"He is feeding off scraps" - Reaction given to "silly" Tom Cannon criticism at Stoke City | OneFootball

Tom Cannon has been backed to come good at Stoke City as he awaits his first goal for the club.

Tom Cannon has been backed to come good at Stoke City as he waits for his first goal for the club.

The 21-year-old joined the Potters on loan from Leicester City in the summer window, in a deal that was seen as a real coup for Stoke, as there were several Championship clubs chasing his signature.

However, Cannon has not got going for his new club just yet, having played two Championship games, which the side lost, and coming off the bench in the League Cup against Fleetwood, in which he missed a guilt-edged chance in normal time, as well as a penalty in the resulting shootout.

Tom Cannon backed to succeed at Stoke City despite slow start

Even though it’s early days, some fans weren’t pleased with Cannon’s performance against Hull last time out, and with Stoke having lacked a natural goalscorer over the years, there is some anxiety over whether he can be the man to solve that major problem.

Yet, speaking to FLW, Potters fan pundit Sam Harrison urged the support to show patience with the youngster.

“With Tom Cannon, I think it's one of them where you need to give him time. He obviously hasn’t had loads of football in general, he played in pre-season for Leicester but didn't get much after that," Sam told Football League World.

“So, he’s still building up that sharpness and that kind of mentality of getting goals, and with a striker like that, we have seen he can do it at the likes of Preston, that he can get goals and do it in the league, when you get that first goal, the criticism goes away, and he's able to then flourish and hopefully he can get double figures.

“With a striker like him, there’s always going to be a pressure on him in terms of being a Stoke striker. Whenever you’re not scoring, you’re always going to be wanting to bring in a striker, so straight away that pressure is on him, and especially at Stoke, having not had a player that has been a huge goalscorer, the focus is moved on to Tom Cannon to get the goals.

“But, if you look at his performances, most of the time he is feeding off scraps - he hasn’t got loads to work with. Just give him time, it’s silly that there’s some criticism already - he's a Stoke player, someone that is willing to learn and is young, so I think it's just a matter of giving him time."

Tom Cannon will surely score goals in the Championship for Stoke City

It should be said that the majority of Stoke fans will know that it’s very early days for Cannon, and he arrives with a good pedigree, so there won’t be any worries just yet.

But, it really is early days for the player, and the fact his three Stoke games have come with three different managers in the dugout highlights just how unfair it would be to judge Cannon right now.

As mentioned, he has scored goals with Preston at this level in the past, so there should be confidence that he will do so again.

The team will need time to adapt to the methods of Narcis Pelach, and there’s no doubt that the new boss will want to work on creating more chances in the final third, as it has been a problem for some time.

If they can do that, Cannon will back himself to get goals on a regular basis, but this is clearly an issue that the team must solve.

So, it will be interesting to see how this plays out, but, like Pelach and the rest of the Stoke squad, it won’t be fair to judge them for at least another month or two.