Stoke City suffering from Plymouth Argyle frustration involving Luke Cundle: View | OneFootball

Stoke City still have a lot of work to do if they want to play in the Championship again next season.

This 2023/24 campaign has been bitterly disappointing for the Potters, but they will hope to end it on a high as they bid to beat the drop to League One.

The Staffordshire outfit turned to Steven Schumacher earlier this season in a bid to strengthen their cause and climb the table.

It hasn’t quite gone to plan, as the Potters have remained near the bottom of the table and are now just three clear of the drop zone.

The January transfer window was an opportunity for the Potters to strengthen their side and allow Schumacher to bring in players he wanted, and he did that with the addition of Luke Cundle, a player he knows very well.

Schumacher had worked with the midfielder at Plymouth Argyle, and he would have hoped he could continue his form shown with Plymouth at Stoke when he arrived, but that hasn’t quite been the case.

Despite only being 21 years old, Luke Cundle has been around for a few years now and has plenty of games under his belt in English football.

The midfielder started his career in Burnley’s youth academy before joining Wolves in 2014.

Cundle has been with the Premier League side ever since but has struggled to make an impact in their first team, playing just seven times so far for the Midlands outfit.

The 21-year-old has spent most of his time at the club in their academy or out on loan in the EFL, and at the start of the current campaign, Wolves decided to send Cundle out on loan once again, and he joined Plymouth Argyle for what was meant to be a season-long loan deal.

However, it only lasted six months, as Schumacher’s departure saw him follow him to Stoke City.

While he was only at Home Park for a short time, Cundle still managed to impress enormously, as he scored three goals and grabbed five assists in 24 Championship games.

The young midfielder was very important for the Pilgrims, and that was shown as Plymouth sat comfortably in the table until Schumacher and then Cundle’s departure.

Stoke City will be frustrated with Luke Cundle's impact

So, when Stoke City announced they had signed Cundle on loan for the rest of the season, they would have been hoping his form would continue, but that hasn’t been the case.

When Schumacher arrived at Stoke, he would have found a group of players, some of whom were on very big money and may not have had the desire for the fight, while there were others who had never been in this position before.

So, it was a different type of squad that Schumacher would have been used to, as he worked with probably a smaller number of players, all of whom bought into his ideas.

The former Plymouth boss was probably keen to bring in some familiar faces, ones that he knew he could trust, and they knew what he expected and wanted from them as players.

That, along with his impressive form, is probably why Cundle was brought to Stoke, but it has to be said that his addition hasn’t quite had the desired effect.

So far, the midfielder has played 13 times for the Potters in the Championship, eight of which he has started.

But the 21-year-old has only grabbed one goal, and that came in their most recent game, the 1-1 draw with Sheffield Wednesday. Apart from that, Cundle hasn’t really offered much else, which will be disappointing for Schumacher and Stoke.

That game against the Owls was probably Cundle’s best appearance for Stoke, and he was only on the pitch for 17 minutes.

The midfielder managed 13 touches in those minutes, while he also completed four of the eight passes he attempted, and he had one shot on target - which was his goal.

Furthermore, Cundle won his one ground duel that he had but did lose possession four times. However, he finished the game with a Sofascore.com rating of 7.3, which is the best he has received in a Stoke shirt.

The Potters will have hoped that this loan would have gone much better than it has so far, but there are still three games remaining, and they are three massive games for the club.