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Stoke City boss Narcis Pelach has revealed the Potters want Liverpool loanee Lewis Koumas to improve more defensively and added they also expect more goals from the forward.
The 19-year-old Liverpool academy product joined Stoke on loan in the summer and he has featured 18 times for the Potters in the Championship so far this season.
At the weekend, Koumas scored his fourth goal of the season in Stoke’s 2-1 defeat against Sunderland.
Pelach revealed that Koumas is working a lot on the training ground to improve his ability to go in behind opposition defence lines and added that they expect a lot more goals from the Liverpool youngster.
The Stoke boss also added that he wants Koumas to improve defensively and admitted that the Liverpool starlet is now aware of the need to win duels and second balls in the game.
“I am very pleased with the goal he scored [against Sunderland] because this is one thing we work a lot on, getting him behind, going in behind, because he is our high wide winger on that side and we want him to go in behind and get assists and goals”, Pelach told Stoke City TV.
“I think that we really train a lot and I’m pleased for him because he is a winger/striker and he needs goals and goal contributions.
“And he was good today [on Saturday] and happy to have scored another goal and we expect him to do more and above all, I want him to improve defensively.
“He is doing it; defensively, he is much better than when I first came and he is much more conscious about how he needs to improve in his duels in the second ball game and his defensive position.”
Koumas will be hoping to improve going forward and defensively to cement his place in Pelach’s starting line-up in the coming games.