Hull City 0-2 Stoke City: Mark Hughes says Xherdan Shaqiri was due a goal
Saturday 22 October 2016 19:08, UK
Mark Hughes says Xherdan Shaqiri was due a goal having watched the Switzerland international score stunning strikes in training.
Shaqiri scored twice to help Stoke to a 2-0 win over Hull on Saturday, and the Potters' manager was pleased with the dominance that his team showed throughout the match.
"I thought we were very controlled," Hughes said. "It was a great goal from Shaq [Shaqiri], obviously, to get us off on the right foot and we had a lot of control in the game, never really looked under any pressure or had to undergo momentum change or anything. I thought we were in control from start to finish.
"We came out in the second half and I though we looked a little bit wary because clearly we were a bit conscious that we'd had big opportunities and weren't taking them. We wanted that second goal and thankfully it was Shaq again with the great free-kick - he does that in training and he was due one in a match so it was great to see that go in.
"Apart from a little bit of pressure when they started to throw balls into our box late on we were very, very comfortable today."
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The result lifts Hughes' side out of the relegation zone, but the Stoke boss believes it is more than just a recent improvement from his team.
"We've been playing well for a number of weeks now," he added. "I think that's four games unbeaten, back-to-back wins in the Premier League which is massive for us, so we're in decent shape at the moment.
"I think we've got a shape and understanding in the team and we've been able to keep the personnel constant as well, which is a help to any team, so I think that continuity in terms of our selection is a good thing at the moment and we're building our performances and our level is getting higher."
Phil Bardsley, Joe Allen and Shaqiri were shown yellow cards for an incident after the final whistle, but Hughes was unable to shed any light on the incident.
"I'm not sure I'll have to see it [the incident] again," Hughes said. "I think there was some sort of coming together with their ginger-headed lad I think, he just got a bit heated I think, but I'll have to have a look at it again. Maybe it was a little bit of afters from both teams, a little bit of frustration maybe."
