Dead ball duo hoping to give Stoke City new dimension
Coach, manager and Sorba Thomas himself talk about what it is hoped he will bring to Stoke City
Sorba Thomas is looking forward to taking his set-piece work alongside James Rowberry with Wales to Stoke City.
Rowberry is assistant coach to Craig Bellamy at international level and assistant to Mark Robins with the Potters, now tasked with making sure the latter get to benefit as much as they can from Thomas’s dead ball reputation.
“I like Rowbs,” said Thomas in a video interview for the club. “We’re very close at Wales, especially with him being one of the set-piece coaches. We’ve got a good bond and for us to try to bring it from international to club level is going to be great.”
Thomas quickly got a name for himself in the Championship for his deliveries at Huddersfield Town, which were dubbed a ‘super strength’ by his coaches on their way to reaching the play-off final.
He has taken that into Wales too, providing an assist from a corner against Liechtenstein last month as well as scoring and setting up another from open play against Belgium a few days later.
Stoke scored 11 times from set-pieces in the Championship last season, half that managed by Derby County, who along with Oxford United, set themselves apart on that score. There were 18 clubs who scored between 10 and 15 times from dead ball situations and only Middlesbrough and Blackburn who got stuck on single figures.
It was no coincidence that centre-half Michal Helik scored nine times for Huddersfield in 2023/24 and Ben Wilmot and any other player Stoke might bring in who looks to attack the ball in the opposition box should be licking their lips.
Still, Rowberry, for what it’s worth, can see past Thomas’s corners and free-kicks in terms of what he will bring to his new club.
“I see someone who’s really industrious, who fits into a style and methodology we’re trying to work to,” said the coach. “I think every Stoke supporter first and foremost looks at do they work hard both ways? Do they go up the pitch really well and do they come back down the pitch?
“Can he help us and set up goals and support, cross opportunities into the box and also set play delivery? I think he can really add something more to what we’ve got.”
Thomas, who will meet up with his new teammates to join in pre-season next week, will be a key figure in Stoke’s pressing in the final third too.
Rowberry said: “I think, first and foremost, we want to try to win the ball back as high up the pitch as possible and he gives us that. You can see in his Wales appearances what he does and how he does it. He’ll give us that and he’ll give us that intensity, going up the pitch and coming back, which we’ve said is really important to what we do.
“I think from an attacking point of view and you can go back to the days of Liam Lawrence and Matthew Etherington and Stoke fans love to see wingers who want to get past people and cross the ball. Sorba will give that to us and give it to us in abundance.”
It leaves Mark Robins hoping that the first permanent signing since he became manager will make a real impact.
Robins said: “James Rowberry has obviously got a real strong connection from working with him at Wales and he knows him both as a person and as a player and he fits us in both respects.
“He’s going to be someone we can work with and play through and obviously we’re looking forward to working with and trying to make sure we’ve got another dimension.
“He fits the way we want to play. He fits the way the clubs is. He obviously fits into our strategy. I’m delighted to get him across the line and look forward to where we can get to with him. He’s going to provide us with some really good moments, I’m sure of it.”
