Some Stoke City fans on social media have said that Jack Clarke showed some promising signs on his debut for the club against Blackburn Rovers on Saturday.
Tottenham decided against loaning Clarke out in the summer after his disappointing spells at Leeds United and QPR last season.
The winger got the opportunity to train with the first-team stars at Tottenham and also made three senior appearances for Jose Mourinho’s side.
However, the club eventually gave the green light for the 20-year-old to join Stoke until the end of the season in order to get some game time under his belt.
The winger started on the bench and came on just after the hour mark for Michael O’Neill’s side in their clash at Ewood Park on Saturday.
The Potters took the lead in the first half but had to settle for a point after conceding a late equaliser.
Despite some Stoke fans admitting that Clarke did not get too many opportunities to run at the Blackburn defence, they felt that the youngster showed glimpses of quality after coming on.
He looks the part mate 👍
— Andy Stoddard (@AndyStoddard1) January 17, 2021
Rhys Norrington Davies had a solid debut, though we needed to see more from Rabbi Matondo. Perhaps the conditions didn't suit him, but we hope to see more than he offered today. Jack Clarke showed a couple of glimpses of what he's about coming in from the left wing.
— The Oatcake Fanzine (@oatcakescfc) January 16, 2021
That game changed completely when Powell went off. He is so critical to this team wherever he plays. (That’s no criticism to Clarke) #SCFC
— Steve Pointon (@stokiestevep) January 16, 2021
Clarke looks the more classy of the 2. Matondo has a lot of pace, but his decision making was poor on a few occasions today. Thought he played OK though overall.
— Neil_James (@TrouserdogSCFC) January 16, 2021
matondo looked promising, norrington-davies looked good especially going forward , didnt see enough of clarke as we were sitting back when he come on
— george (@TyreseSZN26) January 16, 2021
Looking at Matondo and Clarke today, I thought Clarke looked a bit sharper. I wonder if either of them is match-fit yet. Should add a bit of excitement when they settle in 😊
— Neil (@nginnis) January 16, 2021
Norrington-Davies looked excellent. Clarke came on fairly late, looked really positive running at their defence, but a couple of final passes let him down. Not sure what to make of Matondo yet – very skilful, for sure, made some decent runs, but from too deep to do much damage.
— Andy (@AndyTheStokie) January 16, 2021
Matondo needs too be stronger on the ball sure that will come norrington Davies good Clarke is quality
— Ben (@fozzy1909) January 16, 2021
Matondo was threatening and rnd was decent didn’t see enough of Clarke .
— Ben 🔴⚪️🔴⚪️ (@ben_hannon3) January 16, 2021
RND looks like he’s going to be a good signing for us, just what we need. Didn’t really see enough of Clarke really but does look a tidy footballer, really hoping bad pitch + settling in was the doing of matondo because he was just running down blind alleys or gave ball away
— billy (@billykiddz) January 16, 2021
Spurs Web Opinion
This loan spell at Stoke really is make-or-break for Clarke as he fails to have much of an impact at the Bet365 stadium, his confidence will take a huge blow. Although he is still very young, it will be hard to see a way back for him if his third loan spell also turns out unsuccessful.
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