1 week Ago By [email protected] (Peter Smith)
Junior Tchamadeu can see the big strides he can make in terms of his defensive positioning in his first season as a Stoke City regular – as he embraces a licence to attack too. Tchamadeu was trusted to make the right-back shirt his own this term after initially serving as deputy to Ki-Jana Hoever when he signed from Colchester United late in the summer of 2023. The 21-year-old has clocked up more minutes than all-but three other players and, as he has found his best form at Stoke in recent weeks under Mark Robins, says he can see huge differences in his own game “When I look at myself from my first season here compared to now I’d say the biggest thing is my game understanding on the pitch,” he said on the new episode of Potters’ Pod.
“I now understand where to be when we’ve got the ball and when we haven’t and that felt like the biggest thing for me to improve. “From the outside looking in you might not be able to tell but as playing on the pitch I can fully see the difference in my game. If I was to compare a recent match with one from last year I think you’d see huge differences in my positioning and my awareness and distances between myself and the centre-back.
I think that’s improved a lot. “There is still a lot of room for improvement in those areas and other parts of my game but, for me personally and when I analyse my game, I think that’s where I have improved a lot.” Tchamadeu scored his first Stoke goal last weekend in a 3-1 win over Queens Park Rangers, having already set up one for Bae Junho minutes earlier.
He had gained a reputation for his influence going forward at Colchester, where he was named League Two young player of the year in 2023, and he hopes he can start to show that in the Championship. “I’d say that’s the part I enjoy the most, getting forward and joining in, and I’ve always been like that,” he said. “I probably get it from when I used to play as a winger, an attacker, when I was younger and then I got pushed back.
It’s where I can properly express myself and that’s what I want to do, get into the final third and help the team further forward. That’s where I think I’m at my best, running from deep and joining in. I enjoy all parts of the game but that’s the big one.
” He added: “(If I had to pick out one area to improve now it would be) end product, final third end product, crossing or shooting, is something I can get better at.” The average age of the 10 players who have played the most minutes for Stoke this season is only 22, with 26-year-old Viktor Johansson and 24-year-old Ben Wilmot the only two in that group above 24. But Tchamadeu is grateful for advice from around the changing room.
“If there’s someone who I could say speaks to me to help me about my game I’d say Wouter Burger, who wants to help me a lot, and Lewis Baker,” he said. “Those two are the people that are always on me to be better than I am whether that’s in training or in games. I appreciate that as a younger player, although Burgs isn’t that much older than me.
He’s got that leadership quality. He doesn’t have to try to help me but he’s willing to and that makes him a better person completely.” While you're here, we have launched a new WhatsApp group to deliver the latest Stoke news directly to your phone.
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