In a disappointing 3-1 loss to Hull, Alex Neil was hurt to confess that the critics were correct that Stoke City were disorganized.
After being completely dismantled by a potent Hull team, Stoke are now winless in four games after giving up two goals in the first three minutes of the first half and the game’s last goal midway through the second. A late consolation was retracted by Andre Vidigal.
Chris Iwelumo and Keith Andrews tore at Stoke’s set-up off the ball as the bitter loss was witnessed live by Sky Sports cameras. Neil was reluctant to concur because he had made a name for himself by building strong teams.
“Yes, but they’re right because we occasionally looked like a mess today,” he replied. I believe that game has typically been my bread and butter throughout my career, having put up teams for more than ten years, especially in this competition. People may inquire as to what kind of game you would set up for, and the answer would be that kind of game. Knowing we didn’t do it anywhere nearly well enough is awful.
“I am the only one who truly understands our shape. When we played them here last year, we used the exact same strategy. We used a back five, we were strong, we locked them in the entire game, we were committed to it, and we performed well.
“It doesn’t matter how you set it up sometimes, if you don’t commit to it, it doesn’t work.”
Jordan Thompson replaced the suspended Ben Pearson in the same 3-4-2-1 formation that the manager had used in a midweek draw at Huddersfield, but this time they never really settled into the game.
The easiest way to sum it up, he declared, is that the best team won. Since I’ve been here, that was probably the worst we’ve done tactically. Because most teams put you under so much pressure at this level, you must be able to defend and attack one-on-one. You must also compete one-on-one across the back.
“You can probably analyze the game and conclude that either the setup was inadequate, we lacked commitment, or a combination of the two. In the end, that’s what it all comes down to, so that’s something I should consider in terms of how we organize the team.
“We made changes in the second half, and as a result, we ended up incorporating our original plans. We lacked belief in doing it today, in my opinion. If you lack belief in anything, if one or two players don’t truly go all the way, then others start to doubt you. I’d watched Coventry play it that way against them and they were pretty comfortable doing it.
