Sky Bet Championship
‘Has to start Saturday’ – These Stoke fans were encouraged by one man’s performance at QPR

It was a frustrating night for Stoke City on Tuesday, as they were held to a 0-0 draw by out of form QPR at The Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium.
In their first game after losing top scorer Tyrese Campbell to a season-ending injury, the Potters struggled to pose much of a threat to the host’s goal, as they were forced to settle for a point on their travels.
That result means that Michael O’Neill’s side are now without a win in their last three games, putting something of a stumbling block in the way of their pursuit of a play-off place.
However, one positive from Stoke’s performance on Tuesday, was that of young attacker Thibaud Verlinden, who did offer something of a useful outlet for the Potters going forward, after coming off the bench for the final ten minutes of the game.
That is something that did not go unnoticed by the club’s fans as they took to Twitter to give their thoughts on the game, with many keen to see more of the Belgian in the future.
Here, we take a look at what some of those supporters had to say about the 21-year-old.
onto saturday lads, thibaud look promising, clean sheet too
— Harry 💋🧛🏿 (@stokeharry_) December 15, 2020
3 points if we started verlinden and fletch
— bill (@BFinneron) December 15, 2020
Start Thibaud against Blackburn
— SpenceWright2406 (@Spence_Wright24) December 15, 2020
Verlinden looked promising at least
— George (@StokeyyG2) December 15, 2020
verlinden has to start saturday
— george (@TyreseSZN26) December 15, 2020
Good effort lads 👏🏻👏🏻. Played well. Ince looked lively for 60 minutes. Verlinden good when he came on. 7 players 22 years of age or under at the final whistle 👏🏻👊🏻. Lots of positives in the performance. On to Saturday!
— Richard Carr (@Richscfc2020) December 15, 2020
Now play thibau next week
— Scott (@StokieScott_) December 15, 2020
Please use Verlinden more! He is really promising
— Torstein Jonsdal (@TorsteinJonsda1) December 15, 2020