we were really good tonight…

“Any other day we could have won the game three or four-nil. The attitude of the group is fantastic, they haven’t let me down or let the club down since I’ve been here.

“That never-say-die attitude was there to see today. Obviously we need to defend and keep clean sheets but it’s important to stay positive and that performance was really excellent.”