Opposition View: Stoke boss Mark Hughes on Spurs defeat

Stoke jump above Spurs into ninth in the table after recording their first win in four matches.

Mark Hughes admits his team sensed their opponents’ lack of confidence and was delighted with how the Potters took advantage.

“Maybe there’s a little bit of pressure on the Tottenham players at the moment and we sensed if we started quickly we could use that to our own ends,” Hughes said.

“Spurs are a good team, individually they have some great talent, but we got our shape and structure right and understood what it takes to take a positive result away from home – which we’ve struggled with.”

Hughes added: “Our plan was certainly to use the counter-attack. There were certain areas of the pitch we were able to exploit.

“Spurs like to get their full-backs forward so we thought we could get behind them in those areas.”

Pochettino’s high-tempo style of play worked wonders last season at Southampton but the Argentinian has struggled to inject his beliefs into the Spurs players so far.

Hughes said: “Every manager has his own philosophy and wants their team to play in a certain manner.

“When you’re a manager and you’ve had success, you have to back your principles and stick with it.

“You don’t change and I’m sure he won’t do that because he’s a good manager and he’ll get things right at Tottenham I’m sure.”

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