Mark Hughes praises Stoke after 'comfortable' win over Man Utd
Sunday 27 December 2015 10:03, UK
Mark Hughes believes Stoke City were "comfortable" in their 2-0 win over Manchester United at the Britannia Stadium.
Goals from Bojan Krkic and Marko Arnautovic gave Stoke the win, piling the pressure on Hughes' opposite number Louis van Gaal.
Stoke have also beaten Manchester City and Chelsea at home this term, and Hughes praised his sides assurance in the win against his former side.
Asked by Sky Sports whether he saw the win as "comfortable", Hughes said: "I think so. Just by the amount of clear cut chances we created.
"First half I thought we were excellent, always looked a threat and whenever we regained possession we were on the front foot looking to be positive, getting in behind their back four and causing them untold problems.
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"We took chances as well, and probably had more on the day, and Jack [Butland] makes one fantastic save at a key time for us. They may well have got some momentum from that but even so I thought we played out the game comfortably."
Asked about his former side's fortunes this season, with United out of the Champions League and now on a seven-game winless run under Van Gaal, Hughes said it was clear they are lacking confidence.
Hughes' side are now in the top half following their seventh win of the season, but despite the top six being within reach, the Welshman insists top 10 is still the aim.
"We're a different team now, I think everybody can see that. We back ourselves to go up against everybody. All in all it was a really satisfying performance," Hughes added.
"If we stay in the top 10 hopefully we can maintain that, that's our goal this year. I think it's a strange season in terms of results but we've been reasonably consistent and if we can continue that into the second half of the season we'll be delighted with that."
