Michael O'Neill made the perfect start to life as Stoke City manager, with his side picking up a 4-2 win against Barnsley at Oakwell this weekend.

The 50-year-old was appointed as the new Potters manager on Friday afternoon, and got straight into work as they prepared for a massive game on Saturday afternoon.

Before the weekend, Stoke sat six points adrift of safety in the Sky Bet Championship table, with Barnsley sitting one point and one place above them - so a win was a must.

O'Neill made plenty of changes to the line-ups we have seen under Nathan Jones, with Stoke switching to a 4-3-3 system and the likes of Tom Ince, Ryan Woods and Mame Diouf returning to the squad.

But in the end, it was Stoke who came out on top in Yorkshire, putting in a fantastic performance to win 4-2 against their relegation rivals.

Stoke will be hoping that they can kick on after their win at Oakwell, where goals from Sam Clucas, Joe Allen and Lee Gregory secured an invaluable three points for O'Neill's side.

Ryan Woods' performance also led to plenty of Stoke fans discussing his future under O'Neill - here, we take a look at how the midfielder performed at the weekend...

It has been a turbulent start to the season for former Brentford man Woods, who had made only three league starts this term before the trip to Oakwell.

On Saturday afternoon, he replaced Badou N'Diaye who dropped to the bench after a minor injury problem, and put in an impressive performance against the Tykes.

The defensive midfielder lasted the whole 97 minutes on an afternoon where the Potters had to hang in, stand strong and grind out a significant win.

The 25-year-old played an integral role in helping connect the defence to the midfield, accruing a pass success rate of 76% after completing 28 out of 37 passes.

He didn't pass just for the sake of it, with nine of his 15 forward passes finding a teammate - giving the ball to the likes of Sam Clucas and Tom Ince who created problems throughout.

Defensively, Woods will be looking to improve next time out, and he doesn't really add the same steel and power that N'Diaye brings to the team.

He completed five interceptions at the weekend, and won only 33% of his defensive duels, however it's hard to knock him for winning only two out of four aerial duels when you consider his size and prowess.

He is clearly a very gifted player on the ball, though, and he will be looking to properly kickstart his season after a big win at the weekend.