I looked at Stoke City training this week and thought we're in a good place

Mark Robins is trying to keep his Stoke City players calm but not dampen spirits as they try to keep fighting at the right end of the Championship table.

A run of 19 points in eight games since the start of September has catapulted Stoke up the early standings ahead of a home double header against Bristol City (Saturday, 3pm) and Preston North End a week later.

Robins is happy to see players enjoying how they go about business and particularly building a bond with supporters who are hoping they can get used to winning.

“I’m still learning about some,” he said. “They are level-headed but also excitable young men that want to do as well as they possibly can do. Sometimes it’s a case of trying to calm things down, not dampen things, because you want to keep that spirit.

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“It’s a balancing act – and I looked at training this week and I thought we’re in a good place.”

Stoke sit sixth going into the weekend’s fixtures but Robins is looking beyond positions at this stage of the campaign.

“It doesn’t mean anything,” he said.

“You’re looking at performances and individuals and how they’re fitting in and while I know we sit in a healthy position – we talk about where we want to be and we’re slightly ahead of where we spoke about, which is a good thing – but there are a lot of tough, tough games to come.

“I’ve just been looking at the next cycle of games up to the New Year and there are a lot of tough games, a lot of travel. There are interesting times to come.

“From my point of view we’re in a good place and we want to capitalise on that and move it forward.”

It has been a calm few days since beating Derby last weekend, at least in comparison to turnaround in fixtures previously this season.

“When you’ve got a free week, in these circumstances, it feels like a long time,” said Robins.

“We had the three-week break and then you go into it bang, bang, bang and then there’s a week free. That takes a bit of adjusting because you’re in the moment and you’ll be the same. You’re focusing on the game, then another game and then there’s a break and it’s different so sometimes it can be welcome but you want to try to keep building that rhythm.

“For some of the lads to have four games in 11 days and three in eight that’s a lot of football and you need a bit of a breather else you get injuries, burn out and all those things because it’s a physical and mental pressure. You need a release valve that is important, just like in any walk of life.”

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