Sunday 10 April 2016 21:20, UK
Stoke boss Mark Hughes was left bitterly disappointed after his side was thumped 4-1 by Liverpool at Anfield in the Premier League on Sunday.
Goals from Alberto Moreno, Daniel Sturridge and two from Divock Origi saw Liverpool jump above the Potters into eighth in the table.
"In the first half in terms of controlling the game we were in decent shape. But when Liverpool put any balls in our box or when we were in situations where people needed to come alive we didn't, and that was the story of the game from our point of view," Hughes told Sky Sports.
"In the second half we lost early goals, then it becomes fragmented and we're trying to chase a game at Anfield, which is a difficult place to do that."
The result comes a week after Stoke dropped two points against Swansea after leading 2-0 at the Britannia Stadium, and Hughes has seen his side's chances of European qualification fade.
"It's one of those days, we didn't deal with that threat [of crosses] at any stage in the game and that's unlike us," he said. "We're usually very resolute and get on the end of things and stop them developing, but today that wasn't the case.
"It's a shame because for decent periods I thought we progressed the ball up the park well, got decent enough balls into [Peter] Crouch and people around him but once goals start flying in it becomes more difficult for you."
He added: "In the end 4-1 we feel is a little bit hard on us given what we did in the first half but you've got to have a full 90-minute performance and unfortunately we didn't have that."
Hughes and full-back Erik Pieters had words late in the game, with the full-back substituted shortly after and notably not exchanging so much as a glance with the Stoke boss.
Hughes shrugged off the incident, saying: "There may well have been (words) but those things happen. We just needed to be a little bit more solid and I just felt I needed to make a change."
