Stoke 1 Valencia 1 notebook: Ratings as kit change Potters wrap up pre-season
· Peter Smith · 2026-08-01 · nguồn gốc
Stoke City 1 Valencia 1 notebook: Player ratings as kit change Potters wrap up pre-season
Reaction from the bet365 Stadium
Stoke City wrapped up their pre-season programme with a 1-1 draw at home against Valencia.
Mark Robins had completed his second summer in charge with impressive back to back games draws against pretty illustrious opposition; a 1-0 win over Everton on Tuesday before this share of the spoils on another sunny evening at the bet365 Stadium.
Arnaut Danjuma gave Valencia the lead when he appeared in too much space in the area to finish a smart first half move. The equaliser came just before the hour mark, an own goal from Miguel Monferrer after a cross from Million Manhoef.
Robins had made one change to his starting XI from Tuesday’s friendly win over Everton, bringing in Lamine Cisse to lead the line in place of Sam Gallagher. Fit-again Bae Junho and Djibril Soumare were back on the bench but Ethan Galbraith was left out again as a precaution, with expectation he would return to training next week ahead of the Oldham cup tie.
Stoke might have been ahead in the first minute when Thomas sneaked behind the Valencia defence to run onto a clearance. He went one-on-one with Stole Dimitrievski but lacked conviction with his shot, which went straight to the keeper.
The visitors were prepared to toy with Stoke’s press and pick their moments to work their way up the pitch. It was a nice move in the 12th minute when they found space down their inside right and Javi Guerra pulled back for Danjuma to slot past Johansson from 10 yards. The visiting commentary team treated the goal as if it had won the World Cup and received an applause from the executive box behind for impressive levels of excitement.
Stoke had a decent chance to be level when Tomas Rigo and Cisse combined in their harrying and won the ball back high up the pitch – but Cisse couldn’t swivel and shoot quickly enough when he was subsequently fed in the area by Rigo.
Valencia’s choice of pink shirts and red shorts had clashed with Stoke’s home strip so the Potters had a full change at half-time and re-emerged in their Spitfire inspired away kit.
Stoke were level in the 55th minute. Manhoef made inroads down the right and his cross was planted into the net by Monferrer, who was under pressure by Cisse and Eric Bocat.
Cisse had an opportunity to put Stoke into the lead when he ran onto a clipped Bosun Lawal through ball but Dimitrievski was alert.
Here are the player ratings from the bet365 Stadium.
Johansson: A relatively quiet evening’s work but was sensible with his footwork when called upon in possession. 6.5
Wilmot: Makes a pretty conservative right-back with a bit more will to get forward and support Manhoef as the game went on. 7
Bocat: Good bursts of pace when he had the chance to go forward and support Thomas down the left. 7
Lawal: Seriously calm and tries to land some interesting passes, like a chipped through ball to Cisse or ranging whack to Thomas. 7
Graham: Early signs of being a handy complement to Lawal. Good size, left footer and seems switched on. 7
Seko: A couple of snapshots as he lurked for half clearances on the edge of the area. Tough ask against team which moved ball well but a willing worker. 6
Ingelsson: A useful presence in midfield, popping up in the box a couple of times too. A couple of moments that showed he’s still getting up to top speed. 7
Rigo: Helped with the high press but needs to be more decisive and show quality when it works. 6
Manhoef: On his own a little but still didn’t always get decisions right about when to release the ball. A consistent threat though and helped make equaliser. 7
Thomas: Energy attacking down the wing against his old Huddersfield boss. Always trying to make something happen. 6.5
Cisse: Plenty of energy as he tried to make a nuisance of himself at centre-forward. 6.5
Substitutes
Soumare (for Seko, 76): Slotted next to Ingelsson on right of centre mid and tried to release Manhoef. 6
Junho (for Rigo, 76): Return to fitness after frustrating summer. Long range shot deflected over. 6
Gibson (for Graham, 83): Fitted back in on left of central defence in closing stages. 6
Not used: Griffiths, Fielding, Pearson, Bozenik, Gallagher, Talovierov, Anderson, Smit, Curley, Kelly.
Potters turn to camouflage to get seen
Valencia’s pink shirts, red shorts and pink socks didn’t make for the worst kit clash the world has ever endured but it was a little bit jolting. Stoke were the side with access to a change kit at the break so came back out in their new away strip: a camouflage number inspired by the Spitfire.
It helped – and Bosun Lawal’s late off the ball skirmish with Jesus Vazquez was hardly the battle of Britain. Sensible refereeing from Tom Reeves saw both players receive a yellow card after a couple of seconds of windmilling arms.
Stoke will take heart from this performance. There are a couple of burgeoning partnerships; Svante Ingelsson and Luke Graham are settling in nicely and they created some decent chances – albeit they could do with looking like taking more of them.
The season starts next weekend but it’s a soft launch with the Carabao Cup and preparation work will continue for the Championship a week later.