MARK HUGHES insisted he could have “no complaints” after Sunderland ended Stoke City’s unbeaten start to the season away from home. The Potters were beaten 3-1 at the Stadium of Light on an afternoon when they struggled to scale the heights they had hit previously on the road this term. Charlie Adam provided the only bright spot of the afternoon for City’s travelling support as he cancelled out Connor Wickham’s early opener, but Steve Fletcher restored Sunderland’s lead before the break. Fletcher bagged a second goal after the interval to set the seal on a disappointing day on Wearside for Hughes’ men. The manager told stokecityfc: “We didn’t deserve anything out of the game. We got off to a bad start and in away games in the Premier League you’ve got to give yourself a platform and give yourself an opportunity to win the game and in all honesty we didn’t. “We managed to get ourselves back in the game at 1-1 but Sunderland got a second goal with the next opportunity they created, which is disappointing. “Overall, it wasn’t the best game in the world. On the day it was poor fare from arguably both teams, not a great deal was created, but we were poorer than Sunderland. “We talk all week about being solid and controlling key areas of the game. You’ve got to do the right things, not have consecutive errors and see the game through and unfortunately we didn’t do that. “I have to say very few chances were created against us but every time Sunderland had an opportunity they took it. Congratulations to them but on the day we just weren’t at the level we needed to be at. “We had the vast majority of the play in terms of possession but we just didn’t have the cutting edge that we’ve had in previous games. In the end we didn’t particularly deserve to get anything out of the game. “We needed to be more resolute and make it more difficult for Sunderland; in all honesty they have picked up three points and we haven’t really made it that difficult for them.” The Potters, who had won on Wearside 12 days earlier in the Capital One Cup, went into the league game without the injured Mame Diouf and they suffered a further blow when Victor Moses limped out of the action early on with a thigh problem. Hughes added: “Victor came off against Newcastle on Monday and we had him scanned. Nothing showed up and we were hoping that it was just a neural thing but he felt it almost immediately and had to come off. “We lacked his drive and the purpose that he’s given us in recent games and although him going off disrupted us, it’s not an excuse as we should have been able to compensate for that.” Read more at stokecityfc/news/article/hughes-we-didnt-deserve-anything-1988838.aspx#MwAD0Ym1tuM8kzvQ.99
Posted on: Sun, 05 Oct 2014 08:26:04 +0000
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