Stoke City caretaker boss Rory Delap believes that the side need to pick up 14 wins from their remaining 31 games in order to survive in the Championship.

A disastrous opening third to the campaign has left the Potters bottom of the league and six points from safety going into a crucial game against Barnsley this weekend.

So, there's no denying the Staffordshire outfit are in real trouble and that is something that Delap recognises.

And, speaking to Stoke-On-Trent Live, the former player outlined exactly what he feels the team need to do to ensure they don't suffer an embarrassing drop to League One.

"I sat the players down after the game (on Monday) and spelt it out. We put something together (a slide show) to show the players this week and the crux of it is, we need 14 wins from 31 games to be safe.

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"If that’s not a frightener to spur them on and motivate them, then I don’t know what is. It’s in black and white."

They will have identified Saturday's game against a Barnsley side that are one point and one place above them in the table as a must-win encounter.

The verdict

Stoke are currently on eight points so if they won 14 games they would be on at least 50 and that would be enough to keep you in the division on most occasions.

So, they probably won't need to win that many games but you cannot blame Delap for aiming high and he is right to want more from the players.

Now, it's vital they pick up the first of those at Oakwell this weekend.

Thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.