Hughes admits that standards at low at Stoke

Mark Hughes, the manager of Stoke City, has admitted that the standard of football played by his boys at the Stadium of Light last weekend was low.
According to Hughes, the opposition i.e. Sunderland played poorly as well, but, his team was even poorer and that’s why, ended up at the second position.
It’s the third loss for Stoke in the ongoing league. The last two losses that they had suffered, both of them had come on their home ground. They had been playing rather well in the away games. They had been undefeated on away venues for a while, but, that great run got over on Saturday eventually.
The Potters did not fell behind the Black Cats possession wise in the previous game. They had actually more of the possession, but, they were just not able to create the opportunities.
Hughes also had the same thoughts. While speaking in his interview later, the 50-year old said, “When you play away, you need to ensure that in the starting period, you just stay in the game. You have to make things difficult for the home side and you can do that only by having a good start. A good start is essential, but, unfortunately, that did not happen to us today. We fell back pretty early, conceding the first goal and then, another one in the first half, it was damaging.”
“I would say this wasn’t the greatest of the matches. Both the sides faltered, but, we faltered more than them and that’s the reason we were on the losing side at the end of it. However, they deserve a bit of credit for taking their opportunities.”
The next game for Stoke is a home game against Swansea City on 19th of October.