Stoke boss Mark Hughes impressed by goalkeeper Jakob Haugaard
Sunday 3 April 2016 13:57, UK
Stoke manager Mark Hughes has defended his decision to start Jakob Haugaard for Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Swansea.
After first-choice stopper Jack Butland was ruled out for the rest of the season by a fractured ankle sustained on England duty, Hughes had the choice of replacing him with Haugaard or veteran Shay Given for their match against Swansea.
The Potters - who remain eighth - had looked set to cruise to a fifth win in seven games, with them well in control of proceedings as they built a 2-0 lead via Ibrahim Afellay's 13th-minute header and Bojan Krkic's strike eight minutes after the break.
However Gylfi Sigurdsson's 68th-minute strike reduced the deficit, and then Alberto Paloschi's deflected effort 11 minutes from time completed the turnaround for Francesco Guidolin's side.
Despite conceding two second-half goals, Hughes was impressed with the 23-year-old's display in his Premier League debut.
"I thought he did really well, and I expected that - he is a confident young man," Hughes said.
"He didn't have a chance with the goals, but he dealt with balls around him confidently, punched when he had to, caught when he had to, his distribution was good and he got good length on his kicks."
Republic of Ireland international Given had been sidelined for a considerable chunk of this season by a knee injury.
And Hughes said that contributed to his decision to only have the 39-year-old on the bench.
"Shay is an outstanding goalkeeper, but he hasn't had a great deal of work with the senior squad - it is only the last couple of weeks that he has been up to full speed," Hughes explained.
"It would have been a bit of a risk. I thought it was the right decision to go with Jakob and I stand by that - I thought he was excellent."
