Mark Hughes has strongly defended his record as Stoke City manager and insisted he has total faith in the players’ ability to climb the table, with the Welshman dismissing reports of dressing-room unrest after a poor start to the season and claiming there are no parallels to be drawn with his dismal experience at Queens Park Rangers.
Anchored to the bottom of the Premier League with only one point from five matches, Stoke have made their worst ever start to a campaign. They have conceded 14 goals across those league fixtures and on Wednesday night lost against Hull in the EFL Cup, throwing the spotlight on Hughes’s position and prompting the manager to admit that some people “think there’s a smell of blood in the air”.
Yet the Stoke manager was in defiant mood as he highlighted the three successive top-10 finishes he has delivered since his appointment in 2013, recognised the support he has within the board room – the 52-year-old is not under pressure of losing his job – and pointed out how a win against West Brom on Saturday would put the club in a better position than at the same time last year, when they ended up ninth.
It was the mention of his time in charge at Queens Park Rangers, however, that prompted the most withering response. Asked about that period, which culminated in him losing his job after presiding over a run of 12 Premier League matches without a victory from the start of the 2012-13 season, Hughes said there were no similarities with Stoke whatsoever. “It’s a completely different situation at all levels. We’ve been here three years, for goodness’ sake. I know the talent that we have in the group, the group is strong, it’s a completely different situation to what I faced there.”
At Stoke, Hughes has the full backing of Peter and John Coates, the chairman and vice-chairman. “I have great support from the ownership. It’s one of the best ones I’ve been involved with,” he said – and from the manager’s point of view, his track record is there for all to see. “I think I’ve proved in my time here that I can take this club in the direction that we all want to be, which is the top half of the Premier League, which is what I set out to do when I first got the job. We’re consistently a top-10 side now.”
Hughes, nevertheless, accepts results need to improve quickly, and probably the last thing he needs right now is Tony Pulis, the man he replaced at Stoke, marking his 1,000th game in management with a victory over him. “We’ve got a little bit of noise around us, because we haven’t got our first win,” Hughes said. “But the reality of the situation is, if we win against West Brom, which we’re more than capable of, we’ll have made a better start than we did last year, so there needs to be a little bit of reality to the situation we’re in.
“At the moment, for whatever reason, people think there’s a smell of blood in the air and think there’s an opportunity to add pressure. We add pressure ourselves, we’re disappointed at the moment because we hoped for a better start.”
The goals against column highlights where the biggest problem lies for Stoke. Jack Butland’s absence through injury has not helped and nor has the fact that the back four has chopped and changed so much. Confidence has been hit and Hughes acknowledged that some players are struggling for form. Giannelli Imbula, the £18.3m club-record signing, was dropped for the 4-1 defeat at Crystal Palace last Sunday and Wilfried Bony is still waiting for his first goal after joining on loan from Manchester City.
Hughes was quick to reject claims, however, that Bony’s attitude is a problem and has affected the harmony within the squad. “Let’s nip that in the bud straight away,” the Stoke manager said. “Unfortunately at the moment we are a little bit fair game for easy headlines. It’s all very predictable: player unrest, problems in the dressing room – they all come up at this time. It’s totally untrue. Wilfried’s come in and had a really positive impact on the group and we are delighted with his character.”
