There have been a couple of eye-catching, important moments from Daniel Iversen in the last couple of games as he hopefully finds his feet in goal for Stoke City – and that brings me to a long-standing irritation and a big point on the checklist for this coming summer, no matter what else happens between now and then.

Iversen heads back to his old club Preston North End today having made eight appearances now for Stoke after seven months out in the cold at Leicester. You always want to see a natural ability straight away with any player but you also appreciate that it might take a bit of time to blow off the cobwebs. Perhaps we saw that with Mark Travers too, who was finding at his best level by October when he was recalled by Bournemouth.

In the games against Middlesbrough and Leeds, he has needed to show his decision making and technical ability. He has been able to spread himself in close contact and that’s a key part of a goalkeeper’s make-up. Peter Schmeichel is the best example. It wasn’t always necessarily good on the eye but it was the eyes of the cowering forwards, who looked like they might need a change of underwear, that really mattered. Get your body positioning and footwork right, make a decision over one, two or five yards, come out roaring, do it quickly, smother and deflect.

Hopefully he can play a big part in the final 10 games – but it’s no wonder that Stoke’s defence has looked jittery at times this season when the back line, which has been chopped and changed itself, has played in front of four different goalkeepers. Positional sense and understanding with the players around you, particularly on distancing, should never be underestimated and of course it is something that should build and improve with time.

It continues a conveyor belt of keepers at Stoke over the last few years and I’m still annoyed that Joe Bursik, an England under-21s keeper and our own player to develop, was let go cheaply without any vision for the long-term.

It is a major, major position to fill. The loan system is daft enough but you should never need a loan keeper barring a short-term emergency. You want your own player to be number one for a season and beyond. You want to have an eye on succession with a number two who is either brought in or has come through the Category One academy that can hopefully take the chance, whenever eventually it comes along, to take the shirt for themselves.

But everybody seems to be in the same boat with loans like the emperor’s new clothes. Tony Pulis might have used loans when Stoke won promotion but he used it to target specific positions. Too often since relegation, Stoke have brought in loanees willy nilly, players who can’t even get into the starting XI and just take up a seat on the bench and block the path for a kid of our own from the youth team. Sead Haksabanovic has made eight starts. Chiquinho was sent back after a couple of weeks. Luke Cundle isn’t starting.

It’s a nonsense and Stoke have to realise that if we want to properly build a squad. A proper number one goalkeeper of our own is written in capitals and underlined on my planning for next season.

In the here and now, however, Steven Schumacher has found a balanced team with the strong core we spoke about last week – and he’s kept it for two games in a row. I’m hoping he will keep it for three. Ki-Jana Hoever at right-back can get his strengths going with Million Manhoef on the outside of him going forward. Lynden Gooch can fill in on the left, linking with Bae Junho. There is a strong midfield three with different skills.

The main player is Niall Ennis. He’s the one who can keep threatening. He’s the one who can get in behind and attack spaces. Everyone else on the pitch can know they have the option to take a touch and release him. When that becomes second nature, it wins you games or gets you a result and it is more important to have a player in that position with the right attributes than a ‘better footballer’ with the wrong attributes.

Ennis, Junho and Manhoef can develop together and if one pulls short, a wide player can get behind. They can spin outfield or make a diagonal run infield but they are still attacking that space. There are lots of different movements that three of them can make when they’re working together and you have to work those manoeuvres early. You need players with awareness and a willingness to upset defenders, who want you to keep playing in front of them.

It’s the first instinct that you look for in recruitment. I would never take a shirker. That’s not asking your striker to sprint back, you want him to pass on men, but they need to work off the ball to take up positions ready to strike. Ricardo Fuller and Marko Arnautovic had that sharp positional sense. They have to be wise to it. It has to be innate but it helps when you keep the same rhythm by playing with the same teammates and in the same system.